Bay Area arts: 6 great live shows to see July 4th weekend

There are lots of great live shows to catch over the long weekend; here’s a partial rundown.

Concert picks: ‘Matrix’ score live, rooftop jazz, more

Here are three concerts Bay Area music fans should know about.

SF Symphony visits ‘The Matrix’: The San Francisco Symphony’s Film with Live Orchestra series continues this weekend with “The Matrix Live,” showing the 1999 futurist drama starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, and Carrie-Anne Moss with live accompaniment by the orchestra. Don Davis, who composed and orchestrated the film’s score, will conduct.

Details: 7:30 p.m. July 2-3; Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco; $45-$180; www.sfsymphony.org.

Hammer Theatre’s new concert series: In the classic ’60s hit, The Drifters found joy “Up on the Roof.” And that’s where Hammer Theatre Center is inviting us with a new concert series.

The “Sunset Series” of shows on the San Jose venue’s Rooftop Terrace stage kicks off July 1 with a performance by acclaimed New York singer Svetlana and her jazz/swing outfit The New York Collective. The series, running through Sept. 23, will also serve up shows by folk-pop singer-songwriter Mason Jennings (July 15); soul/jazz singer Llian Kane and the San Jose High School All Stars (July 29); saxophonist Aaron Lington and his Sextet performing a tribute to the legendary Art Blakey (Aug. 11); Brazilian singer-songwriter Claudia Villela and band (Sept. 8); folk-blues guitar wizard Sunny War (Sept. 22); and the Alaya Project, an Oakland outfit that fuses classical Indian music with funk and jazz (Sept. 23).

Details: All shows 8 p.m.; $35-$45; hammertheatre.com

From Cuba, with love: Bring your dancing shoes when Cuban singer-songwriter Mario “Mayito” Solomon and his sizzling six-piece band Timbeko take the stage July 2 at the Freight & Salvage in Berkley. The show will showcase some of Solomon’s new music as well standards from his Afro-Cuban catalogue. A free salsa dance class will be offered before the show.

Details: Dance class 7:10 p.m., music at 8 p.m.; $13-$26; thefreight.org.

— Georgia Rowe, Correspondent, and Randy McMullen, Staff

SF Mimes making noise

The July 4th weekend unleashes some cherished traditions: firecrackers going off at all hours of the day, traffic jams, charred hamburgers. Oh, and the San Francisco Mime Troupe.

For decades, the popular purveyors of left-leaning political satire have debuted a new stage show over Independence Day weekend and performed the production at a variety of Bay Area parks and outdoor venues though Labor Day. (And FYI, these performers are mimes in name only, there is plenty of talking and singing in their shows.) This year’s production is titled “Back to the Way Things Were,” and focuses on a liberal middle-aged couple who are relieved that “we again have a president who isn’t dumb as a two-dollar ham,” but concerned that their daughter, in an era of war, climate change and political upheaval, may never know a time that she can be nostalgic for. You can catch the show at 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Cedar Rose Park in Berkeley and 2 p.m. Monday at Mission Dolores Park in San Francisco. During the rest of the summer, the show will travel to other parks in Berkeley, San Francisco, Mill Valley, Palo Alto and Santa Cruz. Most shows are preceded by a half-hour of music. Admission is free but donations are encouraged. More information is available at www.sfmt.org

— Bay Area News Foundation

Black Opry in Berkeley

Country music execs would want you to think otherwise, but the genre continues to suffer from the perception that it is inhospitable to artists of color. This is despite the fact that artists ranging from Charlie Pride to Darius Rucker to Mickey Guyton have found stardom as country crooners. One organization trying to change things is the Black Opry, a nonprofit aiming to “evolve the country music industry and create a space that is both safe for and helpful to Black fans and Black artists.” A byproduct of that goal is bringing some wonderfully talented performers to Berkeley on June 30.

The Black Opry Revue, a touring concert show, lands at the Freight & Salvage Thursday night, featuring four performers who might not be household names, but are good enough to be. That’s especially so for singer-songwriter Rissi Palmer, who describes her country/gospel/R&B sound as “Southern Soul.” She broke through in 2007 with a self-titled album that yielded the hit “Country Girl.” Her latest release, 2019’s “Revival,” includes the powerful civil rights-themed song “Seeds.” Palmer also hosts a show on Apple Music Country Radio titled “Color me Country,” which among other things features interviews with Black country music artists. Also on the bill are singers Miko Marks, Stephanie Jacques and Leon Timbo.

Details: Music starts at 8 p.m. Proof of vaccination is required and masks must be worn in the venue; $26-$30; thefreight.org.

— Bay Area News Foundation

‘Worlds in Collision’ at Asian Art Museum

San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum has been striving to include more works by Asian American and local artists in its collection and exhibits. A tribute to Carlos Villa hits all the targets in a dramatic display transforming a single gallery into what the museum calls “visually magical worlds of feathers and bones, capes and masks, tattoos and blood.”

Villa (1936-2013) was born in the city’s Mission District to Filipino immigrant parents, lived in the Tenderloin just a few blocks from the museum’s current site, studied at what is now the San Francisco Art Institute and earned a master of fine arts degree from Mills College in Oakland. After a foray in New York City, he returned to teach at the Art Institute and explore and create his distinctive style.

“Carlos Villa: Worlds in Collision” is said to be the first major museum retrospective devoted to a Filipino American artist. To establish that identity, Villa used his local roots plus Asian, Pacific Island and African influences. There are feathered capes that recall Hawaiian royalty, tattoo-like designs on photographic portraits, and a ghostly canvas holding scores of images transferred from Villa’s painted face to the fabric.

Details: Through Oct. 24; Asian Art Museum, San Francisco; hours are 1-8 p.m. Thursday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday-Monday; $8-$15; asianart.org. More of Villa’s later works are on view through Sept. 3 at the city’s free Arts Commission Gallery, two blocks away. Sfartscommission.org

— Robert Taylor, Correspondent