WEDNESDAY 8
DANCE
Mary Carbonara
It’s not a question we ask ourselves. But perhaps we should, considering the number of soldiers who return with PTSD and the nightly broadcasts about one more victim claimed by the urban jungle. In her latest work, Mary Carbonara puts it bluntly: What Does It Feel Like to Kill Someone? How far away in time and in space, she wants to know, do you have to be to not assume some responsibility? Carbonara, who started her own company in 2002, asks questions worth pondering. In the 2004 Deflecting Faith she wondered about the nature and role of belief systems; the 2005 The Beggars Table considered the gulf between the haves and the have-nots, which has only grown since then. With What Does It Feel Like, she is again pointing to a subject worth considering — and worth making work about. (Rita Felciano)
Wed/8–Sat/11, 8 p.m., $20
Kunst-Stoff Arts
One Grove, SF
EVENT
Melissa Coleman
Imagine if all those experiments in back-to-the-landism in the late 1960s and early ’70s had wholeheartedly worked. To some, the vision is paradisiacal; to others, nauseating. To a population of modern American adults, it was their childhood, playing participant-observer in their parents’ pastoral ambitions. Author Melissa Coleman’s memoir, This Life Is in Your Hands: One Dream, 60 Acres, and a Family Undone, unbraids the tale of her family’s homestead on the coast of Maine. Between no electricity or running water, brutal winters, tempting farm apprentices, and a nightmare tragedy that snowballed into familial dissolution, the good intentions became less than idyllic. Hear the story straight from the now grown-up girl, and teach your children well. (Kat Renz)
7:30 p.m., free
Booksmith
1644 Haight, SF
(415) 863-8688
MUSIC
Friendly Fires DJ set
A few weeks ago I managed to catch U.K. phenom James Blake perform live, but missed his equally in-demand DJ set. In hindsight, I probably had my priorities backward. This week, with the Friendly Fires repeating the same pattern, following an already sold out show (at the Independent) with a DJ set at Public Works, I don’t plan to repeat that mistake. The U.K. dance rockers already have made a name as a thrilling live band, supposedly “stealing the show” from former tour-mates Crystal Castles. A band clearly as tuned into disco as punk, this DJ set will be a deeper glimpse into extent of Friendly Fire’s influences. (Ryan Prendiville)
With DJs Aaron Axelson and White Mike
9:30 p.m., $10
Public Works
161 Erie, SF
(415) 932-0955
VISUAL ART
“As We Live It”
The San Francisco Arts Commission’s newest exhibit functions on the premise that art can be therapeutic for both the viewer and the creator. The show features pieces by San Franciscans accessing many of the city’s Community Behavioral Health Services, including substance abuse treatment and housing programs: a diverse pool of participants prompted by a theme just as free-ranging (“identity expression”). Spanning 18 organizations and 33 individual artists, the chosen works are supplemented by personal stories and interviews conducted by SF Study Center staffer Heidi Swillinger. “As We Live It” sheds light on stories of the city that often go untold, or at least unheard. (David Getman)
Through Sept. 9 (reception tonight, 5:30–7:30 p.m., free)
San Francisco City Hall
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett, SF
(415) 554-6080
FRIDAY 10
MUSIC
Harmony Festival
Although many festivals are making superficial claims to being green, not many go as far to tout ecology as an attraction, let alone healthy living and spirituality. But if that sounds as fun as going to a broccoli party, keep in mind that harmony implies a whole, and Santa Rosa’s annual arts festival balances out purity with a mix of musical acts that are not necessarily straight edge. Headliners include the Flaming Lips (in their only scheduled Bay Area appearance so far this year,) Primus, and Michael Franti & Spearhead, as well as a “legendary” Techno-Tribal Dance with performances by Ghostland Observatory, A. Skillz, Phutureprimative, and more. (Prendiville)
Fri/10, 2 p.m.-3 a.m.; Sat/11, 10 a.m.-4 a.m.;
Sun/12, 10 a.m.-10 p.m.,
$45 day or night pass; $120 three-day
Sonoma County Fairgrounds
1350 Bennett Valley, Santa Rosa
FILM
“Cult of the Kuchars”
There is only one answer to the question: Do you want to see a no-budget movie called Sins of the Fleshapoids from 1965? Yes. A horror-sci-fi Hollywood parody about robots who fall in love at the behest of their pleasure-seeking masters, this 16mm tawdry treasure kicks off the Pacific Film Archive’s June retrospective of the twin brothers’ much-loved cult canon. Even John Waters, the purveyor of filth himself, says Fleshapoids is one of his favorite films. Mike Kuchar directs, with George in front of the camera as one of the robots. This is b-movie with a capital B, a ruckus worthy of Bacchus. The screening is preceded by the short Night of the Bomb. (Ryan Lattanzio)
Through June 25
Sins of the Fleshapoids tonight, 7 p.m., $5.50–$9.50
Pacific Film Archive
2575 Bancroft, Berkeley
(510) 642-1412
EVENT
Literary Death Match
Like a traditional reading for the Twitter generation, Literary Death Match strips authors of solitude and writer’s block for a night as sensational as it sounds. In a San Francisco pit stop, one of many on a tour of the globe, LDM pits writer against writer in seven-minute (or less) reading sessions that culminate in a one-on-one finale and crowning ceremony. It boasts a (relatively) star-studded judging panel featuring the likes of Renee Richardson (KFOG Morning Show), but the Death Match is all about the audience and its eloquent contestants: Tana Wojczuk of the Believer, Belo Cipriani (author of Blind: A Memoir), Lisa Catherine Harper (Discovering Motherhood), and more. (Getman)
6:30 p.m., $10
Elbo Room
647 Valencia, SF
(415) 552-7788
SATURDAY 11
VISUAL ART
“The Cries of San Francisco: Market Day”
Hear ye, hear ye! As part of her current Southern Exposure public performance project/exhibit, “The Cries of San Francisco,” curator and artist Allison Smith and nearly 70 Bay Area artists, performers, craftspeople, buskers, and street vendors take to Mint Plaza to peddle their wares the old-fashioned way: with cries and song. Whether you opt for something as tangible (and tasty) as homemade ice cream or partake of the more esoteric services of “the hysterical mute newsie” or “the psychic plumbing network,” every transaction and every interaction becomes yet another part of the larger piece that owes as much to the Bay Area’s rich tradition of social practice-as-art as it does Dickens. And who says public sculpture has to suck? (Matt Sussman)
Noon-5 p.m., free
Mint Plaza
Fifth Street between Mint and Market, SF
DANCE
31st Annual Planetary Dance: Turning Point
Continuing to gracefully weave art, life, and community, Anna Halprin leads the 31st Annual Planetary Dance, an outdoor participatory event for all. At the heart of the event, the Earth Run invites visitors to create a “moving mandala” by running, walking, or standing in three concentric circles. Inspiration for Planetary Dance sprouts from Circle the Earth, a dance ritual with the goal of reclaiming Mount Tamalpais as a peaceful place, after a series of murders in the area between 1979and ’81 shook the community. Planetary Dance has since grown as a dance for peace around the world, and for unity in addressing current social and environmental challenges. (Julie Potter)
11 a.m., free
Mount Tamalpais State Park
3801 Panoramic Hwy., Mill Valley
(530) 926-1088
SUNDAY 12
FILM
I Am Nancy
Week two of the Another Hole in the Head film festival is currently roarin’ on (the fest runs through June 17), and one of the highlights has got to be the screening of Arlene Marechal’s I Am Nancy — with the doc’s producer and star, Heather “Nancy Thompson” Langenkamp, in person. Fans of late-’80s family sitcom Just the Ten of Us aside, Langenkamp is known chiefly for her role as the Freddy Krueger-battling Nancy in three Nightmare on Elm Street films: the 1984 original (still the best), in which a then-unknown Johnny Depp played her gruesomely bed-gobbled high school boyfriend; 1987’s A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, in which the adult Nancy returns to help a new crop of Krueger-bait teens; and 1994’s New Nightmare, a meta-slasher in which she plays herself, alongside co-star Robert “Freddy” Englund and director Wes Craven. (Fun fact: her resemblance to a certain Olympic ice skater with a familiar name landed her a starring role in 1994’s made-for-TV Tonya and Nancy: The Inside Story.) I Am Nancy follows the good-natured actor as she travels to horror conventions to figure out why the villainous Freddy — and not the virtuous, caffeine-addicted Nancy — was the series’ most beloved character. No worries, Heather — there’ll be plenty of Langenkamp love at tonight’s screening! (Cheryl Eddy)
7:30 p.m., $11
Roxie
3117 16th St., SF
TUESDAY 14
MUSIC
Mark Lanegan
With his gravelly, growling, yet tenderly emotive voice, Mark Lanegan has lent his hauntingly striking talents to a variety of projects over the past 25-plus years. First as the lead singer of grunge favorites Screaming Trees, then as a solo artist, and continuing with a string of superb collaborations with artists such as Mad Season, Queens of the Stone Age, Twilight Singers, Gutter Twins, and Isobell Campbell, Lanegan remains one of the best rock vocalists out there today. Catch him tonight at a rare and intimate acoustic show, where he’ll be joined by special guests Sean Wheeler (Throwrag) and Zander Schloss (Circle Jerks). (Sean McCourt)
8 p.m., $25
Great American Music Hall
859 O’Farrell, SF
(415) 885-0750
The Guardian listings deadline is two weeks prior to our Wednesday publication date. To submit an item for consideration, please include the title of the event, a brief description of the event, date and time, venue name, street address (listing cross streets only isn’t sufficient), city, telephone number readers can call for more information, telephone number for media, and admission costs. Send information to Listings, the Guardian Building, 135 Mississippi St., SF, CA 94107; fax to (415) 487-2506; or e-mail (paste press release into e-mail body — no text attachments, please) to listings@sfbg.com. Digital photos may be submitted in jpeg format; the image must be at least 240 dpi and four inches by six inches in size. We regret we cannot accept listings over the phone.