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The procrastinator’s Treasure Island Music Festival to-do list

Tony Robles

October 14, 2013

From snatching that perfect pair of tolerably uncomfortable shoes to sourcing stamina-inducing party favors, pre-music festival preparations are key.

Unfortunately I’m a procrastinator to the highest degree — a gal who thrives on the thrill of a deadline and thereby ends up highly caffeinated on Saturday morning, buzzing between projects: weaving flower crowns with foliage from the backyard, trying on all my bras in search of the one that will best cozy my flask, baking sugary snacks that minimize long line-induced irritation, taking shots, doing lunges, and yelping with excitement.

I am also a big fan of the to-do list. And since the Treasure Island Music Festival is a personal favorite fully laced with woozy, mushy memories, I’m getting a few-day head start on this year’s to-do list to make sure the fest goes swimmingly. (Treasure Island Music Festival takes place this Sat/19-Sun/20. www.treasureislandfestival.com.)

My Treasure Island To-Do List

1. Cool it — I ain’t makin’ no schedule.

Treasure Island is the perfect babysitter for indecisive music-lovers. I’m gonna shuffle between stages, passing beer tents and high-fiving neighbors, co-workers, and awkward exes along the way. I’m confident in my ability to mosey into just the right kind of trouble.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPaA4HVISLo

2. Valet that bike — make someone else worry about parking.

No lock means I can save the room in the mini backpack for a burrito (aka tallboy wrapped in a tortilla).

3. Booze on the way — duh.

Whisky pulls during the 15-minute bus ride make for happy islanders.

4. Sail away — time to flirt starboard side.

People have boats. Companies are chartering boats. All I’m saying is that there are boat rides to be had. There’s also rumor that one of said vessels will have the boys of Lord Huron on deck. Time to swoon in my stripes.

5. Show up early — fashionably late isn’t fashionable.

I always foolishly take my damn time and land on the island mid-afternoon, sorta sour and wishing I had just packed a bag brunch and picnicked on the grass. Quit pretending like there are better things to do — it’s an island, with music, and sunshine. Done.

6. Pack smart — not light.

Is that sandwich too heavy? Is that trail mix hurting my back? No it’s not because it’s in my belly and I’m happy. The food on site provides a nice array of local fare, but there’s no rule against brining some of your own treats, too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIjVpRAXK18

7. Convince the HAIM sisters to be my bffs — get crafty.

I sincerely think we’d make great friends. We could braid each other’s long locks, listen to records while drinking milkshakes, and swap leather jackets. The plan: make friendship bracelets these girls can’t refuse. Camp DIY will have all the supplies and badass crafter, Kelly Malone of Workshop SF will be on island to make sure things are just as charming as they are rock and roll.

8. Track down the balloon chain guy. Just because.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zCoCa6b6cU

9. Be sunset ready — no bathroom line or trinket shopping during the ball drop.

The sun will set at approximately 6:25 both evenings, meaning I’ll be feeling some sky love during Major Lazer’s set Saturday and James Blake come Sunday. Take a puff and make a thoughtful toast to that beautiful Bay called home.

10. Make-out on the 60-foot Century Ferris Wheel — no excuses.

11. Watch Nelson Loskamp cut people’s hair…from afar.

He tapes you down, covers your eyes and mouth, and sonically hacks at your hair with sound-wired scissors. I don’t understand what this means but I’m terrified and beyond curious.

12. Throw down — then stretch.

“When a fire starts to burn, right? And starts to spread? She gonna bring that attitude to halt…”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9saLEZlKEU

13. Get weird with strangers — we’re all smashed together anyway.

A few dirty lyrics, pulsing bass, and silky voices — acts like Antwon and Little Dragon could encourage a few folks to get fresh. I’ll be sure to provide encouragement.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QS10B4k_9g

14. Be observant — and/or some light stalking.

Where or where will the Atoms For Peace crew be hanging out post show? How about Animal Collective? Beck? I probably wouldn’t be able to speak if I find them, but I’m not ashamed to drool in their presence.

15. Solid prep — Monday is for recovery.

Start that fake cough on Friday in order to avoid all work, responsibilities, and obligations come Monday. Sleigh Bells is sure to have me wrecked and amped for hooky.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cr-ahiFDkts

Elderly activists and SF natives march to preserve San Franciscan culture at Our Mission: No Eviction

Erica Hanna

October 14, 2013

Gum Gee Lee recognizes that she’s not the only one.

Dressed in her now signature floral patterned blue jacket, she climbed the white flatbed truck that served as a makeshift stage of the Our Mission: No Eviction rally on Saturday, and with the aid of a translator she spoke to the 300 or so protesters.

“Its not okay to use gentrification to takeover,” she said. “It is disproportionately affecting the elderly and disabled.”

Lee, 73, took to activism as she, her husband and her disabled daughter were evicted from their Jackson street apartment near Chinatown. Her home of more than 30 years is one of many casualties as rising prices push long time San Franciscans out of the city.

The demands the rally organizers made were to address just that, asking Mayor Ed Lee to halt all Ellis Act evictions and put a freeze on rent increases and for the city to declare a state of emergency as the culture of the city experiences a dramatic shift.

The rally was inspired by a wave of nonprofit and tenant evictions in the Mission district over the past year, like the recent threatened Ellis Act evictions of Chicano artists Rene Yanez, Yolanda Lopez, and Rio Yanez. The march started at the Brava theater on 24th street, a mostly feel good celebration of a shared San Franciscan culture. The elder Yanez, 71 years old, bemoaned the loss of the Mission’s heritage.

Stopped at 24th and Bryant to hear Rene Yañez, recently evicted artist, speak. @mlnow pic.twitter.com/jQhHRgzmJ1

— Alexandra Garretón (@GarretonA) October 12, 2013

“If a mural gets painted over, no one gets upset, but if a muralist gets evicted no one says anything,” he said to the crowd. He later told us that though he has seen many changes in San Francisco since he landed here, he feels the new tech culture only has dollar signs in their eyes. “In the 70’s people came here for love, not for money,” he said. “Those were hopeful times. That’s bohemia.”

Gum Gee Lee and Rene Yanez weren’t the only elderly rabble rousers, but that shouldn’t come as a surprise, Ted Gullickson, director of the San Francisco Tenants Union told us.

Its the elderly who are most often targeted, he said, because they’re the ones who pay the lowest prices by virtue of being tenants the longest.

Landlords who are “okay with” taking smaller amounts are more likely to house elderly tenants with reduced rents, he said, and those landlords are targeted by real estate speculators who want to flip the place to sell as tenancies in common. The landlords themselves are often elderly, and may be looking to get out of the market. This makes buildings with elderly tenants fertile ground for Ellis Act evictions, he said.

“There aren’t going to be a lot of landlords willing to sell if they’re renting to pricey tech people,” Gullickson said.

But older activists weren’t the only ones to make it out to the march. A surprising number of those the Guardian talked to were San Francisco natives, born and bred.

@AvalosSF our Mission no evictions Basta ya pic.twitter.com/EdAZgHoet6

— John Avalos (@AvalosSF) October 12, 2013

Paul Altamriano is a strapping guy with shoulders like a football player, so it made sense that he and his young son (also named Paul) both sported Joe Montana jerseys like true 49er faithful. They marched together with the procession, except for the occasional burst of energy causing the younger Paul to run excitedly ahead.

Altamriano went to Mission high, and so did his two daughters. When his son is old enough, he hopes he can carry on the tradition.

“I was born and raised here, you’ve got to fight,” he said.”I want my son to grow up here.”

His face grew dark when he said that his father died shortly after being evicted from his San Francisco apartment, passing in a city that was not his home.

Vida Ramirez was also out with her children, Cynthia, 16, and Jose, who is “seven and a half,” he said.

“This is our barrio and our neighborhood,” she told the Guardian, as she held her children and marched. Her mother, grey haired and graceful, kept pace. Ramirez remembers when the first Mexican coffee shops and bars packed up in the first tech boom in the 90s.

She felt wronged, as if someone had attacked her personally. Maybe they had.

That’s the heart of it. Longtime San Franciscans fear their culture is being left behind, erased. And its not just the Mission. As has been widely reported, Chinatown is a target for evictions as well as the Castro and Sunset districts.

Protesting evictions in the Mission today #vine https://t.co/woPLpWoDSJ

— Joe A. W. Fitzgerald (@FitzTheReporter) October 12, 2013

But despite the expressions of grief at the rally, San Franciscans also used the day to enjoy the culture thats left in the neighborhood. As dancers in colorful headdresses bobbed and stepped to the beat of a drum, local luminaries stopped to watch along with everyone else. Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi, Sups. John Avalos and David Campos, Assembly Member Tom Ammiano, housing activist Sara Shortt, and a sister of Perpetual Indulgence showed up to the rally. Though they were all the usual suspects, there was something different about this march. A barely perceptible change, but there all the same.

There was hope.

“There’s been a lot of despair around seeing so many people unfairly pushed out, but people are starting to wake up,” Mani Drayton said. He’s an SF native who said he was “a Mustang” (he went to Lincoln High). He agreed that there were a lot more cheers and a lot more smiles than the usual SF protest. As the rally of folks made their way up to Mission street, he speculated on why.

Maybe it was the amount of kids in the crowd, maybe it was the good weather, he said, but maybe it was a newfound feeling of agency.

“I think there’s a positive vibe because a lot of people believe there’s a difference that can be made,” he said. He smiled, pushed up his glasses, and went back to marching with the crowd.

Pleased to meat you: Fatted Calf Charcuterie

Sue Vaughan

October 14, 2013

If you’ve ever found yourself waiting for the 16 Express on the corner of Fell and Gough, then it’s easy to bet you’ve swiveled around on that red bench to peer through the glass wall of the charcuterie and butcher shop behind, where ruby-colored sausages, pâtés, smoked ham, bacon and meatloaf show off their curves inside a refrigerated display. Unthinkingly, you’ll have walked in.

The Hayes Valley location of the Fatted Calf Charcuterie — the store also has a Napa outpost and a weekly presence at the Ferry Plaza Farmers’ Market — sells a plethora of coveted artisanal delights as well, like hard cheese, house-pickled beets, dried beans, and impeccable pastas. Among the sandwiches, the coffee-bourbon barbeque pulled pork sandwich contains a moist piquancy, while the toasty Croque Monseiur, dripping of Mornay sauce and overlaid with squiggles of cured ham, is worth missing the next bus for. (Grab an extra napkin — these beasts invariably fall apart in your hands and lap.)

You can’t take the entire shop with you, but luckily owners Taylor Boetticher and Toponia Miller just published their first cookbook, In the Charcuterie (Ten Speed Press, 2013), which reads like a whole world of meat — one I’ve become enamored with, after making the Flaky Leaf Lard Biscuits. I caught up with Boetticher before the couple left on a promotional trip, asking him about their journey in charcuterie.

SF Bay Guardian What draws you to charcuterie in particular?

Taylor Boetticher I started making charcuterie when I began working at Cafe Rouge in Berkeley in 1999, and it drew me in almost instantly. I think a large part of what I liked about it was that I was doing this while working behind the meat counter, so I had a really good connection with everyone who was buying the food we were making. It’s different in that sense than working in a restaurant kitchen, you never really interact much with the people you’re cooking for even if you’re in an open kitchen.

When you’re getting feedback about a terrine or a new bacon cure two or three days after you introduce it, it enables you to really get a good sense of what’s working and what isn’t. What continues to draw me to charcuterie is that, at this point, I’m lucky enough to not only work with my wife but with a wildly talented group of individuals whose sole interest is in making the best food we can make… That and the growing interest on the part of the general public make what we do really rewarding. Not much feels better than when a customer comes back in and tells you that you had a part in one of the best dinner parties they’ve ever thrown.

SFBG In the Charcuterie is comprehensive, enlightening, and I’ll admit, a little daunting. Who did you write this book for?

TB Thanks! We wrote this book for anyone who’s a little curious about making the most out of the meat they buy and cook, from enthusiastic novices to seasoned professionals. Our goals with this book are to inspire confidence in people when they set out to make something and give them a comprehensive set of basics which will make every bite count.

SFBG Where in your book do you recommend a new-to-meat home cook should begin?

TB I’d start with the 5 Spice Baby Back Ribs or the Gingery Braised Duck Legs. Both use relatively common cuts (chicken legs are just as awesome if you don’t have access to duck legs) but with exceptionally flavorful treatments that aren’t very complicated. They’re both good examples of how to take a very straightforward cut and really make it sing.

SFBG The book mentions a trip to Spain, Portugal, France, and Italy. How does travel inspire your work?

TB A huge part of travel for us has always been about seeing what and how other people eat, and the role that food plays in different cultures. It’s one of the few things that everyone does and shares. Travel for us is both relaxing and invigorating, just like it is for most people. Wherever we go, we try and keep open minds and eat what everyone else is eating. It’s good to just go with the flow. A lot of time we’ll try different versions of things we’ve been making already, which is always cool. It doesn’t necessarily mean you have to go back and change it immediately when that happens.

I think one of the most exciting things in food right now is the idea that it’s good to know how something is made in its place of origin but not have to be a slave to authenticity. Like with our pulled pork sandwich — I’ve had a lot of them, all over the country. Some are better than others, but I have zero interest in arguing with anyone about the “right” way to do it. Is it tasty? Do you and your guests like it? Those are more important than any pedigrees, in my opinion.

SFBG What is your favorite aspect or variety of charcuterie to make?

TB Tough choice. Right now it’s our brined and smoked meats — we’ve been playing around with a couple new holiday hams that I’m really enjoying. I’ll just say this — when your big experiment of the week is getting a bourbon/honey/gelée glazed smoked ham nailed down 100 percent, it’s a pretty good job overall.

SFBG What is your personal favorite recipe in the book — or what do you crave for your next meal?

TB Errr, it’s probably the meat loaf. I really love that damn recipe.

SFBG Do you have a personal philosophy on eating animals?

TB My personal philosophy on eating animals is pretty simple: make it count. There’s no such thing as cheap meat, and we have a responsibility to make the most out of anything, especially something with a heartbeat, that’s grown for food. I’d love to completely get away from factory farms in this country and have meat animals be more a part of where they started — on farms as part of a program of crop rotation and land management.

Lots has been written about the politics and money involved that make it hard for farmers to do just that, but anything that grows with fresh air, sunshine, room to move around, and good food and water is going to be healthier. And tastier. This is indisputable.

SFBG What is your number one, most essential advice to home cooks on charcuterie?

TB Start small.

SFBG What’s next for the two of you?

TB We’re doing some travel to promote the book on the East Coast and through Texas, then holiday madness will be upon us. In January, we’re hoping to take a vacation. It’s been a pretty busy year.

FATTED CALF (Hayes Valley location)

Open daily, 10am-8pm

320 Fell, SF

www.fattedcalf.com

Thee Oh Sees, OBN III’s, and more shake up the Chapel

Tony Robles

October 14, 2013

Once (three years ago) I broke my wrist at a Thee Oh Sees show, and despite the gnawing pain from my misshapen wrist, I stayed to watch the rest of the set.

You see, you just don’t leave a Thee Oh Sees show early. It is a band you experience, because it’s not that often that you get the chance to see a band that enjoys what it’s doing quite so much, and may just want to pull you into the hectic fun.

My most recent encounter with Thee Oh Sees was last Thursday at the Chapel; the band was kicking off its sold-out, three-night residency with spooky electronic act Fryborg, proto-punk worshippers OBN III‘s and precise psych-rock band the Blind Shake.

Fryborg started as people began to file in to the Mission venue. A one-man act, Fryborg tinkered away on various sound boards with his back turned to the audience. Haunting, Halloween-like imagery was projected on to a screen behind the stage while he did his best to conjure up beats for the better part of 30 minutes. It was either hit-or-miss with the audience (as is with most acts of Fryborg’s ilk), with people either nodding along to the music or hitting the bar.

Next up was OBN III’s. The Austin, Texas based band is Stooges worship in the best way possible. The five-person outfit created a wall of sound that enveloped the audience. It was loud, dirty, and leaning on the edge of proto-punk. The frontperson and namesake of the band, Orville Bateman Neeley III, took notes from Iggy Pop with a confrontational stage manner, and straight-up pissy demeanor. The band shredded through its set with great voracity, and the audience ate it up.

Then a trio of bald men graced the stage. One person from the audience thought it was a crew setting up for Thee Oh Sees. But alas, it was not! It was the Blind Shake, a Minneapolis-based group that serves up intricate psych rock for all ages. Though the Blind Shake airs on the noisy side, that doesn’t stop it from cranking out songs with intense, military-like precision. Also of note: the band released a full-length on Castle Face Records this fall, dubbed Key To a False Door, which is worth checking out.

Finally San Francisco locals, Thee Oh Sees graced the stage. If one gazed upon the crowd-goers surrounding the stage, he or she would find that the people in attendance were nothing short of starry-eyed as the band dutifully prepared for its performance.

Now, accurately describing what a Thee Oh Sees show is like describing colors to a person who has never seen before. (Though I digress.) While I have seen the group numerous times by this point, there is something that always brings me back. It’s likely the effort that the band puts into its sets, and the kinetic energy it exudes that’s nothing less than infectious.

While the Thee Oh Sees played a combination of old songs and new tracks off newest release, Floating Coffin (Castle Face Records, 2013), a good portion of the audience danced and pogoed with the best of them.

No room left in San Francisco for an artist who helped make the Mission what is

Sasha Cuttler

October 11, 2013

After four decades living and creating art in the Mission, iconic San Francisco artist and curator Rene Yañez is being threatened with eviction.

Yañez made local history in 1972 when he brought Dia de los Muertos, the Mexican holiday honoring the dead, to San Francisco. The parade through the Mission District every Nov. 2 quickly became a Bay Area tradition, drawing thousands of people each year.

He founded the Galeria de la Raza and brought Latin America’s premier artists and photographers to showcase their work there. When the Museum of Modern Art rejected the work of a little-known Mexican woman, it was Yañez who gave a young Frida Kahlo a space to exhibit her paintings. He taught art classes for youths in the community and offered crucial support to many of the Mission’s mural projects.

In 1998, the San Francisco Foundation awarded Rene the “Special Trustees Award in Cultural Leadership.” Now, the man who has contributed so much to the culture of this city finds himself on the verge of being expelled from it.

Rene’s impending eviction from the house on San Jose Avenue where he has lived for the for 35 years is producing a fierce reaction. Fellow artist and personal friend Guillermo Gómez-Peña recently released an open letter expressing his outrage and rallying for public support of Rene’s cause.

“You are being physically and culturally evicted,” Gómez-Peña writes. “Shame on this city! Shame on the greedy landlords and politicians! Your sadness is ours…A city without Rene Yañez…can’t be called San Francisco.”

Gómez-Peña’s cry to action will be answered tomorrow (Sat/12) at 2pm at the Brava Theater on 24th Street with Our Mission: No Eviction, a march in protest of the Ellis Act, the law used to evict all of the tenants living in the five-unit house on San Jose, including Rene, his partner Cynthia, his former wife Yolanda, and his son Rio. (For more on tomorrow’s event and the city’s eviction trend, see our Politics blog).

On Saturday, Oct. 26, Brava Theater in the Mission will host “Our Mission: No Eviction!” a fundraiser in honor of Rene and Yolanda featuring art and performances. All proceeds from ticket sales to the event will go to the legal expenses of fighting the eviction, as well as Rene and Cynthia’s medical bills; both the artist and his partner are currently battling cancer.

“They were kind of at peace that this would be their home when they passed away, in the community they’ve put so much into,” Rio told us. “Cynthia could be dying or dead while they are in the process of moving.”

Under the Ellis Act, Rene and Cynthia qualify for a year-long postponement of their eviction because of their illness, a fact which their landlord, Sergio Iantorno of Golden Properties, LLC, neglected to tell Rene when he offered him $21,000 and a years’ free rent if he accepted his eviction immediately.

Consulting his lawyer, Raquel Fox, Yañez was informed about the legal extension and proceeded to successfully apply for it. Even without her advice, though, Yañez would not have accepted Iantorno’s offer. As Rio explained, that amount is nowhere near enough for Rene and Cynthia Yañez to get another place in San Francisco, especially in the neighborhood that they call home.

“They are in their 70s. They aren’t looking for a huge buyout so that they can start a new life,” Rio told us.

When their original landlord died 13 years ago, Yañez and his fellow tenants pooled their money to make a bid for the house. Golden Properties saw their offer, and doubled it. Now, they are banding together again to refuse Iantorno’s money and fight the eviction.

“I would rather take my chances and fight it,” Yañez told the Guardian. “And also I see it as resistance to what is going on and affecting a lot of people.”

On Oct. 1, the San Francisco Rent Board released its Annual Statistical Report for fiscal year 2012-2013. The report revealed a 36 percent increase in eviction notices since the year before. Evictions from rent-controlled apartments in particular are at an 11-year high.

The Ellis Act was used 81 percent more than last year, providing the basis for almost 10 percent of all evictions. The law was used with greatest frequency by landlords in the Mission District. Meanwhile, city public health officials estimate that someone earning minimum wage would need to work more than eight full-time jobs to be able to afford a two-bedroom apartment downtown.

“It is a disaster,” states Christopher Cook, an organizer with the nonprofit group Eviction Free Summer. “Individuals, families, and increasingly small businesses are being hammered by these twin tsunamis of evictions and dramatic rent increases. Those two factors have been driving people out of the city in ever greater numbers for the past 10 to 15 years.”

Gómez-Peña blames these changes on the mass of high-paid young people produced by the second dot-com boom. They may work in Silicon Valley, but they play in San Francisco, and this new class of wealthy young techies can and will pay any price to live in the city—especially the Mission District.

“I see them everyday, the hordes of iPad and iPhone texting zombies, oblivious to us and our lives, our inspirations and tribulations,” he writes. “I see them in my building and on the street, invading the city with an attitude of unchecked entitlement, taking over every square inch and squeezing out the last drops of otherness.”

It is no easy task to make room for all that wealth when the majority of the city’s residents are renters protected by law against unfair rent increases, landlord mistreatment, and unwarranted evictions. The actual strength of these safeguards may be waning, though, leading Gómez-Peña to warn the public in his letter that, “As renters our hours here are numbered.”

The only way to evict a tenant in San Francisco is by claiming one of 15 “just cause” reasons for removing them. Among those 15, the Ellis Act is something of a landlord’s dream date, skipping all the talking to get straight to the action—eviction. Established in 1985, the California law gives landlords the unconditional right to evict tenants if they are “going out of business.”

In order to implement the Ellis Act, a landlord must evict all of the tenants in his or her building, giving them 120 days notice, and wait five years before they can put the units back on the rental market at an increased price. However, the law does not prevent landlords from renting the units out as short-term lodgings, or converting them to be sold as one massive unit, tenancies in common or condominiums.

“Ellis Act evictions are impossible to fight,” admitted Ted Gullickson, the head of the San Francisco Tenants Union. This makes them an ideal weapon against rent control, which has allowed residents from lower income brackets to hold onto their homes in San Francisco for decades while the values of the real estate grew and grew. Even then, many tenants do not feel secure. Guerra has heard stories about people with rent control living for decades without hot water, working windows, heat, or even a stove. “To have this amazing rent control,” she concludes, “they put up with substandard living.”

When something broke in their building, Yañez and his family often did not even tell the landlord about it. If they did ask him to fix something, and he ignored their request, no complaints were ever made. “Because of rent control, we tried to keep a low profile,” Yañez acknowledges. “We tried not to bother the landlord or make too much of a fuss, because we did not want to find ourselves in this position.”

Rene has been aware of how precarious his situation is for years. Iantorno attempted to evict him multiple times. He watched as neighbors, nonprofit organizations, and local artists accepted their own eviction notices without a fight. When he first opened the Galeria in 1970, Yañez had a list of artists living in the Mission that neared 200 names. Today, it does not even reach 20.

“Since 2000, they’ve started this thing in the Mission,” he states. “They were very quiet about it at first, but now it’s accelerating. Willie Brown started it, this trend of redevelopment, eviction, displacing people without consideration. He opened up this gaping wound in the Mission, and now these developers are throwing salt on it, trying to kill the patient,” he chuckles. “People get really upset when somebody paints over a mural, like, ‘It has history, it has value, it’s been here for years,’ but they don’t have anything to say if the muralist gets evicted.”

Legally, there is not much that Yañez and his family can do in the coming year to stop their eviction. Even an advocate like Cook admits, “You can’t reverse an Ellis Act. All you can do is fight it, try to make it clear that it’s not worth the landlord’s while, that they’re gonna be in for a world of headaches, costs, and public shaming if they do this.”

Yañez has not accepted the eviction, but he is preparing for the worst, searching for a new home for Cynthia and himself. He continues to scour the Mission, in vain. “I love the Mission,” he explains. “I’ve been there 40 years. I adopted it, it adopted me. And it needs cultural preservation,” he says, curling his hands into fists that bang the air. “We saved the community from really greedy people who had absolutely no interest in who we were as a people. They just saw us as savages standing in the way of them making money. That attitude is still here. It’s actually worse than ever—unregulated and devastating. When I see the trucks moving people out, older people who have no idea where they’re going, sometimes they go downtown to the hotels—I just think it’s really heartless,” he finishes, his eyes wide in earnesty.

Guardian of San Francisco culture that he may be, Rene and Cynthia Yañez will be forced to leave the city in search of somewhere more affordable if their eviction occurs. In that event, there is little chance that the elderly man will be able to return to the city to curate SOMArts annual Dia de los Muertos exhibition as he has every year since he began it.

“I’m hoping that I can hang in. It’s a throw of the dice, but I still have some miles left in me,” he says, his eyes drooping wearily.

There is a chance that the exhibition, which opened today (Friday/11), might be Yañez’s last. Every year, he changes the theme. This November, the Dia de los Muertos exhibition is dedicated to all the living battling cancer, and all the dead for whom that battle is over. Each piece is haunting, and all together it is a stunning collection encompassing a range of ages and races to touch any and every person that sees it. Like a loved one lost to cancer, the exhibit leaves you wanting more, yet so grateful fpr what you have experienced.

His last or not, it is something that Yañez can be very proud of.

Anti-eviction rally in the Mission tomorrow supporting the Mission and Rene Yanez

Erica Hanna

October 11, 2013

Anti-eviction rally in the Mission tomorrow supporting the Mission and Rene Yanez

Tomorrow (Sat/12 at 2pm) advocates and defenders of working class San Francisco will march to protest a rash of recent Mission evictions, including the potential ouster of artists and activists Rene Yañez and Yolanda Lopez from their Mission district home.

The organizers want the mayor to declare a state of emergency in the city as the recent Ellis Act evictions have intensified — 125 Ellis Act eviction notices have been filed this year, with the most recent numbers going to the end of August, according to the SF Rent Board. But 175 requests for Ellis Act evictions were filed, meaning 70 percent of Ellis evictions were upheld. The march follows recent wins against gentrification, including blocking a Jack Spade store from opening in the Mission.

Organizer Roberto Y. Hernandez said that since he announced the march he’s been getting calls of support from all over the city, but most notably in Chinatown, the Bayview, and the Castro.

“I heard horror stories of what’s happening to the gay community in the Castro,” he said. “This doesn’t just affect the Mission, this affects the whole city.”

Each of those evictions represents a person or family whose ouster from their apartments may mean ouster from San Francisco altogether. Ellis evictions gained more notoriety this year, first with the plight of the Lee family and now the ouster of Mission artists Yañez and Lopez.

Yañez is widely credited with bringing the celebration of Day of the Dead to the city. He co-founded the Mission’s Galeria de la Raza and practiced art in his home of the Bay Area since the 60s. Now, while suffering from cancer, the 71 year old is being forced from the neighborhood he helped to shape. Lopez, his former wife, is an artist with deep roots in the Chicano/a movements of the ‘60s, and is facing eviction as well.

After 35 years in their home, the artists face the same plight as the Lee’s and even San Francisco’s local nonprofits — ouster in the face of the tech boom’s ever rising rents.

Rene Yañez’s son Rio is an established artist in his own right and rents a unit in the same building. Rio faces the same Ellis Act eviction as his father.

In an open letter to Yañez and the community, artist Guillermo Gómez-Peña wrote, “Rene, you are my artistic godfather and needless to say, you are an icon; the artistic Capo of the Bay Area Chicano movement…Our city has become a bohemian theme park for consumer fools with the latest gadgets in hand, but what happens when there are no more bohemians left?”

Juan Gonzalez, the founding publisher of the Mission’s local newspaper, El Tecolote, said that Yañez’s ouster from the neighborhood is part of a larger context.

“He’s a leading force, someone who puts his energy in making the city aware that Latinos are here and here to stay,” he said. And of the Mission’s slow but brutal gentrification, “It’s not right. There’s always going to be change, but to see this lost — I think the city as a whole will lose. I’m waiting for the city leaders, beyond our supervisors, to use their powers to stop what’s happening.”

One opportunity to call for change will happen tomorrow.

Honoring Rene Yanez/Yolanda Lopez at @sfbos, great artists facing an #EllisAct eviction after 35 yrs in the Mission. pic.twitter.com/ss8s7mcpi1

— David Campos (@DavidCamposSF) October 1, 2013

The march for Yañez and Yolanda Lopez, “Our Mission: No Eviction,” will hit the streets Saturday, Oct. 12 at 2pm at the Brava Theater, which is on 24th Street between Hampshire and York. The march will move towards Mission where they’ll hold a rally at the 24th street BART station.

“The mayor was involved in the I-Hotel movement back in the day, when they evicted my Asian brothers and sisters,” Hernandez said. “We’ve got to wake him up. I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt, but now he’s gotta move, he’s gotta do something.”

Later this month the Brava Theater will have a benefit for the family, and you can learn more about it here.

Fighting climate change, with crowd funding and Google Hangouts

Sasha Cuttler And Mary Magee

October 11, 2013

A young San Francisco couple, Ryan Kushner and Amanda Ravenhill, are trying out a new approach to climate change activism that they hope will ultimately reach thousands of people via online videos and interactive web-based trainings.

Called Hero Hatchery, the ambitious project launched earlier this week. Celebrity-status environmentalists such as Bill McKibben, head of 350.org, and Tim DeChristopher, who made headlines for throwing a monkey wrench into a Bureau of Land Management auction, will lead free weekly online trainings on climate change, administered via Google Hangout, as part of the effort.

Concurrently with the massive open online training, they’re hoping to generate wind in the sails of a queer climate activist, Lauren Wood, who worked alongside other climate activists to start an organization called Peaceful Uprising in Southern Utah and has been designated as a Hero Hatchery fellow. When not working as a restaurant server to make ends meet, Wood spends her days organizing against the expansion of mining operations in Southern Utah. She got started through support work for DeChristopher, who spent two years in prison for derailing a federal land auction by bidding on parcels that were about to be opened up to mining.

An underlying goal of Hero Hatchery, Kushner said in a recent phone interview, is to reframe a debate that’s all-too-often controlled by PR strategists hired by corporate oil and gas interests. To this end, the plan is to use crowd funding to generate enough money for the fellowship, and to hire their very own professional-grade PR machine.

Kushner and Ravenhill met at the Presidio Graduate School, a San Francisco institution, where they earned MBAs in sustainable business. They traveled to Washington, D.C. last year and got arrested at the Keystone XL pipeline protests outside the White House, alongside activists from 350.org.

Their approach to activism seems to be less about staying at a public hearing till the wee hours to try and halt a mining permit from being issued, and more about using laptops to generate a buzz that can be converted into a form of popular pressure. There are thousands of environmental organizations doing grassroots organizing nationwide; rather than honing in on a specific issue, the Hero Hatchery team seeks to position itself as a kind of megaphone to amplify existing work. Kushner likes to use the word “elevate” when describing how Hero Hatchery will lend assistance to Wood, whom he hopes will be the first of many fellows.

Wood is the daughter of two river guides, and grew up rafting in Southern Utah, where she spent five years as a river guide in her own right. Now, her organization is focused on challenging open pit mining operations that have broken ground at PR Springs on the Tavaputs Plateau, which sits near the top of the drainage to the Green and Colorado river systems.

“The Green River and the Colorado River: they’re the front lines,” she told us, speaking by phone from Salt Lake City, where she was born and raised. Her connection to the rivers brought “this climate change problem into my heart and my gut,” she said.

She said she’d seen river-rafting companies that could no longer operate because the water is running so low, due to drought conditions. Mining operations will only consume more water, making the problem worse.

But as a Hero Hatchery fellow, Wood has bigger plans than just telling the story of what’s happening in her own backyard. She wants to get the word out about a wide variety of campaigns focused on climate change as a way to help support a more cohesive national climate movement.

“I think what I’m most excited about with this project is acting as the veins in a body, and acting as the interconnection between people who want to get involved and don’t know how,” she said. “This movement is increasingly interconnected. I want to be able to go around the country and talk to different communities about what it’s going to take to build a national movement.”

Machete rages, Tom Hanks sails, and Romeo and Juliet (spoiler alert!) die in the end: new movies!

Sue Vaughan

October 11, 2013

Machete rages, Tom Hanks sails, and Romeo and Juliet (spoiler alert!) die in the end: new movies!

First things first: do not pass go or collect your turkey leg until you’ve seen Escape From Tomorrow, the shot-secretly-at-Disney sci-fi drama that will, in fact, blow your mind. Dennis Harvey’s review here. (Speaking of mind-blowing, have you seen Gravity yet? If not, why are you still reading this? Why aren’t you rushing to the theater RIGHT NOW?)

Elsewhere this week: two powerful tales of survival are told in doc The Summit and Paul Greengrass’ Captain Phillips, which stars Tom Hanks and will make you glad your job doesn’t require you to traverse pirate-infested shipping lanes. My reviews of both here.

We’ve also got the latest exploitation-fan catnip from Robert Rodriguez, Machete Kills, starring Danny Trejo (fantasy role-swap: Danny Trejo as Captain Phillips), a comedy in which Amy Poehler plays Adam Scott’s stepmother, a Twilight-informed Shakespeare flick, and more. Read on!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axFqZUkO5tw

A.C.O.D. When happy-go-lucky Trey (Clark Duke) announces rather suddenly that he’s getting married, cranky older bro Carter (Adam Scott), the Adult Child of Divorce of the title, is tasked with making peace between his parents (Richard Jenkins and Catherine O’Hara). Trouble is, they haaaate each other (Jenkins: “If I ever see that woman, I’m gonna kick her in the balls”) — or so Carter thinks, until he discovers (to his horror) that there’s long-dormant passion lurking beneath all the insults. He also discovers that he was part of a book about kids of divorce written by a nutty PhD (Jane Lynch), and is drawn into her follow-up project — through which he meets fellow A.C.O.D Michelle (Jessica Alba, trying way too hard as a bad girl), a foil to his level-headed girlfriend (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). As the life he’s carefully constructed crumbles around him, Carter has to figure out what really matters, blah blah. Stu Zicherman’s comedy (co-scripted with Ben Karlin; both men are TV veterans) breaks no new ground in the dysfunctional-family genre — but it does boast a cast jammed with likable actors, nimble enough to sprinkle their characters’ sitcom-y conflicts with funny moments. Amy Poehler — Scott’s Parks and Recreation boo — is a particular highlight as Carter’s rich-bitch stepmother, aka “the Cuntessa.” (1:27) (Cheryl Eddy)

American Jerusalem: Jews and the Making of San Francisco Documentary about the Jewish experience in San Francisco. (:57) Vogue.

The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete Jennifer Hudson, Jordin Sparks, and Anthony Mackie play the grown-ups and assorted parental figures in this drama about two young boys coming of age in New York City. George Tillman, Jr. (2009’s Notorious; 2000’s Men of Honor) directs. (2:00)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sjnoJE30LM

Machete Kills Herewith we have the first sequel to a film (2010’s Machete) spawned from a fake trailer (that appeared in 2007’s Grindhouse). Danny Trejo’s titular killer has been tasked by the POTUS (Charlie Sheen, cheekily billed by his birth name, Carlos Estevez) to take down a Mexican madman (Demian Bechir) who’s an enemy of both his country’s drug cartels and the good ol’ USA. But it’s soon revealed (can you have plot spoilers in a virtually plotless film?) that the real villain is weapons designer Voz (Mel Gibson), a space-obsessed nutcase who’d fit right into an Austin Powers movie. The rest of Machete Kills, which aims only to entertain (with less social commentary than the first film), plays like James Bond lite, albeit with a higher, bloodier body count, and with famous-face cameos and jokey soft-core innuendos coming as fast and furious as the bullets do. As always, Trejo keeps a straight face, but he’s clearly in on the joke with director Robert Rodriguez, who’d be a fool not to continue to have his exploitation cake and eat it too, so long as these films — easy on the eyes, knowingly dumb, and purely fun-seeking — remain successful. (1:47) (Cheryl Eddy)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EF7IPYNElKA

Mother of George Fashion photographer and music video director Andrew Dosunmu’s second feature opens with one of the most rapturous setpieces in recent cinematic memory: a wedding ceremony and banquet in Brooklyn’s Nigerian expat community so sensuously rich it washes over the viewer like a scented bath. Afterward, restauranteur Adoydele (Isaach De Bankole) and his younger immigrant bride Adenike (Danai Gurira) live in a connubial bliss increasingly compromised by the pressure on her to bear children. When that doesn’t happen, it could be either party’s biological “fault;” but tradition and an imperious mother-in-law (Bukky Ajayi) place blame firmly on Adenike’s shoulders, till the latter considers a desperate, secret solution to the problem. Like Dosunmu and his cinematographer Bradford Young’s 2011 prior feature Restless City, this followup is so aesthetically transfixing (not least its Afropop soundtrack) you can easily forgive its lack of equally powerful narrative impact. Someday they’ll make a movie that works on both levels — but meanwhile, Mother of George is gorgeous enough to reward simply as an object of sumptuous beauty. (1:47) Opera Plaza, Shattuck. (Harvey)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auGUm2r0cLs

Muscle Shoals Hard on the heels of Dave Grohl’s Sound City comes another documentary about a legendary American recording studio. Located in the titular podunk Northern Alabama burg, Fame Studio drew an extraordinary lineup of musicians and producers to make fabled hits from the early 1960s through the early ’80s. Among them: Percy Sledge’s “When a Man Loves a Woman,” a slew of peak era Aretha Franklin smashes, the Rolling Stones’ “Brown Sugar,” and those cornerstones of Southern rock, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Freebird” and “Sweet Home Alabama.” Tales of how particular tracks came about are entertaining, especially when related by the still-lively likes of Etta James, Wilson Pickett, and Keith Richards. (Richards is a hoot, while surprisingly Mick Jagger doesn’t have much to say.) Director Greg Camalier’s feature can be too worshipful and digressive at times, and he’s skittish about probing fallouts between Fame’s founder Rick Hall and some long-term collaborators (notably the local in-house session musicians known as the Swampers who were themselves a big lure for many artists, and who left Fame to start their own successful studio). Still, there’s enough fascinating material here — also including a lot of archival footage — that any music fan whose memory or interest stretches back a few decades will find much to enjoy. (1:51) (Dennis Harvey)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mu-lMzHSNNk

Romeo and Juliet Every director sees the star-crossed lovers differently: Zefferelli’s apporach was sensuous, while Luhrmann’s was hip. Carlo Carlei, director of the British-Swiss-Italian production hitting theaters this week, is so hamstrung by the soapy mechanics of the Twilight series and the firmament of high school productions he fails to add much vision — what he does instead is pander to tweens as much as possible. Which means tweens might like it. Hailee Steinfeld makes Juliet’s foolishness seem like the behavior of a highly functional teenager, while Douglas Booth’s chiseled Romeo can’t help resembling a cheerful Robert Pattinson. Juliet’s maid has never been more memorable than Leslie Mansfield and Paul Giamatti is occasionally not self-consciously Paul Giamatti as the cunning friar. Yet the syrupy score is miserably persistent, and the sword fights are abundant and laughable. Tybalt (Gossip Girl’s Ed Westwick) leads a group that walks in slo-mo, hats flopping behind them. Carlei wrongheadedly stages the double suicide to resemble Michelangelo’s Pietà, but Romeo and Juliet aren’t martyrs for our fantasies, they’re the Adam and Eve of young love. Cinematic adaptations should remind you they’re original, but this Romeo and Juliet simply doesn’t know how. (1:58) (Sara Maria Vizcarrondo)

San Francisco agency agrees to legalize mid-Maket units slated for eviction

Sasha Cuttler And Mary Magee

October 10, 2013

Moving can be a huge, stressful, harrowing ordeal. But now, some 300 tenants living at 1049 and 1067 Market Street might be spared from having to relocate thanks to organized resistance from tenants’ rights activists and the intervention of local elected officials to halt an eviction from going forward.

It’s the second major grassroots victory this week.

Building code violations made the housing units at those properties technically illegal, and the tenants were served with 60-day eviction notices last month. The property owner, John Gall, had taken out permits to convert some of the units into office space.

In response, tenant activists with the Housing Rights Committee and the Tenderloin Housing Clinic came to the tenants’ assistance and started a drumbeat on the pending mass eviction, which would have amounted to the largest since the I-Hotel in the 1970s. “We’ve worked really hard to get the city to do something aggressive,” housing activist Tommi Avicolli Mecca told the Guardian.

Before long, District 6 Sup. Jane Kim took up the cause. On Oct. 10, Kim phoned the Guardian to relate a surprising development.

Yesterday, the Department of Building Inspection “called and let us know they have found a pathway to legalization” for the units, Kim said. As long as some safety upgrades are made, DBI has agreed to exercise its discretion and waive code requirements that would necessitate renovations that aren’t feasible.

Once she got word that DBI would legalize the units, Kim phoned the property owner. “I did ask him to withdraw the notices of eviction,” she said. So far, Gall has made no guarantees that he would do so, but Kim said he’d agreed to “work toward a resolution over the next two weeks.” She said her office met with about 60 affected tenants on Oct. 9.

Kim said Mayor Ed Lee’s office also reached out to Gall to ask him to withdraw the notices of eviction.

“The ideal case scenario is to keep as many tenants in place as possible,” Kim said. “It could have really caused a lot of instability.”

The threat of that mass eviction would have impacted primarily students and artists living a stone’s throw from Twitter’s new mid-Market headquarters.

Two years ago, Mayor Ed Lee and other policymakers created a payroll tax break as an incentive to attract flourishing tech companies into the mid-Market area, a neighborhood that for years was marked by blight and some of the highest concentration of poverty citywide. As the Guardian recently reported, the corporate welfare stemming from these policies has soared, while the influx of tech startups and venture capital firms is transforming the neighborhood.

But the rising demand for commercial office space has brought the consequence of evictions, affecting not only residents but nonprofit organizations.

An important hearing was held at the Budget and Finance Committee yesterday about rising rents placing unbearable pressure on nonprofit organizations, many of which are located in mid-Market. Some cannot possibly run their operations anywhere else and continue to serve their clientele. Arts organizations are facing similar challenges affording rent in the increasingly pricey area.

“It’s turning from blighted to the hottest real-estate in town … and the unintended consequences are that people are being evicted from their homes and nonprofits are being evicted,” said Brad Erickson, executive director of Theatre Bay Area, who attended yesterday’s hearing. “It’s more than anybody can keep up with.”

He said Kim had been receptive to community concerns. Other supervisors have sought to address the issue too. At Tuesday’s Board meeting, Sup. David Campos noted, “Ellis Act evictions in San Francisco have reached a crisis level. I want to talk about a couple of things that we are doing to respond to the crisis.”

He said the Budget and Legislative Analyst would soon be issuing a report at his behest outlining the cumulative impact of Ellis Act evictions. He also noted that he’d been working with tenants’ rights advocates to design a way for the San Francisco Rent Board to better investigate tenant complaints alleging harassment by landlords. Campos also alluded to legislation that was in the works to address widespread real-estate speculation. “Unless we deal with speculation,” Campos said, “this crisis is not going to end.”

But in the case of 1049 and 1067 Market Street, at least, the tenants may soon be able to breathe a sigh of relief. “We’re hoping that this is a glimmer of good news,” Kim said.

Activists score big victory as Jack Spade gives up on the Mission

Sasha Cuttler

October 10, 2013

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Score one for people power. Anti-gentrification activists in the Mission scored a major victory last night in their months-long battle to keep Jack Spade, an upscale men’s clothing chain, from opening a store on 16th Street — first by winning over the Board of Appeals, then by convincing the company to just give up.

So Jack Spade won’t be opening in the site of the old Adobe Book Store location near Valencia Street, an outcome engineered by the grassroots activism of the Stop Jack Spade Coalition, Valencia Corridor Merchants Association, and progressive politicians who supported the cause.

At issue at last night’s packed hearing was an appeal of the Planning Department’s ruling that Jack Spade didn’t fall under formula retail rules because it had one short of the 11 stores needed to meet the definition, even though it’s an expanding part of 5th and Pacific Co. and a brother brand to Kate Spade, which has dozens of stores around the country.

Activists considered it a long shot given the supermajority needed to overrule the decision and force a conditional use permit hearing before the store could open, particularly after falling short with the board in August. But this time, the activists won, with the board voting 4-1 to set a full rehearing for Dec. 11.

As representatives of the corporation left the hearing, they told a few activists and business owners that they “were done.” And when the Guardian reached 5th and Pacific CEO Bill McComb by email today, he confirmed that the company is giving up on this controversial location, where activists were concerned its deep-pocketed presence would accelerate gentrification of the neighborhood.

“[We’re] not going to war with the neighbors. We like those people and their neighborhood and we are not fighting the issue. There are many a fine location for Jack Spade. Peace to the city!” McComb wrote to us.

It was a thrilling surprise for the activists that have been organizing against the project for months, and it was reminiscent of the successful 2009 effort to stop American Apparel from opening up shop on Valencia, involving some of the same activists and organizing tactics.

“We’re very pleased about last night,” said Andy Blue, an activist working with local merchants. “We saw a significant shift in momentum and a tremendous community showing. It was clearly a victory for the neighborhood.”

It was a big turnaround from just a few weeks ago, when it looked like Jack Spade had won, and a sign of the rising importance of gentrification issues to San Franciscans who face rising residential and commercial rents fueled by the latest dot-com boom and Mayor Ed Lee’s corporate welfare policies.

“Six months ago, a lot of people in San Francisco felt powerless with the rapid displacement of residents,” said Blue. “It was like, ‘What can we do, you know?'”
But then, as Blue said, “the resistance started boiling up.”

The local merchants decided to appeal the Planning Department decision that would have allowed Jack Spade to simply open its doors with no public hearing. “So many people who were being affected by it started sharing their stories, and things started happening. People had had enough,” said Blue. “The San Francisco that we love is this diverse, unique place and we were watching it transform into something totally different.”

Simply getting to yesterday’s hearing was a huge step for the activist population standing up against the retailer, Blue said. But after the rehearing request was granted, the local merchants still needed to prove that “manifest injustice” had taken place during Jack Spade’s permit acquisition process if the merchants wanted the actual rehearing.

This presented a problem to the VCMA and others. To prove “manifest injustice” had taken place during the permit application process, the merchants needed to prove that Jack Spade not only applied for their permits under a dubious guise, but that they were well aware of just how dubious it was. To be manifestly unjust, the unfairness must be “direct, obvious and observable,” a list that isn’t always easy to satisfy.

While the two sides can’t seem to come to a consensus on how much the rent will actually increase in the surrounding area due to Jack Spade’s arrival, this controversy arose at a time when neighborhoods throughout the city have been rising up against gentrification.

And this may not be the last time that this company is in the crosshairs of that concern. Asked whether its decision applies to the whole city or just this one location, McComb told us, “Just that spot. We have many brand fans in SF.”

Boiler Room is coming to SF

Tony Robles

October 10, 2013

Boiler Room (aka the world’s leading underground music show) is coming to San Francisco for the first time. That SF Boiler Room event, which will be beamed to laptops and cellphones worldwide, is the official Treasure Island Music Festival after party. It features a DJ set from legendary DJ-producer-MC Madlib and super secret special guests.

You have to RSVP here to get the secret location. But we do know it’ll be Oct. 19 from 10pm-4am.

Boiler Room has hosted webstreaming live sets by up-and-coming DJs and hip-hop artists for years now. It began in London, focused on underground dance music, but has since exploded far beyond those bounds. Recent Boiler Room artists include Chvrches in London, Truss in Amsterdam, Femme En Fourrure in Helsinki, Jerome LOL in LA, and Marcel Dettmann in Berlin.

Earlier this year, Boiler Room founder and CEO Blaise Bellville told Billboard, “Especially in the UK, everyone knows what Boiler Room is…It’s become an absolute essential for any artist to promote — any artist in the credible music world, whether they’re aspiring pop musicians, or whether they want to stay underground. Everyone has to play at Boiler Room because it offers more license than any other live or archive platform there is.”

Check some popular previous Boiler Room episodes below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sev7kbnOVA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gp7l3PDws-M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q692lHFaLVM

“You’ve got to be inside the action:” Paul Greengrass discusses filmmaking and ‘Captain Phillips’

Sue Vaughan

October 10, 2013

“You’ve got to be inside the action:” Paul Greengrass discusses filmmaking and ‘Captain Phillips’

Paul Greengrass‘ latest action film, Captain Phillips, stars Tom Hanks as an American cargo-ship captain taken hostage by Somali pirates. This based-on-true-events tale also stars newcomer Barkhad Abdi as pirate leader Muse. It opens tomorrow — but today, read on for more intel from my recent interview with Greengrass when he stopped by San Francisco to promote the film.

(Note: this interview was conducted as part of a “roundtable” that featured other journalists.)

Paul Greengrass, who is known for his use of handheld camera (or “shaky cam”) in films like 2004’s The Bourne Supremacy, 2007’s The Bourne Ultimatum, and 2006’s Flight 93, discusses handheld cameras, which leads into an overview of his own philosophy of filmmaking — and praise for Hanks’ towering lead performance.

“If you try and make films in an authentic way — if you’re on a ship, ships rock around. And they’re small spaces. If you’ve ever been on a lifeboat, Jesus Christ. I mean, it’s like the worst Disney ride you could possibly imagine. So how do you shoot on a lifeboat, and keep it steady? It’s impossible. It’s not like I’m sitting there, going like that [mimes shaking a camera]. In fact, all of the time, I’m saying, ‘Keep it steady!’

If you want to be in a real space, and you want the images that you’re capturing to authentically arise out of the environment you’re shooting in — so, if you’re running it’s going to feel like what it feels to run. If you’re in a lifeboat, it’s gonna feel like you’re [at sea]. It’s a fundamental tenant of cinematic simplicity. I think shaky-cam is ineffective when [filmmakers use it] when they don’t need to do it, and it’s just some kind of stylistic tic that in a general sense is meant to mean immediacy when it actually doesn’t. It’s like a fashion accessory. But actually you’re not developing moments. You’re not capturing detail. It’s just a jarring mess.

The faster-moving your sequence, the more intensely complicated and simultaneous your action is, the more imperative it is upon you as a director to render detail. Detail is what gives you acceleration. It’s when you are able to show an audience detail — it’s like hop scotching, when you’re moving from step to step to step, but sure-footedly, with each footfall landing on significant detail that each leads to the next, to the next, so you get a sense of acceleration and focus. Whereas that [mimes shaking a camera] gives you lack of focus, because it’s generalized. What is that motion? Who’s doing what? You’ve got to be inside the action and your filmmaking must unlock the inner dynamics in a way that’s clear.

That takes a number of things: an intense amount of planning, absolute attention to detail while you’re shooting, moment by moment, that you’ve got this moment and you’ve got this particular piece. It requires a supremely rigorous process of editing. And last, but most importantly, you’ve always got to [know that] what all this action, whatever it’s conveying is, it’s got to convey character. And the character’s got to involve your point of view.

That’s abstract, but what I mean is, when you’re a young filmmaker — unless you’re a genius, and there are some filmmakers who are just geniuses, though they’re few and far between — you want to be a craftsman. You want to learn your craft and develop a point of view, because point of view has to do with your experiences in life, and your sense of maturity, and the inner confidence that comes slowly. It’s hard-won. You’ve gotta say, ‘What is the song that only I can sing? What is the film that only I can make? Why is that? What is it that I want to say?’ Crucially, you have to find what it is that you don’t know, that the film is going to be an exploration of.

So if you take [Captain Phillips], for instance, you’ve got a very simple, unbelievably dramatic but stark, simple story. It takes place on the high seas on the far-flung edge of the global economy, which is what the shipping lanes are. Four desperate young men, armed to the teeth, attacking a US-flagged container ship, taking the captain and a bunch of his guys hostage on the bridge while the rest of the crew hide. They manage to take one of the kidnappers hostage themselves and they do an exchange, but the pirates double-cross them and take the captain. They make for Somalia, but before they get to Somalia, the US Navy intercepts them. That’s the story! It’s almost old-fashioned in its simplicity. Staggeringly stark.

What does it mean? I don’t know. But that’s why we made the film. If we render this with as much authenticity as we can, we’ll find out what it means. That’s your point of view. And all of that maelstrom of action in the film gets you to that final scene in the infirmary, because only then do you see the fragility of humanity. I think that’s the brilliance of Tom Hanks in this film, because he takes you on that journey every step of the way. And you end up in that little tiny room, and what you see is, and what you feel — I think you feel it with him, because it’s quite an emotional moment.

That’s what you couldn’t have found out [about Phillips’ story] from the news, because you’re looking at it from the outside. You could only find it by being in it. It’s what gives you a deep engagement with the character, and I think — and I’m being biased — it’s one of those great, great performances. Because this man of few words, working man — my father was a merchant marine, which is one of the reasons I made this film; I know what those guys are like — goes through this extraordinary experience, and the audience goes along with him.”

CAPTAIN PHILLIPS opens Fri/11 in Bay Area theaters.

Activists try again to stop Jack Spade

Sasha Cuttler

October 9, 2013

The fight to keep suspected formula retailer Jack Spade out of the Mission resumes this evening (Wed/9) when The Stop Jack Spade Coalition lays out it’s case against the men’s clothing chain before the Board of Appeals in an attempt to force the business to go through a conditional use permit hearing. [UPDATE: Activists say they won a big victory last night, not just winning that vote but maybe convincing Jack Spade to withdraw its application completely. We’re working on confirming things now and we’ll have more details soon.]

The new push against Jack Spade comes less than two months after an original appeal found the retailer not to be in violation of the neighborhood’s formula retail ban, with the opposition campaign getting written support of Sups. Eric Mar, John Avalos, and David Campos. They join a growing list of those opposed to the retailer, one that currently features former Board of Supervisors presidents Matt Gonzalez and Aaron Peskin and Assemblymember Tom Ammiano.

If the coalition is granted a rehearing, it will be the second time an appeal is heard on the matter. On Aug. 21, the Board of Appeals ruled against the retailer in a 3-2 majority decision, but the decision still lacked the four votes required to revoke the building permits.

Jack Spade — currently slated to rent the former Adobe Bookshop storefront at 3166 16th Street — was originally granted its business and building permits sans conditional use hearing, an act that was supposed to be unheard of for a prospective national retailer inside a neighborhood with a formula retail ban.

The 2004 formula retail ordinance requires a businesses to get a conditional use permit before moving into certain San Francisco neighborhoods if they meet the “formula retail” criteria. Part of that criteria states that a store can have no more than 11 “retail sales establishments located in the United States.” Jack Spade, pre-Mission store, has just 10 unique stores, which allowed them to circumvent the hearing process.

But according to 5th & Pacific’s public records, the holding company (formerly known as Liz Claiborne) that owns Jack Spade, the high-end men’s clothing store is not an independent business but rather a sub-brand of Kate Spade; a women’s clothing store with 94 locations in the United States alone.

The coalition opposing Jack Spade’s now-imminent Mission migration is using this piece of information as Exhibit A in their fight against the retailer. The coalition is claiming that by not acknowledging the fact that Jack Spade itself was part of a far larger corporation, the retailer violated the formula retail ban by claiming “independent business” status.

As the move-in date for the Mission’s unwanted addition grows near, the coalition has taken up the cause once again, mustering support from nearly every constituency available.

It will be bringing its revamped case to the Board of Appeals, this time with testimony seemingly focused on the misleading nature of Jack Spade’s classification as an “independent business.” That should prove to be an effective move for the coalition, because Jack Spade isn’t an independent business, and they don’t try to classify themselves as such outside of San Francisco.

In fact, according to 5th & Pacific’s 10-K filings with the SEC, the “Kate Spade brand offers fashion accessories for women under the Kate Spade and Kate Spade Saturday trademarks, and for men under the Jack Spade trademark.” The two brands even share the same CEO: Craig Leavitt. Declaring that the two companies are independent of each other based on product offering is like saying beef and milk are independent of other because they come from different parts of the cow.

Now, armed with an updated defense, the Coalition is taking a second stab at the appellate process, one they feel good about. In a letter to the Board, executive director of the Valencia Corridor Merchant Association (VCMA) Luis Granados said, “If the findings section were fully taken into account [last time], we believe the Board will see that Jack Spade is formula retail, as set forth under the law.”

Or as Gonzalez wrote in a letter to the Board of Appeals: “Issues of corporate ownership and/or corporate structure have been a matter of debate in previous hearings regarding Jack/Kate Spade’s permits. While nowhere in the planning code does it require the consideration of corporate ownership/structure, neither does the ordinance forbid a consideration of corporate ownership/structure. Indeed, in order to fulfill the clear intent of the law in a common sense manner, it will be necessary, in some cases, to consider corporate ownership/structure.

I urge you to grant the VCMA’s request for a rehearing of Jack/Kate Spade’s permits in order to prevent manifest injustice.”

And considering the momentum that the anti-Jack Spade movement is now gaining, the optimism isn’t unreasonable.

Activist Andy Blue, who helped organize the protest, acknowledged the high bar needed to overrule the flawed ruling by the Planning Department, telling us, “We’re cautiously optimistic, but it’s a long shot.”

Jinkx Monsoon brings Little Edie to SF (and beyond)

Tony Robles

October 9, 2013

Who would have thought a self-described theater nerd, narcoleptic comedy queen would win it all in Season 5 of RuPaul’s Drag Race? Anyone watching the season could have told you as much, especially after sweet, talented Seattle queen Jinkx Monsoon took on legendary Jackie O relative/documentary subject Little Edie Beale during the “Snatch Game” episode.

Her vivid, spot-on Little Edie drawl, mannerisms, and makeup made Monsoon a shoe-in for the episode winner at least, even though “Snatch Game” impressions usually lean heavily toward over-the-top pop star and actress imitations.

That’s not to say Monsoon’s not an actress — she’s a star of theater, having performed in a handful of colorful productions including her own two-person play, The Vaudevillians. And she’ll bring those sharp acting chops and glamorous old-fashioned movie star style to the Peaches Christ arena this weekend with two shows and showings of the original Grey Gardens (1975) documentary.

I spoke with Monsoon from her hotel room in San Francisco about her lifelong love of Little Edie, RuPaul’s Drag Race drama, her underdog status, and that “water off a duck’s back” thing:

SFBG How’s the planning going for Return to Grey Gardens?

Jinkx Monsoon It’s wonderful. It’s a combination between your typical drag show and a theater show. I like bringing theater to drag and vice versa. And Peaches is so good at this formula, she had everything planned before I even got here, so it’s been really well-structured and it’s going super well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypK1MVEB7Dw

SFBG Can you tell me about what’s going to happen in the show? I know Peaches always does a different twist on things.

JM In the show, Peaches and I are playing ourselves 40 years from today. So the idea is that we got together on Oct. 12, 2013 and we’re going to do the Grey Gardens show and then he kind of just kept me there and we’ve stayed in the theater, doing the show for 40 years, even though people stopped coming. And we kind of degraded into the characters. We did the show so much that we became just like Big Edie and Little Edie. So the show’s set in the future as if we’ve been doing this for 40 years and have warped into the actual characters. So we have a Big Edie/Little Edie dynamic, even though we’re still Peaches Christ and Jinkx Monsoon.

SFBG Have you ever done a longer form portrayal of Little Edie before, beyond “The Snatch Game” episode of Rupaul’s Drag Race?

JM This will be the longest I’ve been in character of Little Edie. I’ve played her a lot in cabaret shows and variety shows and stuff where one of my acts that night will be a whole like, Little Edie portion of the show but I’ve always dreamed of doing Grey Gardens the musical, and this is the closest I’ve gotten so far, so I’m really, really excited.

SFBG Did you realize during the filming of Drag Race that your portrayal of Little Edie would be such a sensation when it aired?

JM Absolutely not. I knew the queens on the show who didn’t who Little Edie was, they were going to have to eat their words later. I knew that fans of the show were going to know who Little Edie was. I think it was the Drew Barrymore movie that kind of revitalized the Beale sensation. So I became more confident about doing it on the show.

But I had no idea that the response America would have. It was so far spanning. The YouTube videos of Grey Gardens online went up several thousand views, and the DVD sales of the documentary went up; I got added to her Wikipedia page!

I mean, Little Edie has been a huge inspiration and gay icon for me since I was like, 17. And never did I think I’d get to be so closely associated with her in this way. It’s really a huge honor. It’s a little surreal but it’s wonderful. [Laughs].

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VANq1NDFgrc

SFBG What was it about her that so captivated you?

JM I just love how eccentric she is. I love people who have created their own way of doing things. And it’s like, I think I can just appreciate the world she built for herself and her circumstances and constraints.

I first was introduced to Grey Gardens through the musical, being a musical theater nerd myself. And I didn’t know the back-story behind it. But the music really got to me and made me love the story right away. And then when I watched the documentary I realized it was 10 times deeper than I even understood. She reminds me so much of me.

When I watch her in the documentary, I feel like that’s exactly what I did my whole life. When I feel like a loner and when I was keeping it to myself — I mean I knew my whole life that I was gay but I knew at an early age that it “wasn’t normal” so I kept it to myself. But at an early age I would play dress up and wrap blankets around me and I was always putting on little shows for the video cameras. She just reminded me so much of the kind of person I’ve always been in my private life.

SFBG So she was one of the people who influenced the character of Jinkx Monsoon — who were some other inspirations?

JM I based Jinkx Monsoon a lot on my mother. The whole idea with Jinkx Monsoon is that she’s a middle aged single mother, failed actress, and she has a gay son and he takes her out to the gay bars and she’s every gay boy’s favorite party mom. So I based it off Stifler’s mom played by Jennifer Coolidge and Peggy Bundy and my favorite female comedians have had a huge influence on my comedy and performance style: Sarah Silverman, Maria Bamford, Lucille Ball, Madeline Kahn, Carol Burnett. So it’s a huge range of different inspirations and then of course, my personal life experience.

SFBG What made you want to try out for Drag Race?

JM I’d been a fan of Drag Race and watched every episode religiously with my friends. Everyone who knew me insisted on me auditioning and every year I said I didn’t want to do it because I didn’t think it was the kind of environment, competition for a drag queen like me, a high-concept character actor like myself. And then when I saw Sharon Needles go on [Season 4], I felt like the show was started to become more all-inclusive and that the audience was starting to respect a wider variety of drag and different interpretations of the art form. So that was the motivation to audition for Season 5.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddvWmdbGNN0

SFBG How much creative editing was there, or were you really the underdog all through filming?

JM I’ve just always been kind of the odd one out in a room full of drag queens…I learned drag in an all-ages gay nightclub when I was like, 15 to about 20. I participated in the shows and did a lot of work at this nightclub in Portland, Oregon. So I knew a lot about traditional drag but when I went to college I kind of changed my focus and made it much more theater-oriented and character-oriented.

And so I spent a lot of time working in burlesque and cabaret and I hadn’t worked with drag queens for a long time when I went on the show. So I think the underdog aspect comes more from the fact that I was just..I didn’t know all the same lingo, I didn’t know how to interact with a lot of those girls, and I’m just kind of eccentric myself. I think some of the girls were irritated that the person they thought was too kooky was succeeding on the show.

SFBG How does it feel then to come out on top after all that, when such a part of your identity has been as an outsider?

JM For me, the coolest thing about it, and what I’ve found talking to my audience on the road, is that it just goes to show that you can’t discredit someone just because you don’t understand them.

I feel like the judges were always getting my jokes and my sense of humor and the work I was doing even when my fellow competitors didn’t see it as a threat. When I decided to do Little Edie, a lot of those girls thought that was going to be what sent me home because I was portraying a character that wears a headscarf instead of a wig and doing all these eccentric things and they didn’t understand it. But I was confident that the judges and audience would. And that was kind of the theme for the whole series. And I think it was cool for the fan base to see someone who was so ridiculed turn the tables on everyone and take them by surprise.

SFBG Where did that “water off a duck’s back” phrase that you repeated so often during judging come from?

JM One of my best friends in Seattle, her name is Robbie Turner, she’s another performer. I was working a lot in cabaret and burlesque but then I’d also do a couple of drag and variety shows, and when I was having trouble with other drags queens giving me a hard time because I was the “new girl” on the scene in Seattle and they were getting upset.

A lot of drag queens were kind of mean to me in Seattle because they felt like I came out of nowhere and started working everywhere. But I’d been doing drag as long as any of them [in Portland]. And so my friend Robbie Turner was always like, “just let it be water off a duck’s back.”

I never really made it my mantra until I was on that [Drag Race] runway and after the first two times of being ridiculed by Michelle Visage from head to toe, I just started saying it to myself because I had to remind myself: these are opinions and the best way to get ahead in this competition is to take in the critiques and incorporate them into my work so that I’m constantly evolving and growing.

So “water off a duck’s back” was less about ignoring what they were saying, it was more about taking it in and letting anything that felt like a personal attack or purely negative or negative thoughts it would generate in my own head — the self-doubt and insecurity — to let that all go and just take what I can from all the notes.

Return to Grey Gardens
With Jinkx Monsoon, Peaches Christ, Mink Stole
Sat/12, 3 and 8pm, $25
Castro Theatre
429 Castro, SF
www.castrotheatre.com

Peaches and Jinkx will then bring the show to Seattle’s Harvard Exit Theater on Oct. 17 as part of the Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival.

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass: A rookie recap

Tony Robles

October 9, 2013

By Kaylen Baker

“This,” said a friend, turning and surveying a backlit crowd, bopping and blazing under an unlikely October sun, “is the real San Francisco.”

I’m new to this city, and its croaking cables, faddish food trends, steep hills, all-aboard attitude, and free bluegrass festival have captivated me.

I was stuck in the largest forested mob I’d ever seen, between the nubby hills that form Hellman’s Hollow. To my left a drunk woman shouted into her cell on the shoulders of a drunk man, to my right a bare-chested beer-bellied man flapped his arms above his head, and ahead, the String Cheese Incident spread a bluesy beach jam over this valley of ears.

Back up to day one of Hardly Strictly Bluegrass.

The air smelled rich, sweet; Napa was burning, wafting blue oak and pine smoke into the ripe pungency of weed and optimism and sunscreen. I joined friends at the Banjo stage, where they had set up beach chairs and a folding cooler-come-table. Plastic wine glasses were drained and refilled.

Seldom Scene stood 15 feet away. Dudley Connell rounded off “Muddy Waters” with a long sustained “Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!” just as a skein of geese zigzagged overhead.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nk9vhhGyRyo

“This is really good bluegrass,” someone near me said, as the 42-year-old band began “Darling Corey.” Melding guitar, mandolin, banjo, bass, and dobro, the musicians read each others’ minds. “It’s like soul music from the mountains,” someone else said. “It’s very spiritual.”

Lou Reid had a voice slipperier than a slide on a string. “Pretty woman have gone to my head,” he sang. I could hear a river in the strings, and I felt a vastness, a simple kind of longing. There’s something curiously curing about hearing lovesick, lonely bluegrass — strictly bluegrass — in an open field.

Hardly came later, at the Arrow stage. Father John Misty’s soulful, sexy voice sprawled out over a younger crowd. The artist (formerly known as Fleet Foxes’ J.Tillman) sat alone with his guitar, legs crossed, sandal-footed, behind a giant cut-out iPhone. Words from a new song — “policy and families, the golden era of TV”— made the crowd laugh.

As Tillman sang, a kid ran onstage, tackled shortly by security. “Yeah!” Tillman said, “I support your freedom.” Let loose, the kid made yet another ill-fated run. Still playing, Tillman called, “Let’s all settle down, it’s just acoustic guitar.”

Despite the laughs, something cutting emerged below Tillman’s smooth, ironic voice. He was a dark joker, righteously pissed when the crowd missed jokes, too busy snapping Instagram photos on real iPhones.

The most ironic part about Tillman wasn’t his commentary on our disengaged generation, but that by not singing about his broken heart or yellow bird (see Conor Oberst over at the Rooster stage), he became even more of an emotional presence onstage.

Finishing a song with absolutely no ado, Tillman added, “Thank you, good night,” and walked away.

By late afternoon the heat rolled away and the smell of caramel corn drifted through the moist grass. I grabbed an under-spiced falafel and people-watched — bearded, feathered, tattooed, uninhibited, high, dripping youth, as well as T-shirted, dancing, drinking, laid-back old timers. They drifted towards stages where hidden musicians tuned up for the night’s last show.

Bonnie Raitt’s voice magnetized the dense crowd, and I only managed to jot “soft, lovely, and worn, like an old velvet dress,” before I was pulled in myself. Listening to “I Can’t Make You Love Me,” I had to assume there would be something seriously wrong with the world if someone didn’t love this graceful, wise redhead.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpnZCcRafkc

I missed Saturday’s concert due to work; Sunday was madness. I descended the hills into a writhing mass of bodies. Somewhere east, a deep twang grew out of the Devil Makes Three, who made a hell of a lot of moody noise playing “Graveyard.”

Giant noodles, flags, pineapples, aliens, and a unicorn bobbed above a crowd so thick that people climbed trees to see above a dirty breeze. Along the way I lost my friends and met up with new ones. By the time Pete Bernhard belted “Black Irish,” I couldn’t agree more: “I don’t want this night to ever turn into day.”

By evening, every band become a mush of wailing fiddles.

Last up, the String Cheese Incident (SCI). The psychedelic, peppy mood swings didn’t really do enough for me, when suddenly, a song started up unlike anything I’d ever heard, tribal and springy and sobbing. It was “BollyMunster.” Michael Kang’s western violin swerved and ducked between epic eastern Bollywood electronics. It sounded like it was coming from our own primeval selves.

As the sunset turned majestic, SCI pronounced Hardly Strictly “one of the most beautiful places we’ve ever played.” I agreed, and then I was dancing, because “Rosie” had a beat that made me jump and holler.

Live Shots: Prepping for the Dirtbag Challenge!

Sue Vaughan

October 9, 2013

A look behind the scenes of the recently released Dirtbag by Vargas Films, and a sneak peak at the bikes being built for this year’s Dirtbag Challenge. Check out the full article on the Challenge, coming up Sun/13, here.

UPDATE: Check out Sam Devine’s report back and photos from Dirtbag 2013 here!

Music Listings: Oct. 9-15, 2013

Tony Robles

October 9, 2013

WEDNESDAY 9

ROCK

Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. Coliseum, Red Hare, Kowloon Walled City, 9 p.m., $10-$12.

Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. Minerva, Agria, Los Tiliches, 9 p.m., $5.

El Rio: 3158 Mission, San Francisco. Shannon & The Clams, Guantanamo Baywatch, The Chuckleberries, 9 p.m., $8.

Elbo Room: 647 Valencia, San Francisco. Religious Girls, Grill Cloth, Urthdance, Popgang DJs, 9 p.m., free.

Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. Venkman, Bad Daddies, Brain Attack, No Business, 8:30 p.m., $5.

The Independent: 628 Divisadero, San Francisco. Fuck Buttons, 9 p.m., $18-$20.

Rickshaw Stop: 155 Fell, San Francisco. Iceage, The Videos, Cairo Pythian, DJ Omar, 8 p.m., $15.

Slim’s: 333 11th St., San Francisco. Anberlin, The Maine, Lydia, From Indian Lakes, 8 p.m., $26.

Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. The Winery Dogs, 10:30 p.m., $25-$30.

DANCE

The Cafe: 2369 Market, San Francisco. “Sticky Wednesdays,” w/ DJ Mark Andrus, 8 p.m., free.

Cat Club: 1190 Folsom, San Francisco. “Bondage A Go Go,” w/ DJs Damon, Tomas Diablo, & guests, 9:30 p.m., $5-$10.

Club X: 715 Harrison, San Francisco. “Electro Pop Rocks,” 18+ dance party with DJ Icon, more, 9 p.m., $10-$20.

DNA Lounge: 375 11th St., San Francisco. Book of Love, DJ Shindog, 9 p.m., $25-$30.

Edinburgh Castle: 950 Geary, San Francisco. “1964,” w/ DJ Matt B & guests, Second and Fourth Wednesday of every month, 10 p.m., $2.

The EndUp: 401 Sixth St., San Francisco. “Tainted Techno Trance,” 10 p.m.

F8: 1192 Folsom St., San Francisco. “Housepitality,” w/ Martin Landsky, Michael Perry, Sean Murray, Bob Campbell, 9 p.m., $5-$10.

Harlot: 46 Minna, San Francisco. “Qoöl,” 5 p.m.

Infusion Lounge: 124 Ellis, San Francisco. “Indulgence,” 10 p.m.

The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. “Disorder,” w/ Warm Hands, Tuxedo Gleam, YLLW LDDRS, DJ Russell EL Butler, DJ Nickie, 10 p.m., $6.

Lookout: 3600 16th St., San Francisco. “What?,” w/ resident DJ Tisdale and guests, 7 p.m., free.

Madrone Art Bar: 500 Divisadero, San Francisco. “Rock the Spot,” 9 p.m., free.

MatrixFillmore: 3138 Fillmore, San Francisco. “Reload,” w/ DJ Big Bad Bruce, 10 p.m., free.

Q Bar: 456 Castro, San Francisco. “Booty Call,” w/ Juanita More, Joshua J, guests, 9 p.m., $3.

HIP-HOP

Double Dutch: 3192 16th St., San Francisco. “Cash IV Gold,” w/ DJs Kool Karlo, Roost Uno, and Sean G, 10 p.m., free.

Skylark Bar: 3089 16th St., San Francisco. “Mixtape Wednesday,” w/ resident DJs Strategy, Junot, Herb Digs, & guests, 9 p.m., $5.

ACOUSTIC

Bazaar Cafe: 5927 California, San Francisco. Steve Key, Kate Kilbane, Mike Annuzzi, Gary Garrett, 7 p.m.

Cafe Divine: 1600 Stockton, San Francisco. Craig Ventresco & Meredith Axelrod, 7 p.m., free.

The Chapel: 777 Valencia St., San Francisco. Keaton Henson, 9 p.m., $20-$22.

Club Deluxe: 1511 Haight, San Francisco. Happy Hour Bluegrass, 6:30 p.m., free.

Fiddler’s Green: 1333 Columbus, San Francisco. Terry Savastano, Every other Wednesday, 9:30 p.m., free/donation.

Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. Jared & The Mill, Jim Bianco, Amber Snider, 8 p.m., $10.

Union Square Park: 333 Post, San Francisco. The Anita Lofton Project, 12:30 p.m., free.

JAZZ

Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. Gaucho, Eric Garland’s Jazz Session, The Amnesiacs, 7 p.m., free.

Burritt Room: 417 Stockton St., San Francisco. Terry Disley’s Rocking Jazz Trio, 6 p.m., free.

Jazz Bistro At Les Joulins: 44 Ellis, San Francisco. Charles Unger Experience, 7:30 p.m., free.

Le Colonial: 20 Cosmo, San Francisco. The Cosmo Alleycats featuring Ms. Emily Wade Adams, 7 p.m., free.

Oz Lounge: 260 Kearny, San Francisco. Hard Bop Collective, 6 p.m., free.

Revolution Cafe: 3248 22nd St., San Francisco. Michael Parsons Trio, Every other Wednesday, 8:30 p.m., free/donation.

The Rite Spot Cafe: 2099 Folsom, San Francisco. Shannon Wolfe with Grant Levin, 8:30 p.m., free.

Savanna Jazz Club: 2937 Mission, San Francisco. “Cat’s Corner,” 9 p.m., $10.

Top of the Mark: One Nob Hill, 999 California, San Francisco. Ricardo Scales, Wednesdays, 6:30-11:30 p.m., $5.

Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Joan Getz, 7:30 p.m., free.

INTERNATIONAL

Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. Rolando Morales, 7 & 9 p.m., $15.

Bissap Baobab: 3372 19th St., San Francisco. Timba Dance Party, w/ DJ WaltDigz, 10 p.m., $5.

Cafe Cocomo: 650 Indiana, San Francisco. “Bachatalicious,” w/ DJs Good Sho & Rodney, 7 p.m., $5-$10.

Pachamama Restaurant: 1630 Powell, San Francisco. “Cafe LatinoAmericano,” 8 p.m., $5.

REGGAE

Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. Indubious, Native Elements, 9:30 p.m., $10.

BLUES

The Royal Cuckoo: 3202 Mission, San Francisco. Big Bones & Chris Siebert, 7:30 p.m., free.

The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. P.A. Slim, 9:30 p.m.

EXPERIMENTAL

Explorist International: 3174 24th St., San Francisco. Music for People & Thingamajigs, w/ Octoplayer + 1, 6:30 p.m., free.

Meridian Gallery: 535 Powell, San Francisco. Music for People & Thingamajigs, w/ Bob Marsh (performing “The Spirit of Detroit”), 7:30 p.m., $10-$20.

FUNK

Vertigo: 1160 Polk, San Francisco. “Full Tilt Boogie,” w/ KUSF-in-Exile DJs, Second Wednesday of every month, 8 p.m.-1:30 a.m., free.

SOUL

Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Alice Russell, 8 p.m., $20.

THURSDAY 10

ROCK

Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. Pamela Parker Band, Jelly Bread, 9:30 p.m., $10-$12.

Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. French Cassettes, The Lower 48, Survival Guide, 9 p.m., $10.

Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. Heart of the Whale, Cash for Gold, Ultra Violent Rays, Dum Spiro Spero, 8 p.m., $10.

The Chapel: 777 Valencia St., San Francisco. Thee Oh Sees, OBN III’s, The Blind Shake, Fryborg, 8:30 p.m., $15-$18.

DNA Lounge: 375 11th St., San Francisco. We Came As Romans; Silverstein; Chunk! No, Captain Chunk!; The Color Morale; Dangerkids, 6 p.m., $20-$23.

S.F. Eagle: 398 12th St., San Francisco. Thursday Nite Live: Hammers of Misfortune, Hazzard’s Cure, Serpents of Dawn, 9 p.m., $10.

Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. Command Control, Momotaro, What Fun Life Was, 8:30 p.m., $6.

The Independent: 628 Divisadero, San Francisco. J. Roddy Walston & The Business, Gringo Star, 8 p.m., $12.

The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. Lord Nasty & The Seekers of Perversion, White Barons, Sweat Lodge, DJ Crappleton, 10 p.m., $8.

Rickshaw Stop: 155 Fell, San Francisco. “Popscene,” w/ Houses, Amp Live, Okta Logue, 9:30 p.m., $12-$14.

San Franpsycho: 505 Divisadero St., San Francisco. “Buried Treasure,” Treasure Island Music Fest Pop-Up Shop concert with Meat Market, Fine Steps, DJ Ben Van Houten, more, 6 p.m., $3.

SFSU Campus/Cesar Chavez Student Center: 1650 Holloway, San Francisco. Radiation City, Social Studies, Look!, Edward’s Crossing, 6 p.m., free.

Thee Parkside: 1600 17th St., San Francisco. “NOT Made in the U.S.A.,” w/ Exile Parade, The Novocaines, The Copper Gamins., 9 p.m., $10.

DANCE

Abbey Tavern: 4100 Geary, San Francisco. DJ Schrobi-Girl, 10 p.m., free.

Audio Discotech: 316 11th St., San Francisco. “Phonic,” w/ MAKJ, Ron Reeser, Alexx Adam, Brenn Wilson, 9:30 p.m.

Aunt Charlie’s Lounge: 133 Turk, San Francisco. “Tubesteak Connection,” w/ DJ Bus Station John, 9 p.m., $5-$7.

The Cafe: 2369 Market, San Francisco. “¡Pan Dulce!,” 9 p.m., $5.

Cat Club: 1190 Folsom, San Francisco. “Throwback Thursdays,” ‘80s night with DJs Damon, Steve Washington, Dangerous Dan, and guests, 9 p.m., $6 (free before 9:30 p.m.).

The Cellar: 685 Sutter, San Francisco. “XO,” w/ DJs Astro & Rose, 10 p.m., $5.

Club X: 715 Harrison, San Francisco. “The Crib,” 9:30 p.m., $10, 18+.

Danzhaus: 1275 Connecticut, San Francisco. “Alt.Dance,” Second Thursday of every month, 7 p.m., $7, 18+.

DNA Lounge: 375 11th St., San Francisco. “8bitSF,” w/ Starpause, Bleeds, Wizwars, DJ Mr. Smith, 9 p.m., $8-$11.

Elbo Room: 647 Valencia, San Francisco. “Afrolicious,” w/ DJs Pleasuremaker, Señor Oz, and live guests, 9:30 p.m., $5-$8.

Harlot: 46 Minna, San Francisco. “Set,” w/ Guy J, Darren Grayson, Matt Hubert, 9 p.m., $10.

Infusion Lounge: 124 Ellis, San Francisco. “I Love Thursdays,” 10 p.m., $10.

Madrone Art Bar: 500 Divisadero, San Francisco. “Night Fever,” 9 p.m., $5 after 10 p.m.

Mighty: 119 Utah, San Francisco. “Stereo,” w/ Le1f, Lakutis, Matrixxman, WolfBitch, 9 p.m., $15 advance.

Q Bar: 456 Castro, San Francisco. “Throwback Thursday,” w/ DJ Jay-R, 9 p.m., free.

Raven: 1151 Folsom St., San Francisco. “1999,” w/ VJ Mark Andrus, 8 p.m., free.

Ruby Skye: 420 Mason, San Francisco. “Awakening,” w/ DJ Bl3nd, 9 p.m., $15-$20 advance.

The Tunnel Top: 601 Bush, San Francisco. “Tunneltop,” DJs Avalon and Derek ease you into the weekend with a cool and relaxed selection of tunes spun on vinyl, 10 p.m., free.

Underground SF: 424 Haight, San Francisco. “Bubble,” 10 p.m., free.

Vessel: 85 Campton, San Francisco. “Base,” w/ Shonky, Alessandro, 10 p.m., $5-$10.

HIP-HOP

1015 Folsom: 1015 Folsom St., San Francisco. 2Racks Rap Contest, presented by Sellassie, 8 p.m., $20.

Eastside West: 3154 Fillmore, San Francisco. “Throwback Thursdays,” w/ DJ Madison, 9 p.m., free.

The EndUp: 401 Sixth St., San Francisco. “Cypher,” w/ resident DJ Big Von, 10 p.m., $5-$10.

John Colins: 138 Minna, San Francisco. “Party with Friends,” w/ resident DJs IllEfect, GeektotheBeat, Merrick, and Delrokz, Second Thursday of every month, 9 p.m., free.

Neck of the Woods: 406 Clement St., San Francisco. “Skratchpad,” Second Thursday of every month, 10 p.m., free.

Park 77 Sports Bar: 77 Cambon, San Francisco. “Slap N Tite,” w/ resident Cali King Crab DJs Sabotage Beats & Jason Awesome, free.

Skylark Bar: 3089 16th St., San Francisco. “Peaches,” w/lady DJs DeeAndroid, Lady Fingaz, That Girl, Umami, Inkfat, and Andre, 10 p.m., free.

ACOUSTIC

Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. Anna Ash, Wooden Suns, DonCat, 9 p.m., $7-$10.

Cafe Du Nord: 2170 Market, San Francisco. Houndmouth, Andrew Combs, 9 p.m., $12.

Plough & Stars: 116 Clement, San Francisco. John Caufield, 9 p.m.

Rebel: 1760 Market, San Francisco. Bobby Jo Valentine, Stephen Leonard & Manny Capozzi, $10.

JAZZ

Blush! Wine Bar: 476 Castro, San Francisco. Doug Martin’s Avatar Ensemble, 7:30 p.m., free.

Bottle Cap: 1707 Powell, San Francisco. The North Beach Sound with Ned Boynton, Jordan Samuels, and Tom Vickers, 7 p.m., free.

Cafe Claude: 7 Claude, San Francisco. Dick Fregulia’s Good Vibes Trio, 7:30 p.m., free.

Cafe Royale: 800 Post, San Francisco. West Side Jazz Club, 9 p.m.

Cigar Bar & Grill: 850 Montgomery, San Francisco. Sara & Swingtime, 8 p.m.

Le Colonial: 20 Cosmo, San Francisco. Steve Lucky & The Rhumba Bums, 7:30 p.m.

The Royal Cuckoo: 3202 Mission, San Francisco. Chris Siebert, 7:30 p.m., free.

Savanna Jazz Club: 2937 Mission, San Francisco. Savanna Jazz Jam with Eddy Ramirez, 7:30 p.m., $5.

SFJAZZ Center: 205 Franklin St., San Francisco. “Hotplate,” w/ Si Perkoff (playing Thelonious Monk’s Brilliant Corners), 8 & 9:30 p.m.

Top of the Mark: One Nob Hill, 999 California, San Francisco. Stompy Jones, 7:30 p.m., $10.

Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Barbara Ochoa, 7:30 p.m., free.

INTERNATIONAL

Bissap Baobab: 3372 19th St., San Francisco. “Pa’Lante!,” w/ Juan G, El Kool Kyle, Mr. Lucky, 10 p.m., $5.

Cafe Cocomo: 650 Indiana, San Francisco. Salson, DJ Good Sho, 8 p.m., $12.

Pachamama Restaurant: 1630 Powell, San Francisco. “Jueves Flamencos,” 8 p.m., free.

Slim’s: 333 11th St., San Francisco. Los Texmaniacs, Blanca, 8 p.m., $21.

Verdi Club: 2424 Mariposa, San Francisco. The Verdi Club Milonga, w/ Christy Coté, DJ Emilio Flores, guests, 9 p.m., $10-$15.

REGGAE

Make-Out Room: 3225 22nd St., San Francisco. “Festival ‘68,” w/ Revival Sound System, Second Thursday of every month, 10 p.m., free.

Pissed Off Pete’s: 4528 Mission St., San Francisco. Reggae Thursdays, w/ resident DJ Jah Yzer, 9 p.m., free.

BLUES

50 Mason Social House: 50 Mason, San Francisco. Bill Phillippe, 5:30 p.m., free.

Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. Chris Cain, 7 & 9 p.m., $20.

Jazz Bistro At Les Joulins: 44 Ellis, San Francisco. Bohemian Knuckleboogie, 7:30 p.m., free.

The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. Tom Bowers, 4 p.m.; Cathy Lemons, 9:30 p.m.

EXPERIMENTAL

Exploratorium: Pier 15, San Francisco. Resonance: Selections from Antarctica – Music from the Ice, w/ Cheryl E. Leonard & Phillip Greenlief, 7 p.m.

The Luggage Store: 1007 Market, San Francisco. French Radio, Dapplegray, 8 p.m., $6-$10.

SOUL

Amoeba Music: 1855 Haight, San Francisco. Alice Russell, 5 p.m., free.

Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Alice Russell, 8 p.m., $22.

FRIDAY 11

ROCK

Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. The We Shared Milk, Old Age, 6:30 p.m., $7.

Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside, Wooden Indian Burial Ground, Down Dirty Shake, 9:30 p.m., $12-$14.

Cafe Du Nord: 2170 Market, San Francisco. No Captains, Build them to Break, The Bruises, Orchid Belly Dance, 9 p.m., $10.

The Chapel: 777 Valencia St., San Francisco. Thee Oh Sees, OBN III’s, The Blind Shake, Old Light, 8:30 p.m., $15-$18.

Elbo Room: 647 Valencia, San Francisco. Sabbat, Antebellum, Invocation War, Cardinal Wyrm, 9 p.m., $12-$15.

Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. Tjutjuna, Permanent Collection, Groonies, 9:30 p.m., $7.

The Independent: 628 Divisadero, San Francisco. An Evening with Steve Kilbey & Greg Dulli, plus Alain Johannes., $30.

Rickshaw Stop: 155 Fell, San Francisco. Mike Donovan, Tal National, BreakArts, G. Green, 8 p.m., $10.

Thee Parkside: 1600 17th St., San Francisco. Cold Eskimo, Telenovela, St. Marie of the Sea, 9 p.m., $8.

DANCE

1015 Folsom: 1015 Folsom St., San Francisco. Mr. Oizo, MPHD, DJ Dials, Mophono, Niteppl, 10 p.m., $17.50 advance.

Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. “Indie Slash,” w/ DJs Danny White & Rance, 10 p.m., $5.

Audio Discotech: 316 11th St., San Francisco. Plastic Plates, Bit Funk, Lane 8, 9:30 p.m.

Balancoire: 2565 Mission St., San Francisco. “Heavy Duty,” w/ DJ Spun, DJ Jenö, Cosmic D, 9 p.m., $10 (free before 11 p.m.).

BeatBox: 314 11th St., San Francisco. “Werq,” w/ DJ Escape, 10 p.m., $5-$10.

Cafe Flore: 2298 Market, San Francisco. “Kinky Beats,” w/ DJ Sergio, 10 p.m., free.

The Cafe: 2369 Market, San Francisco. “Boy Bar,” w/ DJ Matt Consola, 9 p.m., $5.

Cat Club: 1190 Folsom, San Francisco. “Dark Shadows: Second Annual Masquerade Ball,” w/ DJs Daniel Skellington, Panic, Melting Girl, and Joe Radio, 9:30 p.m., $7 ($3 before 10 p.m.).

The Cellar: 685 Sutter, San Francisco. “F.T.S.: For the Story,” 10 p.m.

DNA Lounge: 375 11th St., San Francisco. “Turbo Drive,” w/ Delorean Overdrive, Kat Haus, Devon, MyKill, Sparkle, Tracer, Fact.50, Mr. Smith, 9:30 p.m., $8.

The EndUp: 401 Sixth St., San Francisco. “Fever,” 10 p.m., free before midnight.

F8: 1192 Folsom St., San Francisco. “Vintage,” w/ DJ Toph One & guests, 5 p.m., free; “Hidden Measure: 1-Year Anniversary,” w/ Gary Beck, Memnok, Mac Vaughn, Daya, Nayive, Thomas Treffry, Symn Bnjmn, 9 p.m., $12-$25.

The Grand Nightclub: 520 4th St., San Francisco. “We Rock Fridays,” 9:30 p.m.

Infusion Lounge: 124 Ellis, San Francisco. “Escape Fridays,” 10 p.m., $20.

Lone Star Saloon: 1354 Harrison, San Francisco. “Cubcake,” w/ DJ Medic, Second Friday of every month, 9 p.m.

Lookout: 3600 16th St., San Francisco. “HYSL,” 9 p.m., $3.

Manor West: 750 Harrison, San Francisco. “Fortune Fridays,” 10 p.m., free before 11 p.m. with RSVP.

MatrixFillmore: 3138 Fillmore, San Francisco. “F-Style Fridays,” w/ DJ Jared-F, 9 p.m.

Mighty: 119 Utah, San Francisco. VibeSquaD, Freddy Todd, Bogl, Ryury, 10 p.m., $10 advance.

Monarch: 101 6th St., San Francisco. No Regular Play, Ghosts on Tape, Kimmy Le Funk, 9:30 p.m., $10-$20.

OMG: 43 6th St., San Francisco. “Release,” 9 p.m., free before 11 p.m.

Public Works: 161 Erie, San Francisco. “Modular,” w/ Stephan Bodzin, Pedro Arbulu, MFYRS (in the main room), 9:30 p.m., $12-$20; “Odyssey: 2-Year Anniversary,” w/ Eli Escobar, Lloydski, Robin Simmons (in the OddJob Loft), 9:30 p.m., $10.

Q Bar: 456 Castro, San Francisco. “Pump: Worq It Out Fridays,” w/ resident DJ Christopher B, 9 p.m., $3.

Qi Ultra Lounge: 917 Folsom St., San Francisco. Fourth Annual Fleet or Flight, Edgewood Center for Children & Families benefit with DJ Chucky Brown, presented by the Spinsters of San Francisco., 8 p.m., $30-$40 advance.

Ruby Skye: 420 Mason, San Francisco. Emma Hewitt, Ben Gold, 9 p.m., $20-$25 advance.

Showdown: 10 Sixth St., San Francisco. “Electric WKND,” w/ The Certain People Crew, Second Friday of every month, 10 p.m., free.

Slide: 430 Mason, San Francisco. “E2F,” Second Friday of every month, 9 p.m.

Underground SF: 424 Haight, San Francisco. “Bionic,” 10 p.m., $5.

Vessel: 85 Campton, San Francisco. “A Night with Skills,” w/ Dyloot, John Beaver, Blix Cannon, 10 p.m.

Wish: 1539 Folsom, San Francisco. “Bridge the Gap,” w/ resident DJ Don Kainoa, Fridays, 6-10 p.m., free.

HIP-HOP

EZ5: 682 Commercial, San Francisco. “Decompression,” Fridays, 5-9 p.m.

Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. “Poets & Empowerment,” w/ Aima the Dreamer, Davu Flint, Khafre Jay, Champlu, 9 p.m., $10.

John Colins: 138 Minna, San Francisco. “Heartbeat,” w/ resident DJ Strategy, Second Friday of every month, 9 p.m., $5 (free before 11 p.m).

Slate Bar: 2925 16th St., San Francisco. “The Hustle,” w/ DJs Sake One & Sean G, Second Friday of every month, 9 p.m.

Slim’s: 333 11th St., San Francisco. Roach Gigz, Husalah, Bobby Brackins, The Goomba Circus, DJ Skimask, 9 p.m., $19.

ACOUSTIC

Bazaar Cafe: 5927 California, San Francisco. Eve Fleishman & Joe Rathbone, 7 p.m.

Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. Lucy Rose, Dresses, Magic Magic Roses, 9 p.m., $10-$12.

The Lost Church: 65 Capp St., San Francisco. Brian Belknap, 8 p.m., $10.

Plough & Stars: 116 Clement, San Francisco. Rain or Shine, Charley Crockett, 9 p.m.

The Sports Basement: 610 Old Mason, San Francisco. “Breakfast with Enzo,” w/ Enzo Garcia, 10 a.m., $5.

JAZZ

Beach Chalet Brewery & Restaurant: 1000 Great Highway, San Francisco. Johnny Smith, 8 p.m., free.

Bird & Beckett: 653 Chenery, San Francisco. Jimmy Ryan Quintet, Second Friday of every month, 5:30 p.m., free.

Cafe Claude: 7 Claude, San Francisco. Nick Rossi Trio, 7:30 p.m., free.

Cafe Royale: 800 Post, San Francisco. Ken Husbands Jazz Trio, 9 p.m.

Cliff House: 1090 Point Lobos, San Francisco. Dick Fregulia’s Good Vibes Quartet, 7 p.m.

Jazz Bistro At Les Joulins: 44 Ellis, San Francisco. Charles Unger Experience, 7:30 p.m., free.

The Rite Spot Cafe: 2099 Folsom, San Francisco. Conscious Contact, 9 p.m., free.

The Royal Cuckoo: 3202 Mission, San Francisco. Wil Blades & Jack Tone Riordan, 7:30 p.m., free.

Savanna Jazz Club: 2937 Mission, San Francisco. Jim Butler Group, 7:30 p.m., $8.

Top of the Mark: One Nob Hill, 999 California, San Francisco. Black Market Jazz Orchestra, 9 p.m., $10.

Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. The Messenger Legacy, featuring Ralph Peterson, Donald Harrison, Brian Lynch, Billy Pierce, Donald Brown, and Reggie Workman., 8 & 10 p.m., $25-$31.

Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Joyce Grant, 8 p.m., free.

INTERNATIONAL

Bissap Baobab: 3372 19th St., San Francisco. “Paris-Dakar African Mix Coupe Decale,” 10 p.m., $5.

Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. Debauche, Juno What?!, 9:30 p.m., $15 advance.

Cafe Cocomo: 650 Indiana, San Francisco. Taste Fridays, featuring local cuisine tastings, salsa bands, dance lessons, and more, 7:30 p.m., $15 (free entry to patio).

Cigar Bar & Grill: 850 Montgomery, San Francisco. Mazacote, 8 p.m.

Pachamama Restaurant: 1630 Powell, San Francisco. Cuban Night with Fito Reinoso, 7:30 & 9:15 p.m., $15-$18.

Red Poppy Art House: 2698 Folsom, San Francisco. Colm Ó Riain, 7:30 p.m., $15-$20.

San Francisco Community Music Center: 544 Capp, San Francisco. Alejandro Ziegler Quartet, 8 p.m., $10-$15.

REGGAE

Gestalt Haus: 3159 16th St., San Francisco. “Music Like Dirt,” 7:30 p.m., free.

BLUES

Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. Kim Nalley Blues Band, 7:30 & 10 p.m., $24.

The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. Jinx Jones & The KingTones, 4 p.m.; Delta Wires, 9:30 p.m.

EXPERIMENTAL

Meridian Gallery: 535 Powell, San Francisco. Music for People & Thingamajigs, w/ Voicehandler, Bryan Day, 8 p.m., $10-$15.

FUNK

Make-Out Room: 3225 22nd St., San Francisco. “Loose Joints,” w/ DJs Centipede, Damon Bell, & Tom Thump, 10 p.m., $5.

SOUL

Edinburgh Castle: 950 Geary, San Francisco. “Soul Crush,” w/ DJ Serious Leisure, 10 p.m., free.

The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. “Nightbeat,” w/ DJs Primo, Lucky, and Dr. Scott, Second Friday of every month, 10 p.m., $4.

Madrone Art Bar: 500 Divisadero, San Francisco. “Yo Momma: M.O.M. Weekend Edition,” w/ DJ Gordo Cabeza, Second Friday of every month, 9 p.m., $5 (free before 10 p.m.).

The Ramp: 855 Terry Francois, San Francisco. “Soul Soirée,” w/ The Tony Saunders Band, 6 p.m.

SATURDAY 12

ROCK

Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. Big Still, Roger!, 6 p.m.

Bender’s: 806 S. Van Ness, San Francisco. Castle, Wild Eyes, 10 p.m., $5.

Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. Guitar Wolf, The Coathangers, Coward, 9:30 p.m., $13-$15.

The Chapel: 777 Valencia St., San Francisco. Thee Oh Sees, OBN III’s, The Blind Shake, Dreamsalon, 8:30 p.m., $15-$18.

Connecticut Yankee: 100 Connecticut, San Francisco. Andrea & The Bad Sugar Daddies, Pelicanopolis, 10 p.m.

El Rio: 3158 Mission, San Francisco. The Spyrals, Hot Lunch, Cool Ghouls, Feral Ohms, 4 p.m., $8.

Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. Peace Creep, Gaytheist, Monogamy Party, Sex Snobs, 9 p.m., $7.

Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. Dylan Fox & The Wave, The Cabin Project, Wes Fox & The Loons, 9 p.m., $10.

The Independent: 628 Divisadero, San Francisco. Marky Ramone’s Blitzkrieg with Andrew W.K., Figo, The Meat Sluts, 9 p.m., $25.

The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. The Bar Feeders, Pollo Del Mar, Virgil Shaw, 10 p.m., $5.

Slim’s: 333 11th St., San Francisco. The Pretty Reckless, Heaven’s Basement, Louna, 9 p.m., $16.

DANCE

Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. “2 Men Will Move You,” w/ DJs Primo & Jordan, Second Saturday of every month, 9 p.m.

Audio Discotech: 316 11th St., San Francisco. Treasure Fingers, Spektor, Manics, 9:30 p.m.

Balancoire: 2565 Mission St., San Francisco. “Play It Cool,” w/ Lovefingers, Guillaume Galuz, Matthew Howell, Derek Opperman, Avalon Emerson, 9 p.m., $5.

BeatBox: 314 11th St., San Francisco. “Bearracuda: Underwear Party,” w/ DJs Russ Rich & Matt Stands, 9 p.m., $6-$10.

Cafe Flore: 2298 Market, San Francisco. “Bistrotheque,” w/ DJ Ken Vulsion, 8 p.m., free.

California Academy of Sciences: 55 Music Concourse, San Francisco. SFAF Tribute Celebration, The San Francisco AIDS Foundation takes over the museum with a dinner program honoring Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, MD, followed by an after-party with cocktails plus music by DJ Josh Cheon., 6 p.m., $75-$500.

Cat Club: 1190 Folsom, San Francisco. “Club Gossip: We Love Siouxsie,” w/ DJs Melting Girl, Daniel Skellington, Damon, Shon, and Ryan B, 9 p.m., $5-$8 (free before 9:30 p.m.).

DNA Lounge: 375 11th St., San Francisco. “Bootie S.F.,” w/ Elocnep, A+D, Ding Dong, Haute Mess, Ernie Trevino, JoeJoe, Myster C, Mr. Washington, Hubba Hubba Revue, more, 9 p.m., $10-$15.

S.F. Eagle: 398 12th St., San Francisco. “Sadistic Saturdays,” Second Saturday of every month, 10 p.m., free.

The EndUp: 401 Sixth St., San Francisco. “Eclectricity,” Second Saturday of every month, 10 p.m.

The Hot Spot: 1414 Market, San Francisco. “Love Will Fix It,” w/ DJ Bus Station John, Second Saturday of every month, 10 p.m., $5.

Infusion Lounge: 124 Ellis, San Francisco. “One Way Ticket Saturdays,” w/ Eric D-Lux, Second Saturday of every month, 10 p.m., $20.

The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. “Galaxy Radio,” w/ resident DJs Smac, Emils, Holly B, and guests, Second Saturday of every month, 9 p.m.

Lookout: 3600 16th St., San Francisco. “Pink Mammoth Marathon,” w/ David Harness, MoeMoe, Zach Walker, RawC, Derek Hena, 4 p.m., free before 9 p.m.

Madrone Art Bar: 500 Divisadero, San Francisco. “Music Video Night,” w/ DJs Satva & 4AM, Second Saturday of every month, 10 p.m., $5.

Mezzanine: 444 Jessie, San Francisco. “Tormenta Tropical,” w/ Jubilee, Oro11, Deejay Theory, 10 p.m., $5-$10.

Mighty: 119 Utah, San Francisco. “Salted,” w/ Miguel Migs, Julius Papp, guests, Second Saturday of every month, 10 p.m., $10 before 11 p.m.

Monarch: 101 6th St., San Francisco. Disco Knights, Anthony Mansfield, DJ M3, Shiny Objects, 9 p.m.

OMG: 43 6th St., San Francisco. “Fixup,” Second Saturday of every month, 10 p.m., free before 11 p.m.

Public Works: 161 Erie, San Francisco. “Distrikt: Pre-Decompression,” w/ Ben Seagren, Matt Kramer, Darren Grayson, Paul Geddes, Brett Rubin, Syd Gris, Tamo, Jamie Schwabl, Atron, Peter Blick (in the main room), 9 p.m., $10-$20.

Q Bar: 456 Castro, San Francisco. “Shoop!,” w/ DJs Tommy T & Bryan B, 9 p.m.

Qi Ultra Lounge: 917 Folsom St., San Francisco. Dark Beauty Magazine Halloween Party, With music by Pixel Memory, Meikee Magnetic, and Creepy B, plus fashion shows, burlesque, more., 9 p.m., $8.

Rickshaw Stop: 155 Fell, San Francisco. “Cockblock: Super Heroes vs. Villains,” w/ DJs C-Lektra & Kidd Sysko, 10 p.m., $10.

Ruby Skye: 420 Mason, San Francisco. “World Town,” w/ Qulinez, Norman Doray, Trevor Simpson, 9 p.m., $20 advance.

Slate Bar: 2925 16th St., San Francisco. “The KissGroove S.F.,” w/ DJ Vinroc & The Whooligan, Second Saturday of every month, 10 p.m., free.

SOMA StrEat Food Park: 428 11th St., San Francisco. “Local Flavour,” w/ DJs Tyrel Williams, Blue Soul, Dao & Pwny, Benjamin Vallery, Andy Kershaw, Bob Campbell, Darrell Tenaglia, Menage à Moi, and more, plus local art and food, noon-midnight, free.

The Stud: 399 Ninth St., San Francisco. “Frolic: A Celebration of Costume & Dance,” w/ resident DJ NeonBunny, Second Saturday of every month, 8 p.m., $8 ($4 in costume).

Sub-Mission Art Space (Balazo 18 Gallery): 2183 Mission, San Francisco. “Warm Leatherette,” w/ Profligate, Samantha Vacation, Justin Anastasi, Nihar, Jason P, Dreamweapon, 10 p.m., $10.

Temple: 540 Howard, San Francisco. Dirtyloud, Lucas Med, BMFJ, Wes Kraven, J-Trip, DVS, 10 p.m., $20.

Vessel: 85 Campton, San Francisco. Tristan Garner, Clinton VanSciver, 10 p.m., $10-$30.

Wish: 1539 Folsom, San Francisco. “All Styles & Smiles,” w/ DJ Tom Thump, Second Saturday of every month, 10 p.m., free.

HIP-HOP

111 Minna Gallery: 111 Minna St., San Francisco. “Back to the ‘90s,” Second Saturday of every month, 9:30 p.m., $10.

Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. “The 45 Sessions,” w/ DJ Platurn & Deejay Saurus, 10 p.m., free.

Double Dutch: 3192 16th St., San Francisco. “Cash IV Gold,” w/ DJs Kool Karlo, Roost Uno, and Sean G, Second Saturday of every month, 10 p.m., free.

John Colins: 138 Minna, San Francisco. “Second Saturdays,” w/ resident DJ Matt Cali, Second Saturday of every month, 10 p.m., free.

Milk Bar: 1840 Haight, San Francisco. CBG (Chill Black Guys), 9 p.m., $5.

Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts: 2868 Mission, San Francisco. Raices del Barrio, MCCLA benefit with music by Cempoalli 20, Kaila Love, Chhoti Maa, and MADlines., 7:30 p.m., $13.

Showdown: 10 Sixth St., San Francisco. “The Shit Show,” w/ resident DJ Taurus Scott, Second Saturday of every month, 10 p.m., two for $5.

ACOUSTIC

Atlas Cafe: 3049 20th St., San Francisco. Craig Ventresco & Meredith Axelrod, Saturdays, 4-6 p.m., free.

Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. Luce, Victoria George, David Luning, 9 p.m., $12-$15.

Cafe Du Nord: 2170 Market, San Francisco. Joe Pug, Vandaveer, K.C. Turner, 9:30 p.m., $12-$14.

The Riptide: 3639 Taraval, San Francisco. Rustangs, 9:30 p.m., free.

Thee Parkside: 1600 17th St., San Francisco. Austin Lucas, Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires, TV Mike & The Scarecrowes, 9 p.m., $10.

JAZZ

Cafe Claude: 7 Claude, San Francisco. The Monroe Trio, 7:30 p.m., free.

Cafe Royale: 800 Post, San Francisco. JBM Jazz Group, 9 p.m.

Cigar Bar & Grill: 850 Montgomery, San Francisco. Josh Jones Latin Jazz Ensemble, 8 p.m.

Jazz Bistro At Les Joulins: 44 Ellis, San Francisco. Bill “Doc” Webster & Jazz Nostalgia, 7:30 p.m., free.

The Royal Cuckoo: 3202 Mission, San Francisco. Steve Lucky & Carmen Getit, 7:30 p.m., free.

Savanna Jazz Club: 2937 Mission, San Francisco. Gina Harris & Torbie Phillips, 7:30 p.m., $8.

Sheba Piano Lounge: 1419 Fillmore, San Francisco. The Robert Stewart Experience, 9 p.m.

Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Fourplay, 8 & 10 p.m., $35.

Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Brenda Reed, 8 p.m., free.

INTERNATIONAL

1015 Folsom: 1015 Folsom St., San Francisco. “Pura,” 9 p.m., $20.

Bissap Baobab: 3372 19th St., San Francisco. Misión Flamenca, Monthly live music and dance performances., Second Saturday of every month, 7:30 p.m. “Paris-Dakar African Mix Coupe Decale,” 10 p.m., $5.

Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. Debauche, Scary Little Friends, 9:30 p.m., $15 advance.

Cafe Cocomo: 650 Indiana, San Francisco. Elio Revé y Su Charangon, 10 p.m., $30 advance.

KZV Armenian School: 825 Brotherhood Way, San Francisco. Chookasian Armenian Concert Ensemble, 7:30 p.m., $15-$30.

Make-Out Room: 3225 22nd St., San Francisco. “El SuperRitmo,” w/ DJs Roger Mas & El Kool Kyle, 10 p.m., $5.

Pachamama Restaurant: 1630 Powell, San Francisco. Peña Eddy Navia & Pachamama Band, 8 p.m., free.

The Ramp: 855 Terry Francois, San Francisco. Alexis y la Original, 5:30 p.m.

Red Poppy Art House: 2698 Folsom, San Francisco. Persian Starr, 7:30 p.m., $15-$20.

Roccapulco Supper Club: 3140 Mission, San Francisco. Don Chezina, Punta Cartel, 8 p.m.

St. Cyprian’s Episcopal Church: 2097 Turk, San Francisco. “Legends of the Celtic Harp,” w/ Patrick Ball, Lisa Lynne, and Aryeh Frankfurter., 8 p.m., $12-$17.

BLUES

Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. Sugaray Rayford, 7:30 & 10 p.m., $22.

Plough & Stars: 116 Clement, San Francisco. Crosscut, 9 p.m.

The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. Dave Workman, Second Saturday of every month, 4 p.m.; Barry “The Fish” Melton Band, 9:30 p.m.

EXPERIMENTAL

Meridian Gallery: 535 Powell, San Francisco. Music for People & Thingamajigs, w/ Fred Frith & Sudhu Tewari, Tim Phillips, Todd Lerew, 8 p.m., $10-$15.

SUNDAY 13

ROCK

Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. Sweat Lodge, The Steganothings, Devon McClive, 8 p.m., $7.

DNA Lounge: 375 11th St., San Francisco. The Legendary Pink Dots, Orbit Service, Big City Orchestra, DJs Decay & Sage, 9 p.m., $20-$25.

El Rio: 3158 Mission, San Francisco. Vows, Dead Panzies, Tears Club, 8 p.m., $6-$10.

Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. IAMOGB, Aberrant Phase, Gladiators Eat Fire, 8:30 p.m., $6.

Slim’s: 333 11th St., San Francisco. King Khan & The Shrines, HellShovel, Slipping Into Darkness, 8 p.m., $16.

Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Peter Murphy (performing Bauhaus), 7 & 10 p.m., $30-$65.

DANCE

Cafe Cocomo: 650 Indiana, San Francisco. Decompression 2013: Heat the Street Faire, Who needs the playa? Burners convene to decompress from this year’s desert escapades with a multi-block party featuring art installations, stage performances, fire dancers, EDM DJs, and all the usual costumed hoopla (and/or hula hoops) expected from Burning Man’s rabid devotees., noon, $15-$20.

The Cellar: 685 Sutter, San Francisco. “Replay Sundays,” 9 p.m., free.

The Edge: 4149 18th St., San Francisco. “’80s at 8,” w/ DJ MC2, 8 p.m.

Elbo Room: 647 Valencia, San Francisco. “Dub Mission,” w/ Digitaldubs, Vibration Lab, DJ Sep, 9 p.m., $7-$10.

The EndUp: 401 Sixth St., San Francisco. “T.Dance,” 6 a.m.-6 p.m.; “The Rhythm Room: Knocktoberfest,” w/ Rick Preston, Cris Herrera, Brian Salazar, C.J. Larsen, J Funk, Nick Garcia, Mike Tyler, 8 p.m., $15-$20; “Sunday Sessions,” 8 p.m.

F8: 1192 Folsom St., San Francisco. “Stamina Sundays,” w/ Cyantific, Lukeino, Jamal, 10 p.m., free.

Holy Cow: 1535 Folsom, San Francisco. “Honey Sundays,” w/ Honey Soundsystem & guests, 9 p.m. continues through Oct. 20, $5-$10.

The Independent: 628 Divisadero, San Francisco. Griz, Two Fresh, Anvil Smith, 8 p.m., $20.

The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. “Sweater Funk,” 10 p.m., free.

Lookout: 3600 16th St., San Francisco. “Jock,” Sundays, 3-8 p.m., $2.

MatrixFillmore: 3138 Fillmore, San Francisco. “Bounce,” w/ DJ Just, 10 p.m.

Otis: 25 Maiden, San Francisco. “What’s the Werd?,” w/ resident DJs Nick Williams, Kevin Knapp, Maxwell Dub, and guests, 9 p.m., $5 (free before 11 p.m.).

The Parlor: 2801 Leavenworth, San Francisco. DJ Marc deVasconcelos, 10 p.m., free.

Q Bar: 456 Castro, San Francisco. “Gigante,” 8 p.m., free.

HIP-HOP

Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. “Return of the Cypher,” 9:30 p.m., free.

Ruby Skye: 420 Mason, San Francisco. “The Ol’ Skool House Party,” w/ Naughty by Nature, plus DJs Pos Red, Supreme, and C.J. Flash, 10 p.m., $30 advance.

ACOUSTIC

Cafe Du Nord: 2170 Market, San Francisco. Tony Lucca, Jenn Grinels, Shawn Brown, 8 p.m., $15.

The Chapel: 777 Valencia St., San Francisco. KT Tunstall, Brian Lopez, 9 p.m., $25-$30.

Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. Steve Kaul, Teja Gerken, Jared Clifton, 8 p.m., $8.

The Lucky Horseshoe: 453 Cortland, San Francisco. Sunday Bluegrass Jam, 4 p.m., free.

Madrone Art Bar: 500 Divisadero, San Francisco. “Spike’s Mic Night,” Sundays, 4-8 p.m., free.

Neck of the Woods: 406 Clement St., San Francisco. “iPlay,” open mic with featured weekly artists, 6:30 p.m., free.

Plough & Stars: 116 Clement, San Francisco. Seisiún with Darcy Noonan, Richard Mandel, and Jack Gilder, 9 p.m.

St. Luke’s Episcopal Church: 1755 Clay, San Francisco. “Sunday Night Mic,” w/ Roem Baur, 5 p.m., free.

JAZZ

Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. Slim Jenkins, Second Sunday of every month, 9 p.m., $7-$10.

Bird & Beckett: 653 Chenery, San Francisco. Retro Blue, 4:30 & 5:30 p.m., free/donation.

Jazz Bistro At Les Joulins: 44 Ellis, San Francisco. Bill “Doc” Webster & Jazz Nostalgia, 7:30 p.m., free.

Madrone Art Bar: 500 Divisadero, San Francisco. “Sunday Sessions,” 10 p.m., free.

Martuni’s: 4 Valencia, San Francisco. Madame Jo Trio, second Sunday of every month, 4-6 p.m., free.

Revolution Cafe: 3248 22nd St., San Francisco. Jazz Revolution, 4 p.m., free/donation.

The Royal Cuckoo: 3202 Mission, San Francisco. Lavay Smith & Chris Siebert, 7:30 p.m., free.

Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Kitt Weagant, 7:30 p.m., free.

INTERNATIONAL

Atmosphere: 447 Broadway, San Francisco. “Hot Bachata Nights,” w/ DJ El Guapo, 5:30 p.m., $10 ($15-$20 with dance lessons).

Bissap Baobab: 3372 19th St., San Francisco. “Brazil & Beyond,” 6:30 p.m., free.

El Rio: 3158 Mission, San Francisco. “Salsa Sundays,” Second and Fourth Sunday of every month, 3 p.m., $8-$10.

Pa’ina: 1865 Post St., San Francisco. Raq Filipina with Florante Aguilar & Ron Quesada, 6:30 p.m., $20.

The Ramp: 855 Terry Francois, San Francisco. BrazilVox, 5:30 p.m.

Thirsty Bear Brewing Company: 661 Howard, San Francisco. “The Flamenco Room,” 7:30 & 8:30 p.m.

BLUES

Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. Jason King Band, 7 & 9 p.m., $15.

Revolution Cafe: 3248 22nd St., San Francisco. HowellDevine, 8:30 p.m., free/donation.

The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. Blues Power, 4 p.m.; The Door Slammers, 9:30 p.m.

Sheba Piano Lounge: 1419 Fillmore, San Francisco. Bohemian Knuckleboogie, 9 p.m., free.

Swig: 571 Geary, San Francisco. Sunday Blues Jam with Ed Ivey, 9 p.m.

COUNTRY

The Riptide: 3639 Taraval, San Francisco. Joe Goldmark & The Seducers, Second Sunday of every month, 7:30 p.m., free.

SOUL

Delirium Cocktails: 3139 16th St., San Francisco. “Heart & Soul,” w/ DJ Lovely Lesage, 10 p.m., free.

MONDAY 14

ROCK

Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. Overseas, Radar Brothers, 9:30 p.m., $15.

Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. Brasil, Vum, CIVC, Drab Majesty, DJs Neil Martinson & Mashi Mashi, 9 p.m., $5-$7.

DNA Lounge: 375 11th St., San Francisco. Fucked Up, Tony Molina, 8:30 p.m., $15.

Elbo Room: 647 Valencia, San Francisco. SLV, Snow Angel, 9 p.m., $7.

DANCE

DNA Lounge: 375 11th St., San Francisco. “Death Guild,” 18+ dance party with DJs Decay, Joe Radio, Melting Girl, & guests, 9:30 p.m., $3-$5.

Q Bar: 456 Castro, San Francisco. “Wanted,” w/ DJs Key&Kite and Richie Panic, 9 p.m., free.

Underground SF: 424 Haight, San Francisco. “Vienetta Discotheque,” w/ DJs Stanley Frank and Robert Jeffrey, 10 p.m., free.

ACOUSTIC

Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. The Pick Bluegrass Jam, Second Monday of every month, 6 p.m., free; Toshio Hirano, Second Monday of every month, 9 p.m., free.

The Chieftain: 198 Fifth St., San Francisco. The Wrenboys, 7 p.m., free.

Fiddler’s Green: 1333 Columbus, San Francisco. Terry Savastano, 9:30 p.m., free/donation.

Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. Open mic with Brendan Getzell, 8 p.m., free.

Osteria: 3277 Sacramento, San Francisco. “Acoustic Bistro,” 7 p.m., free.

The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. Peter Lindman, 4 p.m.

JAZZ

Le Colonial: 20 Cosmo, San Francisco. Le Jazz Hot, 7 p.m., free.

Sheba Piano Lounge: 1419 Fillmore, San Francisco. City Jazz Instrumental Jam Session, 8 p.m.

The Union Room at Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. The Session: A Monday Night Jazz Series, pro jazz jam with Mike Olmos, 7:30 p.m., $12.

Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Nora Maki, 7:30 p.m., free; Gayle Wilhelm, 7:30 p.m., free.

REGGAE

Skylark Bar: 3089 16th St., San Francisco. “Skylarking,” w/ I&I Vibration, 10 p.m., free.

BLUES

Jazz Bistro At Les Joulins: 44 Ellis, San Francisco. Bohemian Knuckleboogie, 7:30 p.m., free.

The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. The Bachelors, 9:30 p.m.

SOUL

Madrone Art Bar: 500 Divisadero, San Francisco. “M.O.M. (Motown on Mondays),” w/ DJ Gordo Cabeza & Timoteo Gigante, 8 p.m., free.

TUESDAY 15

ROCK

Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. Major Powers & The Lo-Fi Symphony, Tiger Honey Pot, The Lurk, 9 p.m., $8-$10.

Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. ZuhG, Third Tuesday of every month, 9:30 p.m., $5.

Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. Har Mar Superstar, Harold Ray Live in Concert, Michael Gaughan, The Reefer Twins, 9 p.m., $10-$12.

Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. Halsted, Churches, Buckeye Knoll, 9 p.m., $5-$8.

DNA Lounge: 375 11th St., San Francisco. Diamond Head, Raven, Volture, Owl, 8 p.m., $20-$25.

Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. Disappearing People, Creepers, Buffalo Tooth, Sutra, 8 p.m., $7.

Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. The Jaunting Martyrs, Kitten Grenade, Blood Party, Coffee Shop Dropout, 9 p.m., $6.

The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. War Child, Catacomb Creeps, Rock Bottom, DJ Handlebars, 9:30 p.m., $7.

Thee Parkside: 1600 17th St., San Francisco. The Body, The New Trust, Know Secrets, 8 p.m., $8.

DANCE

Aunt Charlie’s Lounge: 133 Turk, San Francisco. “High Fantasy,” w/ DJ Viv, Myles Cooper, & guests, 10 p.m., $2.

Monarch: 101 6th St., San Francisco. “Soundpieces,” 10 p.m., free-$10.

Otis: 25 Maiden, San Francisco. “Vibe,” w/ Binkadink, Third Tuesday of every month, 6 p.m., free.

Q Bar: 456 Castro, San Francisco. “Switch,” w/ DJs Jenna Riot & Andre, 9 p.m., $3.

Underground SF: 424 Haight, San Francisco. “Shelter,” 10 p.m., free.

Wish: 1539 Folsom, San Francisco. “Tight,” w/ resident DJs Michael May & Lito, 8 p.m., free.

HIP-HOP

Skylark Bar: 3089 16th St., San Francisco. “True Skool Tuesdays,” w/ DJ Ren the Vinyl Archaeologist, 10 p.m., free.

ACOUSTIC

Bazaar Cafe: 5927 California, San Francisco. Songwriter-in-Residence: Olivia Clayton, 7 p.m. continues through Oct. 29.

Plough & Stars: 116 Clement, San Francisco. Seisiún with Autumn Rhodes & Pat O’Donnell, 9 p.m.

Rickshaw Stop: 155 Fell, San Francisco. Tim Kasher, Laura Stevenson, Jake Bellows, 8 p.m., $15.

The Rite Spot Cafe: 2099 Folsom, San Francisco. Drizzoletto, 8:30 p.m., free.

JAZZ

Beach Chalet Brewery & Restaurant: 1000 Great Highway, San Francisco. Gerry Grosz Jazz Jam, 7 p.m.

Blush! Wine Bar: 476 Castro, San Francisco. Kally Price & Rob Reich, 7 p.m., free.

Burritt Room: 417 Stockton St., San Francisco. Terry Disley’s Rocking Jazz Trio, 6 p.m., free.

Cafe Divine: 1600 Stockton, San Francisco. Chris Amberger, 7 p.m.

Jazz Bistro At Les Joulins: 44 Ellis, San Francisco. M.B. Hanif & The Sound Voyagers, 7:30 p.m., free.

Le Colonial: 20 Cosmo, San Francisco. Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers, 7 p.m.

Oz Lounge: 260 Kearny, San Francisco. Emily Hayes & Mark Holzinger, 6 p.m., free.

Revolution Cafe: 3248 22nd St., San Francisco. West Side Jazz Club, 5 p.m., free; Panique, Third Tuesday of every month, 8:30 p.m., free/donation.

Verdi Club: 2424 Mariposa, San Francisco. “Tuesday Night Jump,” w/ Stompy Jones, 9 p.m., $10-$12.

Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Tommy Igoe Big Band, 8 p.m., $22.

INTERNATIONAL

Cafe Cocomo: 650 Indiana, San Francisco. “Descarga S.F.,” w/ DJs Hong & Good Sho, 8 p.m., $12.

The Cosmo Bar & Lounge: 440 Broadway, San Francisco. “Conga Tuesdays,” 8 p.m., $7-$10.

Elbo Room: 647 Valencia, San Francisco. “Porreta!,” all night forro party with DJs Carioca & Lucio K, Third Tuesday of every month, 9 p.m., $7.

F8: 1192 Folsom St., San Francisco. “Underground Nomads,” w/ rotating resident DJs Cheb i Sabbah, Amar, Sep, and Dulce Vita, plus guests, 9 p.m., $5 (free before 9:30 p.m.).

REGGAE

Milk Bar: 1840 Haight, San Francisco. “Bless Up,” w/ Jah Warrior Shelter Hi-Fi, 10 p.m.

BLUES

Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. John Garcia Band, 7 & 9 p.m., $15.

The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. Lisa Kindred, Third Tuesday of every month, 9:30 p.m.

FUNK

Madrone Art Bar: 500 Divisadero, San Francisco. “Boogaloo Tuesday,” w/ Oscar Myers & Steppin’, 9:30 p.m., free.

SOUL

Make-Out Room: 3225 22nd St., San Francisco. “Lost & Found,” w/ DJs Primo, Lucky, and guests, 9:30 p.m., free. 2

Government shutdown puts thousands of SF veterans’ benefits at risk

Erica Hanna

October 8, 2013

Government shutdown puts thousands of SF veterans’ benefits at risk

More than 7,000 employees in Veterans Benefits Administration offices nationwide were furloughed today (Tues/8), the newest casualty of the federal government shutdown.

As the Republicans in Washington hold the nation hostage over President Obama’s Affordable Care Act, federal employees are leaving their offices in droves. Now the veterans who rely on the federal government for healthcare and education checks have nothing to do but wait on word of their uncertain futures.

The furlough of veterans benefits workers comes at an especially awful time as they struggle to meet an enormous backlog of health benefit claims, revealed this year by the Berkeley-based Center for Investigative Reporting.

“VA’s ability to make significant progress reducing the disability claims backlog is hampered without the increased productivity gained from overtime for claims processors,” the Veterans Benefits Administration said in a statement released today. The agency has reduced the disability claims backlog by more than 190,000 claims over the last six months, it wrote.

But even worse, it said that if the government shutdown persists into late October there would be no funding available to supply veterans with their November support checks — money many rely on for rent and food.

“In the event of a prolonged shutdown, claims processing and payments in these programs would be suspended when available funding is exhausted,” the office wrote in a release.

San Francisco has veterans of many stripes who depend on federal benefits: Students paying tuition, ex-soldiers getting housing benefits, the disabled seeking health care, all would be left without support.

The loss can be felt keenly at City College of San Francisco, where the employees of its pioneering Veterans’ Resource Center wait in fear of Nov. 1.

“With the government shutdown we’re going to have a massive amount of people coming in asking questions,” said Adam Harris, a student worker at CCSF’s Veterans’ Resource Center. The 25-year-old is a veteran himself, and served in the Navy for six years as a petty officer second class in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay.

“If people aren’t paid on the first when they’re expected to you get a wave of people asking ‘where’s my money at?’” he said. The GI Bill pays for full tuition for student veterans who have completed their service, and those still serving. But it’s not just tuition.

“It’s pretty much a living allowance,” he said. In addition to tuition the the GI Bill pays for housing, food and living expenses. City College of San Francisco alone has over 1,200 student veterans according to their own data, many of whom attend full time.

The state community college chancellor’s office, which oversees California’s 112 community colleges, said the loss of benefits would be dire for its student veterans.

“Should this come about, our student veterans would be left without education benefits and basic housing allowances,” said Paul Feist, a spokesperson for the Community College Chancellor’s office. “It’s probably safe to assume that many student veterans would be forced to drop out of school should this occur.”

They noted that the VA’s educational benefits hotline is inaccessible during the government shutdown, cutting off a vital counseling service as student veterans navigate their tuition payments.

The CA Community College Chancellor’s Office most recent data shows that as of the 2011-12 school year, there were over 44,000 community college student veterans receiving benefits statewide, many of whom are in the Bay Area. All would be affected.

Rachel Maddow announcing the shutdown of veteran benefits offices, which give advice and aid for veterans seeking help with their education, lhousing and health benefits.

Student at the state level colleges will fare no better, though, and there are just over 700 student veterans at San Francisco State University, according to their website. The head of SFSU’s veterans center, Rogelio Manaois, said that his office was sending regular updates to SFSU students and that they were prepared for the possible delay of benefits.

Notably not all veterans depend on the GI Bill to live. Some vets the Guardian spoke to at City College said that they had part time jobs and would not be in hardship if there were a drop in payments. Also, the VA Medical Center in the Outer Richmond announced on its website that it will not be affected by the government shutdown. Not all veterans are in the same boat, however.

Bobby Hollingsworth served as a Criminal Investigations Divisions investigator in the US Army from 1999 to 2010. Though he’s now a graduate of SFSU, he and his family depend on disability payments from the VA to live.

Hollingsworth injured his his leg in basic training, and the repeated stress through the years required multiple surgeries that he never fully recovered from. His disability payments also cover PTSD, as through his decade of service he spent over a year listening to the explosions of mortar shells peppering his Containerized Housing Unit in Iraq.

He remembers those days vividly.

“I heard commotion and opened my door and looked up and to the side of our CHU’s. The sky was lit up like a scene in Star Wars” he said. “We got hit with seven mortars that night and a few airmen were rushed to the hospital with unknown injuries. We just never really followed up on those things. At the time maybe we thought best not to know.”

To say he earned his benefits is an understatement, he said, and the same goes for all of his fellow Veterans.

As a documentary filmmaker, he is investigating other Veterans who have been denied their education benefits. Now the government shutdown may delay Hollingsworth’s payments as well.

His wife depends on them for college, he said, and without his disability payments he may be unable to make his first mortgage payment on their new house. His wife and four-year-old son will be fine for now, he said, but if the payments are delayed for long he’ll be worried.

“I can hold out for a month because of emergency savings and the food bank,” he said. “But by December, it will be a nightmare.”

Yesterday the VA posted their “Veterans Field Guide to Government Shutdown,” which can be read here.

Cyclists testify to SFPD bias as supervisors call for reforms

Sasha Cuttler

October 8, 2013

Cyclists testify to SFPD bias as supervisors call for reforms

The cyclists of San Francisco were angry. Sup. Jane Kim was skeptical. Sup. Scott Wiener was unconvinced. Sup. Eric Mar said bikers were “pissed.” Deputy Chief of Police Mike Biel said he was too, but his anger could have just as easily been attributed to the 35 minutes he spent at the stand, acting as a whipping post for frustrations with the SFPD, as it could be to the department’s mistreatment of San Francisco cyclists.

Either way, the cyclists ruled the day.

During Thursday’s (10/3) Board of Supervisors Neighborhood Services and Safety Committee, Sup. David Campos called for a joint Board of Supervisors-Police Commission hearing regarding SFPD investigation protocol for bike accidents, but no immediate timetable has been set for the matter.

Without Police Chief Greg Suhr in attendance — his chiefly presence was required “reading to the children,” as Biel noted multiple times — Biel was left to stand solo in front of both frustrated supervisors and an incensed public.

At one point, following a particularly ambiguous response from Biel regarding accident checklists, Wiener asked bluntly, “Do you think there’s enough traffic cops in San Francisco? I don’t see bike cops, personally.”

To which Biel responded, “I’d like to see more.”

In fact, there was little defense on the part of Biel — and by extension, the Police Department — when it came to the seemingly lax (at best, malicious at worst) approach the SFPD has taken toward bike accidents in the past four years.

He even echoed Mar’s “pissed” comment, saying, “I was pissed too,” in regards to both what Mar called the “supposed investigation” of the Aug. 14 death of 24-year-old Amelie Le Moullac and the flippant attitude some in the department had taken towards cyclists in the days and weeks following. But he also stated that he didn’t think there was a negative bias in the SFPD.

The board’s decision to continue the conversation was bolstered by nearly 40 often-horrific testimonials regarding police treatment of cyclists in the City. And nearly all the stories could make the average person cring with the frustration, anger, and outrage they had the power to illicit.

Leah Shahum, executive director for the San Francisco Bike Coalition, told a story of a woman who was unable to make it to the hearing due to the injuries sustained in an April accident.

The woman, whom she didn’t identify, was biking in Golden Gate Park with her husband and son — the son was on the back of the woman’s bike — when she was hit from behind by a car, while she was stopped in the designated bike lane.

Witnesses stated that the driver was at fault. Her husband said the same thing. The police insisted on questioning the two of them more about their helmet usage — “which they were wearing,” according to Shahum — than they did about the actual events of the accident. Incidentally, adults aren’t required to wear bike helmets in California.

Robin Levitt, a Hayes Valley resident, talked about the strange “culture of blaming the victim” that has seemingly been propagated in the City, and how “in Germany, it’s immediately assumed that the vehicle is at fault, so drivers are safer.”

(And for what it’s worth, when Biel denied that same sentiment’s existence earlier with the committee, supervisors didn’t seem too convinced either. Mar even asked Biel, “Is there a bias or blame-the-victim attitude in the San Francisco Police Department?” which Biel promptly denied.)

And then there was Edward Hasbrouk, a former professional cyclist who has “never owned a motor vehicle.” He was biking home from work one evening when his progress in a Valencia Street bike line was impeded by a double-parked car in line for a valet service.

(Wiener has called for increased police enforcement of laws against double-parking. During today’s (Tues/8) Board of Supervisors meeting, he asked Mayor Ed Lee to support the effort, noting that SFPD rarely issues tickets to double-parkers despite “its impacts on traffic, Muni, cycling, and pedestrians.”)

Hasbrouk said that after a somewhat heated back-and-forth between the valet drivers, he flagged down a police officer to help him resolve the dispute, but the officer instead made Hasbrouk “carry [his] bicycle to the sidewalk.” Hasbrouk then said, “What would I have to do to get you to ticket these cars double-parked?” That comment got him arrested for felony vandalism, according to Hasbrouk. Expunging the arrest cost him nearly $3,000 and a night in jail.

But given the SFPD’s lack of pragmatism when it comes to investigating these accidents (for instance, Biel said SFPD doesn’t require a continuing education for officers assigned to traffic enforcement, despite what Shahum says are complex issues surrounding a rapidly growing population of cyclists), and it’s boorish behavior following the Le Moullac tragedy in August, it’s high time for change.

And a joint hearing could be just the place to start.

Northwest stars

Michael Redmond

October 8, 2013

culture@sfbg.com

TABLEHOPPING You never know who you’re going to meet next, but when you’re at a dinner at Scribe Winery in Sonoma (www.scribewinery.com), you can bet that it’ll be someone interesting. Back in the early summer, I was one lucky lady to be seated next to chef Kylen McCarthy and the delightful Eva Soroken. The talented duo is behind Pioneer Square Pantry (www.pioneersquarepantry.com), an artisanally minded partnership based in Seattle and Tokyo that is like a virtual shop, crafty collective, and traveling culinary road show.

They do pop-up dinners in Japan and beyond: Kylen’s eclectic dishes feature many of PSQP’s homemade pickles and mustards as well as other Pantry partners’ goods, while Eva has an amazing eye for sourcing everything from exquisite pottery to creating totes, tablecloths, aprons, and more in the most gorgeous indigo blue. They also make some crazy-good granola (I dig the San Juan Island salt they use in it). Kylen and Eva have the lifestyle thing down, let me tell you.

They invited me on a weekend August trip to the Pacific Northwest to visit Seattle and Lummi Island — and show me their world. Seriously, where do I sign? While I’ll be doing a recap of the overall trip on tablehopper.com, here are some Seattle highlights. Hit them up when you head up north.

Bakery Nouveau: If you worship at the Holy Church of Buttery Pastry and Scrumptious Bread, you better make a pilgrimage to this West Seattle house of temptation. The croque monsieur I brought on my plane ride home was one for the books. www.bakerynouveau.com

Canon: My Seattle-based cousin and I thoroughly enjoyed our time, and quality cocktails, at this award-winning bar with an utterly jaw-dropping selection of spirits. Just wow. www.canonseattle.com

The Harvest Vine: Kylen used to work here, and helped me book a big table for my family dinner. We feasted on a parade of Basque plates, and relaxed (and basked, ha ha) in the rustic atmosphere. Jamón in the casa. www.harvestvine.com

Rain Shadow Meats: This local butcher supplies meats for some PSQP events, and recently opened a counter in Pioneer Square, where we tucked into some tasty sandwiches, including the Zuni — yes, a shout-out to SF — with roasted pork shoulder, and juicy corned beef on rye. www.rainshadowmeats.com

Sitka and Spruce: This spot is always at the top of any food-obsessed traveler’s Seattle list. We enjoyed a Sunday night supper at the chef’s table, with clean flavors, Northwest ingredients (natch), and fab wines. Monday nights are reportedly a can’t-miss for the all-Mexican menu, featuring a killer suadero and al pastor. www.sitkaandspruce.com

Stumptown Coffee Roasters: We managed to hit both locations at least a few times, whether we were grabbing a cappuccino in the morning or picking up beans for Chemex o’clock in the afternoon. www.stumptowncoffee.com

Hotel Monaco–Seattle: I dug the mod-swank style of my room here — it were recently remodeled — and the downtown location was handy. And you can borrow in-house Public bikes for tooling around. www.monaco-seattle.com

FIVE MORE SPOTS KYLEN AND EVA RECOMMEND

Bar Sajor: Seattle chef Matt Dillon’s country farm food-meets-Scandinavian aesthetic. Fermentation bar, raw bar, rotisserie, wood-fired bread oven. The space is beautifully designed. Opt for a simple dish inspired by Moro of strained yogurt with many herbs, some naturally risen sourdough, and something from the rotisserie-stove like black cod cooked in buttermilk with nettles and black trumpets. www.barsajor.com

Capitol Cider: A recently opened addition to the saturated hipster neighborhood of Capitol Hill with an impressive selection of ciders on tap. Whether you like light, honeysuckle ciders with soft green tannins or overly sour imported ciders from Normandy, they are more than willing to pour several tastes. Capitol also has a late-night happy hour with a small curated food menu and a fantastic game room in the basement. We recommend quince cider and fries as a palate warmer. www.seattleciderbar.com

Essex: Husband and wife Brandon Pettit and Molly Wisenberg opened this craft cocktail establishment adjacent to their neighborhood pizza parlor. Staying true to the tradition that unfolds behind the bar, Essex hosts an array of housemade liqueurs and cordials and showcases them in a classy, slightly sophisticated presentation that even Seattle can handle. The place is small and often is used as an overflow for the pizza restaurant, so it fills quickly, but they are friendly to industry folks and only offer small plates to enjoy. We had a fantastic white Negroni that complemented a plate of shaved ham. www.essexbarseattle.com

Mamnoon Restaurant: Another recent addition to Capitol Hill, following a trend of presenting inspiring foods from the Middle East, Mamnoon offers Lebanese street foods from a takeout window throughout the day and turns into a dimly lit, industrial-modern restaurant at night. Go with friends and feast on meze spiked with spices and laden with olive oils and garnished with fresh baked flatbreads. Have a glass of arak on the rocks and share one or two larger plates and a simple dessert like tahini cookies and coffee. www.mamnoonrestaurant.com

Cafe Besalu: A destination bakery in Ballard where long lines out a small storefront are worth the wait. Buttery pastries, silky quiches, and sugar-kissed cookies are among a few delicacies that decorate the glass cases with varying hues of golden brown. It ranks among the best with locals. Anything composed of laminated dough is worth trying at Cafe Besalu! www.cafebesalu.com

Subscribe for more food and drink news at www.tablehopper.com. Get the app: Tablehopper’s Top Late-Night Eats. On Twitter: @tablehopper.

Weekly Picks: October 9 – 15, 2013

Michael Redmond

October 8, 2013

Huzzah!

THURDAY 10/10

“Calacas: Day of the Dead”

This is the first year Creativity Explored — which guides artists with developmental disabilities — has taken on Day of the Dead, and if the colorful images (depicting, mainly, an array of bejeweled, multicolored, dressed-up, and carefully detailed skull and skeleton sculptures) released ahead of the exhibit are any indication, it won’t be the last. Swing by tonight for the opening reception, or visit anytime during gallery hours through late November to admire a diverse slate of works by over 20 studio artists. (Cheryl Eddy)

Through Nov 24

Opening reception tonight, 7pm, free

Creativity Explored Gallery

3245 16th St, SF

www.creativityexplored.org

THURDAY 10/10

Frameline Encore: The New Black

The complexities of the struggle for equality come to light in The New Black, a documentary that shows both the advocacy for and opposition to recent marriage equality movements by the African-American community. Winner of the Frameline37 AT&T Audience Award for Best Documentary, The New Black is returning to the Roxie Theater as a part of Frameline Encore’s free queer film series. Come in and enjoy the documentary, and perhaps even chat with filmmaker Yoruba Richen, who is expected to be in attendance. (Kirstie Haruta)

7pm, free

Roxie Theater

3117 16th St, SF

(415) 431-3611

www.roxie.com

THURDAY 10/10

Stereo with Le1f

Albany Bowl plays the same mix every Wednesday night. Somewhere between Calvin Harris with Rihanna and the Biebs, a familiar saxblat beat begins. “I love this song,” I tell my friends, before realizing I’ve been fooled again: It’s not actually the playfully sinister “Wut” by motormouthed rapper Le1f, but a popular knockoff. I should just get used to it. Because while some people will know what it is/what is up, there’s also that larger contingent that is painfully oblivious to basic shit. (Some stores exist that sell used clothes for less money?) Catch Le1f — who just released his Tree House mixtape — with fellow Tumblr spawn, including “Wut” producer Matrixxman, at this 3D visual (first 100 people get glasses) and arcade themed dance party. (Ryan Prendiville)

With Lakutis and WolfBitch

9pm, $15 presale

Mighty

119 Utah, SF

(415) 762-0151

www.mighty119.com

FRIDAY 10/11

“Imagining Time, Gathering Memory: Día de Los Muertos 2013 Opening Celebration”

SOMArts opens its 2013 Día de Los Muertos exhibition with an evening of live music and interactive performance, and the unveiling of over 30 altars and art installations. Curated by René and Rio Yañez, the exhibition is a display of works inspired by memories that honor life and the lives of loved ones no longer with us. With this theme in mind, the exhibit has been dedicated to those who have been affected by cancer, which has become the No. 1 cause of death of Latinos. Artists were also asked to keep in mind recent national tragedies and local issues that have touched their lives while creating their works. Join in to celebrate your own memories and honor the lives of your loved ones. (Haruta)

Through Nov. 9

Opening reception tonight, 6pm, $7–$10

SOMArts Cultural Center

934 Brannan, SF

(415) 863-1414

www.somarts.org

FRIDAY 10/11

Arab Film Festival

The 17th Arab Film Festival begins its California tour tonight at the Castro Theatre before shifting to the Opera Plaza Sat/13-Sun/14, then meandering to Los Angeles, Berkeley, and San Diego over the next several weeks. At press time, organizers were still shaking out the specifics of the schedule, but opening night is locked in: Annemarie Jacir’s When I Saw You, which picked up the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC) award at the 2012 Berlinale. It’s the Jordan-set tale of Palestinian refugees, including an 11-year-old boy and his mother, struggling to make their way in a new country after the 1967 war. (Eddy)

7:30pm, $15–$40

Castro Theatre

429 Castro, SF

www.arabfilmfestival.org

FRIDAY 10/11

A Rite

PBS’ The News Hour closes its Friday shows with headshots of the soldiers who died recently in Iraq or Afghanistan. Many of them were just so unbearably young. Looking at those faces gives you an inkling of why Bill T. Jones and Ann Bogart did not choose a virgin girl but a soldier as a sacrificial victim for their rethinking of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. The two collaborators didn’t have to look far to see that innocents are still being slaughtered, supposedly for the “common good.” Calling their work A Rite, and making free use of Stravinsky’s score, they set it on six actors of Bogart’s SITI Company and nine dancers of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. For the purpose of this show, they call themselves “dactors.” (Rita Felciano)

Through Sat/12, 8pm; Sun/13, 3pm, $35–$40

Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company and SITI Company

Lam Research Theater at YBCA

701 Mission, SF

415-978.ARTS

www.ybca.org

FRIDAY 10/11

Mortified

Why is it that our teen years — insert a faded class portrait with braces and acne, mixtapes slipped into Bobby-from-math-class’s locker, and Prom Night (aka Wrong Night) — leave behind indelible scar tissue? This month’s Mortified, a live comedy-musical show where adults explore the most embarrassing moments of their formative years, features love letters, diary entries, and angst-filled poems on getting the guy in 10 days, a kid’s trip out of the closet with guru Liza Minelli, a temporary pathological liar and his gullible Jewish parents, and a girl’s stab at erotica. Borrowing words from the audience, freestyle hip-hop/improv crew the Freeze will add laughter to the tears with musical interludes. (Kaylen Baker)

7:30pm, $21

DNA Lounge

375 Eleventh St, SF

(415) 626-1409

www.getmortified.com

SATURDAY 10/12

Alternative Press Expo

A Bay Area institution that stands out even more in the absence of still-wayward WonderCon, APE is focused on independent and self-published comics, with all the comic-con trappings — an exhibit hall with creators and publishers hawking their goods, workshops for aspiring professionals, and even a “Comic Creator Connection” networking event. Programs include a 10th-anniversary discussion of SF’s Cartoon Art Museum, a talk among comic-creator couples, and a panel on queer cartoonists. Special guests include Bill Griffith (Zippy the Pinhead), Colleen Coover and Paul Tobin (Bandette), Anders Nilsen (Big Questions), Raina Telgemeier (Smile, Drama), Diane Noomin (DiDi Glitz), Bay Area publishing legend Ron Turner (Last Gasp), and APE founder Dan Vado (SLG Publishing). (Sam Stander)

Sat/12, 11am-7pm; Sun/13, 11am-6pm, $10–$20

Concourse Exhibition Center

835 Eighth St, San Francisco

comic-con.org/ape

SATURDAY 10/12

Chocolate 101 with Dandelion Chocolate

For the past 3 million years, the cacao plant has thrived in the cool, dewy mountains of Central America, cultivated by Mesoamerican peoples to make a bubbling, dirt-bitter beverage representing power, desire, and sanctity. Dandelion Chocolates will teach a workshop on the methods of grinding beans on a metate, and mixing ingredients to re-create this ancient hot chocolate, right inside the Mesoamerican cloud forest at the SF Botanical Gardens. Only three decades old, this plant collection survives far from Central America by the grace of Karl, the bay’s infamous fog. After class, gardens curator and horticulture expert Dr. Don Mahoney will lead a tour through the forest, detailing the cultural impact of the plants on the inhabitants of Mesoamerica. (Baker)

11am, $30–$40

San Francisco Botanical Gardens

1199 Ninth Ave, SF

(415) 661-1316

www.sfbotanicalgarden.org

SATURDAY 10/12

Play it Cool with Lovefingers

When I’m not taking my own advice, Derek Opperman’s list of top 5 parties over at SF Weekly is always my go-to for planning a night or weekend out. Likewise, if I miss a DJ that I wanted to see (or that I did see, but have no recollection), I always check out his “Lost in the Night” blog the morning after, for a more clear-headed account. It follows that I’m looking forward to hearing what Opperman and company bring to their Play it Cool parties. This inaugural event upstairs at Balançoire (formerly 12 Galaxies) features LA’s left-field disco head Andrew Hogge, aka Lovefingers aka half of the Stallions, the person behind E.S.P. Institute label and the beloved but now defunct lovefingers.org. (Prendiville)

9pm, $5 (free before 10)

Balançoire

2565 Mission, SF

(415) 920-0577

www.balancoiresf.com

SUNDAY 10/13

King Khan and the Shrines

Huzzah! King Khan and the Shrines have finally recorded a new album! After six years of silence, these psychedelic soul-punk weirdos are back and showing their softer side with Idle No More. The new album is informed not by Khan’s typical crass humor and brash antics, but with a new sense of introspection. In the years he’s been gone, Khan has dealt with the tragedy of losing a few close friends and has coped by spending time in psych wards as well as Buddhist monasteries. As the next step of the healing process, Khan has returned to music, his original source of salvation. While his live show is not quite as insane (or nude) as it was in his youth (he’s now 36 years old) he’s still a helluva performer, and we couldn’t be happier to have him back in the spotlight. (Haley Zaremba)

With Hellshovel, Slipping Into Darkness

8pm, $16

Slim’s

333 11th St, SF

(415) 255-0333

www.slimspresents.com

TUESDAY 10/15

Quintron and Miss Pussycat’s Mystery in Old Bath

Miss Pussycat and Quintron have a reputation for putting on colorful, imaginative, and otherworldly musical performances on stage. With their latest puppet film, The Mystery in Old Bathbath, (featuring characters, Trixie and the Treetrunks) they delve deeper into a realm of wonder, but in a different medium. This 45-minute opus contains drama, high jinks, and handcrafted cuteness — and it has already garnered creative accolades in some high places. Greet Q&P in person at the Roxie as they’ll stick around for a Q&A after unveiling this all-puppet cast adventure, written and directed by the duo for our viewing pleasure. (Andre Torrez)

7:30pm $10

Roxie Theater

3117 16th St, SF

(415)863-1087

www.roxie.com

Rep Clock: October 9 – 15, 2013

Michael Redmond

October 8, 2013

Schedules are for Wed/9-Tue/15 except where noted. Director and year are given when available. Double and triple features marked with a •. All times pm unless otherwise specified.

ATA GALLERY 992 Valencia, SF; www.atasite.org. $5-6. “OpenScreening,” Thu, 8. For participation info, contact programming@atasite.org. “Other Cinema:” Widely Unknown (Ackerman, 2013), Sat, 8:30. Complete program info at www.othercinema.com.

BALBOA THEATRE 3630 Balboa, SF; cinemasf.com/balboa. $10. “Popcorn Palace:” The Red Balloon (Lamorisse, 1956), Sat, 10am. Matinee for kids.

CASTRO 429 Castro, SF; (415) 621-6120, www.castrotheatre.com. $8.50-12. •Thelma and Louise (Scott, 1991), Wed, 2:45, 7, and Switchblade Sisters (Hill, 1975), Wed, 5:05, 9:25. Fruitvale Station (Coogler, 2013), Thu, 2:30, 4:45, 7, 9:15. “Arab Film Festival Opening Night:” When I Saw You (Jacir, 2012), Thu, 7:30. More info and tickets at www.arabfilmfestival.org. “Return to Grey Gardens starring Jinkx Monsoon, Peaches Christ, and Mink Stole:” Grey Gardens (Maysles, Maysles, Meyer, and Hovde, 1975), Sat, 3, 8. More info and tickets at www.peacheschrist.com. •Psycho (Hitchcock, 1960), Sun, 2:30, 7, and Marnie (Hitchcock, 1964), Sun, 4:35, 9:05. •A Star is Born (Cukor, 1954), Mon, 4:30, and Funny Girl (Wyler, 1968), Mon, 1:30, 8. •Dracula (Browning, 1931), Tue, 7:30, and Bride of Frankenstein (Whale, 1935), Tue, 6, 9.

CHRISTOPHER B. SMITH RAFAEL FILM CENTER 1118 Fourth St, San Rafael; (415) 454-1222, www.cafilm.org. $6.50-$10.75. Mill Valley Film Festival, Wed-Sun. Info and schedule at www.mvff.com.

CLAY 2261 Fillmore, SF; www.landmarktheatres.com. $10. “Midnight Movies:” The Room (Wiseau, 2003), Sat, midnight.

EXPLORATORIUM 600 the Embarcadero, SF; www.sfcinematheque.org. $5-10. “San Francisco Cinematheque presents:” “Madness and Mindfulness: Four Films By Ken Paul Rosenthal,” Wed, 7.

MECHANICS’ INSTITUTE 57 Post, SF; milibrary.org/events. $10. “CinemaLit Film Series: Haunted Hollywood:” The Time Machine (Pal, 1960), Fri, 6.

PACIFIC FILM ARCHIVE 2575 Bancroft, Berk; (510) 642-5249, bampfa.berkeley.edu. $5.50-9.50. “Alternative Visions:” Breaking the Frame (Nitoslawska, 2012), Wed, 7. “Moumen Smihi: Poet of Tangier:” The East Wind (1975), Thu, 7. “Love is Colder Than Death: The Cinema of Rainer Werner Fassbinder:” Katzelmacher (1969), Fri, 7; Gods of the Plague (1969), Fri, 8:50; The Marriage of Maria Braun (1978), Sat, 8:30; I Only Want You to Love Me (1975), Sun, 7. “Pier Paolo Pasolini:” Medea (1969), Sat, 6:15; A Pasolini Omnibus: Three Short Films (1966-68), Sun, 5:30.

ROXIE 3117 and 3125 16th St, SF; (415) 863-1087, www.roxie.com. $6.50-11. “Seven by Rainer Werner Fassbinder:” The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant (1972), Wed, 7; The Marriage of Maria Braun (1978), Thu, 9. The Institute (McCall, 2012), Wed, 7, 9:30. Short Term 12 (Cretton, 2013), Wed, 9. “Frameline Encore:” The New Black (Richen, 2013), Thu, 7. “SF Shorts,” short films from 12 countries in two programs, Thu-Sat, 7, 9 (also Sat, 3). Escape from Tomorrow (Moore, 2013), Oct 11-17, 7, 9:15. Miss Pussycat and Quintron present Trixie and the Treetrunks (2013), Tue, 7:30.

TANNERY 708 Gilman, Berk; berkeleyundergroundfilms.blogspot.com. Donations accepted. “Berkeley Underground Film Society:” The Phantom of the Opera (Julian, 1925), Sun, 7:30.

VORTEX ROOM 1082 Howard, SF; Facebook: The Vortex Room. $10. “The Satanic Rites of the Vortex Room”: •Good Against Evil (Wendkos, 1977), Thu, 9, and Satan’s Cheerleaders (Clark, 1977), Thu, 11.

YERBA BUENA CENTER FOR THE ARTS 701 Mission, SF; www.ybca.org. Free with RSVP. “Bill T. Jones Documentaries:” Bill T. Jones: A Good Man (Hercules and Quinn, 2011), Sat, 3:30; Bill T. Jones: Still/Here with Bill Moyers (Grubin, 1997), Sat, 5:30. *

Theater Listings: October 9 – 15, 2013

Michael Redmond

October 8, 2013

Stage listings are compiled by Guardian staff. Performance times may change; call venues to confirm. Reviewers are Robert Avila, Rita Felciano, and Nicole Gluckstern. Submit items for the listings at listings@sfbg.com.

THEATER

OPENING

BooKKeepers: A True Fiction Southside Theatre, Fort Mason Center, Marina at Laguna, SF; www.generationtheatre.com. $20-35. Opens Thu/10, 8pm. Runs Thu-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 3pm. Through Oct 27. GenerationTheatre presents Roland David Valayre’s Kafka-inspired fantasy.

Dirty Little Showtunes New Conservatory Theatre Center, 25 Van Ness, SF; www.nctcsf.org. $25-45. Opens Fri/11, 8pm. Runs Wed-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. Through Nov 10. New Conservatory Theatre Center presents the return of Tom Orr’s bawdy Broadway parody.

First Stage Werx, 446 Valencia, SF; www.firsttheplay.com. $25-35. Opens Sat/12, 8pm. Runs Thu-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. Through Nov 3. Altair Productions, the Aluminous Collective, and PlayGround present the world premiere of Evelyn Jean Pine’s play, which imagines a 20-year-old Bill Gates’ experiences at a 1976 personal computer conference.

Gruesome Playground Injuries Tides Theatre, 533 Sutter, SF; www.tidestheatre.org. $20-40. Previews Thu/10, 8pm. Opens Fri/11, 8pm. Runs Wed-Sat, 8pm. Through Nov 9. Tides Theatre performs Rajiv Joseph’s drama about two people who first meet as eight-year-olds in the school nurse’s office.

Randy Roberts Live! Alcove Theatre, 414 Mason, SF; www.randyroberts.net. $40. Opens Thu/10, 9pm. Runs Thu-Sat, 9pm. Through Nov 2. The famed female impersonator performs. He will also perform a different show with jazz pianist Tammy L. Hall: Mon/14, Oct 21, and 28, 7pm, $20, Martuni’s, 4 Valencia, SF.

BAY AREA

I and You Marin Theatre Company, 397 Miller, Mill Valley; www.marintheatre.org. $37-58. Previews Thu/10-Sat/12, 8pm; Sun/13, 2pm. Opens Tue/15, 8pm. Runs Tue, Thu-Sat, 8pm (also Oct 19 and Nov 2, 2pm; Oct 24, 1pm); Wed, 7:30pm; Sun, 2 and 7pm. Through Nov 3. Lauren Gunderson’s world premiere explores how Walt Whitman’s words affect the lives of two teenagers.

Rich and Famous Dragon Theatre, 2120 Broadway, Redwood City; www.dragonproductions.net. $15-35. Previews Thu/10, 8pm. Opens Fri/11, 8pm. Runs Thu-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. Through Nov 3. Dragon Theatre performs John Guare’s surreal musical comedy.

strangers, babies Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby, Berk; www.shotgunplayers.org. $20-35. Previews Oct 15-17, 8pm. Opens Oct 18, 8pm. Runs Wed-Thu, 7pm; Fri-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 5pm. Through Nov 17. Shotgun Players present Linda McLean’s drama about a woman confronting her past.

Warrior Class Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro, Mtn View; www.theatreworks.org. $19-73. Previews Wed/9-Fri/11, 8pm. Opens Sat/12, 8pm. Runs Tue-Wed, 7:30pm; Thu-Sat, 8pm (also Sat, 2pm); Sun, 2 and 7pm. Through Nov 3. TheatreWorks performs Kenneth Lin’s incisive political drama.

ONGOING

Acid Test: The Many Incarnations of Ram Dass Marsh San Francisco, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. $15-50. Fri/11, 8pm; Sat/12, 8:30pm. Playwright Lynne Kaufman invites you to take a trip with Richard Alpert, aka Ram Dass (Warren David Keith) — one of the bigwigs of the psychedelic revolution and (with his classic book, Be Here Now) contemporary Eastern-looking spirituality — as he recounts times high and low in this thoughtful, funny, and sometimes unexpected biographical rumination on the quest for truth and meaning in a seemingly random life. Directed by Joel Mullennix, the narrative begins with Ram Dass today, in his Hawaiian home and partly paralyzed from a stroke, but Keith (one of the Bay Area’s best stage actors, who is predictably sure and engagingly multilayered in the role) soon shakes off the stiff arm and strained speech and springs to his feet to continue the narrative as the ideal self perhaps only transcendental consciousness and theater allow. Nevertheless, Kaufman’s fun-loving and extroverted Alpert is no saint and no model of perfection, which is the refreshing truth explored in the play. He’s a seeker still, ever imperfect and trying for perfection, or at least the wisdom of acceptance. As the privileged queer child of a wealthy Jewish lawyer and industrialist, Alpert was both insider and outsider from the get-go, and that tension and ambiguity make for an interesting angle on his life, including the complexities of his relationships with a homophobic Leary, for instance, and his conservative but ultimately loving father. Perfection aside, the beauty in the subject and the play is the subtle, shrewd cherishing of what remains unfinished. Note: review from an earlier run of this show. (Avila)

Beautiful: The Carole King Musical Curran Theatre, 445 Geary, SF; www.shnsf.com. $55-210. Tue-Sat, 8pm (also Sat, Wed/9, and Oct 16, 2pm); Sun, 2 and 7:30pm (no evening show Sun/13 or Oct 20). Through Oct 20. Pre-Broadway premiere of the musical about the legendary songwriter.

Band Fags! New Conservatory Theatre Center, 25 Van Ness, SF; www.nctcsf.org. $25-45. Wed/9-Sat/12, 8pm; Sun/13, 2pm. New Conservatory Theatre Center performs the West Coast premiere of Frank Anthony Polito’s coming-of-age tale, set in 1980s Detroit.

BoomerAging: From LSD to OMG Marsh San Francisco, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. $15-50. Tue, 8pm. Extended through Oct 29. Will Durst’s hit solo show looks at baby boomers grappling with life in the 21st century.

Buried Child Magic Theatre, Fort Mason Center, Bldg D, Third Flr, SF; www.magictheatre.org. $20-60. Wed/9-Sat/12, 8pm; Sun/13, 2:30. A rural family in slow free-fall finally sees the ground rushing up to meet it in Sam Shepard’s raucous, solemn, and spooky American gothic. The 1978 Pulitzer Prize-winner not only secured a place for Shepard in the upper echelons of American playwrights but helped remake the theatrical landscape when it first premiered, 35 years ago, at the Magic Theatre. The Magic’s current revival tends to show the ways in which the play has aged, however, rather than the ways in which it endures. Loretta Greco’s perfunctory direction inadvertently underscores what has since become formula in the resolutely surreal undercurrent beneath its surface naturalism. Meanwhile her cast —though it includes some normally dependable actors like Patrick Alparone, Rod Gnapp and James Wagner — never comes together as a cohesive ensemble, further distancing us from the still vital dynamism in the text (more of that was captured last year in Boxcar Theatre’s admittedly rocky but overall more persuasive production). Alparone (as long-lost son Vince) and Patrick Kelly Jones (as his belligerent one-legged brother Bradley) manage to infuse some momentary energy, but from the opening lines, delivered offstage by chattering matriarch Halie (Denise Balthrop Cassidy), the tension remains mostly slack, the acting haphazard, and the themes muted. (Avila)

Carrie: The Musical Victoria Theatre, 2961 16th St, SF; www.rayoflighttheatre.com. $25-36. Wed-Sat, 8pm (also Oct 26, 11:30pm; Nov 2, 2pm). Through Nov 2. Just in time to complement the Carrie film remake, Ray of Light Theatre performs the musical adaptation (initially a Broadway flop, then a re-tooled off-Broadway hit) of the Stephen King horror novel.

The Disappearance of Mary Rosemary Phoenix Theatre, 414 Mason, SF; secondwind.8m.com. $15-25. Thu-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. Through Oct 26. Script-wise, Second Wind Production’s J.M. Barrie adaptation The Disappearance of Mary Rosemary might well be the most unique ghost story of the season. But in contrast to their masterfully suspenseful The Woman in Black (staged in 2009), Disappearance falls to sustain that charged atmosphere of unease that defines the best terror tales. It begins promisingly enough in a purportedly haunted parlor being shown to a young soldier (Ryan Martin) by its taciturn caretaker (Juanita Wyles). After she leaves him alone in the room, lights flicker, his video camera spontaneously begins to play, and a mysterious light emerges from under a locked door, all evidence pointing to either a supernatural event, or to a PTSD-style mental breakdown. Cutting to the same parlor 29 years before, where domestic tranquility prevails, a lot of that initial tension gets lost, and even though the equally unexplainable events which ensue prove to be much bigger in actual scale, they don’t quite manage to scare so much as to puzzle. Of the performances, Gigi Benson’s matter-of-fact matriarch is by far the most nuanced, and her chemistry with her stage husband (Dave Sikula) is far more convincing than that of their daughter and son-in-law (Caroline Elizabeth Doyle and Brian Martin). Finally, a very unexpected twist turns this story of a young woman who never grows old into one who has grown perhaps too fast, uncomfortably invoking V.C. Andrews rather than J.M. Barrie, and not for the better. (Gluckstern)

Foodies! The Musical Shelton Theater, 533 Sutter, SF; www.foodiesthemusical.com. $32-34. Fri-Sat, 8pm. Open-ended. AWAT Productions presents Morris Bobrow’s musical comedy revue all about food.

Forbidden Fruit Garage, 715 Bryant, SF; www.brownpapertickets.com. $25. Fri-Sat and Mon, 8pm. Through Oct 28. Back Alley Theater and Footloose present the West Coast premiere of Jeff Bedillion’s stylized love story that takes on social and religious conformity.

Geezer Marsh San Francisco, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. $25-50. Wed-Thu, 8pm; Sat, 5pm. Through Oct 26. Geoff Hoyle’s hit solo show, a comedic meditation on aging, returns to the Marsh.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch Boxcar Theatre, 505 Natoma, SF; www.boxcartheatre.org. $27-43. Thu-Sat, 8pm. Open-ended. John Cameron Mitchell’s cult musical comes to life with director Nick A. Olivero’s ever-rotating cast.

An Indian Summer Exit Theatre, 156 Eddy, SF; www.wehavemet.org. $20-40. Thu-Sat, 8pm. Through Oct 19. Multi Ethnic Theater performs Charles Johnson’s drama set in the 1980s Deep South.

It’s a Bird … It’s a Plane … It’s Superman Eureka Theatre, 215 Jackson, SF; www.42ndstmoon.org. $25-75. Wed-Thu, 7pm; Fri, 8pm; Sat, 6pm (also Sat/12, 1pm); Sun, 3pm. Through Oct 20. 42nd Street Moon kicks off its 21st season with this 1966 musical homage to the Man of Steel.

The Scion Marsh San Francisco, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. $15-100. Fri, 8pm; Sat, 8:30pm. Through Oct 26. Popular solo performer Brian Copeland (Not a Genuine Black Man, The Waiting Period) performs a workshop production of his latest, “a tale of privilege, murder, and sausage.” The show has its official world premiere Jan. 9, 2014.

Sex and the City: LIVE! Rebel, 1760 Market, SF; trannyshack.com/sexandthecity. $25. Wed, 7 and 9pm. Open-ended. It seems a no-brainer. Not just the HBO series itself — that’s definitely missing some gray matter — but putting it onstage as a drag show. Mais naturellement! Why was Sex and the City not conceived of as a drag show in the first place? Making the sordid not exactly palatable but somehow, I don’t know, friendlier (and the canned a little cannier), Velvet Rage Productions mounts two verbatim episodes from the widely adored cable show, with Trannyshack’s Heklina in a smashing portrayal of SJP’s Carrie; D’Arcy Drollinger stealing much of the show as ever-randy Samantha (already more or less a gay man trapped in a woman’s body); Lady Bear as an endearingly out-to-lunch Miranda; and ever assured, quick-witted Trixxie Carr as pent-up Charlotte. There’s also a solid and enjoyable supporting cast courtesy of Cookie Dough, Jordan Wheeler, and Leigh Crow (as Mr. Big). That’s some heavyweight talent trodding the straining boards of bar Rebel’s tiny stage. The show’s still two-dimensional, even in 3D, but noticeably bigger than your 50″ plasma flat panel. (Avila)

“Shocktoberfest 14: Jack the Ripper” Hypnodrome, 575 10th St, SF; www.thrillpeddlers.com. $25-35. Thu-Sat and Oct 29-30, 8pm. Through Nov 23. Thrillpeddlers presents their 14th annual Grand Guignol show, “a evening of horror, madness, spanking, and song.”

The Taming Thick House, 1695 18th St, SF; www.crowdedfire.org. $10-35. Wed-Sat, 8pm (no show Wed/9). Through Oct 26. Crowded Fire Theater presents the world premiere of Lauren Gunderson’s modern farce.

The Voice: One Man’s Journey into Sex Addiction and Recovery EXIT Theatre, 156 Eddy, SF; www.theexit.org. $15-25. Fri-Sat, 8pm. Through Oct 26. David Kleinberg performs his autobiographical solo show.

The World’s Funniest Bubble Show Marsh San Francisco, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. $8-11. Sun, 11am. Through Oct 27. Soapy, kid-friendly antics with Louis Pearl, aka “The Amazing Bubble Man.”

BAY AREA

Can You Dig It? Back Down East 14th — the 60s and Beyond Marsh Berkeley, 2120 Allston, Berk; www.themarsh.org. $15-50. Sat, 8:30pm; Sun, 7pm. Through Oct 27. Don Reed’s new show offers more stories from his colorful upbringing in East Oakland in the 1960s and ’70s. More hilarious and heartfelt depictions of his exceptional parents, independent siblings, and his mostly African American but ethnically mixed working-class community — punctuated with period pop, Motown, and funk classics, to which Reed shimmies and spins with effortless grace. And of course there’s more too of the expert physical comedy and charm that made long-running hits of Reed’s last two solo shows, East 14th and The Kipling Hotel (both launched, like this newest, at the Marsh). Can You Dig It? reaches, for the most part, into the “early” early years, Reed’s grammar-school days, before the events depicted in East 14th or Kipling Hotel came to pass. But in nearly two hours of material, not all of it of equal value or impact, there’s inevitably some overlap and indeed some recycling. Reed, who also directs the show, may start whittling it down as the run continues. But, as is, there are at least 20 unnecessary minutes diluting the overall impact of the piece, which is thin on plot already — much more a series of often very enjoyable vignettes and some painful but largely unexplored observations, wrapped up at the end in a sentimental moral that, while sincere, feels rushed and inadequate. (Avila)

Ella, the Musical Center REPertory Company, 1601 Civic, Walnut Creek; (925) 943-SHOW. $37-64. Wed/9, 7:30pm; Thu/10-Sat/12, 8pm (also Sat/12, 2:30pm). Yvette Cason portrays the legendary Ella Fitzgerald in this Center REP presentation.

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike Roda Theatre, 2015 Addison, Berk; www.berkeleyrep.org. $35-89. Tue and Thu-Sat, 8pm (also Sat, 2pm); Wed, 7pm; Sun, 2 and 7pm. Extended through Oct 25. Berkeley Rep performs Christopher Durang’s comedy about a dysfunctional family in rural Pennsylvania.

A Winter’s Tale Bruns Amphitheater, 100 California Shakespeare Theater Way, Orinda; www.calshakes.org. $35-72. Tue-Thu, 7:30pm; Fri-Sat, 8pm (also Oct 19, 2pm); Sun, 4pm. Through Oct 20. Cal Shakes concludes its 2013 season with the Bard’s fairy tale, directed and choreographed by sister team Patricia and Paloma McGregor.

PERFORMANCE/DANCE

BATS Improv Bayfront Theater, B350 Fort Mason Center, SF; www.improv.org. $20. “Horror Super Scene,” Fri, 8. Through Oct 25. “Improvised Farce,” Sat, 8pm. Through Oct 26.

Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company CounterPULSE, 1310 Mission, SF; www.ybca.org. Wed/9, 8pm. $50. The company performs the world premiere of /Time: Study I. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Lam Research Theater, 700 Howard, SF; www.ybca.org. Fri/11-Sat/12, 8pm; Sun/13, 3pm. The company, with SITI Company, presents the West Coast premiere of A Rite.

“Broadway Bingo” Feinstein’s at the Nikko, Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason, SF; www.feinsteinssf.com. Wed, 7-9pm. Ongoing. Free. Countess Katya Smirnoff-Skyy and Joe Wicht host this Broadway-flavored night of games and performance.

Caroline Lugo and Carolé Acuña’s Ballet Flamenco Peña Pachamama, 1630 Powell, SF; www.carolinalugo.com. Sat/12, Oct 20, and 26, 6:15pm. $15-19. Flamenco performance by the mother-daughter dance company, featuring live musicians.

Margaret Cho Nob Hill Masonic Center, 1111 California, SF; www.livenation.com. Sat/12, 8pm. $41.50-74. The acclaimed comedian performs her new show, Mother.

“Comedy Returns to El Rio” El Rio, 3158 Mission, SF; www.brownpapertickets.com. Mon/14, 8pm. $7-20. With Jabari Davis, Eloisa Bravo, Stefani Silverman, Howard Stone, and Lisa Geduldig.

Dance Theatre of San Francisco ODC Theater, 3153 17th St, SF; www.odctheater.org. Fri/11-Sat/12, 8pm; Sun/13, 7pm. $25-27. The new contemporary dance company founded by Annabelle Henry presents “Debut,” with works by Erik Wagner, Sandrine Cassini, and others.

“The Kepler Story” Morrison Planetarium, California Academy of Sciences, 55 Music Concourse Dr, SF; www.calacademy.org. Sun, 6:30pm. Through Oct 27. $15. Cal Academy and Motion Institute team up to produce this “immersive performance work” about astronomer Johannes Kepler.

“Mission Position Live” Cinecave, 1034 Valencia, SF; www.missionpositionlive.com. Thu, 8pm. Ongoing. $10. Stand-up comedy with rotating performers.

“Mongrels and Objects” CounterPULSE, 1310 Mission, SF; www.counterpulse.org. Fri/11-Sat/12, 8pm; Sun/13, 7pm. $20-30. Headmistress — Amara Tabor-Smith and Sherwood Chen — presents solo and duo dance work.

“Mortified” DNA Lounge, 375 11th St, SF; www.getmortified.com. Fri/11, 7:30pm. $21. Also Sat/12, 7:30pm, $20. Uptown, 1928 Telegraph, Oakl. Embarrassing tales told by those who lived them as teenagers.

“MythBusters: Behind the Myths Tour” Orpheum Theatre, 1192 Market, SF; www.shnsf.com. Sat/12, 2 and 8pm. $45-95. Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman bring their Discovery Channel show to the stage.

Davy Rothbart Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, 3200 California, SF; www.myheartisandidiotbook.com. Thu/10, 8pm. $12. The Found magazine editor and “This American Life” contributor shares his latest finds and reads from his new book, My Heart is an Idiot.

“San Francisco Magic Parlor” Chancellor Hotel Union Square, 433 Powell, SF; www.sfmagicparlor.com. Thu-Sat, 8pm. Ongoing. $40. Magic vignettes with conjurer and storyteller Walt Anthony.

Smuin Ballet Palace of Fine Arts Theatre, 3301 Lyon, SF; www.smuinballet.org. Thu/10-Sat/12, 8pm. $25-72. Smuin Ballet kicks off its 20th anniversary season with its “Xxtremes” fall program, including Jiri Kylian’s Return to a Strange Land and Amy Seiwert’s Dear Miss Cline.

BAY AREA

Paufve Dance Hillside Swedenborgian Community Church, 1422 Navallier, El Cerrito; www.brownpapertickets.com. Fri/11-Sat/12, 6pm. $15-20. Randee Paufve and company present Soil, a quintet of new and revised solo works.

“The Shout: Life’s True Stories” Grand Lake Coffee House, 440 Grand, Oakl; www.theshoutstorytelling.com. Mon/14, 7:30pm. $5-20. Amazing but true short storytelling. *

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