Best 9: Top events for the week ahead in Santa Cruz County arts & entertainment, Feb. 6-13

Here they are, nine necessary know-abouts for the week ahead. It’s the ignoring-the-Super-Bowl B9:

➤ A songwriter might bare her soul in her work. But that doesn’t necessarily mean we know explicitly where she’s coming from or what she’s been through. For that, you need more direct storytelling. You need memoir. If you’re a fan of that uniquely gritty-but-sweet sound that singer-songwriter Neko Case is so good at conjuring, don’t make the mistake to think you know what makes her tick, until you read her new book, “The Harder I Fight The More I Love You.” The book is an account of a miraculous childhood, miraculous in that she survived it. Born of teenage parents, both of whom were spectacular failures in the basics of child-rearing, Case’s book is an astonishing story of what happens when a child grows up in near-feral conditions, and how that bone-deep sense of loneliness has shaped her muse and her career. She’s come to Santa Cruz before, with a guitar and a band, but this time she’s coming with a book, to speak to an audience as a writer Friday at the Rio. Don’t you wish every great singer-songwriter would do just one speaking tour in their careers?

➤ This doesn’t happen every day: You can actually catch 11 different ambitious indie-rock bands, all from Santa Cruz, all in one building on two stages. It’s the Sunnyside Music Festival, at The Catalyst on Saturday evening. 

➤ Do you need a laugh? Boy, do I need a laugh. This laugh comes in the form of the novel, thanks to writer Kira Jane Buxton and her wildly funny new book about an eccentric Italian village. Let her tell you all about it next week at Bookshop Santa Cruz.

➤ Here we go for another First Friday at venues all over Santa Cruz County. This time, there’s so much to check out, from fungi to Black History Month to Pride’s 50th to live performance at the Wrigley. You’re going to need a game plan. 

➤ The Santa Cruz theater event of the year takes place early in the year. There’s still time to check out one (or both!) programs of the popular “8 Tens @ 8” festival, the oldest play festival of its kind in the known universe. 

➤ Canadian by birth, Californian by upbringing, singer-songwriter Steve Poltz tells you the whole story in his song “Brief History of My Life.” He’s a real charmer, possessed of a sharp wit that often surfaces in his music, and you get to see him at the Kuumbwa.

➤ A little bit of Allman Brothers, a smattering of Gram Parsons, and just a shadow of a hint of the Grateful Dead — that’s what you’ll find in young country singer-songwriter Daniel Donato, who brings his band Cosmic Country to Felton Music Hall on Feb. 13.

➤ Like her grandiose stage name, the jazz/pop vocalist Storm Large is not to be trifled with. She comes to Kuumbwa next week promoting a new, ironically titled album called “Inside Voice,” given that there’s not an inside space big enough to contain her powerhouse voice.

➤ Maybe, probably, you’ve never heard of Maya Gabeira. But her incredible story is told in the new film “Maya and the Wave,” a chronicle of her quest to become one of the greatest big-wave surfers in the world. The film is there to be experienced at the Rio on Saturday.