As a backup singer for Leonard Cohen, Perla Batalla learned early on the business of touring and performing, and indeed, she can be seen in the great Leonard Cohen tribute film I’m Your Man, singing a blood-tingling version of “Bird on the Wire.” Yet when Cohen encouraged her to go solo, she turned ever further into her past for inspiration: her parents’ L.A. record store, which sold Spanish and Latin music, and where Batalla absorbed the songs that help make up her great album Discoteca Batalla, named after the store. Having secured a place at the Kennedy Center and the Sydney Opera House with her bicultural output, Batalla returned again to the songs of Cohen; for the release party of her Cohen tribute Bird on the Wire, no less than Michael McDonald, Jackson Browne and Bill Frisell showed up to join her onstage. Witness pure emotion when Batalla sings on Friday, Jan. 15, at the Napa Valley Opera House. 1030 Main St., Napa. 8pm. $21. 707.226.7372.Gabe Meline
Noah Alper knows a thing or two about business. After all, he sold the small little Berkeley bagel company that he founded, Noah’s Bagels, for $100 million. His story, of once failing at business by trying to sell Israeli products to born-again Christians to his current success, is told in Alper’s Business Mensch: Timeless Wisdom for Today’s Entrepreneur. Detailing in frank honesty his humble beginnings, his mental breakdown in college, his determination to come back stronger and, in the words of God to Abraham, to “go forth,” Alpert writes a series of chapters each with different guiding rules for business. Locals who miss the “old” Noah’s Bagels will find out why the offerings at Noah’s changed after Alper sold the business (i.e., no longer Kosher), and those looking to start their own business will find plenty of real-life advice. Alper appears to discuss the book on Thursday, Jan. 14, at the Osher Marin Jewish Community Center, 200 N. San Pedro Road, San Rafael. 7pm. $12–$16. 415.444.8000.Gabe Meline
Brian Regan is the anti-George Carlin. He won’t say any of the seven words you can’t say on television, he won’t speak in antagonized tones, and he doesn’t criticize the government, religion or the status quo. In fact, the status quo is Regan’s feeding ground; his most famous skits revolve around doctors, food labels, Little League, telephones and, of course, flying. Having now starred in two of his own Comedy Central specials, Regan brings his everyman form of clean humor to the lily-white crowds of wine country this weekend in a show that won’t cause nervous wincing while sitting next to the kids. If your family outings usually mean driving the Suburban to Costco for a $1.50 pizza and soda dinner combo and renting Ishtar from Blockbuster, then Regan’s your comedian. Laugh it up on Saturday, Jan. 9, at the Wells Fargo Center. 50 Mark West Springs Road, Santa Rosa. $39.50–$43.50. 707.546.3600.Gabe Meline 
As the glut of New Age flyers still populating county bulletin boards affirm, achieving spiritual unity with the entire human existence can cost thousands of dollars to various “life coaches” and “cosmic advisers.” Even so, the task raises a few questions. How can one comfortably sustain oneness with all persons? Doesn’t it, like, start to fade, and require more “consultation” fees? Is that wrinkly bald person wrapped in a sarong at the bottom of the flyer with a PO box really the avatar of Brahman? Or should I just go to the Sing-Along Sound of Music instead? Why, yes! “Do-Re-Mi,” “Sixteen Going on Seventeen,” “Climb Ev’ry Mountain”—these are the stones on the path to true brotherly and sisterly peace. Coming together in celebration of harmony! Applying our own individual voices to collectively give lift to universal truths! For only $12! These are a few of my favorite things! Lift up every voice and sing the Julie Andrews classic with your fellow man on Saturday, Jan. 9, at the Napa Valley Opera House. 1030 Main St., Napa. 7pm. $12. 707.226.7372.
So there I was, watching the rebroadcast of the community access channel’s coverage from the Handcar Regatta. The cameras cut to the porch stage, where two guys strummed and sang in perfect harmony, and one after another, the songs were damn good. How could I have missed them? Well, the Easy Leaves, until now, have been easy to miss. They play on street corners or at small cafes, mostly in western Sonoma County. Their self-titled album should change all that; it’s one of the best local releases in a long while. Bassist Kevin Carducci and guitarist Sage Fifield have a natural rapport, eased by the recording sessions in the Sierra Nevada foothills, where fueled by bacon, eggs, coffee and whiskey, the Leaves laid to tape a down-home collection of excellently written songs that fit somewhere between Jim Kweskin and the Devil Makes Three. Throw on your overalls and help them celebrate its release on Friday, Jan. 8, at the Hopmonk Tavern. 230 Petaluma Ave., Sebastopol. 8pm. $8. 707.829.7300.Gabe Meline
Every creative garden has its unheralded tender. You know the type—the all-knowing, humble mentor who is happy to watch the seeds grow, spread and blossom. Jules Broussard is that silent professor for the Bay Area’s jazz scene, a man who’s walked countless future saxophonists through the ropes and opened up worlds of improvisation based on his experience with Alice Coltrane, Carlos Santana and Ray Charles. On his most recent album, With Strings Attached, Broussard revisits the songs that inspired him as a young player, composed by a jazz ancestry that includes Arnett Cobb, Duke Ellington, Sidney Bechet and Benny Carter. Broussard has been holding down the “Second Sundays” jazz series at 19 Broadway lately, and it’s a welcome residency. Hear the Bay Area legend on Sunday, Jan. 8, at the 19 Broadway Niteclub. 19 Broadway, Fairfax. 5pm to 8pm. Free. 415.459.1091.Gabe Meline 
You know, Christmastime is a lot like one big class reunion. Everyone who grew up and moved away is back in town visiting the family, and chances are they’ll call or text or message or Facebook each other to go out on the town for a night with the old crew. The Shotgun Wedding Quintet definitely represent a solid crew in Sonoma County, from the jumping days of bands like Cannonball and the Savoy Swingers, before all their members moved down to San Francisco and started playing tiny clubs with Stevie Wonder. Did you jitterbug the night away to Cannonball at First Night in 1997, but have lived in Boston ever since and hoped that maybe you’d run into that one sweet guy again, for old times’ sake? Then make it a joyful reunion when Adam Theis and the Shotgun Wedding Quintet play on Saturday, Dec. 26, at Hopmonk Tavern. 230 Petaluma Ave., Sebastopol. 9pm. $10. 707.829.7300.Gabe Meline
OK, so you’re done with Christmas and you need to take the kids somewhere. You don’t want to spend any more money, Lord knows, but you gotta take them some place exciting so they’ll get out of your hair. Of course! In celebration of the first day of Kwanzaa, the Bay Area Discovery Museum offers free admission, all day, on the day after Christmas. All throughout the museum will be art projects inspired by Africa, as well as a Kwanzaa altar in the main lobby. But most importantly, in two separate shows, drummer E. W. Wainwright will lead a jazz combo in the African Roots of Jazz, tracing the lineage of jazz, blues, spirituals and hip-hop with songs, theater and audience participation. Feel the umoja on Saturday, Dec. 26, at the Bay Area Discovery Museum. Fort Baker, 557 McReynolds Road, Sausalito. Open 10am–5pm; performances at 11am and 1pm. Free. 415.339.3900.Gabe Meline
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