Regarding the Black Crowes, we hear there’s new life in the old birds these days, possibly thanks to new guitarist Jackie Green. Scouting reports from the current tour reassure us that frontman Chris Robinson will be his usual dervish of charisma when the band jams at the Hard Rock Hotel on Dec. 13. The Crowes appear to be mixing hits (“Hard to Handle,” et al) with deep cuts and creative covers. Tickets are $34.50-$70. Info: hardrockhotel.com
Here’s a mashup worth an earful: The CSN Department of Fine Arts’ concert band will join forces with CSN’s mariachi band for an evening of holiday tunes, Dec. 10. It’s a heartening cross-cultural collaboration that may just spawn a new musical form known as “chamber mariachi.” 7:30p, $5-$8, Nicholas J. Horn Theatre at CSN Cheyenne Campus
If we have learned anything from David Lynch — other than “don’t make Dune” — it’s that small-town America, beneath its homespun veneer, is a hot seethe of human psychodrama. (Thanks, “Twin Peaks”!) That’s certainly the case in playwright Joshua Conkel’s fictional Clear Creek, the setting for “The Chalk Boy,” about a disappeared kid and four girls crushing on him. Dec. 6-22, Cockroach Theatre in Art Square. Info: cockroachtheatre.com
Here in the gray haze of magazine lead time, we have no idea which two college football teams — one each from the Mountain West and PAC-12 conferences — will meet in the 22nd annual Las Vegas Bowl on Dec. 21. But if attendance holds to recent form, some 30,000 people will pack the Sam Boyd Stadium to see for themselves. You could be one of them. Tickets are $35-$110. Info: lvbowl.com