The Seva Holiday Extravaganza, a fundraiser on Saturday, Dec. 17, at the UC Theatre in Berkeley, raised $25,000 for its cause, preventing blindness and restoring sight to people in Third World countries (primarily Asia), mostly by providing cataract surgery (at a cost of $50 per operation). The nonprofit was founded in 1978 by Wavy Gravy, Ram Dass and Larry Brilliant. Headliners at the event were Lukas Nelson (Willie Nelson’s son) & Promise of the Real, Poor Man’s Whiskey and Corinne West.

Gravy was backstage when he noticed a familiar-looking woman in jeans with “Neil Young knees” (torn). It was Lady Gaga, whose presence — apparently to support her friend Nelson — was backstage only. The audience didn’t know the entertainment celebrity was there.

P.S.: The folks at Last Gasp Press put on their annual Burritos Beer and Cheer fundraiser for the St. Martin de Porres soup kitchen last week, and raised $9,200. This news comes from press founder Ron Turner — Santa Claus with a sometimes-braided beard — also a roving reporter on the ultimate San Francisco culinary scene:

“We saw a pizza delivery guy take a pizza into El Faro and come out with a burrito. There’s a moral here somewhere.”

On the day of the second inauguration of George W. Bush in 2005, Mark and Susie Buell, staunch Democrats, threw an Inaugural Bawl at Bimbo’s 365 Club. This year on inauguration night, Mike Krieger (co-founder of Instagram) and Kaitlyn Krieger are inviting people to Bimbo’s again for Take Back the Ball: A Night of Hope and Action. The plan for the evening is “Laugh it out. Cry it out. Dance it out. Then get to work!”

The Kriegers say they’re working with a “few other Bay Area activists” to “come together in San Francisco to celebrate our community, fight for the future of our democracy and raise critical rapid-response funds for leaders and organizations on the front lines.” Unlike the Buells’ party, this one is a fundraiser/call to action. Tickets are $350 for a single and go up to $30,000 for eight tickets plus four that will be given to local activists. For more information, go to www.takebacktheball.org.

The money will go to nonprofits that protect the environment, communities of color and reproductive rights.

Meanwhile in Washington: An off-the-record Hanukkah party co-hosted by the Azerbaijan Embassy and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations was held last week at the Trump International Hotel. The booking must have warmed the heart of the president-elect, but according to the Times of Israel, officers of “eight liberal Jewish groups” refused to go, citing not only the impropriety of funneling money to an elected official but also because of his “broadsides against Muslims, Mexicans and other groups.”

Protesters demonstrating for and against the event included a group reported to have sung, to the tune of “Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel,” “Trump, Trump, Trump.” Don’t try this at home. Like many political messages, it doesn’t scan.

• The man: “Would you mind if I put more decorations on the tree?” The woman: “Well, that’s just more work to take it all off.” (Conversation while tree trimming in Concord — perhaps not in concord — as recorded by the man, Bruce Wodhams.)

•“They have a very nice nose hair trimmer here. Do you need another one?” (Woman on cell phone at Target in Novato, overheard by Kate Brouillet)

•“Joan Baez is being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame,” says Dan St. Paul. “Right. Next thing you’re gonna say is Donald Trump is being inaugurated as president.”

Days of Dismal Dysfunction:

Christmas is only a couple of days away, and perhaps you’ve already started wondering whether to set the table with the red napkins or the green. “It’s been well estimated that on an average Christmas Day,” says HubPages, “we consume nearly 6,000 calories! Is it any wonder then that our gastric system protests by giving us indigestion, heartburn, bloating and any other number of discomforts and embarrassments like wind? ... In extreme cases, people not only feel nausea but ...”

Oh, the heck with it, I don’t want to spoil your meal. Bon appetit, merry Christmas and much happiness to those lighting candles for any reason.

Leah Garchik is open for business in San Francisco, (415) 777-8426. Email: lgarchik@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @leahgarchik

Public Eavesdropping

“What’s so hot about the pope?”