WEDNESDAY 7
White Fence
Listen to White Fence’s psych-folk track “To The Boy I Jumped In The Hemlock Alley,” off the spring-released full-length Cyclops Reap, and it may renew your faith in classic songwriting. Or at least make you feel like you’re listening to the Beatles for the first time on acid. The woozy tune has a consistently mellow flow sliced through with glistening pysch riffs that sound like a flaming saw singeing through campfire wood. The album picks up quicker elsewhere, in blistering, boiling Nuggets-fashion on electrifying “Pink Gorilla.” But this much is now expected from LA/SF songwriter-guitarist Tim Presley — he’s the main force of White Fence — a consistently compelling and inventive musician, and frequent collaborator with the likes of Ty Segall. The show tonight includes essential openers like local singer-songwriter Jessica Pratt and Foxygen’s Bob Dylan-esque singer Jonathan Rado performing his solo work, Law and Order. (Emily Savage)
8pm, $12
Rickshaw Stop
155 Fell, SF
(415) 861-2011
THURSDAY 8
Goodnight, Texas
Having blown up in the past year, San Francisco’s Goodnight, Texas has gotten the opportunity to make its pleasantly earnest vocals, foot-stomping banjo riffs, and catchy melodies quite public. Frontperson Avi Vinocur conveys a nostalgic realness in his voice so immediate that it’s almost impossible not to get pulled away into one of the group’s old-time, dust-and-bones, gritty country blues stories. Something real and excitably beautiful translates in the group’s music. Listen to the pure vocals alongside pleasant acoustic melodies and simply try not to believe everything Vinocur is singing — it’s damn hard. (Smith)
With Fox and Woman,and Vandella
8pm, $10
Cafe Du Nord
2170 Market,SF
(415) 861-5016
casebolt and smith
Very charming, very chatty Los Angeles-based duet dance theater company casebolt and smith (comprised of Liz Casebolt and Joel Smith) visits San Francisco with O(h) — “a title that makes no sense,” the group muses in a YouTube clip of the work. Also contained therein: an energetic, rollin’-like-Ike-and-Tina riff on “Proud Mary;” a deadpan conversation about breakdancing (“I’ve taken, like, two classes”), underpants-clad flailing; and show-tune crooning, with a sudden nervous pause to wonder if the singer maybe should be singing in a lower register. In other words, it’s not your typical night of dance, but neither is it entirely goofy — all those self-deprecating jokes and pop-culture references are worked into a sly commentary on the dancemaking process. (Cheryl Eddy)
Through Sat/10, 8pm, $28
ODC Theater
3153 17th St, SF
The Calamity Cubes
They’re an unexpected group, and the Calamity Cubes’ take on country music is unpredictable. Instead of the lonesome, lovesick ramblings of a cowboy, the group creates a vibe more like that of a cowpoke who just fell off his horse. They play harder than country, calling their style “thrashicana.” The twangy tugs of banjo, upright bass, and acoustic guitar teeter on bluegrass only to be played with such force and speed that punk wouldn’t be a far off description either. The trio may be rough around the edges, but its sound is anything but. Extremely versatile, the group’s tunes go from a basic country number with howling vocals to an electrified thrash of a song with energy that can’t be ignored. (Hillary Smith)
With the Goddamn Gallows, Kountry Kittens
9pm, $12
Bottom of the Hill
1233 17th St., SF
(415) 626-445
FRIDAY 9
Bay Area Deaf Dance Festival
Under the leadership of artistic director Antoine Hunter, who’s also among the performers with his Urban Jazz Dance Company, the first-ever Bay Area Deaf Dance Festival aims to “showcase the contributions of the deaf community to the arts, raise deaf awareness in non-deaf populations, and encourage artistic expression in Bay Area residents.” The three-day event features collaborations between deaf and hearing-impaired artists with hearing artists in both the performing and visual arts realms. Participants include Half-N-Half, composed of children of deaf adults who incorporate ASL storytelling into their act; Beethoven’s Nightmare, a musical group whose name pays tribute to the famously deaf composer; the National Deaf Dance Theater; the all-male, all-deaf troupe Wild Zappers; dance-physical theater group Lux Aeterna Dance Company, and more. (Eddy)
Through Sun/11, 7:30pm, $20
Dance Mission Theater
3316 24th St, SF
Jessye Norman
The last time we saw grand opera diva Jessye Norman, she was typing out a French love letter on the SF Symphony stage in a stunning Issey Miyake gown, before tasting a fruit smoothie made by conductor Michael Tilson Thomas. It was all part of John Cage’s brilliantly random 1970 Song Books composition, which moved the crowd to tears of joy. A longtime traveler through many musical realms, the regal Norman is game for anything. This time with the Symphony she’ll be giving a recital of another songbook, the American one, with selections from Gershwin, Arlen, and Rodgers and Hammerstein. (She’ll be coming directly from Washington, DC, where she’ll take part in a 50th commemoration of the March on Washington by slipping into the shoes of the great Marian Anderson.) There won’t be any smoothies this time, but the music will be fresh and light. (Marke B.)
Fri/9, $15–$115
Davies Symphony Hall
201 Van Ness, SF.
(415) 864-6000
Glass Candy
The synth-heavy, electro-punk group that is Glass Candy returns to San Francisco this weekend, fresh off a jarring slot at that oh-so-hip Pitchfork Music Festival. The broader crowds still, after all these years, seem not quite sure what to make of the amorphous, experimental, and ever-evolving duo. And that’s precisely what keeps it interesting. Producer Johnny Jewel (also of Chromatics, and co-owner of dance label Italians Do It Better) and casual, Nico-esque vocalist Ida No have been doing this whole Glass Candy gig since ’96, yet each tour, each new release (2003’s Love Love Love, 2007’s B/E/A/T/B/O/X) brings some different flavor of stimulating Italo-disco glitter cut with speed and Kraut. This is also why those who’ve fallen in line behind the duo have long been itching for a new record, the promised Body Work, which is purportedly coming out soon, after a teaser single of “Halloween” released on Oct. 31, 2011. (Savage)
With Omar Perez, Stanley Frank, Bus Station John
9pm, $20
Mezzanine
444 Jessie, SF
(415) 625-8800
SATURDAY 8/10
Pistahan Parade and Festival
The Bay Area is home to a robust Filipino American population, which means Filipino American Arts Exposition’s annual Pistahan Parade and Festival — now in its 20th year — offers authentic tastes, sounds, and sights for all who attend. Highlights include the energetic parade (today, 11am, begins at Civic Center and ends near Yerba Buena Gardens), which offers prizes for the best costume, best choreography, and best overall contingent. Plus: a Culinary Pavilion (whose adobo will conquer the competition? Who will gobble the most balut?); a Martial Arts Pavilion (with kids battling it out for stick-fighting supremacy); and a generous array of entertainment on multiple stages, including youth dance crews, traditional dance and music performances, comedian Rex Navarette, and a pair of reality stars (X Factor Philippines winner KZ Tandingan, and American Idol semi-finalist Jordan Segundo). (Eddy)
Through Sun/11, 11am-5pm, free
Yerba Buena Gardens
Mission at Third St, SF
Cheech and Chong
“Dave’s not here man!” But the original dynamic duo of dope, Cheech and Chong, is indeed going to be in the city tonight to light up the comedy scene in the way that only it can do. Once again bringing their marijuana-laced humor and stoned stage show to their fans around the world, Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong may be older, but the humor of their act remains ageless. The two pontiffs of pot recently released an animated film, using clips from many of their records and skits — here’s your chance relive those classic bits live (and high) in person — get your tickets now before they all go up in smoke! (Sean McCourt)
7:30pm, $35–$79.50
America’s Cup Pavilion
Piers 27/29, SF
King Tuff
King Tuff, the man, the myth, the guy with the “sun medallion” is coming along with his pals and bandmates to play at Brick and Mortar Music Hall the day before his Outside Lands performance. Mixing glam and garage rock, King Tuff crafts music that makes you want to shuffle on the dance floor. He’s come into success with career milestones such as being added to the lineup at OSL — he’s usually known for playing smaller fests like Burger Record’s Burgerama
and 1-2-3-4 Go! Records’ Go! Go! Fest. The artist has also reached #8 in Billboard’s Heatseeker Albums with Was Dead, after its late May reissue on Burger Records. In short, come see this animal before it disappears into the vast expanse known as Golden Gate Park (for Outside Lands, duh)! (Erin Dage)
With the Men, Twin Peaks
10pm, $20
Brick and Mortar Music Hall
1710 Mission, SF
(415) 371-1631
SUNDAY 8/11
King Kong vs Godzilla
With Pacific Rim still hanging in there at the box office, what better time than now to revisit one of the original massive monster mash ups? As part of Will Viharo’s awesome “Thrillville” series of film events, August Ragone — award-winning author of Eiji Tsuburaya: Master of Monsters, which looked at the life of the Japanese special effects legend — will host King Kong vs Godzilla, the 1962 romp that pitted the two titanic creatures against each other in a no-holds-barred, city-smashing smackdown. Hear about the making of the movie, see behind the scenes photos, then grab some beers and get ready to rumble! (McCourt)
6pm, $6
New Parkway
474 24th St., Oakl.
TUESDAY 8/13
Jeff Rosenstock (of Bomb the Music Industry!)
Blistering, honest punk rock from a man and his laptop: Jeff Rosenstock manages to take the stripped-down guitar and computer layout of a minimal Beck set and flip it on its ear with DIY punk rockness. Doing so, he creates unexpectedly intricate, yet rambling, song structures. Basically, he’s a room-galvanizing force of singalongs, like with the track “Amen” from his new album I Look Like Shit, which asks “So what’s the difference if the bombs fall from the sky? So what’s the difference if you like being alive?” Rosenstock, who previously sung about an unending purgatory of watered-down all-ages shows clashing with his dreams of maturing as a musician, will be playing with labelmates Dog Party, teenage sisters representing the age bracket of most of Rosenstock’s fans. Also that guy from Andrew Jackson Jihad whom everyone’s always talking about (Sean Bonnette) and Hard Girls, who write songs about the movie Major Payne. (Ilan Moskowitz)
8:30pm, $10
Bottom of the Hill
1233 17th Street, SF (415) 626-4455