thursday 10|9

Jukebox Covers

WALT REDMOND AT BULLWACKER'S Walt Redmond is like a great jukebox. The solo performer armed with an acoustic guitar plays the songs that most people like to hear while quaffing a pint. His performance usually includes a shot of Hank Williams Jr., a jigger of Sublime, and a bit of The Doors for flavoring. This weekend Redmond returns to Monterey from his new home in Austin, Texas. [ST]

9pm. Bullwacker's Restaurant, 653 Cannery Row, Monterey. Free. 373-1353.

Atomic Meeting

COPENHAGEN In 1941, German physicist Werner Heisenberg went to Denmark to visit Danish physicist Niels Bohr. Both men had done groundbreaking work on atomic energy, and were now working for opposing armies in WWII. What did they talk about in that meeting? Tonight the Carl Cherry Center opens Copenhagen, Michael Frayn's award-winning play recreating that mythic conversation between two brilliant minds. The script deals with the moral implications of science, and age-old questions of human mortality and loss. Tonight's show, a benefit for the Center, will be introduced by Kai Woehler, a former student of Heisenberg, who now teaches in the physics department at the Naval Postgraduate School. [SF]

7pm. Carl Cherry Center for the Arts, Guadalupe at 4th, Carmel. $20 (tonight's show only). 624-7491 for tickets to Thursday night benefit show; other nights, 484-9346. For details on the complete run of the show, see theater listings, p. 50

friday 10|10

Sea Jewels

12th ANNUAL BIG SUR JADE FESTIVAL Reaching down on the damp sand, your fingers reveal the wave-polished stone that's just tumbled in from the sea. Rubbing the wet rock with your T-shirt, you discover that the rock is actually deep green, a piece of jade whose beauty is almost superfluous on a Big Sur beach already impossibly lovely. At the 12th annual Big Sur Jade Festival, locals celebrate this cool treasure with carvings, jewelry and food and music. The drive, 65 miles south of Monterey, is worth it alone for its views of mountains to the east and rocky shoreline to the west. [BW]

Today noon-6pm; Saturday and Sunday, 10am-5pm. Pacific Valley School, 69325 Highway 1, Big Sur. Free admission. 667-2276.

Music For Dummies

MONTEREY SYMPHONY 58TH SEASON On Friday, the Monterey Symphony pairs a talk and concert preview by principal clarinet Jerome Simas with lunch at Bernardus Lodge. Ask questions with your mouth full! Reveal how little you know about classical music! It's okay! Sunday, at 3pm, see Kate Tamarkin direct the full orchestra at the Sunset Center in Carmel, featuring Dvorak's Carnival Overture, Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherezade, and Aaron Copeland's Clarinet Concerto. Monday, at 8pm, catch another performance of the same, and for both performances, arrive an hour and fifteen minutes early for an edifying pre-concert lecture in Room 105 at the Sunset Center, presented by musicologist Dr. Jean Widaman. Enter through the Mission Street door and bring your concert tickets to get in. [BW]

11:45am-1:30pm Friday luncheon, $35/Friends of the Symphony members, at Bernardus Lodge, 415 Carmel Valley Rd., Carmel Valley. 3pm Sunday, and 8pm Monday performances at the Sunset Center, San Carlos and Ninth, Carmel. Tickets $30-$56. 624-8511.

Double Shot of Rock

INBALANCE SHOWS Between gigs at Santa Cruz's Catalyst with alternative rockers Trapt, and at Hollywood's Whiskey a Go Go, local rockers InBalance are playing back-to-back hometown shows here. Catch the band that won KMBY's 2001 Battle of the Bands competition before they get big. They will also be playing Bluefin on Saturday night at 9pm. [ST]

10:30pm. Lava Lounge, Club Octane, 321 Alvarado St., Monterey. Free. 646-9244.

saturday 10|11

Monsters And Mad Scientists

MOVIE IN THE PARK It was a dark and stormy night...in Carmel-by-the-Sea. With a little help from Igor and mad scientists and the rest of the characters from the original Frankenstein movie, that is. This year's movie in the park tells the story of a doctor who creates a misunderstood monster who scares a small village. And here we thought the most terrifying things in Carmel were the monster homes. Our bad. The movie is free and begins at dusk. And before the movie, join The Kiwanis Club for a barbecue fundraiser in Devendorf park. A screamingly good time is sure to be had by all. [JL]

4-7pm barbecue. $7/chicken, $8/tri tip. Free movie begins at dusk. Devendorf Park, Junipero and Ocean Avenues, Carmel. 620-2020.

Some Things Fishy

10TH ANNUAL MONTEREY SEAFOOD AND MUSIC FESTIVAL Live music and the aroma of fresh seafood fill the streets of downtown Monterey at the 10th Annual Monterey Music and Seafood Festival. It's two days of fishy fun with live music, arts and crafts; ensure your intake of Omega-3 oils with a whole lot of seafood, including fried calamari, sushi, grilled salmon, oysters, and clam chowder. Stages at the event will always be busy with musical performances by John "Broadway" Tucker, The John Sherry Group, Along Came Betty, and Eight Second Ride. Ninety vendors will offer jewelry, clothing, face painting, arts and crafts, and the Power Jump, a trampoline hyped up on more steroids than a Major League Baseball Player. [NP]

11am-6pm today, 11am-5pm Sunday. Alvarado Street and Custom House Plaza, Monterey. Free. 655-8070.

Sunshine On My Shoulder

JOHN DENVER TRIBUTE Six years ago, John Denver died when his plane crashed into the ocean off of Lover's Point. In 1998, the John Denver Fan Club chose young singer/songwriter Christopher Westfall to record a tribute album to the late Denver. Tonight, Westfall will pay tribute by performing Denver classics like "Rocky Mountain High" and "Take Me Home, Country Roads." Tomorrow, Westfall will be a part of the John Denver sing-a-long at Lovers Point from 1 to 4pm. [ST]

7:30pm. Unitarian Universalist Church, 490 Aguajito Rd., Carmel. $10 donation. 373-7780 or 224-5005.

Old-Timey Times Slide Show

MONTEREY ALBUM: LIFE BY THE BAY If you've never been to the Monterey Public Library, you won't know that you can walk around a corner and find a fish monger standing before a table littered with the day's catch. Go down a hallway and find a proud, smiling family barbecuing in their Watson Street backyard. Of course barbecuing indoors creates choking smoke and a dangerous fire hazard and selling fish indoors tends to lend books, periodicals and reference materials a zesty, seagoing scent. No, these aren't real fish mongers but photographs from the library's collection dating back to the days when Monterey was more than a tourist town. The photos, which will be presented in an afternoon slide show, are also in a recently published book, Monterey Album: Life by the Bay. A book signing reception will follow the slide show. [AS]

1pm. Monterey Library Community Room, 625 Pacific St. Free but reservations are required. Call 646-3949 or email Jeanne McCombs at mccombs@ci.monterey.ca.us to reserve a seat.

sunday 10|12

Politicians And Poltergeist

CAlifornia CONSTITUTION DAY On its 154th anniversary, Monterey's Colton Hall, the site of the state's 1849 constitutional convention, will reenact the scene of the political debates that decided statehood for California. Local actors will reenact history and argue about things like who should have the right to vote and whether or not women should be allowed to own property. According to local lore, some of the 1849 delegates never left the convention. Their ghosts still hang out at their old haunt in Monterey, so to speak. Hopefully on Constitution Day partygoers won't stick around to join them. [JL]

2pm. Colton Hall, Pacific Street between Madison and Jefferson, Monterey. Free with reservation. Seating is limited and reservations are required. 646-5640

monday 10|13

Happy Birthday, Town

SEASIDE 49ER SPARKLER To use the ragged old pitch, there will be something for the whole family. The whole Seaside family. To celebrate the City of Seaside's 49th birthday, come down to city hall for what can only be described as a wide spectrum of activities. Put it this way, there will be a petting zoo, horse corral and bounce house for the kids; singer Maria Muldaur (who sang the 1974 hit "Midnight at the Oasis") and the Shane Dwight blues band for the grown-up types; birthday cake for those who like to eat and for all the sports fans in your clans, San Francisco 49er veteran Bubba Paris. Now a motivational speaker who inspires with vignettes about the strength of fleas, Paris was one of the first 300-pound linemen in the NFL. [AS]

4:30-8:30pm. Seaside City Hall across from Laguna Grande Park. Free. 899-6805.

wednesday 10|15

South Seas Tales

NIGHT WATCH Canadian author Kevin Armstrong's book Night Watch, eight short stories based on his journeys through the South Pacific, was a Globe and Mail Notable Book of 2003, and he himself was declared a "new, young Joseph Conrad." Armstrong will read from his book at the Henry Miller Library, and then library director Magnus Toren, who spent seven years cruising the same Pacific waters, will show slides and tell stories from his own world travels (Pitcairn Island, Easter Island, La Reunion, other romantic places). It all takes place outside on the lawn, projected on a big screen, so bring sweaters (and a dessert to share, if you wish). [SF]

7pm. Henry Miller Library, Highway 1 in Big Sur, just past Nepenthe. 667-2574.