Best 9: Top events for the week ahead in Santa Cruz County arts & entertainment, May 1-8

Here they are, nine necessary know-abouts for the week ahead. It’s the “MayDay! MayDay!” B9:

➤ I don’t usually use this space to recommend seeing a movie. And this suggestion isn’t so much about the movie’s quality — I haven’t seen it myself — but about its director. The film is called “The Legend of Ochi,” and it’s a family-oriented fantasy with definite “E.T.” vibes about a girl who adopts a young creature that her culture deems will grow into a monster that must be destroyed. The film is written and directed by Isaiah Saxon, who grew up in Aptos and has built an impressive career, mostly as a director of music videos. And this lush epic — rated PG, so perhaps not for the youngest children — might be the thing to vault Saxon onto the A-list. The film is showing at the CineLux Capitola, convenient for all the Aptos friends and neighbors who want to support one of their own. Let’s show up for the local boy made good. 

➤ Boy, could we ever use someone like Pete Seeger right about now. The great American folksinger — next to Woody Guthrie, maybe the greatest American folksinger — is the subject of a tribute concert/singalong at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center on Saturday afternoon. “Sing Out for Pete’s Sake” features the talents of the duo Jaeger & Reid and folksinger Aileen Vance. Seeger himself was famous for insisting that there is no line between performer and audience, so be ready to sing out loud if you attend. 

➤ The Kuumbwa Jazz Center is celebrating its 50th anniversary, and to mark the occasion on Friday, the beloved jazz club is more about images than about music. Kuumbwa is debuting a new art display of photos and other graphics from the club’s earliest days. It’s a show they’re calling “Celebrating Creativity,” and the evening’s highlight includes an on-stage conversation between jazz performer Kim Nalley and Kuumbwa co-founder Tim Jackson. The way-back machine at Kuumbwa starts up at 5 p.m.

➤ If you’ve been part of UC Santa Cruz’s “Deep Read” program, you’ve been pretty engrossed in Percival Everett’s landmark novel “James,” envisioning the Huck Finn story from the viewpoint of Huck’s partner Jim. On Sunday afternoon, in a free event, the author himself comes to the Quarry Amphitheater on campus to talk about the book live on stage with UCSC literature professor Vilashini Cooppan. Let’s hope the weather cooperates. 

➤ If the name John Jorgenson doesn’t mean anything to you, chances are good you’re not a guitarhead, because few musicians alive are as adept and flat-out astonishing on the guitar as this veteran bluegrass/country player. Well known for his work with the Desert Rose Band back in the 1980s, Jorgenson plays the Kuumbwa Jazz Center with J2B2 (the John Jorgenson Bluegrass Band), which features another country/rock legend in banjo man and guitarist Herb Pedersen. The fretwork fireworks happen Sunday evening.

➤ It’s been more than a decade now since Miami native Cécile McLorin Salvant released her debut album, “WomanChild,” unleashing a new force in the world of jazz vocals. Born to a French mother and Haitian father, Salvant has crossed borders artistically between jazz standards and her own originals, while also exploring some bracing interpretations of Kate Bush, Sting and other musical icons. Her latest album finds her mining an ancient European folk tale about a serpent woman for inspiration. Check her out Monday at Kuumbwa.

➤ The Santa Cruz Symphony is offering up a program surely unique in the history of the world. For its twin concerts Saturday in Santa Cruz and Sunday in Watsonville, the symphony mixes Mozart with a piece by the Icelandic pop star Bjork and another from the symphony’s own conductor, Daniel Stewart. Also, the concerts represent the swan song of the great Cabrillo College choir director Cheryl Anderson, as she retires after 35 years of leading the community in song. It all makes for a tour de force weekend. 

➤ If you like mushrooms, there’s a good chance you actually love mushrooms. Fungi are having a moment, you might say. Mushroom lovers will congregate with real mycologists at the Santa Cruz Mountain Mushroom Festival, which gives equal billing to mushrooms for culinary purposes and those for medicinal uses. The festival, on Saturday and Sunday, features everything from cooking demos to guided nature walks to educational lectures. If you’re interested in the fungi fun, get thee to Roaring Camp. 

➤ Santa Cruz mystery writer and former attorney Leslie Karst has built up an appreciative fan base with her smart, often food-oriented novels. Her latest, titled “Waters of Destruction,” finds her exploring the Big Island of Hawaii, where Karst herself spends much of her time. The juicy murder mystery at the heart of the new book comes with a bonus, some intriguing Hawaiian recipes for those who like their adventures in the kitchen. She comes to Bookshop Santa Cruz next Thursday, May 8.