7/5–8/3
There is something strangely satisfying about watching an unscripted performance. Perhaps it is the creative energy flowing through the room, the unequivocally hilarious uttered blunder, or the sheer exhilaration of knowing that no one knows what will happen next—performers included. The 6th Annual Santa Cruz Improv Festival will provide a variety of comedic, poignant and outrageous commentary performed by artists with brazenly different improvisational theatre styles. As the saying goes, one man’s meat is another man’s poison. But with a choice of 14 different groups performing, you’re sure to find the right cut.

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8 p.m. Actors’ Theatre, 1001 Center St., Santa Cruz. $10. 425-7529. Through August 3.

7/7
It isn’t easy for supporting guitarists to take on the spotlight as lead vocalist and manage to receive greater respect than what they’ve already earned as sidekick. Following his earliest axe-wielding days onstage as part of ’70s jazz-fusion group L.A. Express (who backed Joni Mitchell) and later the Yellowjackets, Robben Ford has been called upon for help by no less than the likes of Miles Davis. However, he’s been one of the few to lay claim to a reputation as a premiere guitar phenom superseding any supportive role. Truth, his latest Grammy-nominated release, continues to prove why Ford has been venerated for electrifying blues soloing that has made stepping out from the shadows of other legends an easy task.

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7 & 9 p.m. Kuumbwa Jazz, 320-2 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. $22/adv, $25/door. 427-2227.

7/8
The title of Jim Malusa’s new book, “Into Thick Air: Biking to the Bellybutton of Six Continents,” is certainly eye catching. But you can’t help but wonder, what exactly constitutes a continent’s bellybutton? It certainly doesn’t sound appealing. Yet strangely enough Malusa, a writer and botanist, uses his experiences in the lowest geographical point of each continent (hence, the use of bellybutton) to produce a travelogue/memoir hybrid with a dash of enjoyable science on the side.

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7:30 p.m. Capitola Book Cafe, 1475 41st Ave., Capitola. Free. 462-4415.

7/9
There’s a band in the Bay Area called Songs For Moms. They play high energy, melodic DIY punk rock music—you know, music most moms wouldn’t dig all that much. Get it? Irony or something. Anyway, Jen Chapin makes songs for moms. Baby pictures adorn her MySpace, her lyrics reference her “little man,” and punk rock is nowhere in earshot. Neither is her singer/songwriter father, the late Harry Chapin. Though she keeps her arrangements tasteful and interesting (Harry sometimes got a bit carried away), she lacks his gripping, conviction-filled voice. In any case, it all goes down easy. Looks like the Chapin clan will be making pleasant tunes for quite some time.

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7:30 p.m. Don Quixote’s, 6275 Hwy 9., Felton. $13/adv, $15/door. 603-2294.

7/1–7/6
It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a … Frisbee? The flying disc has certainly evolved since its humble origins in 1871. It began as a pie tin from the Frisbie Pie Company tossed around by Yale co-eds, eventually emerging as the streamlined plastic appliance it is today. Flying disc sport enthusiasts from around the globe will alight upon UC Santa Cruz and the world-class DeLaveaga Disc Golf Course for five intense days of competitive disc games. With awards in categories such as distance, free style, maximum time aloft, accuracy and disc golf, this truly is the ultimate game of Frisbee.

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Various times and locations. UC Santa Cruz. Free. 462-5293 or worlddiscgames.com.