{"id":455771,"date":"2025-12-18T15:08:18","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T15:08:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/455771\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T15:08:18","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T15:08:18","slug":"the-three-san-diego-holiday-week-concerts-you-wont-want-to-miss-san-diego-union-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/455771\/","title":{"rendered":"The three San Diego holiday week concerts you won\u2019t want to miss! \u2013 San Diego Union-Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cA Merry Mex-Mas Holiday Matinee,\u201d featuring El Vez & The Centuries, with Duderilla<\/p>\n

How many times has San Diego-born troubadour and cultural provocateur Robert Lopez \u2014 best known for masterminding El Vez, the \u201cMexican Elvis\u201d \u2014 performed at the Casbah?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a tricky question that he and Casbah co-owner Tim Mays are both unable to conclusively answer.<\/p>\n

\u201cEl Vez has been playing the Casbah going back to our original location in the early 1990\u2019s,\u201d Mays said. \u201cI cannot count exactly how many times.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neither can Lopez, although he ventured a guess via email from Seattle, where he opened his San Diego-bound 2025 Merry Mex-Mas tour on Dec. 11.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve played at the Casbah way over 100 times, for sure,\u201d he wrote, \u201cas El Vez and with The Zeros, Covid Cola, The Unhappy Hour, The Little Richards and other bands. I\u2019ve done my Merry Mex-Mas show there more than 25 times!\u201d<\/p>\n

No matter the tally, it\u2019s been 31 years since the back-to-back 1994 releases of El Vez\u2019s first three albums, \u201cFun in Espa\u00f1ol,\u201d \u201cGraciasland\u201d and \u201cMerry Mex-Mas.\u201d A seasoned entertainer, skilled musical parodist and slyly subversive social commentator, El Vez has lampooned his namesake, Elvis, with \u201cYou Ain\u2019t Nothing But a Chihuahua,\u201d \u201cG.I. Ay, Ay! Blues\u201d and other likeminded sendups.<\/p>\n

His \u201cMerry Mex-Mas\u201d album is suitably festive while also promoting inclusivity through a Mexican-American prism. Accordingly, \u201cWhite Christmas\u201d is recast as \u201cBrown Christmas,\u201d \u201cSanta Claus Is Back In Town\u201d becomes \u201cSanta Claus Is Sometimes Brown\u201d and the Elvis hit \u201cIn The Ghetto\u201d takes on new life as \u201cEn El Barrio (At Xmas Time).\u201d<\/p>\n

El Vez also offers deft mash-ups, including fusing English post-punk band PiL\u2019s 1978 ditty \u201cPublic Image\u201d with Jose Feliciano\u2019s \u201cFeliz Navidad,\u201d and \u201cBlue Christmas\u201d with the Rolling Stones\u2019 \u201cSympathy for The Devil.\u201d His current tour teams El Vez with the Los Angeles rockabilly trio The Centuries.<\/p>\n

Those seeking a deeper dive can check out the new University of Chicago Press book, \u201cMake the Dream Real: World Building Performance by El Vez, The Mexican Elvis\u201d by Karen Jean Martinson, who is an assistant professor of dramaturgy at Arizona State University\u2019s School of Music, Dance, and Theatre.<\/p>\n

4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 21. The Casbah, 2501 Kettner Blvd., Middletown. $31.44 (must be 21 or older). (619) 232-4355 or casbahmusic.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\"(HowardMultilingual jazz singer Allison Adams Tucker will be featured in Camarada\u2019s \u201cCharlie Brown Jingles and Jazz\u201d concert at La Jolla\u2019s Baker-Baum Concert Hall in the Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center. (Howard Lipin \/ for The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n

Camarada presents \u201cCharlie Brown Jingles & Jazz\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Camarada\u2019s annual all-star concert is a consistent crowd-pleaser, thanks to a musical roster that features some of San Diego\u2019s leading jazz and classical musicians.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s lineup features flutist and Camarada co-founder Beth Ross Buckley, guitarist and musical arranger Peter Sprague, multilingual singer Allison Adams Tucker, pianist Danny Green, flutist and saxophonist Tripp Sprague, bassist Mackenzie Leighton and percussion mainstay Duncan Moore.<\/p>\n

Given the quality of the performers, it\u2019s no surprised that this annual Camarada concert usually sells out. As of today, only a small amount of tickets remain for this weekend\u2019s two \u201cCharlie Brown Jingles & Jazz\u201d concerts.<\/p>\n

7:30 p.m. today and Saturday, Dec. 20. The Baker-Baum Concert Hall, Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center, 7600 Faye Ave., La Jolla. $28-$98. theconrad.org<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Award-winningAward-winning San Diego singer Leonard Patton is shown at his all-ages music club, The Jazz Lounge, where he will perform holiday-themed shows Sunday and Monday. ( Ariana Drehsler \/ for The San Diego Union-Tribune)
\nChristmas with Leonard Patton & Friends<\/p>\n

San Diego vocal great Leonard Patton counts Pat Metheny and Paul Simon among his high-profile fans.<\/p>\n

A two-decade veteran of Lamb\u2019s Players Theatre productions, Patton has been the featured vocalist in national commercials for Pizza Hut, Coca-Cola and NASCAR. He opened his intimate jazz supper club, The Jazz Lounge in 2021 and has been steadily building momentum ever since.<\/p>\n

Patton\u2019s holiday shows are especially uplifting showcases for his consistently svelte and soulful vocals.<\/p>\n

5:15 p.m. and 8 p.m. Sunday Dec. 21; and 6:15 p.m. and 9 p.m. Monday Dec. 22. The Jazz Lounge, 6818 El Cajon Blvd., San Diego. $60 (concert and dinner), $40 (concert only). 619-368-9374. thejazzlounge.live<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cA Merry Mex-Mas Holiday Matinee,\u201d featuring El Vez & The Centuries, with Duderilla How many times has San…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":455772,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,206260,208792,16920,73328,208793,3549,7264,208795,208794,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-455771","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-charlie-brown","12":"tag-el-vez-the-mexican-elvis","13":"tag-elvis-presley","14":"tag-la-jolla-music-society","15":"tag-leonard-patton","16":"tag-san-diego","17":"tag-sandiego","18":"tag-the-casbah","19":"tag-the-jazz-lounge","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-united-states-of-america","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","24":"tag-us","25":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115741204175609596","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=455771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455771\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/455772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}