Freebie of the week: The Bay Area has a highly impressive record as the home to phenomenal guitarists, and blues have long been well-represented in the collection–from John Lee Hooker to Bonnie Raitt to Tommy Castro. Though he may not be as well-known as his contemporaries, he is no less a gem: Roy Rogers, born in Redding and named for the cowboy singer and guitarist, has long been a stalwart of the local music scene. Like Raitt, he is best known for his prowess on the slide guitar; he is regarded around the globe as one of the finest purveyors of Mississippi Delta blues. As the All Music Guide says, “His versatility with the technique is nothing short of astonishing” and Guitar Player magazine raves, “That’s not a slide on Roy Rogers’ pinky, it’s a time machine. With it, Rogers transports you to the Mississippi Delta’s past and future.” His style, talent and self-processed knack for pushing the envelope have made him an in-demand collaborator on stage and in the recording studio by Linda Ronstadt, Sammy Hagar, Raitt, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott and Steve Miller, to name a few. Growing up in the Bay Area, Rogers started playing the guitar in earnest when he was 12 and was drawn to the blues after hearing the legendary Robert Johnson. He regularly tours in Europe, South America and Australia, and he is not stingy with his talents locally either, performing regularly with his longtime band the Delta Rhythm Kings. They play for free on Thursday at Concord’s Todos Santos Plaza in the Music & Market series. The music runs from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the plaza at Willow Pass Road and Grant Street, while a fun farmer’s market takes place at the same site. More information is at www.cityofconcord.org/311/Downtown-Events.
Afro-Cuban splendor: In the 1990s, the Buena Vista Social Club, thanks to an acclaimed album and Wim Wenders’ follow-up documentary, gained global fame and was, for many, an introduction to the stirring and infectious polyrhythmic sound of Afro-Cuban jazz. Produced by American guitar great Ry Cooder, the Social Club gave revered Havana musicians (including Compay Segundo, Rubén González, Ibrahim Ferrer and Omara Portuondo) worldwide fame in the twilight of their careers. Juan de Marcos González, the band’s popular leader, was a musician and actor who had made it his calling to preserve and promote Cuban sounds, such as son. Thirty years later, González is still a force in the Cuban music scene and comes to the SFJAZZ Center this weekend with his current outfit, the Afro-Cuban All-Stars. It’s not a Buena Vista Social Club tribute show; the Afro-Cuban All-Stars are young, up-and-coming Cuban musicians and their repertoire spans past, present and future Havana sounds. “What I’m trying to do is create a bridge between contemporary and traditional Cuban music,” González says. Performances are 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday; tickets are $35-$125. Go to sfjazz.org.
Some tuneful ‘Help’: A beloved Bay Area benefit returns on Sunday, and something tells us a certain Mrs. Doubtfire will make an appearance. We’re talking about Help is on the Way, which brings in impressive casts of nationally known stage and music stars in benefit performances for the Richmond/Ermet Aid Foundation. Among the cast of A-Listers is Rob McClure, starring as Euphegenia Doubtfire (i.e., the Robin Williams role) in the touring Broadway musical “Mrs. Doubtfire.” (The show, adapted from the 1993 film comedy about a desperate, divorced dad disguising himself as a housekeeper to spend more time with his kids, runs through July 28 at the Orpheum Theatre.) Other “Mrs. Doubtfire” cast members are in this packed Help is on the Way lineup, as well as singer Debby Boone; Broadway stars Bruce Vilanch, Faith Prince, Sam Harris and Lisa Vroman; and cabaret stars Paula West and Jason Brock, and more. They will be united in a good cause: The Richmond/Ermet Aid Foundation has raised more than $4.5 million to fight AIDS, help the homeless and feed the hungry. The show at the Marines Memorial Theatre in San Francisco kicks off with a silent auction and reception at 6:30 p.m.; the show starts at 7:30 p.m. and a VIP after-party with snacks and drinks is at 9:45 p.m. Tickets are $39-$500 at reaf-sf.org.
A double bill: Get set to be saddened and simultaneously uplifted as Walnut Creek-based Festival Opera presents two mesmerizing one-act operas, one set in modern times, the other in ancient Carthage, both revolving around desperate ladies who are losers in love. First up, starting at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the Lesher Center for the Arts’ Hofmann Theatre in Walnut Creek, is Francois Poulenc’s 1958 monologue “La Voix humaine,’ starring soprano Carrie Hennessey as Elle, the abandoned woman who spends the entire opera on the phone trying to connect with her indifferent former lover, who may or may not be on the receiving end. Following intermission comes Henry Purcell’s Baroque masterpiece “Dido and Aeneas,” partly and loosely based on Virgil’s “Aeneid,” in which the warring hero escaping the sack of Troy is welcomed to Carthage by Queen Dido, who falls in love with him and is devastated when a scheming Sorceress tricks him into leaving her to go on and found Rome. A highlight of the work, which stars mezzo-soprano Kindra Scharich as the tragic queen, is her final suicidal aria, the poignant and moving “Dido’s Lament.” Matthew Lovell sings the role of Aeneas, and contralto Sara Couden, making her Festival Opera debut, is the Sorceress. The production repeats at 2 p.m. Sunday. Find tickets, $20-$110, at festivalopera.org or by calling (925) 943-7469.
Viva la España! It’s all Spain all the time at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in San Francisco’s Davies Hall and at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Frost Amphitheater at Stanford, as conductor Carlos Miguel Prieto leads the San Francisco Symphony through rousing renditions of favorite Spanish classics. On the program are excerpts from Isaac Albéniz’s “Suite Española”; Joaquín Rodrigo’s gorgeous “Concierto de Aranjuez” featuring guitarist Pablo Sáinz-Villegas; and Manuel de Falla’s “The Three-Cornered Hat,” with contributions from soprano Caroline Corrales. We note with a silly grin that the “Three-Cornered Hat” seems an especially appropriate selection for Prieto, who is music director of the North Carolina Symphony, Orchestra of the Americas, and until recently, the Orquesta Sinfónico Nacional de México. Tickets are $55-$105 for the Davies Hall concert and $25-$110 for the outdoor Frost Amphitheater; you can find them all by going to www.sfsymphony.org/spanish.