.This Week’s Day-by-Day Picks

WED 16

Want to pay $79 and upwards to see a blonde, one-named diva? No, not Madonna — Jewel. Say what you want about Jewel Kilcher, but hey, at least she writes her own songs, right? From car-living, San Diego coffeehouse sensation to Lilith Fair superstar to tarted-up adult-alt.goddess, Jewel has done it all — and now she’s playing a winery. She kicks off Wente’s “Concerts at the Vineyard” series at 8:15 tonight (later dates feature the Go-Go’s, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Linda Ronstadt, and the B-52’s), and ticket prices are as follows: Terrace seats $79; orchestra $129, outdoor dining $169; center stage $189; restaurant $229; concert tee times (a ticket with a golfing round included) $70. Visit WenteVineyards.com for more details, Ticketmaster.com for tickets. — Stefanie Kalem

THU 17

Competitors in this week’s Oakland Poetry Slam have every right to be nervous. For one thing, it’s the semifinals. For another, the guest performer will be none other than Taalam Acey, 2000 and 2002 grand slam champion of London’s Paddington International Poetry Festival, 2002 slam champion of the Austin International Poetry Festival, 2000-2001 New Jersey Slam master, Washington DC Black Words grand slam champion, and multiple winner at both the Nuyorican (NY) and the Green Mill Cafe (Chicago) slams. And the 2003 Oakland Poetry Slam Team was ranked fourth in the nation, so tonight’s competitors have more to wrangle with than just being starstruck. The slam takes place at 8 p.m. at the Oakland Box, 1928 Telegraph Ave., and admission costs $5 before 9:30 p.m., $7 after. Hit [email protected] or 510-331-5665 for more info on the event; 510-451-1932 for venue details. — Stefanie Kalem

FRI 18

British playwright Harold Pinter, the master of painful social dysfunctionality (The Homecoming, Ashes to Ashes), is on familiar turf with his 1978 marital-infidelity comedy Betrayal, the story of Emma and Jerry’s affair, how it all came out in the open, and the effect it has on Emma’s husband Robert — working backward in reverse chronological order from the end of the affair to the very first flirtation at a party. Loads of backstabbing fun for everyone, especially now that Aurora Theatre has hold of it for its last play of the season. Betrayal, in a production directed by Tom Ross and starring Charles Shaw Robinson, Carrie Paff, and Christopher Marshall, previews beginning tonight (8 p.m.), then opens Thursday, June 24 for a run through July 25, at Aurora, 2081 Addison St., Berkeley. Preview tickets: $28 from 510-843-4822, or go to AuroraTheatre.orgKelly Vance

SAT 19

The Waking Hours are from Los Angeles, and they’ve never played the Bay Area before, so let us be the first to tell them: You guys are hella pop. They’re from the same scene that spawned Rooney, Maroon5, and Phantom Planet, and they mix up the standard, all-singing, all-playing power-pop trio formula by dropping the suits and ties and letting a girl in the band. Their aching, sugary stuff just made it onto an October episode of Showtime’s new reality series, Freshman Diaries; how it plays in the oak-paneled gloom of the Ivy Room (858 San Pablo Ave., Albany) tonight remains to be seen. They play in the middle of a bill with the similarly sunny Junior Panthers and singer-songwriter Chris Von Sneidern, both out of the West Bay, and the Ivy is always 21 and up. Call 510-524-9220 for showtime and whatnot. Stefanie Kalem

SUN 20

Other world-music fests may concentrate on certain styles of music — reggae, Middle Eastern, etc. — but the Berkeley World Music Weekend is the epitome of multicultiness. Today is the second and final day of the fest, a cavalcade of international music from everywhere: Congolese pop, Australian didgeridoo, Filipino ethnofusion, Algerian Amazigh (Berber) singers, Afro-Cuban rhythms, Parisian cafe music, samba from Rio de Janeiro, Hungarian cymbalom tunes, bluegrass, Cajun, klezmer, accordions without end, Sufi trance music, Celtic, even a Renaissance lutist. It all happens from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Telegraph Avenue between Bancroft and Parker. And it’s free, man. Info: TelegraphBerkeley.orgKelly Vance

MON 21

Funny thing about idols. Nobody under a certain age ever really saw Elvis Presley perform in person, yet such is the power of the man’s enduring mystique that almost everyone agrees his December 3, 1968 NBC-TV special was one of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll concerts of all time. Didn’t see it? Relax. Tonight only at the UA Emery Bay in Emeryville, the digitally remastered Elvis Presley’s ’68 Comeback Special will be shown theatrically. Showtime is 7 p.m. Of course you can always wait for the DVD release, a three-disc job with seven hours of concert footage. But then you’ll miss seeing his Elvisness on the big screen, in surround sound, beamed to E’ville in a digital satellite broadcast — one hundred minutes of Taking Care of Bidness. Advance tickets are available at the Emery Bay box office or from RegalCM.com for $12.50. On day of show, they’re $15. 6330 Christie Ave., Emeryville. — Kelly Vance

TUE 22

If you’re in college, or just want to drink as though you still are (and you still have your college I.D., which is mandatory), then celebrate summer break with a mighty “wooHOO!!” at Twisted Tuesdays. Blake’s on Telegraph invites those eighteen and older to dance to DJ Solarz’ bubbling mix of pop, rock, hip-hop, old school (you know, like Joan Jett and Bell Biv Devoe), house, dancehall, and funk every Tuesday night from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. If you’re 21 or over, you can enjoy classically collegiate drink specials like 2-for-$4 kamikazes and sours (Amaretto, whiskey, and melon) from 9 p.m. to midnight. The more sophisticated of you can order cosmopolitans for the same price during the same hours. And remember: no college ID, no entry tonight. Blake’s is located at 2367 Telegraph Ave., Berkeley. Call 510-848-0886 for more information. — Stefanie Kalem

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