Arts And Entertainment

TUESDAY, OCT. 17 -more-

The 24th annual SF Jazz Festival begins this Friday, Oct. 20 with tenor saxophone colossus Sonny Rollins and continues for another 31 events through the Nov. 12 concert of Latin percussion great John Santos and the Machete Ensemble. This will be the most concentrated amount of great jazz available in the Bay Area all year. -more-

Playwright and producer Lisa Marie Rollins was adopted as an infant and grew up in a white community on a three-acre organic farm in Washington state. In her new one-woman show, Ungrateful Daughter, directed by W. Kamau Bell, she stands on a bare stage, then tells us her parents are not the “hippie, pot-smoking” type of an organic farmer. They are white church-going Republicans. While the agency that placed Rollins had indicated to her parents that they were getting an “Asian-mix” baby, it is doubtful that with her kinky hair and cinnamon skin her parents got what they were expecting. Rollins thinks the agency “packaged” her without acknowledging the African American blood that clearly runs through her veins. -more-

FRIDAY, OCT. 13 -more-

Last year Schultze Gets the Blues, a German film, played in Berkeley theaters for just a week and to generally small audiences. After one matinee screening, a group of women walked out casting sideways glances at each other and rolling their eyes. “What did you think?” one asked another. “I don’t knowwwww…..” was the response. -more-

Candace Johnson can belt out a Mozart opera aria with the soul of gospel singer Mahalia Jackson. A chancellor’s postdoctoral fellow at UC Berkeley’s music department, Johnson dazzled an audience at her debut vocal recital on campus in September. -more-