marke@sfbg.com
SUPER EGO Whew, things seem to be getting kind of straight-laced around these parts — election season and lack of funds are ratcheting up the tension, and everyone seems a tad uptight, like they’re all second-guessing their status updates. What this city needs is a good, hard WTF freakend like the one ahead to loosen us up.
The ravey-doozy Lovevolution (Sat/24, see below) and charitable, fetish-fiendish Folsom Street Fair (Sun/25, 11 a.m.-6 p.m., donation requested. Folsom between Seventh and 10th Streets, SF. www.folsomstreetfair.org) are back to turn the Bay into a carnival of ecstasy — including satellite parties aplenty, thousands of risqué revelers (and the art school photography students who love them), and a crowd-crossover factor that can’t quite be equaled anywhere. And for those who really want to get away from it all, the enormous Earthdance is taking over Vallejo. Truly, it will all be a smorgasbord of transgressive transcendence. Now love me, live me, smack me hard!
EARTHDANCE
“Give peace a dance” at this totally cosmic three-day live music and DJ festival, showcasing a kick-ass zodiac of acts in the “Electronica Temple” like Tipper, Mimosa, Poirier, Sub Swara, and Ill-Esha, plus Ziggy Marley, Ghostland Observatory, Balkan Beat Box, Beats Antique, and I’m sure an eye-popping host of flaming poi twirlers.
Fri/23-Sat/25, $45–$195. Solano County Fairgrounds, Vallejo. www.earthdancelive.com
LOVEVOLUTION
Back after some time off — and exploding into its new home on the Oakland Coliseum grounds — this giddy giant of an outdoor daytime parade and festival was made for free hugs from something purple and fuzzy. Oh, and crowd-pleasing music: Glitch Mob, Moby, Pendulum, Plump DJs, King Britt and, of course, an outpouring of golden local talent. Riding around on floats, no less.
Sat/24, noon-8 p.m., $25, 18+. Oakland Coliseum, Oakl. www.sflovevolution.org
AMBROSIA AND THE BEARNSTEINS: SISTERS OF THE MOON
Fascinating drag implosion and commanding stage presence Ambrosia Salad has been reunited with her hirsute backing band of faux instrumentalists, the Bearnsteins trio, for another “rock odyssey through time and space, a psycho fantasy of air concerto and visual triumph!” Basically, the evening will be a mystical glitter-wreck of lip-synched, mind-blowing, rock opera glory — a great dose of local talent before the Folsom fiestas/fiascos ahead.
Sat/24, doors 9 p.m., show 10 p.m., $8. Rickshaw Stop, 155 Fell, SF. www.rickshawstop.com, Facebook: Ambrosia Sisters
SHOW ME WHERE IT HURTS
Steamy, dreamy dyke bar the Lexington Club hosts its annual pre-Folsom uniform party, a yowza kink-a-rama with perfomers Elizabeth and Buck Wilder, DJs Jenna Riot and Durt, a sizzling-est attire contest, and of course sexiness everywhere.
Sat/24, 9 p.m., free. Lexington Club, 3464 19th St., SF. www.lexingtonclub.com
TEMPTATION: FOLSOM EDITION
The Cat Club is always one of my favorite places to pop into for a breather during the Sunday Folsom Street Fair madness. (Favorite vision from a few years ago: a gorgeous creature on crutches somehow managing to roller skate around the dance floor in a latex mankini. Edge play!) This year, the Cat’s going big the Saturday night before the fair, as the ever-delicious Princess Pandora hosts an indie, goth, and 1980s electro gala with DJs Aaron Axelsen, Nako, and the monthly Temptation party resident DJs.
Sat/24, 9:30 p.m.-3 a.m., $8. Cat Club, 1190 Folsom, SF. www.sfcatclub.com.. Facebook: Temptation Folsom
DEVIANTS
Good lord! Folsom Street Fair keeps expanding its musical palette (Billy Ray Martin, In Flagranti, HOTTUB, and more perform this year) and scandalous party options. Check out, for instance, this Deviants gig: three of the best queer party crews in SF — Hard French, Honey Soundsystem, and Some Thing — are joining forces for this official after-Folsom Street Fair party, outside and inside Public Works. And it’s gonna be a corker, with Portland’s haunting housers Miracles Club and and Italy’s acid diva Hard Ton performing live, eyebrow-searing drag shows, an enormous amount of DJs (like Dabecy of Electronic Music Bears) and wee surprises. Something that won’t be a surprise is BABES AHOY.
Sun/25, 4 p.m.-3 a.m., $20/$30. Public Works, 161 Erie, SF. deviantsfolsom.tumblr.com