From the community-building shops of SJMade and Empire in The Air—a San Jose apparel brand pledging empowerment and engagement through local events—“Growth” is a day to honor the Bay Area as a home that inspires, uplifting the craft of local vendors, artists and performers. ChiChai, founder and art director of EITA, features her artwork: emotive and glowing figures. Bryant Sina’s psychedelic third-eye-sporting smiley faces and figures capture his “be happy” message in a way that’s both eerie and soul-settling. Local musician Ashley Mehta will play her latest rosy-pop tunes, which have started to trend alongside names like Dua Lipa and Halsey. Donations welcome.

Growth
Sun, 11am, Free
Forager, San Jose

Known for her work as frontwoman of The Corner Laughers, Karla Kane released her solo album, King’s Daughters Home for Incurables, late last year. Her calm, soothing melodies support lyrics that focus on everything from feminism, to fairytales and the wondrous natural world. Marissa Muraoka and The Ten Thousand Ways will share the stage. Muraoka is a guitarist and songwriter from Sunnyvale, who draws inspiration from pop folk. The Ten Thousand Ways are a duo that meet through a science podcast, Goggles Optional. What started off as a parody band turned into a quirky project inspired by Americana, folk, pop and roots music.

Karla Kane
Fri, 8pm, Free
Forager, San Jose

San Jose musicians will get to show off their knowledge of the Fab Four while contributing to a good cause with this Beatles tribute event. Local bands David Brookings and the Average Lookings, Bird and Willow, and Vudaje will be joined by a slew of other performers as they cover everything from Rubber Soul to Abbey Road. A portion of the show’s proceeds will be donated to the American Red Cross to help those affected by Hurricane Harvey. And just in case “All You Need is Love” comes on and you’re feeling compassionate they will have other ways to donate on site.

SJ Presents: The Beatles
Sat, 8pm, $20
Forager, San Jose

Lately, Brandon Leeland says he’s been feeling like the whole world’s gone mad. From watching the everyday struggles of friends and family to attempting to discern the truth amid an endless torrent of tweets and cable news conjecture, Leland, like so many, has been overwhelmed.

So, when he watched Elizabeth Warren’s speech during the Women’s March in Boston, he felt comforted and inspired. “I got chills and I even teared up,” says Leland, the singer and guitarist for San Jose-based pop-punk outfit Till I Fall. “It was so relieving.”

That catharsis is palpable on “Cherry Bomb,” the closing track from his band’s forthcoming self-titled EP. “Now we can whimper, we can whine, or we can fight back,” Warren says, her resolute voice rising through the scratchy, scooped-out guitar and splashy ride cymbals of the song’s bridge. “Me—I’m here to fight back.” And the entire force of the band comes crashing back in an explosion of guitar, bass and drums.

It’s a politically charged end to an album that begins with another collection of soundbites—including clips of Donald Trump and a very pointed statement from Tupac Shakur. These bookends are appropriate for a collection of songs that are meant to cut to the heart of today’s cultural malaise.

“I believe that it’s a reflection of young America right now,” Leland says of the EP. “I can’t speak for everybody, but a lot of people I know and for myself—growing up right now sucks. Everybody is really selfish and everybody is really angry.”

Till I Fall capture that anger with their punchy sound. There’s the galloping Blink-182 drumming, the cranked guitars and the overlapping, nasal melodies, which mirror a head swimming with so many thoughts, it’s impossible to grasp at any single one.

The self-titled EP drops on April 20 and the band is gearing up for a record-release show May 12 at Forager, directly followed by a West Coast tour beginning May 14. The band is excited about sharing their new music with a wider audience.

“It is exactly what we’ve been trying to express over the past two years with our music,” says lead guitarist and backup vocalist Zax Avila.

Till I Fall
May 12, 6pm, $10
Forager, San Jose

Looking back at the history of popular music, though myriad albums might truly be called milestones of innovation and artistry—from Sgt. Pepper to a Kid A—few live albums enjoy this distinction. Too often, live albums are used to fulfill contractual obligations, or serve as stand-ins for greatest hits compilations. Rarely do these albums succeed in capturing the power of the recorded performance or provide any real insight into the artists performing.

There are exceptions, of course. Bob Marley’s slowed down and blissed out take on “No Woman, No Cry”—which originally appeared on 1974’s Natty Dread—took on new life when the king of reggae stretched the song to 12 minutes on Bob Marley and The Wailers Live. The Talking heads changed the paradigm of what a live concert film could be with Stop Making Sense in 1984. And then there was the time that Johnny Cash played for a mess hall of convicts for At Folsom Prison.

“We want to pay tribute to these records that changed our lives,” says Chris Reed, a local musician, educator and co-founder of the music and event promotion company San Jose Presents. Over the weekend, Reed and a group of local musicians drew around 400 people to the recently opened Forager—located in the massive hall that was once home to South First Billiards—where they performed Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged in New York, live and in its entirety.

Reed says he wanted to perform Nirvana’s 1994 album for personal reasons—namely that the record helped him get through a very trying period in his early life. But when he went to recruit fellow players, he discovered that he was not the only one who was deeply impacted by the album. All 17 musicians who played at the event told him that Unplugged had impacted them in profound ways as well. Listen to Reed talk about the event and the importance of Nirvana’s live album in the video—produced by Prestige Films—below. Also, check out pictures of the event by Taylor Jones.