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Clay & Glass Festival
A time-honored tradition on the Peninsula art scene, the Association of Clay and Glass Artists of California (ACGA)’s annual Clay & Glass festival brings more than 130 California clay and glass artists to the Palo Alto Art Center to share their work, including home decor, sculptures and functional ware. Expect live artists’ demonstrations, a pottery throwdown competition, food trucks and interactive hands-on activities.
July 11-12, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Palo Alto Art Center, 1313 Newell Road, Palo Alto; free; acga.net/acga-clay-glass-festival-2026.
Roni Ben-Hur & Larry Vuckovich Quartet
Deep swing, lyrical ballads and jazz improvisation are on the bill when the Roni Ben-Hur and Larry Vuckovich Quartet plays at Meyhouse Jazz’s Palo Alto stage this week. In addition to acclaimed jazz guitarist Ben-Hur and Bay Area piano master Vuckovich, the quartet includes a powerful rhythm section made up of bassist Doug Miller and drummer Sylvia Cuenca. According to Meyhouse, Ben-Hur’s music incorporates straight-ahead jazz, Brazilian and Latin styles, while Vuckovich is known for his experience in bebop, classic jazz and international influences.
July 10-11, performances at 6:30 and 8:30 p.m. each night, Meyhouse, 640 Emerson St., Palo Alto; $48; meyhousejazz.com.
PXL at NODE
Next up at NODE, downtown Palo Alto’s new digital art gallery, is an interactive exhibition by Kim Asendorf. Featured are three mesmerizing works from Asendorf’s ongoing PXL series: PXL DEX (2025), PXL POD (2026), and PXL NET (2026). The series involves algorithmic systems governing the movement and position of pixels and the utility token $PXL (a type of cryptocurrency), which allows collectors to participate in the project.
July 11 to Sept. 13 (check with the organization for availability), NODE, 180 University Ave., Palo Alto; free; nodefoundation.com/program/pxl.
Chasta’s Birthday Bash with The Sam Chase & The Untraditional and more
Radio host Chasta (107.7 The Bone) hosts a birthday bash concert at The Guild, featuring San Francisco rock band The Sam Chase & The Untraditional, Bay Area hard rock group State Line Empire and Southern California’s pop-punk singer-songwriter MEGG. The Sam Chase & The Untraditional, led by Chase, blends rock and folk with plenty of punk influences. State Line Empire was the first winner of Guitar Center’s YOUR NEXT RECORD contest, in 2010, with prizes including a guest appearance by guitar legend Slash on the single “Drive Me.” MEGG is one of the first graduates of USC’s Popular Music Performance Program and takes influence from the likes of Hayley Williams and Gwen Stefani.
July 11, 8 p.m., The Guild Theatre, 949 El Camino Real, Menlo Park; $31-$147; guildtheatre.com.
Jimmy Heath Centennial
What better tribute for a top musician than a concert by those who knew, appreciated and learned from him? The Stanford Jazz Festival marks the 100th birthday of saxophonist Jimmy Heath with a performance led by pianist Jeb Patton and bassist David Wong. Heath was both their mentor and employer, as the two played with the Heath Brothers band, performing alongside Jimmy and his brother, drummer Tootie Heath. Jimmy Heath was not only a master of tenor sax — as well as flute and soprano saxophone — but a top-flight arranger, improviser and composer. “Gingerbread Man,” “C.T.A” and “Gemini” are among the standards he penned. This evening also features Roy McCurdy, drums; Kristen Strom, tenor saxophone; Lynn Speakman, alto saxophone and flute; Noah Simpson, trumpet; and Allie Biancoviso, trombone.
July 14, 7:30 p.m., at Campbell Recital Hall, Stanford. $18-$47; stanfordjazz.org/event/jimmy-heath-centennial.
Jesse Wegman
Journalist Jesse Wegman comes to Kepler’s to discuss “The Lost Founder,” his book about James Wilson, a lesser-known founding father who wrote the first draft of the U.S. Constitution. Wilson argued for a strong central government and a direct vote for the presidency and senate but his legacy was largely lost due to scandal. Wegman, who is a senior fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice, was a member of the New York Times editorial board from 2013-2025. He is also the author of “Let the People Pick the President: The Case for Abolishing the Electoral College.”
July 15, 7 p.m., Kepler’s Books, 1010 El Camino Real, Menlo Park; general admission $21.99, student/low-income admission $11.99, admission with copy of book $45.09; keplers.org.
‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’
The San Francisco Symphony will musically transform Frost Amphitheater into an enchanted Athenian forest for an evening in its first of two summer appearances at Stanford Live. The symphony will perform Felix Mendelssohn’s music inspired by Shakespeare’s magical comedy about fairies and mortals caught up in romantic hijinks. The composition not only has roots in one of the Bard’s plays, but is also best known for giving generations of couples music to walk down the aisle to, as the source of the “Wedding March.” The program features another work inspired by Shakespeare, with Tchaikovsky’s Fantasy-Overture for “Romeo & Juliet,” as well as Wagner’s “Forest Murmurs from Siegfried,” Vaughan Williams’ “The Lark Ascending” and Waxman’s Carmen Fantasy, Op. 25 from “Carmen.”
July 16, 7:30 p.m. at Frost Amphitheater, Stanford; $47.52-$102.60; live.stanford.edu.
‘The Wifi is Down and Other Major Disasters’
Foothill Theatre Arts hosts two evenings of staged readings of three contemporary plays that poke fun at our dependence on technology, from both past and present. The first installment on July 16 sees mayhem hitting the airwaves with Steve Cleberg’s “Radio Suspense Theatre: The First Episode,” in which behind-the-scenes shenanigans trip up a 1930s radio station’s new drama series and Don Zolidis’ “The Radio Play Disaster,” which tells of a War of the Worlds-style radio play that’s derailed by clashing egos and troubles in the studio. Then on Aug. 6, a small town descends into comic chaos after its internet goes down in Ian McWethy and Jason Pizzarello’s “The Day the Internet Died.”
July 16 and Aug. 6, 7:30 p.m., at the Lohman Theatre, Foothill College, 12345 El Monte Road, Los Altos Hills; $8; foothill.edu/theatre/shows/2026-wifi-is-down.html.
