This column is adapted from Metro’s weekly newsletter and features commentary on the week’s issue, with some additional content. To subscribe, click here.
Music and magical Mexican sculptures known as alebrijes will infuse Plaza de César Chávez with color and life this weekend as San Jose Jazz’s Summer Fest gets underway. We’re looking forward to Common’s return … here’s a video I shot on my phone at his 2021 appearance.
Saturday main stage performer PJ Morton—I hope he plays Simunye (We Are One)—and Mavis Staples on Sunday are just two of the world class talents SJZ will bring to town. The annual fest, one of the best events that happens here each year, started in our office more than three decades ago, championed by Metro jazz critic Sammy Cohen and promoter Henry Schiro.
Their legacy continues with a great team led by Brendan Rawson, curated by Bruce Labadie and marketed by Massimo Chisessi (the promotional art this year is really cool). A guide to the three-day Summer Fest appears in Metro’s print and e-editions, and at MetroSiliconValley.com.
Two weekends ago, the Metro-produced Music in the Park brought 8000 people to the same park for three days of music that included performances by Stevie B and The Psychedelic Furs, as seen in this highlight reel. The small stage these days is wholly inadequate for major artists like Common and the Furs, and the city has invested but a pittance in its most important event park since it was redeveloped in the late 1980s.
Luckily, Mayor Mahan and new Downtown Manager Michael Lomio allocated $600,000 in this year’s city budget to improve the stage. That’s a start. It should be in better shape in time for Super Bowl and World Cup events in early 2026, and the summer festivals that follow.
There’s more to be done. Imagine an architecturally beautiful bandshell, and a venue with food concessions and real bathrooms instead of portable potties in the heart of our city. That’s the vision being championed by The Plaza Conservancy, a grassroots, nonprofit effort that I hope you’ll join me in supporting.
I’ll be at the Summer Fest this weekend, volunteering at the Conservancy’s booth and talking about this vision. Please stop by, or just click this link to compose an email to the entire city council. This amazing little app, written by brilliant local code hacker Wedge Martin, uses AI to address and individualize a letter for you. Just sign the bottom and hit send.
Changing the city for future generations has never been easier.
