Around Berkeley: Art and comics expo at La Peña; Berkeley High's 'A Year With Frog and Toad' musical

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🎨 The 2026 Muchos Art and Comics Expo , formerly the Mission Art and Comic Expo, has rebranded to expand to Berkeley, featuring more than five dozen exhibitors presenting their zines, comics and traditional printmaking. This free, all ages event also features workshops provided by Pentel Arts. Sunday, Nov. 8, 12-5 p.m. La Peña Cultural Center. FREE

🎹 The conductor-less New Century Chamber Orchestra directed by violinist Daniel Hope presents “Groove,” a program with jazz piano great Marcus Roberts’ trio exploring the music of Duke Ellington and George Gershwin. Thursday, Nov. 5, 7:30 p.m. First Church UCC. $35-$86

📚 Bojack Horseman cartoonist Lisa Hanawalt celebrates the release of her new graphic memoir “I Can’t Stop Thinking About Horses and Sex,” joined in conversation by fellow graphic memoirist Julia Wertz. An audience Q&A and book signing follow the chat. Thursday, Nov. 5, 7 p.m. Pegasus Books Downtown. FREE

🍽️ Le Cordon Bleu London’s head cuisine chef Eric Bédiat gives a 60-minute culinary demonstration followed by a book-signing session for the landmark publication “Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Arts School: Volumes 1-7.” Friday, Nov. 6, 7 p.m. Mrs. Dalloway Bookstore. $10 for a seat or $450 for a seat and the seven volumes of the book

✊🏽The Freight’s second annual Lalo Guerrero Legacy Festival celebrates the music and widespread influence of the Chicano music patriarch (1916–2005) with two days of talks and performances, including sets by his son, Mark Guerrero, the Rockin’ Jalapeño Band, La Doña, and Jerry Salas, who was lead vocalist of the hit-making 1970s jazzy Latin soul band El Chicano. Saturday-Sunday, Nov. 6-7. The Freight. $44-$49

🎷 Tenor saxophonist Aaron Bennett , a consistently compelling improviser, brings his powerhouse trio featuring veteran Berkeley bassist Dan Seamans (The Lost Trio) and drummer Smith Dobson V, fresh off the group’s release of a live album recorded at the SFJAZZ Center focusing on Thelonious Monk and a studio session featuring classic jazz standards, originals and music from the bebop tradition, “Plays for Lovers.” Saturday, Nov. 7, 7 p.m. Jupiter. FREE

🎶 Accordion master Mark St. Mary’s Louisiana Blues & Zydeco Band is a quintet devoted to celebratory Creole dance music, delivering songs in and Creole French designed to keep the dance floor moving with waltzes, two-steps, flat-foot zydeco, and group line dances. Saturday, Nov. 7, 7:30 p.m. Ashkenaz. $20-$25

🎭 Berkeley High Theater presents the groundbreaking Broadway musical “ A Year With Frog and Toad ” by the brothers Robert and Willie Reale based on the beloved children’s stories written and illustrated by Arnold Lobel following the woodland adventures of two amphibious friends. Saturday, Nov. 7, 10 a.m. David Brower Theater. $10-$30

🛍 A ribbon cutting marks the transformation of the former Half Price Books into Zero Empty Spaces Artist Studios , a destination for local art, creativity, and retail entrepreneurship. Meet the people behind the work, discover original artwork and locally created goods, and experience how the storefront is being reimagined as a vibrant new hub for creativity, commerce and community. Saturday, Nov. 7, 5-8 p.m. Zero Empty Spaces Berkeley. FREE (rsvp encouraged)

🎶 The talented musicians in the Young People’s Symphony Orchestra have remained fresh-faced over the decades, but California’s longest running youth orchestra turned 90 this year, and the organization celebrates with David Ramadanoff conducting a program of Shostakovich, Debussy and Brahms. Saturday, Nov. 7, 7:30 p.m. First Church Berkeley. $25-$30 (students and children free with registration)

🛍 At Maker’s Row on Fourth Street you can customize your own tote, get your aura photographed, add a little permanent sparkle, and dance it out with Kemya while feasting on empanadas, ube and cassava cake, fresh sourdough, seasonal pies, cookies and butter mochi at this family and dog-friendly event. Saturday, Nov. 7, 1-5 p.m. Fourth Street Maker’s Row. FREE

🎶 Richmond acoustic guitarist Pete Madsen joins forces with Detroit blues expert Todd Albright , a 12-string guitar player and vocalist grounded in the pre-war era of the blues tradition. Saturday, Nov. 7, 8 p.m. Timbre Folk. $20 suggested donation

🎹 With special guest Dee Spencer on organ, the all-women big band Melba’s Kitchen presents the score composed for the Jamaican blaxploitation film “Smile Orange” by the late trombonist/arranger Melba Liston with excerpts from the rarely seen movie. Saturday, Nov. 7, 7:30 p.m. The Jazzschool. $25

🎥 People who like to play on the Bay, including the San Francisco Boardsailing Association, presents the West Coast Wind and Water Film Festival , which double as an end-of-season social gathering at a convivial West Berkeley venue. Saturday, Nov. 7, 5-10 p.m. Donkey & Goat Winery. $15

🎹 Big Joe Kennedy is a New Orleans pianist and vocalist with a repertoire that ranges widely across more than a century of populist grooves, from early jazz innovators like Jelly Roll Morton and Louis Armstrong to keyboard maestros such as Fats Domino, Professor Longhair and James Booker. Tuesday, Nov. 10, 7 p.m. The Back Room. $20-$25

📚 Berkeley children’s author and former Malcolm X Elementary teacher Julia Moss wrote “Wanderers” to explore the sweeping history of transportation and encourage young readers to marvel at human ingenuity while discovering some of the coolest vehicles invented along the way. Monday, Nov. 9, 4 p.m. Tarea Hall Pittman South Branch. FREE

🎥 Filmed over 10 years, Frontline’s new award-winning documentary “One in a Million” follows Israa’s epic journey from Syria to Germany and back again as she and her family navigate war, exile, and heartbreak in a foreign land, revealing the complexities of the refugee experience. Following the screening producer and Frontline Editor-In-Chief Raney Aronson-Rath discuss the film and take questions. Monday, Nov. 9, 5:30 p.m. Booth Auditorium, Berkeley Law. FREE (rsvp required)

📚 For a city with poetry literally embedded in the sidewalks, Berkeley seems overdue for its first ever collection “ An Anthology of the Berkeley Renaissance .” The publishing party brings together anthology editors Ben Mazer and Blake Campbell with a versifying roster of contemporary Bay Area poets reading their Berkeley Renaissance poet forebears, including Steve Dickison, Laura Moriarty, Brandon Brown, Radha Stern, and Lily Grodzins. Tuesday, Nov. 10, 6:30 p.m. Pegasus Books Downtown. FREE

♂️Journalist Jenn Kahn joins author Jordan Ritter Conn for a candid discussion about his book “American Men” and the state of masculinity in modern America via his deeply intimate portrait of the lives of four men. Tuesday, Nov. 10, 5:45 p.m. North Gate Hall. FREE (reservation encouraged)

🗓️ See more things to do in Oakland and Richmond . And check out our big list of affordable things to do anytime in Berkeley. Sign up for our weekly arts and culture newsletter , The Scene.

If there’s an event you’d like us to consider for this roundup, email us at [email protected] . The deadline to submit events for Around Berkeley is end-of-day Monday. If there’s an event that you’d like to promote on our calendar, you can use the self-submission form on our events page .

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Freelancer Andrew Gilbert writes about music, the arts and more for Berkeleyside and co-writes The Scene, its weekly events newsletter. Andy, who was born and raised in Los Angeles, covers a wide range... More by Andrew Gilbert