HOLLY NEAR Singer Holly Near should strike a chord with her observation: “Now that Pete Seeger, Odetta, Mary Travers, Maya Angelou, Ruby Dee and so many other elders have left us, artists of my generation are no longer elders in training. We are the elders.” Near performs at the Freight & Salvage on Saturday night, together with Tammy Hall and Jan Martinelli. According to the Freight, “for over 40 years, Holly has fused cabaret, folk and spoken word into a sound track for progressive thinking.” Guest stars include Nina Gerber – “the LeBron James of guitar players – everyone who plays with her gets better when she plays” – and Marcelle Davies-Lashley (#stephbetter, by the way). Saturday, Dec. 1, 8 p.m., Freight & Salvage, 2020 Addison St.
JAMES SMALL Berkeley High alum James Small (left) is celebrating his birthday for a third year in a row at the Starry Plough on Friday. Aged 26, Small has established a strong reputation as one of the most talented young drummers around (profiled two years ago right here). He’s bringing together an all-star band of the Bay Area’s top musicians. Friday, Nov. 30, 8 p.m., Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck Ave.
ENCUENTRO DE MUJERES To coincide with the United Nations’ Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence, the TPS Committee for Permanent Residency Now NorCal is holding a free event to discuss treatment of immigrants on Saturday at the Berkeley Adult School. “Encuentro de Mujeres” is planned to provide a safe space for immigrant women to discuss their treatment. Leaders of the immigrant rights movement will speak on a variety of issues, including family separation, immigrant caravans, violence against gender non-conforming individuals, and Ramos vs. Nielsen. Saturday, Dec. 1, 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Berkeley Adult School, 1701 San Pablo Ave.
CHRISTMAS TREE SALE The Cal Forestry Club holds its annual Christmas tree sale starting on Sunday at Mulford Hall on the university campus. The students sustainably harvest trees that would not normally survive to adulthood, often because they are growing too close to other trees (no word on whether the Forestry Club engages in Finnish-style forest raking). The yearly sale helps send Forestry Club students to the national convention of the Society of American Foresters. The sale continues through the week, or as long as supplies last. Sunday, Dec. 2, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Mulford Hall.
BIG GAME If you care about the Big Game, you know about the Big Game. Suffice to note that Cal’s football team finishes its regular season (the first winning season since 2015) at home against Stanford on Saturday at noon. The game (Game?) was postponed from its original slot two weeks ago because of the unhealthy air quality caused by the Camp Fire. Saturday, Dec. 1, 12 p.m., Memorial Stadium.
Don’t miss these other events covered on Berkeleyside:
Nilaja Sun accomplishes a fabulous feat of acting in ‘Pike St.’ at Berkeley Rep
Big Screen Berkeley: The films of Jiří Trnka