* PUBLISHER/EDITOR’S NOTE: Weekend Santa Cruz will be on hiatus for the foreseeable future. It will not be updated for some time to come. Thank you to each of the site’s supporters.

Memorial Day marks the start of the summer season. The weather warms, the beach beckons and soon, the town empties of students and fills with tourists attracted by the area’s natural beauty and quirky charms. There are an infinite number of ways to celebrate the summer in Santa Cruz, from picnics by the lighthouse to riding the Beach Boardwalk roller coaster. As this is a finite space, we’ve pared the list to six….

PHOTO: Joshua Lau and Crystina Robinette are featured dancers in “Swing!” opening June 25 at Cabrillo Stage. Photo by Jana Marcus.

Creepier than a banana slug. Crawlier than spiders dropping from the ceiling. It’s Halloween Week in Santa Cruz. There is plenty to do in this Hitchcockian town, home to the inspiration for the Bates Motel. You can enter The Twilight Zone, masquerade in a mini-aquarium or even watch big-screen zombies at midnight. Ghosts and ghoulies can get their groove on all around Santa Cruz County during this week.

Whether you’re searching for family-friendly tricks or adult-friendly treats, Weekend Santa Cruz has the information you crave…

Nearly 30 years ago, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ Yellow Cake Revue — a suite of songs, sketches and instrumental works — spoiled the efforts of the RTZ Mining Company to harvest uranium from the shores of Scotland’s beautiful Orkney Islands. New Music Work’s season opener Cabaret Politico, October 10 at Kuumbwa, expands on the revue to put together a thought-provoking piece of theatricality, combining new chamber music with readings and song.

The vaudeville-style show, framed by parts of Davies’ revue, aims to take the audience through the story of what happened in the Orkneys….

NOTE: Weekend Santa Cruz is taking the week off. Come back September 28 for the latest issue.

When the 54th Annual Santa Cruz Follies takes the Civic Auditorium stage Wednesday, September 16, it will be the culmination of more than a year of work. Director Jo Luttringer started searching for the music last summer, the dancers began rehearsing a few of their steps in November and auditions for individual pieces took place in February.

The show, themed “That’s Entertainment,” features 36 seniors in a fast-paced variety act that starts with a circus, ventures through vaudeville, dashes through patriotic Americana and winds up with a dramatic grand finale….