GET OUT: The Family's Gone and It's Time to Shop Till You Rock

FRIDAY, SATURDAY

RISING INTERNATIONAL

Nov. 25, 26 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

300 Potrero Street, right behind Farmer’s Exchange.

If you want to shy away from the big corporate shopping places and buy one of a kind handcrafts, you can hit up Rising International's sale. Usually the company sells crafts only in house parties, but it has a wealth of goods on Black Friday that will help support some of the poorest people on earth.

Shoppers will find a wide variety of holiday gifts made with recycled and eco-friendly materials such as: sisal grass baskets and ornaments made by the Zamuka Cooperative in Rwanda; Afghan dolls made of recycled fabrics; necklaces and earrings made from recycled calendars in Uganda; and popular serving trays made from bamboo by women in Bangladesh.

These special trays will be on sale for $24.00 (regularly $32.00). Bamboo is the fastest growing plant.  It can grow without pesticides or chemicals and is totally degradable and regenerates on its own.
 “The trays are made by impoverished women in Bangladesh and so your purchase saves lives and saves the planet too,” said Rising International representative, Paula Smith.

FRIDAY

Trade As One Fair

November 25

11 a.m.-6 p.m.

332 Ingalls Street 

A fair trade fashion sale with music, clothes and food. Sample olive oil, quinoa, chocolate and fair trade recipes. Hear music by Jesse West, Kate Ekin, Shamina, Khangaldy and see art displays.

FRIDAY

Big Brother and the Holding Company

Moe's Alley

1535 Commercial Way

9 p.m. Tickets: $15/$20

Nostalgia with a twist. This is Janis Joplin's original band playing the rocking blues. Opener Bob Kraft is half of Snail, the Santa Cruz folk rock band that shoulda, coulda, almost made it to the top by playing catchy tunes that almost everyone in this surf town loved.

Saturday

THE MERMEN

Moe's Alley

1535 Commercial Way

9 p.m. tickets: $12/15

If Jimi Hendrix played surf music, this is what it would be like. Jim Thomas and his trio play some upbeat Dick Dale style songs, but their forte is 30-minute jams on numbers that have you surfing into outer space psychedelic style. Thomas's original music is hypnotic and dare I use the overused G-word, but he is. And he doesn't seem to know it.

Let me put it this way. I always thought his bass player was great because he could keep up with Jim. Well, now, bassist Allen Whitman tours with Joe Satriani, whose got some riffs himself.

For me, it's not necessarily a step up. I'd much rather see the Mermen, who rarely play in these parts. Their music is background in movies and all of the Maverick's telecasts, but there is nothing like seeing them live.