Dance

Hot dog

Michael Redmond
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Hot dog

marke@sfbg.com

SUPER EGO The daytime drinking season has kicked off in full force — it’s also kicked off my face, judging from this hangover. (El Rio patio, I’m blurrily looking at you.) Kidding, I haven’t had a hangover since 1976, and that was a love hangover. Also shitty coke.

Especially hot right now that we’re apparently skipping spring and going straight into summer: cramming like a desperate half-naked penguin community on the grassy strip of land left while they’re rejiggering Dolores Park. The fruit shelf overfloweth with closer encounters. Seriously, it looks like a refugee camp for huddled hipster masses up there. Hang on to your dreams, beautiful people! And also, where’d you get that cute tank top?

 

GO GOLD

Nice one: a high-energy electro benefit for childhood cancer research, with a huge lineup that features two classic Bay Area DJs, Denise and Forest Green, going back to back. Wear gold!

Thu/20, 8pm-3am, $15–$20, 18+. DNA Lounge, 375 11th St, SF. www.dnalounge.com

 

MARCO CAROLA

The Neapolitan titan of techno still reps a tasty, stripped-down underground Ibiza sound — which is a great way to slide into sunny times.

Thu/20, 9pm-3am, $15 advance, $20. Public Works, 161 Erie, SF. www.publicsf.com

 

MK

One of my favorite DJs and remixers ever, with a sound so buoyant, with a touch of the surreal, that he’ll make you dance to anything — including Lana del Ray.

Thu/20, 9pm, $10. Mezzanine, 444 Jessie, SF. www.mezzaninesf.com

 

SOUL CLAP

Love this classic Boston duo, which was essential in bringing slow ‘n sexy (not to mention a flood of ’90s R&B memories) back to dance floors in the late-2000s.

Thu/20, 9:30pm, $15. Monarch, 101 Sixth St, SF. www.monarchsf.com

 

TENSNAKE

The German recombinant house wiz is back, now in a poppier mode with the big-label release of his Glow album. He’ll still take you to strangely nostalgic places that never really existed.

Fri/21, 9pm-late, $22. Mezzanine, 444 Jessie, SF. www.mezzaninesf.com

 

NIGHTMARES ON WAX

George Evelyn has swung from classic UK techno innovator to funky chill out cool cat in the 25 years he’s been making records. It’s all perfect for dancing.

Sat/22, 9pm-late, $15 advance. Mighty, 119 Utah, SF. www.mighty119.com

 

SHONKY

This Parisian house purist hits the sweet spot — you can tell he just loves the sounds that make a record jump on the floor. He’s opening for energetic Spanish newcomer Uner.

Fri/21, 10pm, $10–$20. Audio, 316 11th St, SF. www.audiosf.com

 

DANCE MANIA

The Honey Soundsystem and Icee Hot crews team up to showcase this seminal Chicago down-and-dirty house label, with Paul Johnson, Jammin’ Gerald, and Parris Mitchell showing us how it’s done.

Sat/22, 9pm-4am, $15 advance, $20. Public Works, 161 Erie, SF. www.publicsf.com

 

Ana Tijoux on motherhood, Breaking Bad, and un-learning colonialist history

Steven T. Jones
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Ana Tijoux on motherhood, Breaking Bad, and un-learning colonialist history

By Rebecca Huval

If you’re tired of mainstream Latin hip-hop — which, right now, is disproportionately made up of reggaeton beats, male MCs, and bitter lyrics — then Ana Tijoux is the lady rapper for you.

The French-Chilean artist upends the genre. Instead of bragging about her millions, she advocates for cultural pride. Instead of barking at her enemies, she weaves a soothing spool of words that remixes the Spanish language into silk. She has evolved from using samples to working with a live band in a textured, colorful sound all its own, incorporating brass, jazz inflections, and a smorgasbord of South American instruments such as Andean charangos and pan-flutes.

You might have heard Tijoux’s origin-story track, “1977,” on Breaking Bad, as Jesse and Mike make deliveries through a desolate Southwestern landscape. The song describes the year she was born in France to parents who were exiled during the military dictatorship in Chile. Her alternating flow and staccato make the mind-numbing road trip seem badass. Following that sophomore record, La Bala, Tijoux is releasing a mature album with lush orchestration March 18: Vengo. The following evening, Wed/19, she’ll hit The Independent.

Calling to mind Erykah Badu, Tijoux is a poet with a low, creamy voice and a call for algre rebelde, or joyful rebellion. Her lyrics will make you feel like the top of your head was taken off, to paraphrase Emily Dickinson. “I come as a child who sought entrance to his/ home, the entrance to his origin, the return to/ his crusade, I come seeking silenced history/ the history of a land pillaged/ I come with the world and I come with the birds,” Tijoux raps in the title track of Vengo. In the shadow of Pinochet’s Chile, Tijoux is rebuilding dignity in her heritage with thoughtful, joyous rap.

Ahead of her show Wednesday night, we caught up with her by phone to talk about why it’s better to protest with beauty, how it felt to move from France to Chile as a teenager, and what it was like to dance with a man in an octopus suit in a music video.

San Francisco Bay Guardian How did you start rapping, and what female rappers influenced you?

Ana Tijoux I think I began when I was 20, very naturally, out of necessity because I needed to communicate. The woman who inspired me first was Bahamadia. And then I began to rhyme and write, and then I began to learn about more female MCs: MC Lyte, and when I was younger, Queen Latifah.

SFBG I’ve read that you consider yourself to be shy. How do you find the strength to perform in front of so many audiences?

AT Because I’m an amazing actress. [Laughs] On stage, I’m singing, I’m communicating, so I forget about the audience. It’s energy, and you begin a dialogue with people. That’s one of the moments when I feel free. It doesn’t matter what happens, I just do it.

SFBG Why did you move to Chile in 1993?

AT Because my parents were exiled in France, and I’m from there, and when refugees could come back I came with my parents. It was hard, very hard. I was a teenager and you’re in the construction of a personality. You’re fighting between a child and an adult in one personality, and then to change continents was hard. It was also one of the most amazing moments in my life. And it was a moment of a lot of lessons, but I understood about them more later, not immediately. I understood about friends, and about how the North robs so many things from the South. It was a political education.

SFBG Your 2007 video for “Eres Para Mi” with Julieta Venegas is goofy and delightful. It looks like you had a lot of fun making it. What was it like dancing with a man in an octopus suit and a nun?

AT The most hilarious moment in my life. When she made the video she didn’t tell me an octopus would be there, so it was a surprise. And I’m shy, like I told you, so I tried to act the best that I could. I didn’t know I would have an octopus near to me.

SFBG How did you write an album with your young children around?

AT It was an amazing moment, but very hard with time. I learned so much, like trying to be a mother with the [artistic] creation and no sleeping. At the same time, it was amazing. I learned time is a precious treasure and so valuable. I can’t lose time anymore in stupidity. The time I have is for creation or friends and family. It was hard to be honest, but really amazing.

SFBG Why did you decide to work with a live band instead of using samples?

AT I work with the best musicians I could have imagined. The songs have different vision with drums because it can be longer, or if the bassist has a solo, each instrument sings and gives a different color. It feels so organic and every instrument can give one texture to a song, and different movement and weather in the songs.

SFBG In “Vengo,” you say “Without fear you and I decolonize/what we were taught.” How have you unlearned what you were taught about Chile’s history?

AT I feel like everything I learned in school was with a colonized vision. You become interested in your roots, you understand that how you learned history is so different than what happened. In Chile, we live in a country with people with brown and black hair, and in publicity they have women with blond hair. All this publicity is about who we should be, and I’m saying we should be proud of who we are as a society and a community.

In America, they say it’s been 500 years since they discovered the continent. They didn’t discover it, people were here before the colonizers arrived. We’re changing the vision and vocabulary.

SFBG I loved Somos Sur, and I think your lyric “alegre rebeldía” captures the spirit of your music. In your calls for social justice, I sense more beauty than anger. What inspires you to call for equality with your gorgeous lyrics instead of just shouting at a protest?

AT Protests in general are protests for life. When you see fights around the world, it’s a fight for life. To have a fair life, it’s about dignity. We’re so used to protests with anger. We want a better future for us our kids and community. So that’s what I’m saying, it’s a fight for happiness.

SFBG How did it feel to hear “1977” on Breaking Bad?

AT Funny. I’m glad. It’s an amazing series, and I’m glad that there is a mainstream series that’s taking a risk. It’s a good series with amazing characters.

SFBG In “1977,” you say “Caminas en crucijadas/ Cada cual es su morada” (“You walk in crossroads/ each one is your home”). Where do you consider your home now?

AT Chile, totally Chile. It’s where my family is, my parents, my kids, my garden, and my refugees.

SFBG What advice would you give to young female rappers out there?

AT Do not listen to advice at all. Everybody wants to give advice about how to make stuff. Don’t listen to advice. Try to make music and be free.

— @rhuval

Dispatches from SXSW: Day 2 – Fader Fort, Future Islands, and Waiting in Lines

Steven T. Jones
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I’m pretty sure the Fader Fort is where I want to spend the rest of my youth and possibly my life. This makeshift village is probably as close to cool heaven as it gets. It’s got free music, free drinks, and people-watching galore. Did I mention it’s also got charging stations, free ice cream, and a first aid tent? You really could spend the rest of your youth and/or life here.

The Fader Fort is that illustrious castle on the hill of peak hipness. You can absorb the coolness into your skin via osmosis. For entrance into this Hearst Castle for the Snapchat crowd, you must either know somebody who knows somebody, have a pass (like I do), or get in line at the ungodly hour of no later than 12:30pm. Seriously, if you don’t get in line by at 1pm, you’re doomed to a fate of sunburns and sobriety. So get in line early, your brand depends on it.

As much I want to conduct an anthropological study on the impossibly hip 20-somethings lounging and fluttering all over the Fort, I have to force myself over to music stage.

fader fort

The first act is British crooner Sam Smith. He’s most known for his feature on Disclosure’s “Latch.” Without the Disclosure brothers at his side, Mr. Smith and his rad pompadour unleash an acoustic rendition of the dance hit, which the crowd and I found equally pleasing. As per SXSW custom, Smith busts out 20 minutes of work, packed up, and bounces to his next gig.

I go re-up on free pineapple juice and rum.

When I get back, Theophilus London is about to come on. I’ve been listening to this guy for a while and I still don’t get his deal. I feel like he’s been stuck on the come up for a while, which contradicts the very idea of being on the come up. He presents his mix of electro funk, pop, and hip-hop, all while wearing torn yellow pants, a yellow tank top, jean jacket, and that Pharrell/Arby’s hat. Towards the end of his set, he brings onstage a woman from the crowd and they do some sort of seductive dance that’s kind of novel and cool, but immediately takes a turn for the worse when London creepily starts grope-dancing with her. He almost sucks all the cool from the air, leaving everyone baffled and awkward. She goes back to the crowd and we all breathe a sigh of relief.

theo

Theophilus London
Pineapple juice and rum time.

Collaborators Shlomo and Jeremih are up next. Shlomo warms up the crowd with a DJ set of percolating electro rhythms. I begin to worry Jeremih might not show up, but he does. The two are collaborating for an upcoming album, but their performance makes me think they should establish this as a permanent arrangement. Jeremih’s suave and soothing nu-R’nB vocals hypnotizes the crowd into a state of mindfulness. But Jeremih knows what the crowd wants to hear, they want to hear “Birthday Sex,” and you do not deny what the good people at Fader Fort want. Jeremih plays “Birthday Sex” and the audience reacts in a way that it makes seem it like they enjoy “Birthday Sex” more than actual birthday sex.

Headlining the Fader Fort is electro-funk impresarios Chromeo, aka the self-proclaimed “most successful Jewish-Muslim collaboration ever.” Even though everyone in the concert tent is shoulder to shoulder and butt to butt, we all erupt in cathartic dance when Chromeo belt out “Night by Night.” There aren’t too many acts worthy of being a headliner at the Fader Fort, but Chromeo rises to the challenge and then some. They decimate the audience with 30 straight minutes of the old hits and some new tracks from their upcoming LP, White Women. Then the clock strikes midnight on the Fort and now we all have to face the daunting reality of not being in the Fort. But wait, Chromeo comes back for an encore! Encore finishes. OK, now the Fader Fort is done.

I grab a quick dinner and speed-walk over to Congress Ave, where the entire Heart Break Kids gang are playing, but unfortunately when I get there, there’s a 100-foot line, and from what I can tell, the entire club is packed to brim. Even badge people like myself aren’t being allowed in. I give up on HBK and speed-walk across town again to the Mad Decent Garage shows. Half an hour  later I arrive, and there’s a short but extremely slow-moving line. I give up and go meet up with friends at some rave tent with no line.

Turns out, there’s a real good reason there was no line. I’m subjected to blaring and soul-killing dubstep. The filthy and warbled bass jackhammers my very-being. Time to get out of there.

I wander around this part of town looking for my next show, while also being in awe of the massive herd of drunk revelers tripping flyers and empty drink cups.

I then happen upon Cheer Up Charlie’s to catch the end of indie-rockers Merchandise and then indie-poppers Future Islands. I didn’t catch enough of Merchandise to formulate an impression. At this point I’m just happy to be away from the dubstep. Future Islands come on and are the saviors I’ve been waiting for in this post-Fader Fort landscape.

future islands
Future Islands

Future Islands’ frontman Samuel T. Herring immediately grabs the crowd with a loud growl, jabbing dance moves, and pointed stares. Every band should have a Samuel T. Herring. His chaotic energy is more infectious than a breakout of pink-eye. He sneers, jumps up and down, and makes disfigured looks on his face for the entire set, and it makes for a surprisingly good complement to Future Islands’ bouncy and sunny pop. I honestly have never seen someone as turned up as this guy. I couldn’t think of a better way to end the day.

Music Listings: March 19-25, 2014

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WEDNESDAY 19
ROCK
Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. Yellow Ostrich, Pattern Is Movement, Paint the Trees White, 9pm, $12-$14.
Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. Thumpers, Solwave, 9pm, $10.
The Chapel: 777 Valencia, San Francisco. Sam Roberts Band, Kris Orlowski, 9pm, $15-$18.
Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. Hellbeard, Serial Hawk, Sludgebucket, 8:30pm, $7.
The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. Terra Moans, The Krypters, My Name Is Joe, 9:30pm, $6.
Slim’s: 333 11th St., San Francisco. Me First & The Gimme Gimmes, La Plebe, The Joey Show, DJ Big Nate, 9pm, sold out.
Thee Parkside: 1600 17th St., San Francisco. Spirit Caravan, Pilgrim, Waxy, 8pm, $15.
DANCE
Beaux: 2344 Market, San Francisco. “BroMance: A Night Out for the Fellas,” 9pm, free.
The Cafe: 2369 Market, San Francisco. “Sticky Wednesdays,” w/ DJ Mark Andrus, 8pm, free.
Club X: 715 Harrison, San Francisco. “Electro Pop Rocks: EPR’s Spring Break,” 18+ dance night with Frank Nitty, D Menis, DJ Audio1, more, 9pm
DNA Lounge: 375 11th St., San Francisco. Go Chic, Blok, Violent Vickie, 9pm, $10-$12.
F8: 1192 Folsom, San Francisco. “Housepitality,” w/ Kenneth Scott, Max Gardner, Sean Murray, Tony Watson, 9pm, $5-$10.
Infusion Lounge: 124 Ellis, San Francisco. “Indulgence,” 10pm
Lookout: 3600 16th St., San Francisco. “What?,” w/ resident DJ Tisdale and guests, 7pm, free.
Madrone Art Bar: 500 Divisadero, San Francisco. “Rock the Spot,” 9pm, free.
Make-Out Room: 3225 22nd St., San Francisco. “Burn Down the Disco,” w/ DJs 2shy-shy & Melt w/U, Third Wednesday of every month, 9pm, free.
MatrixFillmore: 3138 Fillmore, San Francisco. “Reload,” w/ DJ Big Bad Bruce, 10pm, free.
Q Bar: 456 Castro, San Francisco. “Booty Call,” w/ Juanita More, Joshua J, guests, 9pm, $3.
Showdown: 10 Sixth St., San Francisco. “Nokturnal,” w/ DJs Coyle & Gonya, Third Wednesday of every month, 9pm, free.
HIP-HOP
Neck of the Woods: 406 Clement, San Francisco. “Over the Hump,” w/ Children of the Funk, 10pm, free.
Skylark Bar: 3089 16th St., San Francisco. “Mixtape Wednesday,” w/ resident DJs Strategy, Junot, Herb Digs, & guests, 9pm, $5.
ACOUSTIC
Cafe Divine: 1600 Stockton, San Francisco. Craig Ventresco & Meredith Axelrod, 7pm, free.
Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. Jeb Havens & Tawnee Kendall, Lee Aulson, 8pm, $10.
Plough & Stars: 116 Clement, San Francisco. Michael Mullen, 9pm
The Rite Spot Cafe: 2099 Folsom, San Francisco. Goh Nakamura, 9pm, free.
JAZZ
Balancoire: 2565 Mission, San Francisco. “Cat’s Corner,” 9pm, $10.
Burritt Room: 417 Stockton St., San Francisco. Terry Disley’s Rocking Jazz Trio, 6pm, free.
Cigar Bar & Grill: 850 Montgomery, San Francisco. Jack Mosbacher Duo, 8pm
Club Deluxe: 1511 Haight, San Francisco. Patrick Wolff Quartet, 9pm, free.
Le Colonial: 20 Cosmo, San Francisco. The Cosmo Alleycats featuring Ms. Emily Wade Adams, 7pm, free.
Sheba Piano Lounge: 1419 Fillmore, San Francisco. Fran Sholly, 8pm
Top of the Mark: One Nob Hill, 999 California, San Francisco. Ricardo Scales, Wednesdays, 6:30-11:30pm, $5.
Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Four80East, Matt Marshak & Marcus Anderson, 8pm, $21.
Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Chris Duggan, 7:30pm, free.
INTERNATIONAL
Bissap Baobab: 3372 19th St., San Francisco. “Baobab!,” timba dance party with DJ WaltDigz, 10pm, $5.
Cafe Cocomo: 650 Indiana, San Francisco. “Bachatalicious,” w/ DJs Good Sho & Rodney, 7pm, $5-$10.
The Independent: 628 Divisadero, San Francisco. Ana Tijoux, Kumbia Queers, Como Asesinar a Felipe, 9pm, $15.
Pachamama Restaurant: 1630 Powell, San Francisco. Cafe Latino Americano, 8pm, $12.
BLUES
Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. Tommy Odetto, 7:30 & 9:30pm, $15.
Pier 23 Cafe: Pier 23, San Francisco. Wendy DeWitt, 6pm, free.
The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. Craig Horton, 9:30pm
SOUL
Monarch: 101 Sixth St., San Francisco. “Color Me Badd,” coloring books and R&B jams with Matt Haze, DJ Alarm, Broke-Ass Stuart, guests, Wednesdays, 5:30-9:30pm, free.
The Royal Cuckoo: 3202 Mission, San Francisco. Freddie Hughes & Chris Burns, 7:30pm, free.

THURSDAY 20
ROCK
Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. Lonesome Locomotive, Twin Engine, 9:30pm, $5-$7.
Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. Skaters, Team Spirit, Panic Is Perfect, 9pm, $10-$12.
Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. CAAMFest Directions in Sound: Korean Showcase, w/ Love X Stereo, Rock n Roll Radio, Glen Check, No Brain, Kero One (host), DJ Relic, 9pm, $20.
DNA Lounge: 375 11th St., San Francisco. Truckfighters, Crobot, The Devil in California, Blackwülf, 8:30pm, $10-$12.
Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. Nubs, Atlantic Thrills, Scraper, 8:30pm, $7.
Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. The English Language, The Lolos, 9pm, $8.
The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. Iron Chic, The Shell Corporation, Civil War Rust, 10pm, $8.
Milk Bar: 1840 Haight, San Francisco. Haight-Ashbury Street Fair Fundraiser: Battle of the Bands #1, w/ Kingsborough, Battery Powered Grandpa, High & Tight, Them Creatures, 9pm, $5.
Rickshaw Stop: 155 Fell, San Francisco. “Popscene,” w/ The Lonely Forest, Semi Precious Weapons, Breakdown Valentine, DJ Aaron Axelsen, 9:30pm, $10-$12.
S.F. Eagle: 398 12th St., San Francisco. The Whoa Nellies, Muñecas, Thith, 9pm, $5-$7.
Slim’s: 333 11th St., San Francisco. The Sword, Big Business, O’Brother, 8pm, $21.
The Stud: 399 Ninth St., San Francisco. Starbeast II, Grendel’s Claw, Kurly Something, 9pm, $5.
Thee Parkside: 1600 17th St., San Francisco. Disappearing People, Wreck & Reference, Hollow Sunshine, So Stressed, 9pm, $8.
DANCE
1015 Folsom: 1015 Folsom, San Francisco. Autojak’d Tour, w/ Autoérotique, Uberjak’d, Frank Nitty, Krishna Lee, DJ Audio1, 10pm, $10 advance.
Abbey Tavern: 4100 Geary, San Francisco. DJ Schrobi-Girl, 10pm, free.
Beaux: 2344 Market, San Francisco. “Men at Twerk,” 9pm, free.
The Cafe: 2369 Market, San Francisco. “¡Pan Dulce!,” 9pm, $5.
Cat Club: 1190 Folsom, San Francisco. “Class of 1984,” ’80s night with DJs Damon, Steve Washington, Dangerous Dan, and guests, 9pm, $6 (free before 9:30pm).
The Cellar: 685 Sutter, San Francisco. “XO,” w/ DJs Astro & Rose, 10pm, $5.
Club X: 715 Harrison, San Francisco. “The Crib,” 9:30pm, $10, 18+.
DNA Lounge: 375 11th St., San Francisco. Go Gold, Childhood cancer research benefit party with Lazy Rich, Paul Anthony, DJ Denise, Forest Green, Carlos Alfonzo, Ross.FM, John Beaver, Infected Frequencies, The Doctor, Arize, Adept, and more., 8pm, $15-$20.
Elbo Room: 647 Valencia, San Francisco. “Afrolicious,” w/ DJs Pleasuremaker, Señor Oz, and guests, 9:30pm, $5-$8.
F8: 1192 Folsom, San Francisco. “Beat Church,” w/ resident DJs Neptune & Kitty-D, Third Thursday of every month, 10pm, $10.
Harlot: 46 Minna, San Francisco. Bloody Mary & Jozif, 9pm, free.
The Independent: 628 Divisadero, San Francisco. Break Science, ChrisB., 9pm, $15-$17.
Infusion Lounge: 124 Ellis, San Francisco. “I Love Thursdays,” 10pm, $10.
Madrone Art Bar: 500 Divisadero, San Francisco. “Night Fever,” 9pm, $5 after 10pm
Mezzanine: 444 Jessie, San Francisco. “House of Mezzanine,” w/ Marc “MK” Kinchen, Matrixxman, Epicsauce DJs, 9pm, $10.
Monarch: 101 Sixth St., San Francisco. “Hey Young World,” w/ Soul Clap & Nick Monaco, 9:30pm, $15 advance.
Public Works: 161 Erie, San Francisco. “Deep Blue,” w/ Marco Carola, Rooz, Bo, 9pm, $15-$25.
Raven: 1151 Folsom, San Francisco. “1999,” w/ VJ Mark Andrus, 8pm, free.
Ruby Skye: 420 Mason, San Francisco. “Awakening,” w/ GTA, What So Not, 9pm, $25-$35 advance.
Underground SF: 424 Haight, San Francisco. “Bubble,” 10pm, free.
Vessel: 85 Campton, San Francisco. “Base,” w/ H.O.S.H., 10pm, $5-$10.
HIP-HOP
Eastside West: 3154 Fillmore, San Francisco. “Throwback Thursdays,” w/ DJ Madison, 9pm, free.
Showdown: 10 Sixth St., San Francisco. “Tougher Than Ice,” w/ DJs Vin Sol, Ruby Red I, and Jeremy Castillo, Third Thursday of every month, 10pm
ACOUSTIC
Amoeba Music: 1855 Haight, San Francisco. Chuck Ragan, 6pm, free.
Atlas Cafe: 3049 20th St., San Francisco. Bermuda Grass, 8pm, free.
Bazaar Cafe: 5927 California, San Francisco. Acoustic Open Mic, 7pm
The Chapel: 777 Valencia, San Francisco. Bear’s Den, 9pm, $12-$15.
Plough & Stars: 116 Clement, San Francisco. John Caufield, 9pm
The Rite Spot Cafe: 2099 Folsom, San Francisco. Devine’s Jug Band, 8pm, free.
JAZZ
Blush! Wine Bar: 476 Castro, San Francisco. Doug Martin’s Avatar Ensemble, 7:30pm, free.
Cafe Claude: 7 Claude, San Francisco. Nova Jazz, 7:30pm, free.
Jazz Bistro at Les Joulins: 44 Ellis, San Francisco. Eugene Pliner Quartet with Tod Dickow, First and Third Thursday of every month, 7:30pm, free.
Le Colonial: 20 Cosmo, San Francisco. Steve Lucky & The Rhumba Bums, 7:30pm
The Lucky Horseshoe: 453 Cortland, San Francisco. Ralph Carney’s Serious Jass Project, 9pm
Pier 23 Cafe: Pier 23, San Francisco. Citizen’s Jazz, 7pm, free.
The Royal Cuckoo: 3202 Mission, San Francisco. Charlie Siebert & Chris Siebert, 7:30pm, free.
Savanna Jazz Club: 2937 Mission, San Francisco. Savanna Jazz Jam with David Byrd, 7pm, $5.
Top of the Mark: One Nob Hill, 999 California, San Francisco. Stompy Jones, 7:30pm, $10.
Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. NaJe, in Yoshi’s lounge, 6:30pm, free.
Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Barbara Ochoa, 7:30pm
INTERNATIONAL
Bissap Baobab: 3372 19th St., San Francisco. “Pa’Lante!,” w/ Juan G, El Kool Kyle, Mr. Lucky, 10pm, $5.
Cafe Cocomo: 650 Indiana, San Francisco. VibraSÓN, El DJ X, 8pm, $12.
Cigar Bar & Grill: 850 Montgomery, San Francisco. Carlitos Medrano Quartet, 8pm
Pachamama Restaurant: 1630 Powell, San Francisco. “Jueves Flamencos,” 8pm, free.
Sheba Piano Lounge: 1419 Fillmore, San Francisco. Gary Flores & Descarga Caliente, 8pm
Verdi Club: 2424 Mariposa, San Francisco. The Verdi Club Milonga, w/ Christy Coté, DJ Emilio Flores, guests, 9pm, $10-$15.
Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Dudu Tassa & The Kuwaitis with Yair Dalal, 8pm, $30-$32.
REGGAE
Pissed Off Pete’s: 4528 Mission St., San Francisco. Reggae Thursdays, w/ resident DJ Jah Yzer, 9pm, free.
BLUES
50 Mason Social House: 50 Mason, San Francisco. Bill Phillippe, 5:30pm, free.
Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. Bill Magee, 7:30 & 9:30pm, $20.
The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. Chris Ford, Third Thursday of every month, 4pm; Cathy Lemons, 9:30pm
COUNTRY
The Parlor: 2801 Leavenworth, San Francisco. “Twang Honky Tonk & Country Jamboree,” w/ DJ Little Red Rodeo, 7pm, free.
EXPERIMENTAL
The Luggage Store: 1007 Market, San Francisco. Gosling, Gestaltish, 8pm, $6-$10.
SOUL
Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. Baby & The Luvies, The Ironsides with Gene Washington, 8pm, $7-$10.
Make-Out Room: 3225 22nd St., San Francisco. “Soul: It’s the Real Thing,” w/ The Selecter DJ Kirk & Jon Blunck, Third Thursday of every month, 10pm, free.

FRIDAY 21
ROCK
50 Mason Social House: 50 Mason, San Francisco. Spidermeow, Shot in the Dark, Gnarboots, Be Brave Bold Robot, The Bottle Kids, 8pm
Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. Guy Fox, Big Tree, The Districts, Young Moon, 8:30pm, $10-$12.
Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. The Family Crest, Milagres, 9pm, $12-$14.
The Chapel: 777 Valencia, San Francisco. Bart Davenport, Danny James, Anna Hillburg, DJ Robert Spector, 9pm, $12-$15.
El Rio: 3158 Mission, San Francisco. Friday Live: The Ghost Ease, DJ Emotions, 10pm, free.
Elbo Room: 647 Valencia, San Francisco. The Asteroid No. 4, Joel Gion & The Primary Colors, Daydream Machine, DJ Jodie Artichoke, 9:30pm, $5-$8.
Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. Rykarda Parasol, The Tunnel, So What?, 9pm, $8.
Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. JoyCut, Running in the Fog, Feral Fauna, 9pm, $10.
Milk Bar: 1840 Haight, San Francisco. The Belle Game, Ski Lodge, Lords of Sealand, 9pm, $8-$10.
Neck of the Woods: 406 Clement, San Francisco. Heavenly Beat, Seatraffic, Survival Guide, on the upstairs stage, 9pm, $10-$12.
Rickshaw Stop: 155 Fell, San Francisco. Perfect Pussy, Wild Moth, Happy Diving, 9pm, $10-$12.
The Riptide: 3639 Taraval, San Francisco. The Ray City Rollers, Powder, 8pm, free.
Slim’s: 333 11th St., San Francisco. Lacuna Coil, Kyng, Eve to Adam, Nothing More, 8pm, $21.
Sub-Mission Art Space (Balazo 18 Gallery): 2183 Mission, San Francisco. Safe & Sound, Singled Out, Eternal Sleep, Stay Scared, Dust Off, 7:30pm, $8.
Thee Parkside: 1600 17th St., San Francisco. Shake Before Us, The Arabs, Greg Hoy & The End, 9pm, $7.
DANCE
1015 Folsom: 1015 Folsom, San Francisco. “Witness 5.0,” w/ Juan Atkins, Kastle, Le Youth, Djemba Djemba, Sweater Beats, Touch Sensitive, Krampfhaft, Kit Clayton, J-Boogie, Mikos Da Gawd, MPHD, Chris Clouse, more, 10pm, $15-$25 advance.
Audio Discotech: 316 11th St., San Francisco. Uner, Shonky, Glade Luco, Marija Dunn, 9pm, $10 advance.
BeatBox: 314 11th St., San Francisco. “U-Haul: Bromance Edition,” w/ DJs China G & Ms. Jackson, 10pm, $5-$10.
Beaux: 2344 Market, San Francisco. “Manimal,” 9pm
Cat Club: 1190 Folsom, San Francisco. “Dancing Ghosts: 7-Year Anniversary,” w/ DJs Xander, Daniel Skellington, Melting Girl, and Owen, 9:30pm, $7 ($3 before 10pm).
DNA Lounge: 375 11th St., San Francisco. “Band Saga,” w/ Metroid Metal, Rekcahdam, Anova, Kozilek, 8pm, $8-$13.
The EndUp: 401 Sixth St., San Francisco. “Trade,” 10pm, free before midnight.
Infusion Lounge: 124 Ellis, San Francisco. “Flight Fridays,” 10pm, $20.
Lookout: 3600 16th St., San Francisco. “HYSL: Handle Your Shit Lady,” 9pm, $3.
Mercer: 255 Rhode Island, San Francisco. “SoulHouse,” w/ Jeremiah Seraphim, Didje Kelli, Jaime James, Dylan Mahoney, 9pm, $10-$15.
Mezzanine: 444 Jessie, San Francisco. “Lights Down Low,” w/ Tensnake, Huxley, Cooper Saver, Brian Tarney, Split, 9pm, $20-$22.
Mighty: 119 Utah, San Francisco. “Set,” w/ John Digweed, Atish, Matt Hubert, 10pm, $35-$40 advance.
Public Works: 161 Erie, San Francisco. Crossfire: Synaptic Equinox, Flaming Lotus Girls benefit with DJs Aaron Pope, Billy Seal, Brad Robinson, Cosmic Selector, Darren Grayson, Drew Drop, Dulce Vita, J-Rod, Kapt’n Kirk, Layne Loomis, Matt Kramer, and Shissla., 9:30pm, $15-$20 advance.
Q Bar: 456 Castro, San Francisco. “Pump: Worq It Out Fridays,” w/ resident DJ Christopher B, 9pm, $3.
Ruby Skye: 420 Mason, San Francisco. Syn Cole, Human Life, DJ Vice, 9pm, $20 advance.
Supperclub San Francisco: 657 Harrison, San Francisco. “The Midas Touch,” w/ Gavin Hardkiss, Michael Anthony, The Golden Gate Dolls, more, 7pm
Temple: 540 Howard, San Francisco. “Resonance,” w/ Alex M.O.R.P.H., Mitka, Jake DeSilva, more, 10pm, $20.
Underground SF: 424 Haight, San Francisco. “Studio 3AM,” w/ Michael Perry, Darrell Tenaglia, Soft & Crispy, 10pm, free.
Vessel: 85 Campton, San Francisco. Kryder, 10pm
HIP-HOP
John Colins: 138 Minna, San Francisco. “Juicy,” w/ DJ Mark DiVita, 10pm
Showdown: 10 Sixth St., San Francisco. “Fresh to Def Fridays: A Tribute to Yo! MTV Raps,” w/ resident DJs Boom Bostic, Inkfat, and Hay Hay, Third Friday of every month, 10pm
ACOUSTIC
Bazaar Cafe: 5927 California, San Francisco. Emily Zisman & Marty Atkinson, 7pm
Dolores Park Cafe: 501 Dolores, San Francisco. Storm Florez, 7:30pm
Pa’ina: 1865 Post, San Francisco. Ben Ahn, 7pm, free.
Plough & Stars: 116 Clement, San Francisco. “Bluegrass Bonanza,” w/ The Bearcat Stringband, 9pm, $6-$10.
JAZZ
Atlas Cafe: 3049 20th St., San Francisco. Jazz at the Atlas, 7:30pm, free.
Cafe Royale: 800 Post, San Francisco. Cyril Guiraud Trio, 9pm
The Palace Hotel: 2 New Montgomery, San Francisco. The Klipptones, 8pm, free.
Savanna Jazz Club: 2937 Mission, San Francisco. Bill Kwan, 7:30pm, $8.
Sheba Piano Lounge: 1419 Fillmore, San Francisco. Steve Snelling Quartet, 9pm
INTERNATIONAL
Asiento: 2730 21st St., San Francisco. “Kulcha Latino,” w/ resident selectors Stepwise, Ras Rican, and El Kool Kyle, Third Friday of every month, 9pm, free.
Cafe Claude: 7 Claude, San Francisco. Trio Garufa, 7:30pm, free.
Cigar Bar & Grill: 850 Montgomery, San Francisco. Montuno Swing, 10pm
The Emerald Tablet: 80 Fresno, San Francisco. Flamenco del Oro, 8pm, $15 suggested donation.
Pachamama Restaurant: 1630 Powell, San Francisco. Cuban Night with Fito Reinoso, 7:30 & 9:15pm, $15-$18.
Pier 23 Cafe: Pier 23, San Francisco. Danilo y Universal, 8pm, free.
Slate Bar: 2925 16th St., San Francisco. “Chevere: 4-Year Anniversary,” w/ DJs WaltDigz, Epic, and Leydis, 9:30pm
REGGAE
Gestalt Haus: 3159 16th St., San Francisco. “Music Like Dirt,” 7:30pm, free.
The Independent: 628 Divisadero, San Francisco. The Wailers, 9pm, sold out.
BLUES
Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. Chris Cain, 7:30 & 10pm, $22.
Lou’s Fish Shack: 300 Jefferson, San Francisco. Robert “Hollywood” Jenkins, 6pm
The Royal Cuckoo: 3202 Mission, San Francisco. Big Bones & Chris Siebert, 7:30pm, free.
The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. West Coast Blues Revue, 4pm; Chris Cobb, 9:30pm
FUNK
Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Sinbad with Memphis Red & The Stank Nasty Band, 8 & 10pm, $35.
SOUL
Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. The Nibblers, The Mark Sexton Band, DJ K-Os, 9:30pm, $10-$15.

SATURDAY 22
ROCK
Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. “Rajeev’s Big Night Out,” w/ We Will Be Lions, The Cuss, Rafa’s One Man Band, plus stand-up comedy, 9pm, $7-$10.
Bender’s: 806 S. Van Ness, San Francisco. Lecherous Gaze, Dirty Fences, Buffalo Tooth, 10pm, $5.
Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. DonCat, Split Screens, Scary Little Friends, 9:30pm, $10.
Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. Wakey!Wakey!, Jillette Johnson, 9pm, $12.
The Chapel: 777 Valencia, San Francisco. Lost in the Trees, Icy Demons, 9pm, $12-$15.
Connecticut Yankee: 100 Connecticut, San Francisco. The Wearies, The Sweet Bones, Modern Kicks, 10pm
El Rio: 3158 Mission, San Francisco. White Cloud, Talk of Shamans, DJ Awnode, 9pm, $2-$5.
Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. Kids on a Crime Spree, Yea-Ming & The Rumours, Eternal Drag, 9pm, $6.
Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. Abatis, The Straight Ups, Alabasta Jack, 9pm, $8.
The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. Fracas, VKTMS, RocketShip RocketShip, Kick Puppy, 4pm, $6.
Milk Bar: 1840 Haight, San Francisco. Keystone Revisited, Pam, Just Passing Through, 9pm, $10.
Rickshaw Stop: 155 Fell, San Francisco. Weekend, Cities Aviv, Surf Club, 9pm, $12-$14.
Slim’s: 333 11th St., San Francisco. INVSN, Wax Idols, 9pm, $13-$15.
Thee Parkside: 1600 17th St., San Francisco. Great Apes, Hard Girls, Canadian Rifle, Acid Fast, 9pm, $7.
DANCE
Audio Discotech: 316 11th St., San Francisco. Goldfish, 9pm, $20-$25.
BeatBox: 314 11th St., San Francisco. “Chaos,” w/ DJs Dan DeLeon & Erik Withakay, 9pm, $10-$20.
DNA Lounge: 375 11th St., San Francisco. “Bootie S.F.,” w/ Pepperspray, A+D, Haute Mess, Marky Ray, Keith Kraft, Lucio K, more, 9pm, $10-$15.
The EndUp: 401 Sixth St., San Francisco. Shangri-La, Asian queer dance party., Fourth Saturday of every month, 10pm, $15-$20 (free before 11pm).
Harlot: 46 Minna, San Francisco. “Set,” w/ Hernan Cattaneo, Pedro Arbulu, Franccesco Cardenas, Zita Molnar, 9pm, $15-$25.
Infusion Lounge: 124 Ellis, San Francisco. “Set,” Fourth Saturday of every month, 10pm, $20.
The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. “Galaxy Radio,” w/ PlaZa, Roche, Smac, Lel Ephant, Holly Bun, 10pm, free.
Lookout: 3600 16th St., San Francisco. “Bounce!,” 9pm, $3.
Madrone Art Bar: 500 Divisadero, San Francisco. “Blunted Funk,” w/ resident DJs Sneak-E Pete & Chilipino, Fourth Saturday of every other month, 9pm, $5 (free before 10pm).
Mighty: 119 Utah, San Francisco. Nightmares on Wax, Bläp Dëli, Mophono, 9pm, $15 advance.
Monarch: 101 Sixth St., San Francisco. Jimmy Edgar, Danny Daze, Papa Lu, 9:30pm, $25-$30.
Public Works: 161 Erie, San Francisco. “Dance Mania,” w/ Paul Johnson, Jammin Gerald, Parris Mitchell, more (in the main room), 9pm, $15 advance; “Mister Saturday Night,” w/ Eamon Harkin, Justin Carter, more (in the OddJob Loft), 9pm, $15 advance.
Ruby Skye: 420 Mason, San Francisco. Fedde Le Grand, Cazzette, Moguai, DJ Zya, 9pm, $50+ advance.
S.F. Eagle: 398 12th St., San Francisco. “Sadistic Saturday,” w/ Mystic Ray, 9pm
Slate Bar: 2925 16th St., San Francisco. “Electric WKND,” w/ The Certain People Crew, Fourth Saturday of every month, 10pm, $5.
The Stud: 399 Ninth St., San Francisco. “Planet Squrrrl,” w/ DJs Trevor Sigler, Joe Pickett, and Ben Holder, 9pm, $5.
Temple: 540 Howard, San Francisco. “Life,” w/ Feldy, Animal Control, Christophe, Jeff Morena, Glade Luco, more, 10pm, $20.
Vessel: 85 Campton, San Francisco. Scooter & Lavelle, 10pm, $10-$30.
W San Francisco: 181 Third St., San Francisco. “Spring: Celebrating the Persian New Year,” w/ DJ Aykut, Dr. T, Nitro, 9pm, $10-$25.
HIP-HOP
111 Minna Gallery: 111 Minna, San Francisco. CAAMFest Directions in Sound: Here Comes Treble, w/ Suboi, Rocky Rivera, Cynthia Lin & The Blue Moon All-Stars, DJ Umami, DJ ThatGirl, DJ Roza, 9:30pm, $20.
John Colins: 138 Minna, San Francisco. “Nice,” w/ DJ Apollo, Fourth Saturday of every month, 10pm, $5.
Showdown: 10 Sixth St., San Francisco. BYOB Live Beat Battle, w/ Ghettosocks & Timbuktu, 9pm, $7-$10.
ACOUSTIC
Bazaar Cafe: 5927 California, San Francisco. “Sing Out of Darkness: The Return of the Bird,” American Foundation for Suicide Prevention benefit with Julie Mayhew and many musical guests, 10am-10pm
Make-Out Room: 3225 22nd St., San Francisco. Chris Mills & The Distant Stars, Chris von Sneidern, 7:30pm, $8.
Plough & Stars: 116 Clement, San Francisco. Savannah Blu, 9pm
The Riptide: 3639 Taraval, San Francisco. The Lady Crooners, 9:30pm, free.
Steven Wolf Fine Arts: 2747 19th St., San Francisco. A Record Is a Record: Bill Orcutt, 6pm, free.
JAZZ
Cafe Claude: 7 Claude, San Francisco. Terrence Brewer Trio, 7:30pm, free.
Peacock Lounge: 552 Haight, San Francisco. Leon Joyce Jr., 6pm, $15.
The Royal Cuckoo: 3202 Mission, San Francisco. Steve Lucky & Carmen Getit, 7:30pm, free.
Savanna Jazz Club: 2937 Mission, San Francisco. David Byrd Ensemble, 7:30pm, $8.
Sheba Piano Lounge: 1419 Fillmore, San Francisco. The Robert Stewart Experience, 9pm
Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Kurt Elling, 8 & 10pm, $24-$28.
Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Anya Malkiel, 8pm, free.
INTERNATIONAL
1015 Folsom: 1015 Folsom, San Francisco. “Pura,” 9pm, $20.
Cafe Cocomo: 650 Indiana, San Francisco. Pacific Mambo Orchestra, 8pm, $15.
Cigar Bar & Grill: 850 Montgomery, San Francisco. Latin Rhythm Boys, 10pm
El Rio: 3158 Mission, San Francisco. “Mango,” Fourth Saturday of every month, 3pm, $8-$10.
OMG: 43 Sixth St., San Francisco. “Bollywood Blast,” Fourth Saturday of every month, 9pm, $5 (free before 10pm).
Roccapulco Supper Club: 3140 Mission, San Francisco. Hector Acosta, 8pm, $55.
Space 550: 550 Barneveld, San Francisco. “Club Fuego,” 9:30pm
St. Gregory’s Church: 500 De Haro, San Francisco. Veretski Pass, 8pm, $30.
REGGAE
The Independent: 628 Divisadero, San Francisco. The Wailers, 9pm, sold out.
Neck of the Woods: 406 Clement, San Francisco. One Drop, Midnight Raid, Saane, on the upstairs stage, 9pm, $10-$12.
BLUES
Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. Delta Wires, 7:30 & 10pm, $22.
Lou’s Fish Shack: 300 Jefferson, San Francisco. Willie G, 6pm
The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. Dave Workman, Fourth Saturday of every month, 4pm; Ron Hacker, 9:30pm
EXPERIMENTAL
Noisebridge: 2169 Mission, San Francisco. Godwaffle Noise Pancakes, noon.
FUNK
Mezzanine: 444 Jessie, San Francisco. Rebirth Brass Band, The Loyd Family Players, 9pm, $25.
Pa’ina: 1865 Post, San Francisco. Chocolate Rice, 7pm, free.
SOUL
Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. Wicked Mercies, DJ K-Os, 9:30pm, $10 advance.

SUNDAY 23
ROCK
Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. Future Twin, Daydream Machine, DJ Joel Gion, 8pm, $7-$10.
The Chapel: 777 Valencia, San Francisco. Death, Audacity, 8pm, $22-$25.
DNA Lounge: 375 11th St., San Francisco. Broken Hope, Oceano, Fallujah, Rivers of Nihil, Kublai Khan, 6pm, $13-$15.
El Rio: 3158 Mission, San Francisco. The Desert Line, The Night Falls, Phosphene, 8pm, $8.
Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. Religious Phase, Cloud Becomes Your Hand, Jordan Glenn, 8:30pm, $6.
Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. Andy Suzuki & The Method, The Weather Machine, 8pm, $10.
The Independent: 628 Divisadero, San Francisco. Toadies, Supersuckers, Battleme, 8pm, $22.
Slim’s: 333 11th St., San Francisco. The Orwells, Twin Peaks, Criminal Hygiene, 8pm, $14-$16.
DANCE
Audio Discotech: 316 11th St., San Francisco. “London Calling: Chapter 3,” w/ D’Julz, Ben Annand, Bells & Whistles, Nikita, more, noon, $10 advance.
Beaux: 2344 Market, San Francisco. “Full of Grace: A Weekly House Music Playground,” 9pm, free.
The Chapel: 777 Valencia, San Francisco. “Sunday Mass,” 9pm
The Edge: 4149 18th St., San Francisco. “’80s at 8,” w/ DJ MC2, 8pm
Elbo Room: 647 Valencia, San Francisco. “Dub Mission,” w/ Jahdan Blakkamoore, Relic Secure, Deejay Theory, DJ Sep, 9pm, $11-$14.
F8: 1192 Folsom, San Francisco. “Stamina,” w/ Lukeino, Jamal, guests, 10pm, free.
MatrixFillmore: 3138 Fillmore, San Francisco. “Bounce,” w/ DJ Just, 10pm
Otis: 25 Maiden, San Francisco. “What’s the Werd?,” w/ resident DJs Nick Williams, Kevin Knapp, Maxwell Dub, and guests, 9pm, $5 (free before 11pm).
The Parlor: 2801 Leavenworth, San Francisco. “Sunday Sessions,” w/ DJ Marc deVasconcelos, 9pm, free.
Q Bar: 456 Castro, San Francisco. “Gigante,” 8pm, free.
S.F. Eagle: 398 12th St., San Francisco. “1982,” w/ DJs Ben Holder & Chaka Quan, 7pm, $5.
The Stud: 399 Ninth St., San Francisco. “Cognitive Dissonance,” Fourth Sunday of every month, 6pm
Temple: 540 Howard, San Francisco. “Sunset Arcade,” 18+ dance party & game night, 9pm, $10.
Wish: 1539 Folsom, San Francisco. “Electric B.A.S.E.,” w/ Beau Kelly, Anya Timofeeva, Remy J, 7pm, free.
HIP-HOP
Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. “Return of the Cypher,” 9:30pm, free.
Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. K.Flay, Air Dubai, Itch, 9pm, $12-$14.
Mezzanine: 444 Jessie, San Francisco. Bun B & Kirko Bangz, 8pm, $22.
Thee Parkside: 1600 17th St., San Francisco. Astronautalis, Playdough, Transit, Low Country Kingdom, 8pm, $14.
ACOUSTIC
The Lucky Horseshoe: 453 Cortland, San Francisco. Bernal Mountain Bluegrass Jam, 4pm, free.
Plough & Stars: 116 Clement, San Francisco. Seisiún with Marla Fibish, Erin Shrader, and Richard Mandel, 9pm
JAZZ
Revolution Cafe: 3248 22nd St., San Francisco. Jazz Revolution, 4pm, free/donation.
The Royal Cuckoo: 3202 Mission, San Francisco. Lavay Smith & Chris Siebert, 7:30pm, free.
Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Kurt Elling, 7 & 9pm, $24.
Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Hubert Emerson, 7:30pm, free.
INTERNATIONAL
Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. Sol Tevél, 8pm
Bissap Baobab: 3372 19th St., San Francisco. “Brazil & Beyond,” 6:30pm, free.
Cana Cuban Parlor: 500 Florida St., San Francisco. “La Havana,” w/ resident DJs Mind Motion, WaltDigz, and I-Cue, Sundays, 4-9pm
El Rio: 3158 Mission, San Francisco. Salsa Sundays, Second and Fourth Sunday of every month, 3pm, $8-$10.
BLUES
Lou’s Fish Shack: 300 Jefferson, San Francisco. Sam Johnson, 4pm
The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. Blues Power, 4pm; The Door Slammers, Fourth Sunday of every month, 9:30pm
Sheba Piano Lounge: 1419 Fillmore, San Francisco. Bohemian Knuckleboogie, 8pm

MONDAY 24
ROCK
The Independent: 628 Divisadero, San Francisco. Japan Nite 2014: Happy, Zarigani$, Vampilla, Jungles from Red Bacteria Vacuum, 8pm, $15.
The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. Guantanamo Baywatch, Courtney & The Crushers, 10pm, $5.
DANCE
DNA Lounge: 375 11th St., San Francisco. “DGXXI: Death Guild 21st Anniversary,” w/ DJ Decay, Melting Girl, Joe Radio, Sage, Lexor, Intoner, Identity Theft, Veil, RPTN, Daniel Skellington, 9pm, $5-$21.
Q Bar: 456 Castro, San Francisco. “Wanted,” w/ DJs Key&Kite and Richie Panic, 9pm, free.
Underground SF: 424 Haight, San Francisco. “Vienetta Discotheque,” w/ DJs Stanley Frank and Robert Jeffrey, 10pm, free.
ACOUSTIC
Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. Jeremy Messersmith, The Parmesans, 9pm, $10-$12.
Fiddler’s Green: 1333 Columbus, San Francisco. Terry Savastano, 9:30pm, free/donation.
Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. Open Mic with Brendan Getzell, 8pm, free.
Osteria: 3277 Sacramento, San Francisco. “Acoustic Bistro,” 7pm, free.
The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. Peter Lindman, 4pm
JAZZ
Jazz Bistro at Les Joulins: 44 Ellis, San Francisco. Eugene Pliner Quartet with Tod Dickow, 7:30pm, free.
Le Colonial: 20 Cosmo, San Francisco. Le Jazz Hot, 7pm, free.
Sheba Piano Lounge: 1419 Fillmore, San Francisco. City Jazz Instrumental Jam Session, 8pm
Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Nora Maki, 7:30pm, free.
REGGAE
Bissap Baobab: 3372 19th St., San Francisco. “Raggada,” 9pm, $5.
Skylark Bar: 3089 16th St., San Francisco. “Skylarking,” w/ I&I Vibration, 10pm, free.
BLUES
The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. The Bachelors, 9:30pm
SOUL
Madrone Art Bar: 500 Divisadero, San Francisco. “M.O.M. (Motown on Mondays),” w/ DJ Gordo Cabeza & Timoteo Gigante, 8pm, free.

TUESDAY 25
ROCK
Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. Cellar Doors, Cool Ghouls, 9:15pm continues through, $7-$10.
Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. Sea Knight, Babes, Wag, 9pm, $8.
Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. High Cliffs, The Wave Commission, Yours, 8pm, $5-$8.
The Chapel: 777 Valencia, San Francisco. Daniel Rossen, 9pm, $20-$22.
El Rio: 3158 Mission, San Francisco. Hungry Skinny, Saturn Cats, The Impersonations, 7pm, $6.
The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. Musk, Freak Vibe, Burning Curtains, DJ Tosh, 9:30pm, $6.
Rickshaw Stop: 155 Fell, San Francisco. Small Black, Snowmine, Yalls, 8pm, $12-$14.
DANCE
1015 Folsom: 1015 Folsom, San Francisco. Annie Mac, Skream, Jacques Greene, 10pm, $12-$15 advance.
Aunt Charlie’s Lounge: 133 Turk, San Francisco. “High Fantasy,” w/ DJ Viv, Myles Cooper, & guests, 10pm, $2.
Monarch: 101 Sixth St., San Francisco. “Soundpieces,” 10pm, free-$10.
Q Bar: 456 Castro, San Francisco. “Switch,” w/ DJs Jenna Riot & Andre, 9pm, $3.
Underground SF: 424 Haight, San Francisco. “Shelter,” 10pm, free.
Wish: 1539 Folsom, San Francisco. “Tight,” w/ resident DJs Michael May & Lito, 8pm, free.
HIP-HOP
Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. Vokab Kompany, Tropo, 9:30pm, $7 advance.
Double Dutch: 3192 16th St., San Francisco. “Takin’ It Back Tuesdays,” w/ DJs Mr. Murdock & Roman Nunez, Fourth Tuesday of every month, 10pm, free.
ACOUSTIC
Bazaar Cafe: 5927 California, San Francisco. Songwriter in Residence: Lonnie Lazar, 7pm continues through.
Plough & Stars: 116 Clement, San Francisco. Song session with Cormac Gannon, Last Tuesday of every month, 9pm
The Rite Spot Cafe: 2099 Folsom, San Francisco. Toshio Hirano, 8pm, free.
JAZZ
Beach Chalet Brewery & Restaurant: 1000 Great Highway, San Francisco. Gerry Grosz Jazz Jam, 7pm
Blush! Wine Bar: 476 Castro, San Francisco. Kally Price & Rob Reich, 7pm, free.
Burritt Room: 417 Stockton St., San Francisco. Terry Disley’s Rocking Jazz Trio, 6pm, free.
Cafe Divine: 1600 Stockton, San Francisco. Chris Amberger, 7pm
Jazz Bistro at Les Joulins: 44 Ellis, San Francisco. Clifford Lamb, Mel Butts, and Friends, 7:30pm, free.
Le Colonial: 20 Cosmo, San Francisco. Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers, 7pm
Revolution Cafe: 3248 22nd St., San Francisco. West Side Jazz Club, 5pm, free.
Sheba Piano Lounge: 1419 Fillmore, San Francisco. Michael Parsons, 8pm
Tupelo: 1337 Green, San Francisco. Mal Sharpe’s Big Money in Jazz Band, 6pm
Verdi Club: 2424 Mariposa, San Francisco. “Tuesday Night Jump,” w/ Stompy Jones, 9pm, $10-$12.
Wine Kitchen: 507 Divisadero St., San Francisco. Hot Club Pacific, 7:30pm
Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Roberta Gambarini, 8pm, $24-$29.
Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Brenda Reed, 7:30pm, free.
INTERNATIONAL
Cafe Cocomo: 650 Indiana, San Francisco. Salsa Tuesday, w/ DJs Good Sho & El de la Clave, 8:30pm, $10.
The Cosmo Bar & Lounge: 440 Broadway, San Francisco. Conga Tuesdays, 8pm, $7-$10.
F8: 1192 Folsom, San Francisco. “Underground Nomads,” w/ rotating resident DJs Amar, Sep, and Dulce Vita, plus guests, 9pm, $5 (free before 9:30pm).
REGGAE
Milk Bar: 1840 Haight, San Francisco. “Bless Up,” w/ Jah Warrior Shelter Hi-Fi, 10pm
BLUES
Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. Two-Tone Steiny & The Cadillacs, 7:30 & 9:30pm, $15.
The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. Powell Street Blues Band, 9:30pm
EXPERIMENTAL
Center for New Music: 55 Taylor, San Francisco. sfSoundSalonSeries, w/ Benjamin Kreith & Travis Andrews Duo, Matt Ingalls, 7:49pm, $10-$15.
SOUL
Make-Out Room: 3225 22nd St., San Francisco. “Lost & Found,” w/ DJs Primo, Lucky, and guests, 9:30pm, free. 2

This Week’s Picks: March 12 -18, 2014

Michael Redmond
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WEDNESDAY 12

Freddie Rainbow Presents “Gender Night”

It’s no secret that comedy is a male-dominated business. For years, there’s been this stereotype that women aren’t funny. Honestly, how often do you see a comedy with a female lead? While movies like Bridesmaids and Ghost World are few and far between, over the past couple of years, women in entertainment have been speaking out against this double standard. “Gender Night” is the most recent development. Comedian and ardent supporter of gender equality Freddie Rainbow presents an encore presentation of comedy from California’s finest comediennes. Expect jokes about shopping and love as well as fart jokes. Girls fart too, get over it. “The only reason to miss this show is if you hate women,” says the comedy club website. “Please don’t hate women.” (Laura B. Childs)

8pm, $15

Punch Line Comedy Club

444 Battery, SF

(415) 397-7573

www.punchlinecomedyclub.com

 

THURSDAY 13

Shpongle

For more than 15 years, English DJ and producer Simon Posford and Australian flutist Raja Ram have collaborated to produce expansive, mind-bending, psychedelic music. Fans are still raving about how Shpongle rocked Oakland’s Fox Theatre just before Halloween 2011, when Posford and Ram played with a live band and an ensemble of colorful dancers. Posford, who takes to the decks for this show in support of the duo’s latest album Museum of Consciousness (Twisted Records), was a major contributor to the frenetic psy-trance scene that blossomed in Britain in the early ’90s. Those early musical influences shine through in the track “How the Jellyfish Jumped the Mountain,” an intricate, mid-tempo, 10-minute journey through filtered melodies, distorted vocal samples and catchy basslines. (Kevin Lee)

With Desert Dwellers, Vokab Kompany

8 pm, $27.50 presale, $30 at the door

The Regency Ballroom

1300 Van Ness, SF

(415) 673-5716

http://www.theregencyballroom.com

 

IDEO’s David Kelley

IDEO founder David Kelley and his brother Tom Kelley believe that we are watered-down versions of what we could be. On the heels of their bestselling The Art of Innovation, the businessmen brothers have written Creative Confidence, a book that challenges the idea that only some people are creative, suggesting that creativity is not innate but rather a skill. At this JCC event, the IDEO founder and Stanford University professor will speak about unlocking our creative potential; the night will also include a guest lecture by the pioneer for modern journalism and story-telling, Douglas McGray, editor-in-chief of Pop-Up Magazine and the brand new California Sunday Magazine. (Childs)

7pm, $25

Jewish Community Center of San Francisco

3200 California, SF

(415) 292-1200

www.jccsf.com

 

 

Little Minsky’s Burlesque Cabaret

Boasting what some have called both the best pizza and jazz in the city (can you really beat that combination?), Club Deluxe is bringing back Little Minsky’s Burlesque Cabaret every second Thursday of the month. If you like your cocktails stiff and your burlesque dancers flexible, this is the night for you. Take a trip back in time with a lovely lineup of vintage cabaret performers and Prohibition-era jazz musicians. The night is sure to get hot and heavy, but in the classiest of ways, of course. (Childs)

10pm, $5

Club Deluxe

1511 Haight, SF

(415) 552-6949

www.pizza-deluxe.com

 

FRIDAY 14

Screen Printing for Newbies – Late Night Edition

Remember the good old days, when your parents signed you up for various art classes or random activities just so they didn’t have to deal with you on the weekends or school breaks? Workshop SF is oddly reminiscent of summer camp. With Jameson lamps, metallic saws, and only the necessary amount of clutter, the NoPa studio offers awesome classes from Sewing 101 to Hair Bootcamp to Pickling 101. Tonight, they offer a special late night edition of “Screen Printing for Newbies.” Learn the basics of silkscreen printing with an hour-long, hands-on tutorial and two hours of time to print. Bring your own printing supplies or come empty-handed — either way you’ll walk out with some cool designs printed on paper, T-shirts, and even beer koozies. (Childs)

8pm, $42

Workshop

1789 McAllister, SF

(415) 874-9186

www.workshopsf.org

 

Stephen Petronio

It’s been a while since we have seen Stephen Petronio’s dancers fill a local stage with the interlocking complexities of choreography so fiercely layered — and performed at such speed — that the mind sometimes had difficulties in absorbing it all. Apparently, given the newest work’s name, we can expect some slower passages. In Like Lazarus Did, Petronio and his 10 dancers are dancing about death and resurrection, not exactly a hot topic on the traveling dance circuit. But perhaps the subject makes sense for a dancer-choreographer who is close to 60, who was the first male dancer with Trisha Brown — whose troupe is currently on life support — and whose own company is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. So happy birthday and many more to come. (Rita Felciano)

March 14-15, 7:30pm, $35-50

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

700 Howard St. SF

(415) 978-2787

www.ybca.org

 

SATURDAY 15

Magic, Color, Flair: The World of Mary Blair

With a keenly creative outlook and modernist style mixed with bold, beautiful colors, artist Mary Blair helped inspire and design some of the most beloved films and attractions made by Walt Disney Studios during the 1940s and ’50s, including Peter Pan, Cinderella, and Alice In Wonderland. This new exhibit features 200 works that examine not only her seminal time and iconic output with Disney but also her early years, as well as her later work as an illustrator for advertising, theatrical sets, clothing, children’s books, and much more. (Sean McCourt)

Through Sept. 7, 2014

10am-6pm, Wed-Mon, $10 for Blair exhibit only, museum combo ticket $17-$25

The Walt Disney Family Museum

104 Montgomery, SF

www.waltdisney.org

 

 

Sureando: Rambling through the South

There is a difference between listening through your ears and listening through your heart. For the latter, there’s nothing better than the voice of Chilean cellist Mochi Parra. This performance will see Parra teaming up with Peruvian native bass virtuoso and Berkeley Jazz School teacher David Pinto to present a concert of South American musical jewels that will undoubtedly set a precedent for the possibilities of these two instruments. There’s nothing sparse about this: Pinto’s six-stringed bass seems to dialogue with Mochi commanding interpretations, and the duo’s original arrangements combine to create an exquisite orchestration right at the edges of the unpredictable nueva canción styles. (Fernando A. Torres)

7pm, $15

Red Poppy Art House

2698 Folsom, SF

(415) 826-2402

www.redpoppyarthouse.org

 

The San Francisco International Chocolate Salon

In the market for a sugar rush? Now in its 8th year, this annual smorgasbord of all things cocoa-based promises “55,000 square feet of chocolate,” in the form of tastings, demonstrations, new product launches, author talks, wine pairings, a “Chocolate Art Gallery,” and more. Artisan chocolatiers, confectioners, and self-proclaimed chocolate aficionados from all over the globe will converge at the Fort Mason Center to hear from locals like John Scharffenberger, chocolate maker at, yes, Scharffen Berger Chocolate, as well as chocolate-obsessed celebrities from the cooking show world. Let’s get real: It’s been a month since we had any heart-shaped truffles and there are still a few weeks to go until Cadbury Creme Eggs. Our sweet tooth needs this. (Emma Silvers)

10am, $20 -$30, discounts for kids

Fort Mason Center

2 Marina Blvd, SF

www.sfchocolatesalon.com

 

SUNDAY 16

Portland Cello Project

Compelling mysteries arise whenever the Portland Cello Project is slated to perform. What sort of ensemble will participate? Will they go all cellists, or will they incorporate some combination of vocals, horns, winds, and percussion? Moreover, what sort of music will they play? Known as an “indie music orchestra,” PCP (an affectionate nickname from fans) unabashedly reappropriates rap, rock, and pop artists, from Kanye West’s upbeat “All of the Lights” to Radiohead’s melancholic “Karma Police,” into provocative covers that defy easy genre classification. The Project’s most stirring renditions seem to come from slowing down a track and teaming up with a powerful voice, which seems to naturally emphasize the emotional power of the cello. Accompanied by vocalist Chanticleer Tru, the Project’s take on Beck’s “Don’t Act Like Your Heart Isn’t Hard” is a particularly devastating, soul-laden heartbreaker. (Lee)

8pm, $22 presale, $26 at the door

Yoshi’s San Francisco

1330 Fillmore, SF

(415) 655-5600

www.yoshis.com

 

Sunday Sampler at the Berkeley Rep School of Theatre

If you’ve spent more time practicing your Oscar acceptance speech than you’d perhaps like to admit, come out of hiding: Three times a year, the professional thespians at the Berkeley Repertory’s School of Theatre hold an afternoon of free acting workshops that are entirely open to the public, to serve as a preview of the school’s upcoming programming. Classes for youth, teens, and adults are available, from Beginning Acting and Musical Theatre to Playwriting and “Acting Violence” — aka how to stage a swordfight without actually injuring your coworkers or yourself. Even if you never go pro, you never know when that last one could come in handy. (Silvers)

1pm, free

Berkeley Repertory School of Theatre

2071 Addison, Berkeley

(510) 647–2972

www.berkeleyrep.org


MONDAY 17

Crossroads Irish-American Festival with Katherine Hastings

For those whose ideal St. Patrick’s Day celebration is a little more literary, a little less passing-out-in-your-own-green-puke, this evening honoring the legacy of Irish-American poetry, featuring Sonoma County Poet Laureate Katherine Hastings, should be just the ticket. With her recently published Nighthawks, Hastings has established herself as a poet unafraid to tackle controversial current events in her work, but there’s a constant undercurrent of appreciation for nature — she previously edited What Redwoods Know: Poems from California State Parks as a benefit for the struggling California State Parks Foundation. And because poets do know how to have fun: Irish soda bread and other Irish treats will be served. (Silvers)

7pm, free

BookShop West Portal

80 West Portal, SF

www.irishamericancrossroads.org

 

TUESDAY 18

Free to Play advance screening

This feature-length documentary, produced by video game developer Valve, takes viewers inside the world of competitive gaming — sorry, e-sports — as three professional gamers travel the world, competing for a $1 million prize in the first Dota 2 International Tournament. What was once considered a niche interest is now serious business, with trading and politics that mirror professional sports; Dota 2, a five-person team sport, is especially big in China, where one wealthy man recently bought an entire team for $6 million. This premiere will feature a live Q&A with the film’s creators and other special guests. (Silvers)

8pm, $25

Castro Theatre

429 Castro, SF

www.castrotheatre.com

 

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Theater Listings: March 12 – 18, 2014

Michael Redmond
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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

Bauer San Francisco Playhouse, 450 Post, SF; www.sfplayhouse.org. Previews March 18-21, 8pm. Opens March 22, 8pm. Runs Tue-Thu, 7pm; Fri-Sat, 8pm (also Sat, 3pm); March 23 and April 13, 2pm. Through April 19. San Francisco Playhouse presents the world premiere of Lauren Gunderson’s drama about artist Rudolf Bauer.

Twisted Fairy Tales Shelton Theater, 533 Sutter, SF; www.leftcoasttheatreco.org. $15-25. Opens Fri/14, 8pm. Runs Thu-Sat, 8pm. Through April 5. Left Coast Theatre Co. performs the world premiere of seven one-act LGBT-themed plays based on classic children’s stories.

Wrestling Jerusalem Intersection for the Arts, 925 Mission, SF; www.theintersection.org. $20-30. Previews Wed/12-Fri/14, 7:30pm. Opens Sat/15, 7:30pm. Runs Thu-Sat, 7:30pm; Sun, 2pm. Intersection for the Arts presents Aaron Davidman in his multicharacter solo performance piece about Israel and Palestine.

BAY AREA

Arms and the Man Barn Theatre, 30 Sir Francis Drake, Ross; www.rossvalleyplayers.com. $13-26. Previews Thu/13, 7:30pm. Opens Fri/14, 8pm. Runs Thu, 7:30pm; Fri-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm (no show Sun/16). Through April 13. Ross Valley Players perform George Bernard Shaw’s romantic comedy.

ONGOING

Children Are Forever (All Sales are Final!) Stage Werx Theatre, 446 Valencia, SF; www.brownpapertickets.com. $15. Fri-Sat, 8pm. Through March 22. Writer-performer and comedian Julia Jackson’s well acted and consistently funny autobiographical solo show details her and her female partner’s attempt to adopt a newborn girl from a young African American mother in Florida. Along the way, Jackson’s smart script details the trials, red tape, and unexpected market incentives in the field of adoption for a same-sex, interracial couple. If the generally involving story nevertheless attenuates a little across its two-act structure, Coke Nakamoto’s precise direction (which builds on original direction by W. Kamau Bell) offers a lively framework for Jackson’s excellent characterizations as well as her frank and interesting commentary on the social, political messiness of certain natural urges. (Avila)

Crystal Springs Eureka Theatre, 215 Jackson, SF; www.crystalspringstheplay.com. $20-65. Fri-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. Through March 23. Eureka Theatre presents Kathy Rucker’s world-premiere drama about parenting in the digital age.

Feisty Old Jew Marsh San Francisco Main Stage, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. $25-100. Sat/15, 8pm; Sun/16, 7pm. Charlie Varon performs his latest solo show, a fictional comedy about “a 20th century man living in a 21st century city.”

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.

Hundred Days Z Space, 450 Florida, SF; www.zspace.org. $10-100. Wed and Sun, 7pm; Thu-Sat, 8pm. Through April 6. Married musical duo the Bengsons (Abigail and Shaun) provide the real-life inspiration and guiding rock ‘n’ roll heart for this uneven but at times genuinely rousing indie musical drama, a self-referential meta-theater piece relating the story of a young couple in 1940s America who fall madly in love only to discover one of them is terminally ill. As an exploration of love, mortality, and the nature of time, the story of Sarah and Will (doubled by the Bengsons and, in movement sequences and more dramatically detailed scenes, by chorus members Amy Lizardo and Reggie D. White) draws force from the potent musical performances and songwriting of composer-creators Abigail and Shaun Bengson (augmented here by the appealing acting-singing chorus and backup band that also feature El Beh, Melissa Kaitlyn Carter, Geneva Harrison, Kate Kilbane, Jo Lampert, Delane Mason, Joshua Pollock). Playwright Kate E. Ryan’s book, however, proves too straightforward, implausible, and sentimental to feel like an adequate vessel for the music’s exuberant, urgent emotion and lilting, longing introspection. Other trappings of director Anne Kauffman’s elaborate production (including an inspired set design by Kris Stone that echoes the raw industrial shell of the theater; and less-than-inspired choreography by the otherwise endlessly inventive Joe Goode) can add texture at times but also prove either neutral figures or distracting minuses in conveying what truth and heft there is in the material. Ultimately, this still evolving world premiere has a strong musical beat at its core, which has a palpable force of its own, even if it’s yet to settle into the right combination of story and staging. (Avila)

Lovebirds Marsh San Francisco Studio, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. $15-50. Thu/13-Fri/14, 8pm; Sat/15, 8:30pm. Theater artist and comedian Marga Gomez presents the world premiere of her 10th solo show, described as “a rollicking tale of incurable romantics.”

Mommy Queerest Exit Studio, 156 Eddy, SF; www.divafest.info. $15-25. Fri-Sat, 8pm. Through March 29. Sex scenes in solo shows might sound a little onanistic, but in the right circumstances a door jam or a love seat can serve as a fine co-star. Stand-up comic and actor Kat Evasco demonstrates as much in this raunchy and high-spirited story of her sexual awakening as a lesbian-identifying bisexual, coming out in a household dominated by her closeted mother, a Filipina American drama queen with a long-term female companion she insists is the “gay” one. Presented by Guerrilla Rep and the Exit Theatre’s DIVAfest, and directed by Guerrilla Rep’s John Caldon (who co-wrote the play with Evasco), the story follows a familiar and predictable arc in some ways — familial hypocrisy giving way to inspirational cross-generational understanding — and the characterizations and set-ups (including a family feud on Jerry Springer) come with not always inspired choices. Moreover not all the jokes land where they should in a performance that starts as stand-up but immediately shifts into the style of a solo-play confessional. (A more thoroughgoing subversion of the stand-up format might have produced more complex, less foreseeable results.) At the same time, there’s no denying Evasco’s charm and energy, or her buoyant comedic talent, which makes it easier to forgive the play’s structural shortcomings. (Avila)

“Risk Is This … The Cutting Ball New Experimental Plays Festival” Exit on Taylor, 277 Taylor, SF; www.cuttingball.com. Free ($20 donation for reserved seating). Fri-Sat, 8pm. Through March 29. Five new works in staged readings, including two from Cutting Ball resident playwright Andrew Saito.

The Scion Marsh San Francisco, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. $15-60. Thu-Fri, 8pm; Sat, 5pm. Through April 18. In his latest solo show, Brian Copeland (Not a Genuine Black Man; The Waiting Period) explores an infamous crime in his hometown of San Leandro: the 2000 murder of three government meat inspectors by Stuart Alexander, owner of the Santos Linguisa Factory. The story is personal history for Copeland, at least indirectly, as the successful comedian and TV host recounts growing up nearby under the common stricture that “rules are rules,” despite evidence all around that equity, fairness, and justice are in fact deeply skewed by privilege. Developed with director David Ford, the multiple-character monologue (delivered with fitful humor on a bare-bones stage with supportive sound design by David Hines) contrasts Copeland’s own youthful experiences as a target of racial profiling with the way wealthy and white neighbor Stuart Alexander, a serial bully and thug, consistently evaded punishment and even police attention along his path to becoming the “Sausage King,” a mayoral candidate, and a multiple murderer (Alexander died in 2005 at San Quentin). The story takes some meandering turns in making its points, and not all of Copeland’s characterizations are equally compelling. The subject matter is timely enough, however, though ironically it is government that seems to set itself further than ever above the law as much as wealthy individuals or the bogus “legal persons” of the corporate world. The results of such concentrated power are indeed unhealthy, and literally so — Copeland’s grandmother (one of his more persuasive characterizations) harbors a deep distrust of processed food that is nothing if not prescient —but The Scion’s tale of two San Leandrans leaves one hungry for more complexity. (Avila)

Shit & Champagne Rebel, 1772 Market, SF; shitandchampagne.eventbrite.com. $25. Fri-Sat, 8pm. Open-ended. D’Arcy Drollinger is Champagne White, bodacious blond innocent with a wicked left hook in this cross-dressing ’70s-style white-sploitation flick, played out live on Rebel’s intimate but action-packed barroom stage. Written by Drollinger and co-directed with Laurie Bushman (with high-flying choreography by John Paolillo, Drollinger, and Matthew Martin), this high-octane camp send-up of a favored formula comes dependably stocked with stock characters and delightfully protracted by a convoluted plot (involving, among other things, a certain street drug that’s triggered an epidemic of poopy pants) — all of it played to the hilt by an excellent cast that includes Martin as Dixie Stampede, an evil corporate dominatrix at the head of some sinister front for world domination called Mal*Wart; Alex Brown as Detective Jack Hammer, rough-hewn cop on the case and ambivalent love interest; Rotimi Agbabiaka as Sergio, gay Puerto Rican impresario and confidante; Steven Lemay as Brandy, high-end calf model and Champagne’s (much) beloved roommate; and Nancy French as Rod, Champagne’s doomed fiancé. Sprawling often literally across two buxom acts, the show maintains admirable consistency: The energy never flags and the brow stays decidedly low. (Avila)

The Speakeasy Undisclosed location (ticket buyers receive a text with directions), SF; www.thespeakeasysf.com. $70 (gambling chips, $5-10 extra; after-hours admission, $10). Thu-Sat, 7:40, 7:50, and 8pm admittance times. Extended through May 24. Boxcar Theater’s most ambitious project to date is also one of the more involved and impressively orchestrated theatrical experiences on any Bay Area stage just now. An immersive time-tripping environmental work, The Speakeasy takes place in an “undisclosed location” (in fact, a wonderfully redesigned version of the company’s Hyde Street theater complex) amid a period-specific cocktail lounge, cabaret, and gambling den inhabited by dozens of Prohibition-era characters and scenarios that unfold around an audience ultimately invited to wander around at will. At one level, this is an invitation to pure dress-up social entertainment. But there are artistic aims here too. Intentionally designed (by co-director and creator Nick A. Olivero with co-director Peter Ruocco) as a fractured super-narrative — in which audiences perceive snatches of overheard stories rather than complete arcs, and can follow those of their own choosing — there’s a way the piece becomes specifically and ever more subtly about time itself. This is most pointedly demonstrated in the opening vignettes in the cocktail lounge, where even the ticking of Joe’s Clock Shop (the “cover” storefront for the illicit 1920s den inside) can be heard underscoring conversations (deeply ironic in historical hindsight) about war, loss, and regained hope for the future. For a San Francisco currently gripped by a kind of historical double-recurrence of the roaring Twenties and dire Thirties at once, The Speakeasy is not a bad place to sit and ponder the simulacra of our elusive moment. (Avila)

Tipped & Tipsy Marsh Studio Theater, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. $15-50. Sat, 5pm; Sun, 7pm. Through April 6. Solo performer Jill Vice performs her Fringe Festival hit.

The World of Paradox Garage, 715 Bryant, SF; www.paradoxmagic.com. $12-15. Mon, 8pm. Through April 7. Footloose presents David Facer in his solo show, a mix of magic and theater.

Yellow New Conservatory Theatre Center, 25 Van Ness, SF; www.nctcsf.org. $25-45. Wed-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. Through March 23. Playwright Del Shores (Sordid Lives, Southern Baptist Sissies) returns to his native South — while detouring from previous camp-comedy treatments — with this affirming family drama set in Vicksburg, Miss., about a progressive white couple whose marriage and family are rocked in the wake of their son’s illness. Kate (Dana Zook) and Bobby (Andrew Nance) are celebrating 19 years together. Their oldest son, Dayne (Damion Matthews), is a handsome high school senior and football star; their daughter, Gracie (Ali Haas), is his high-strung younger sister, a drama devotee in more ways than one with plans to be the next Meryl Streep. Gracie’s best friend, Kendall (Maurice André San-Chez), is an effeminate young man with a golden singing voice but a strict fundamentalist mother (Linsay Rousseau) from whom he must hide his plan to join Gracie in the school’s production of Oklahoma. Kendall’s fractured family encourages his tight orbit around Gracie’s — including Dayne, on whom Kendall has an impossible-to-disguise crush — all of whom accept the closeted, innocent youth unequivocally. But when Dayne comes down with a rare liver disease (the title has nothing to do with race, which is not explored here, but references, at a literal level, the sickly color that overcomes Dayne at one point), the seemingly ideal family itself fractures along lines of a deeply buried secret regarding his paternity. Amid their worry for Dayne’s future, and the painful dynamic opened between Kate and Bobby, Kendall’s mother moves in with proselyting zeal, alienating her son to the point of total rejection, but also adding to an already volatile tension between his adoptive parents. Helmed by New Conservatory Theatre Center’s founding artistic director, Ed Decker, the production achieves (after some initial warming up) decent performances across the cast, which, along with Shores’ careful plotting and consistent humor, helps keep this sentimental, somewhat too neat story involving until the end. (Avila)

BAY AREA

Accidental Death of an Anarchist Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Roda Theatre, 2015 Addison, Berk; www.berkeleyrep.org. $29-99. Opens Wed/12, 8pm. Runs Tue and Thu-Sat, 8pm (no show April 18; additional 2pm shows March 20 and April 17; also Sat, 2pm, but no matinee March 22); Sun, 2 and 7pm. Through April 20. Berkeley Rep presents comic actor Steven Epp in Dario Fo’s explosive political farce, directed by Christopher Bayes,

Bread and Circuses La Val’s Subterranean, 1834 Euclid, Berk; www.impacttheatre.com. $20-25. Thu-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 7pm. Through April 6. Impact Theatre performs “a cavalcade of brutal and bloody new short plays” by various contemporary playwrights.

Geezer Marsh Berkeley, 2120 Allston, Berk; www.themarsh.org. $25-50. Thu, 8pm; Sat, 5pm. Through April 26. Geoff Hoyle moves his hit comedy about aging to the East Bay.

The House That Will Not Stand Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison, Berk; www.berkeleyrep.org. $29-59. Wed/12, 7pm; Thu/13-Sat/15, 8pm (also Thu/13 and Sat/15, 2pm); Sun/16, 2 and 7pm. July 4, 1836: As a white New Orleans patriarch (Ray Reinhardt) passes from the scene, under somewhat mysterious circumstances, his longtime mistress, Beartrice (an imposing, memorable Lizan Mitchell), and their daughters (the charmingly varied trio of Joniece Abbott-Pratt, Flor De Liz Perez, and Tiffany Rachelle Stewart) — all free women of color — vie for dominance while trying to secure their respective futures in Berkeley Rep’s sumptuous and beautifully acted world premiere. Nationally acclaimed playwright and Oakland native Marcus Gardley (And Jesus Moonwalked the Mississippi; This World in a Woman’s Hands) brews up a historically rich and revealing, as well as witty and fiery tale here, based on the practice of plaçage (common-law marriages between white men and black Creole women), grounding it in the large personalities of his predominately female characters — who include a nosy and angling intruder (played with subtlety by Petronia Paley) — and lacing it all with a delirious dose of magical realism via the voodoo charms of Beartrice’s slave, Makeda (Harriett D. Foy, who with Keith Townsend Obadike also contributes lush, atmospheric compositions to the proceedings). Gardley delves productively into the history overall, although he sometimes indulges it too much in awkward and ultimately unnecessary expository dialogue. When he allows his characters full scope for expression of their personalities and relationships, however, the dialogue sails by with brio and punch —something the powerhouse cast, shrewdly directed by Patricia McGregor, makes the most of throughout. (Avila)

Lasso of Truth Marin Theatre Company, 397 Miller, Mill Valley; www.marintheatre.org. $37-58. Wed/12, 7:30pm;Thu/13-Sat/15, 8pm (also Sat/15, 2pm); Sun/16, 2 and 7pm. Marin Theatre Company performs Carson Kreitzer’s new play about the history of Wonder Woman.

The Lion and the Fox Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant, Berk; www.centralworks.org. $15-28. Thu-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 5pm. Through March 30. Central Works performs a prequel to its 2009 hit, Machiavelli’s The Prince, which depicts a face-off between Niccolo Machiavelli and Cesare Borgia.

The Music Man Julia Morgan Theater, 2640 College, Berk; www.berkeleyplayhouse.org. $17-60. Fri and March 20, 7pm; Sat, 1 and 6pm; Sun, noon and 5pm. Through March 23. There’s trouble in River City! See it unfold amid all those trombones at Berkeley Playhouse.

Once On This Island Lucie Stern Theatre, 1305 Middlefield, Palo Alto; www.theatreworks.org. $19-73. Tue-Wed, 7:30pm; Thu-Sat, 8pm (also Sat, 2pm); Sun, 2 and 7pm. Through March 30. TheatreWorks performs the Tony-nominated musical about a star-crossed love affair in the tropics, inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid.

PERFORMANCE/DANCE

Caroline Lugo and Carolé Acuña’s Ballet Flamenco Peña Pachamama, 1630 Powell, SF; www.carolinalugo.com. Sun/16, March 22, 30, April 6, 12, 19, and 30, 6:15pm. $15-19. Flamenco performance by the mother-daughter dance company, featuring live musicians.

Companhia Urbana de Dança Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission, SF; www.ybca.org. Thu/13-Sat/15, 8pm. $25-35. Brazilian dance troupe under the direction of Sonia Destri Lie.

“Dream Queens Revue” Aunt Charlie’s Lounge, 133 Turk, SF; www.dreamqueensrevue.com. Wed/12, 9:30pm. Free. Drag with Collette LeGrande, Ruby Slippers, Sophilya Leggz, Bobby Ashton, and more.

Feinstein’s at the Nikko Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason, SF; www.feinsteinssf.com. This week: Cheyenne Jackson with musical director Ben Toth, Fri/14, 8pm; Sat/15-Sun/16, 7pm, $60-75.

Greg Fitzsimmons Punch Line Comedy Club, 444 Battery, SF; www.punchlinecomedyclub.com. Thu/13, 8pm; Fri/14, 8 and 10pm; Sat/15, 7:30 and 9:30pm. $23.50. The comedian performs.

“The Garden Party” Phoenix Theatre, 414 Mason, SF; www.overcasttheatre.com. Fri/14-Sat/15 and March 19-22, 8pm; Sun/16, 5pm. $11-13. Overcast Theatre performs Václav Havel’s 1963 comedy.

“LEVYdance Presents: The Salon” LEVYstudio, 19 Heron, SF; www.levydance.org. Sat/15, 8:30pm. $10. Performing arts showcase featuring 10 local artists of various disciplines.

“LOL Mondays at OMG” OMG, 43 Sixth St, SF; www.clubomgsf.com. Mon/17, 7pm. Free. Comedy show hosted by Valerie Branch, with featured performers Imran G., Samantha Gilweit, and Barry Fischer, plus an open mic.

“Magic at the Rex” Hotel Rex, 562 Sutter, SF; www.magicattherex.com. Sat, 8pm. Ongoing. $25. Magic and mystery with Adam Sachs and mentalist Sebastian Boswell III.

“The Naked Stage” Bayfront Theater, B350 Fort Mason Center, SF; www.improv.org. Sat, 8pm. Through March 29. $20. BATS Improv performs a completely improvised play.

“New Winter: Winter Choreographers Showcase” Dance Mission Theater, 3316 24th St, SF; www.brownpapertickets.com. Fri/14-Sat/15, 8pm. $14. Works by Tika Morgan’s Reggaeton Fusion Performance Workshop, Allan Frias’ Hip-Hop Performance Workshop, Maurice Stokes, Natasha Carlitz Dance Ensemble, and more.

“Paper Wing” NOHspace, 2840 Mariposa, SF; www.theatreofyugen.org. Fri-Sat, 8pm. Through March 22. $15-35. Sculptural costume artist Sha Sha Higby presents a new solo performance.

“Point Break Live!” DNA Lounge, 373 11th St, SF; www.dnalounge.com. April 4, 7:30 and 11pm. $25-50. Dude, Point Break Live! is like dropping into a monster wave, or holding up a bank, like, just a pure adrenaline rush, man. Ahem. Sorry, but I really can’t help but channel Keanu Reeves and his Johnny Utah character when thinking about the awesomely bad 1991 movie Point Break or its equally yummily cheesy stage adaptation. And if you do an even better Keanu impression than me — the trick is in the vacant stare and stoner drawl — then you can play his starring role amid a cast of solid actors, reading from cue cards from a hilarious production assistant in order to more closely approximate Keanu’s acting ability. This play is just so much fun, even better now at DNA Lounge than it was a couple years ago at CELLspace. But definitely buy the poncho pack and wear it, because the blood, spit, and surf spray really do make this a fully immersive experience. (Steven T. Jones)

“Shotz: Featuring a Strong Female Lead” Tides Theatre, 533 Sutter, SF; www.amiosnyc.com. Tue/18, 8pm. $10. Seven plays, five minutes each, created in less than a month, and united under the theme “Featuring a Strong Female Lead.”

“Silenced” and “The CONTACT Project” CounterPULSE, 1310 Mission, SF; www.counterpulse.org. Fri-Sat and March 20, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. Through March 23. Performance works by Charya Burt and Krista DeNio.

“Sorya! 2014: We Are Still At It” NOHspace, 2840 Mariposa, SF: www.brownpapertickets.com. Sat-Sun, 2pm; Mon, 7pm. Through March 24. Theatre of Yugen presents its 35th anniversary season with a performance by founder Yuriko Doi in the kyogen play Kawakami.

SOULSKIN Dance Joe Goode Annex, 401 Alabama, SF; soulskindance.brownpapertickets.com. Fri/14-Sat/15, 8pm. $20. A multimedia pop culture journey directed by Adrianna Thompson.

“Speechless” Public Works SF, 161 Erie, SF; www.speechlesslive.com. Wed/12, 7:30pm. $20. One-year anniversary special of the PowerPoint-based comedy show.

Stephen Petronio Company Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater, 700 Howard, SF; www.sfperformances.org. Fri/14-Sat/15, 7:30pm. $35-50. The company performs the West Coast premiere of Like Lazarus Did.

BAY AREA

“An Evening of Relentless Humor in Multiple Formats from SOB” 142 Throckmorton Theatre, 142 Throckmorton, Mill Valley; www.142throckmorton.com. Sat/15, 8pm. $25-35. Sketch and improv comedy.

Savion Glover Marin Veterans’ Memorial Auditorium, 10 Avenue of the Flags, San Rafael; www.marincenter.org. Fri/14, 8pm. $20-60. The tap dancer performs his new work, StePz.

“The Ironbound” Marin Theatre Company, 397 Miller, Mill Valley; www.marintheatre.org. Mon/17, 7pm. Free. Staged reading of a new play by Martyna Majok.

“MarshJam Improv Comedy Show” Marsh Berkeley, 2120 Allston, Berk; www.themarsh.org. Fri, 8pm. Ongoing. $10. Improv comedy with local legends and drop-in guests.

“Mortified: March Madness” Uptown, 1928 Telegraph, Oakl; www.getmortified.com. Thu/13, 7:30pm. $20. Also Fri/14, 7:30pm, $21. DNA Lounge, 375 11th St, SF. Fearless storytellers share their most adorably embarrassing childhood writings.

Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir’s Annual Spring Musical First Congregational Church of Oakland, 2501 Harrison, Oakl; www.oigc.org. Sat/15, 7:30pm. Free. OIGC performs spiritual and gospel music under the direction of Terrance Kelly, with special guest Calvin B. Rhone.

“Poetry Express” Himalayan Flavors, 1585 University, Berk; poetryexpressberkeley.blogspot.com. Mon, 7pm. Free. Ongoing. This week: Richard Silberg, plus open mic. Next week: Ambrose Mohler, plus open mic.

“Some Girl(s)” Dragon Theatre, 2120 Broadway, Redwood City; www.dragonproductions.net. Fri/14-Sat/15, 8pm (also Sat/15, 2pm); Sun/16, 2pm. $15. Dragon Theater’s 2nd Stages Program kicks off with this production of Neil LaBute’s dark comedy. *

 

All disquiet

Michael Redmond
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All disquiet

marke@sfbg.com

SUPER EGO “There is no previous book to this book. There is no Selected Ambient Works Volume I book, just as there is no record by the musician Aphex Twin bearing the title Selected Ambient Works Volume I. There is, however, a Selected Ambient Works Volume II album, released by the British record label Warp in 1994, and this is a book about that album.”

So begins the latest entry in the great, ongoing 33 1/3 book series from Bloomsbury Press, which unleashes one notable writer on one seminal album and prints the often-poetic results. In this case, the “extravagantly opaque, willfully vaporous” chillout room masterpieces of electronic composer Richard D. James, aka Aphex Twin — basically what everyone in the 1990s listened to as they swept up/came down after the rave — get the business from incisive SF writer and archivist Marc Weidenbaum. And really, the pairing couldn’t be any more delicious.

Since 1996, Weidenbaum’s been quietly documenting from the Richmond District all manner of experimental and electronic sounds on his incredible Disquiet.com site. (Some have referenced the site as one of the earliest blogs.) It’s one of our great sonic secrets: Pretty much once a day for the past 18 years he’s been opening ears to everything from random satellite-based sound sculptures and square wave coding antics to looped Sumerian myths and compressed Fugazi-discography experiments.

ego1Named after mysterious early 20th century Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa’s “factless autobiography” The Book of Disquiet, Disquiet.com itself had a disquieting beginning. “When I founded Disquiet, I had quit a job I’d had for seven years,” Weidenbaum told me by email. He’d started at Tower Record’s Pulse! Magazine as an editor, then went on to launch its classical magazine and found its first digital publication. “I’d joined Tower because I wanted to work for a magazine that covered all music, which back then was quite an unusual thing. But in time I realized that my seemingly disparate listening had a core thread: that which I first thought of as electronically mediated sound, but eventually I recognized as ‘technologically’ mediated sound.

“Aphex Twin was part of a new generation of musicians who helped focus my ears. Wagon Christ. Shinjuku Thief. DJ Krush. Skylab. Oval. Spring Heel Jack. DJ Olive. Grassy Knoll. They were layered on top of the earlier generations of electronic experimenters, who I was already fond of: Brian Eno, Gavin Bryars, Pauline Oliveros, Laurie Anderson, Robert Fripp, Nicolas Collins, Ikue Mori…. Recognizing that technological focus gave me the comfort to move on.”

And now he’s written a book channeling his feelings for the technological mediation that Aphex Twin brought to the fore. The tricky thing, of course, is that Aphex Twin — who’s recently reemerged to perform with and produce insane South African zef-rave act Die Antwoord — is known not just for ethereal, era-framing atmospheric ambience, but satanic electronic audiovisual combustions like “Windowlicker” and “Come to Daddy” as well.

“It’s difficult to name direct descendents of Aphex Twins’ work, because his is a difficult template to fill: that mix of conflicting sounds, both unnerving and soothing; a steady retreat from the public eye, despite obvious extrovert tendencies; moving from a hidden subculture to broad awareness. It’s hard to figure out what past figure he was himself a contemporary version of. But so many musicians bridge the worlds of club and art music these days” — Weidenbaum mentions SF-founded duo Matmos and local composer Mason Bates — “and part of the reason is because of the ground that Aphex Twin broke.”

Fitting therefore, that the release party at City Lights bookstore on March 20 will also be a showcase of contemporary electronic music. “I’ve run an online music-making group since the start of 2012, called the Disquiet Junto, and that’s put me in touch with a lot of musicians,” Weidenbaum said. “So I’ve been inviting musicians, many though not all from that association, to perform new, original works informed by the Aphex Twin record, and by my book’s take on the record. Specifically, they’ll be doing electronic work derived from the wind chime, which I single out as an early ‘generative’ instrument. I’ll read from my book, and they’ll play live. At City Lights it will be the incredibly talented Marielle Jakobsons, Jared Smith, and subnaught, all of whom live in the Bay Area.”

EXPLORING THEMES FROM APHEX TWIN WITH MARC WEIDENBAUM AND FRIENDS

Thursday, March 20, 7pm, free

City Lights

261 Columbus, SF.

www.citylights.com

 

SHADOW CHILD

Some smooth house from this UK rising star — his cute remix of AlunaGeorge’s “Best Be Believing” got him places — and a nice Thursday knees up with the Lights Down Low crew.

Thu/13, 10pm, free with some YPlan app download business. Mezzanine, 444 jessie, SF. www.mezzaninesf.com

 

GUI BORRATO

Revered Sao Paulo techno playboy is back to support protégé act Wish, shooting some sunny vibes all over our last winter weekend.

Fri/14, 9pm, $20. Mezzanine, 444 Jessie, SF. www.mezzaninesf.com

 

MARTYN

Ethereal UK bass master Martyn joins house hottie Midland and an insane home team lineup including Ghosts on Tape, Bells & Whistles, Kenneth Scott, and the whole As You Like It crew for a top-notch overload.

Fri/14, 9pm-4:30am, $20. Mighty, 119 Utah, SF. www.mighty119.com

 

OSUNLADE

One of my favorite not-so-secret pleasures, Yoruban mystic DJ Osunlade takes listeners on a journey deeper than deep. Straight-up spiritual vibes — and he’s playing with deep LA genius Marques Wyatt, too.

Fri/14, 9:30-3:30am, $15–$20. Public Works, 161 Erie, SF. www.publicsf.com

 

MODULAR ANNIVERSARY

The seriously good Modular deep house crew has been throwing its ace parties for a year now, filling some conspicuous holes in the scene — bu mostly making us dance the right way. This party showcases theGerman Stil Vor Talent label, with founder Oliver Koletzki, Sascha Braemer, and Nicone.

Sat/15, 10pm, $10-$20. Harlot, 46 Minna, SF. www.modularnights.com

 

PORTABLE AKA BODYCODE

Fantastic, complex-yet-totally-jackable electronic music a la mode from this UK underground favorite, who’ll be bringing his live show to the latest Honey Soundsystem shebang.

Sat/15, 9pm-4am, $10–$20. F8, 1192 Folsom, SF. www.feightsf.com

 

RITA MORENO

The first gay-themed movie I saw was 1976’s infamous The Ritz starring the unconquerable Rita Moreno as “Googie” — I grew up thinking all gay men hung out in kooky bathhouses making hilarious jokes and having hilarious sex. Thank goddess! Moreno’s in town for a special Castro showing of the camp milestone with towel-clad go-go dancers and a tap-dance tribute.

Sat/15, doors 7:15, show at 8pm, $38. Castro Theatre, 429 Castro, SF. www.tinyurl.com/RitaRitz

 

MIGHTY REAL

The fantastic deep house monthly showcases essential Bay Area label Moulton Music, with classic NYC DJ Mr. V and our own gorgeous David Harness moving the crowd into the light.

Sat/15, 10pm-late, $10–$20. Mighty, 119 Utah, SF. www.mighty119.com

 

East Bay grace

Michael Redmond
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0
East Bay grace

arts@sfbg.com

DANCE Though it’s gone mostly unnoticed by us San Francisco-dwelling dance watchers, a remarkable thing has been growing across the bay on the other side of the tunnel. On March 6, the Walnut Creek-based Diablo Ballet celebrated its 20th anniversary with a gala — without fancy gowns, but with an hour-long program that did what galas are supposed to do: look at the past and the here and now, and say thank-you to a lot of folks.

While it might have been gracious to have acknowledged the contributions of co-founder Lawrence Pech and brothers Nikolai and Viktor Kabaniaev — all of whom danced, choreographed, and contributed to running the company — Diablo Ballet is the product of that still-rare breed in American ballet, a woman artistic director.

When she set out to create Diablo Valley’s first professional ballet company, Lauren Jonas had a lot going for herself: a brand new, beautifully equipped theater in what is now called the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek; generous private support by ballet-loving local entrepreneurs; and an audience willing to take its chances on a small, easily accessible company. I can’t remember how many times in those early years I heard people during intermission commenting on how happy they were “not to have to fight the tunnel.”

Above all, Jonas had taste, standards, and knowledge of the available repertoire. Locally trained at Marin Ballet, she had performed in national companies as well as Oakland Ballet under Ronn Guidi, in both 19th and 20th century classics. She also knew that the Bay Area, and other parts of the country, had plenty of professional ballet dancers who were eager to perform, and on whose talent and experience she could draw.

At the gala, the petite and charming Jonas was repeatedly praised for her commitment to community and her capacity for work. She must also have an iron determination to carry out her vision of professionally-danced professional choreography. It may not be easy to say “no” to her.

The auspicious beginnings, which included an orchestra, didn’t last. Money dried up because of the economy but also because foundations redirected their priorities. The first to go was the live music; eventually the Lesher facility became too expensive for a full season. There were times when Jonas went back on stage to perform because she couldn’t afford to hire another dancer.

That’s when Jonas’ backbone kicked in. She didn’t change her vision but adapted to the changed circumstances by shifting her performances to the Shadelands Arts Center, one of Walnut Creek’s neighborhood rec centers, where the company rehearsed. They attracted new audiences who could never have afforded the ticket prices in the downtown venue.

In some ways Shadelands seems an impossible place for ballet. With no theater lighting, a stage the size of what looks like a large table, and terrible sight lines — recently improved by installed risers — it was difficult to imagine ballet dancers whipping pirouettes and traveling jetés. But they did and they do. The opportunity to see these experienced artists close up, noticing the impetus behind a move or even the fatigue creeping up on them, makes up for much of what is lost in scale.

The gala, which included some history and many tributes, started with a simple but charming waltz by an octet of former dancers. It ended with “Variation and Finale” from Balanchine’s Who Cares? Rearranged for six dancers by Jonas, with a fine interpretation of Gershwin by Diablo music director Greg Sudmeier and his jazz trio (live music remains important to Jonas), the sextet got the spirit though not always the precision of the original. Robert Dekkers’ casual charm, however, didn’t keep him from delivering “Variation”‘s spitfire turns and beats with utmost confidence.

Dekkers, also Diablo’s choreographer in residence, premiered his lengthy and goofy cares you know not for Mayo Sugano and Diablo’s newest dancers, Tetyana Martyanova and Justin Vanweest.

Welcome contributions came from Derek Sakakura and Rosselyn Ramirez’s pas de deux in Eugene Loring’s Billy the Kid, a ballet that in 1938 was much condemned for including gestures drawn from life. Roy Bogas contributed the spiffy piano arrangement of Aaron Copland’s cowboy tune-flavored score.

Making good and practical use of available technology allowed filmed versions of parts of a ballet which then continued live on stage. Tina Kay Bohnstedt and David Fonnegra shone in a torrid pas de deux from Val Caniparoli’s Lady of the Camellia. The dancers in Kelly Teo’s Dancing Miles at first looked like sparks in the night but live, they filled the stage with jazzy energy. On film, Teo, who danced and choreographed for Diablo, declared his gratitude: “I left my profession fulfilled; I had accomplished what I had wanted to do.” Not a bad record for 20 years. *

www.diabloballet.org

 

Music Listings: March 5-11, 2014

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WEDNESDAY 5
ROCK
Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. “The Larkade,” w/ Major Powers & The Lo-Fi Symphony, Rachel Lark, JK47, 9:30pm, free.
Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. Together Pangea, Mozes & The Firstborn, Burning Curtains, 9pm, $10.
El Rio: 3158 Mission, San Francisco. Meat Market, Yi, Cop Out, 9pm, $7.
Elbo Room: 647 Valencia, San Francisco. We Are the Men, Bearcubbin, Face Tat, Van Wave, 9pm, $7.
Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. Personal & The Pizzas, plus free Escape from New York pizza (while supplies last), 9pm, free.
The Independent: 628 Divisadero, San Francisco. The Mowgli’s, Tumbleweed Wanderers, Cocktails, 8pm, free with RSVP.
The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. Modern Man, Paint the Trees White, Joseph Childress, 9:30pm, $6.
Milk Bar: 1840 Haight, San Francisco. Thufoxxtrots, Jam, The Cushion Theory, The Twitches, 8pm, $5.
Neck of the Woods: 406 Clement, San Francisco. The Pizza Underground, Windham Flat, Toby Goodshank, 6 & 9pm, $10-$15.
Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen, 8pm, $21-$25.
DANCE
111 Minna Gallery: 111 Minna, San Francisco. “Qoöl,” w/ DJs Ruchir, Alex Blackstock, Petko Nikolov, Spesh, Dan Sherman, and Will Spencer, 5-10pm, $5.
Beaux: 2344 Market, San Francisco. “BroMance: A Night Out for the Fellas,” 9pm, free.
The Cafe: 2369 Market, San Francisco. “Sticky Wednesdays,” w/ DJ Mark Andrus, 8pm, free.
Cat Club: 1190 Folsom, San Francisco. “Bondage A Go Go,” w/ DJs Damon, Tomas Diablo, & guests, 9:30pm, $5-$10.
Club X: 715 Harrison, San Francisco. “Electro Pop Rocks: Blood, Sweat, and Bass,” 18+ dance night with Downlink, Dieselboy, Ajapai, more, 9pm
F8: 1192 Folsom, San Francisco. “Housepitality,” w/ Jay Tripwire, Andrew Phelan, Stay Deep, Dr. Rek, Skyler Mendoza, 9pm, $5-$10.
Infusion Lounge: 124 Ellis, San Francisco. “Indulgence,” 10pm
Lookout: 3600 16th St., San Francisco. “What?,” w/ resident DJ Tisdale and guests, 7pm, free.
Madrone Art Bar: 500 Divisadero, San Francisco. “Rock the Spot,” 9pm, free.
MatrixFillmore: 3138 Fillmore, San Francisco. “Reload,” w/ DJ Big Bad Bruce, 10pm, free.
Q Bar: 456 Castro, San Francisco. “Booty Call,” w/ Juanita More, Joshua J, guests, 9pm, $3.
HIP-HOP
Neck of the Woods: 406 Clement, San Francisco. “Over the Hump,” w/ Children of the Funk, 10pm, free.
Skylark Bar: 3089 16th St., San Francisco. “Mixtape Wednesday,” w/ resident DJs Strategy, Junot, Herb Digs, & guests, 9pm, $5.
ACOUSTIC
Cafe Divine: 1600 Stockton, San Francisco. Craig Ventresco & Meredith Axelrod, 7pm, free.
The Chapel: 777 Valencia, San Francisco. A Salute to John Fahey in Honor of His 75th Birthday, w/ Sean Smith, Chuck Johnson, Henry Kaiser, Dibson Hoffweiler, Andrew Weathers, Adam Snider, Danny Paul Grody, Richard Osborn, 9pm, $12.
Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. Chris Trapper, Korby Lenker, 8pm, $15.
Plough & Stars: 116 Clement, San Francisco. Jeanie & Chuck’s Bluegrass Country Jam, First Wednesday of every month, 9pm, free.
JAZZ
Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. Gaucho, Eric Garland’s Jazz Session, The Amnesiacs, 7pm, free.
Balancoire: 2565 Mission St., San Francisco. “Cat’s Corner,” 9pm, $10.
Burritt Room: 417 Stockton St., San Francisco. Terry Disley’s Rocking Jazz Trio, 6pm, free.
Cigar Bar & Grill: 850 Montgomery, San Francisco. Afro-Cuban Jazz Cartel, 8pm
Club Deluxe: 1511 Haight, San Francisco. Patrick Wolff Quartet, 9pm, free.
Jazz Bistro at Les Joulins: 44 Ellis, San Francisco. Charles Unger Experience, 7:30pm, free.
Le Colonial: 20 Cosmo, San Francisco. The Cosmo Alleycats featuring Ms. Emily Wade Adams, 7pm, free.
Pier 23 Cafe: Pier 23, San Francisco. Ned Boynton & Friends, 6pm, free.
Top of the Mark: One Nob Hill, 999 California, San Francisco. Ricardo Scales, Wednesdays, 6:30-11:30pm, $5.
Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Anne O’Brien, First Wednesday of every month, 7:30pm, free.
INTERNATIONAL
Bissap Baobab: 3372 19th St., San Francisco. “Baobab!,” timba dance party with DJ WaltDigz, 10pm, $5.
Cafe Cocomo: 650 Indiana, San Francisco. “Bachatalicious,” w/ DJs Good Sho & Rodney, 7pm, $5-$10.
Make-Out Room: 3225 22nd St., San Francisco. “Frigo-Bar,” First Wednesday of every month, 8pm, free.
Pachamama Restaurant: 1630 Powell, San Francisco. Cafe Latino Americano, 8pm, $12.
BLUES
Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. Bob Margolin & Bob Corritore, 7:30 & 9:30pm, $20.
EXPERIMENTAL
Center for New Music: 55 Taylor, San Francisco. Sten Sandell with Gino Robair, 7:30pm, $10-$15.
Meridian Gallery: 535 Powell, San Francisco. Xo Xinh, Van-Anh Vanessa Vo, and Chris Brown, 7:30pm, $10.
SOUL
Monarch: 101 Sixth St., San Francisco. “Color Me Badd,” coloring books and R&B jams with Matt Haze, DJ Alarm, Broke-Ass Stuart, guests, Wednesdays, 5:30-9:30pm, free.

THURSDAY 6
ROCK
111 Minna Gallery: 111 Minna, San Francisco. RubberSideDown, Chris James & The Showdowns, Etro Canova, 7pm, free/donation.
Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. Eyes on the Shore, Sunrunners, Dogcatcher, 9pm, $10.
Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. Mirah, AgesandAges, M. Lockwood Porter, 9pm, $12-$15.
The Chapel: 777 Valencia, San Francisco. Arthur Beatrice, 9pm, $12-$14.
DNA Lounge: 375 11th St., San Francisco. The Vile Augury, Limnus, Roadside Memorial, Loveless Love, Mr. Smith, 8pm, $10 advance.
El Rio: 3158 Mission, San Francisco. Year of the Fist, Money for Rope, Muñecas, 8pm, $5.
Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. Yogurt Brain, Divers, Nasty Christmas, 8:30pm, $6.
Rickshaw Stop: 155 Fell, San Francisco. “Popscene,” w/ Glasvegas, 10pm, $15-$17.
S.F. Eagle: 398 12th St., San Francisco. Slough Feg, Wild Eyes, Older Sun, 9pm, $8.
SFSU Campus, Cesar Chavez Student Center: 1650 Holloway, San Francisco. Useless Eaters, The Sweethearts, Scraper, Mane, 6pm, free.
DANCE
1015 Folsom: 1015 Folsom, San Francisco. Stwo, The Whooligan, Mikos Da Gawd, DJ Dials, Chad Salty, 9pm, $10 (free before 11pm with RSVP).
Abbey Tavern: 4100 Geary, San Francisco. DJ Schrobi-Girl, 10pm, free.
Audio Discotech: 316 11th St., San Francisco. “Common Ground,” w/ Shur-i-kan, Greg Yuen, Dino Velvet, Fil Latorre, Joey Alaniz, 9pm, $5-$10.
Aunt Charlie’s Lounge: 133 Turk, San Francisco. “Tubesteak Connection,” w/ DJ Bus Station John, 9pm, $5-$7.
Beaux: 2344 Market, San Francisco. “Men at Twerk,” 9pm, free.
The Cafe: 2369 Market, San Francisco. “¡Pan Dulce!,” 9pm, $5.
Cat Club: 1190 Folsom, San Francisco. “Throwback Thursdays,” ‘80s night with DJs Damon, Steve Washington, Dangerous Dan, and guests, 9pm, $6 (free before 9:30pm).
The Cellar: 685 Sutter, San Francisco. “XO,” w/ DJs Astro & Rose, 10pm, $5.
Club X: 715 Harrison, San Francisco. “The Crib,” 9:30pm, $10, 18+.
DNA Lounge: 375 11th St., San Francisco. Sound Remedy, Clark Kent, 8pm, $12-$15.
Elbo Room: 647 Valencia, San Francisco. “Afrolicious,” w/ DJs Pleasuremaker, Señor Oz, and guests, 9:30pm, $5-$8.
F8: 1192 Folsom, San Francisco. “Beat Church,” w/ resident DJs Neptune & Kitty-D, First Thursday of every month, 10pm, $10.
Infusion Lounge: 124 Ellis, San Francisco. “I Love Thursdays,” 10pm, $10.
Madrone Art Bar: 500 Divisadero, San Francisco. “Night Fever,” 9pm, $5 after 10pm
Q Bar: 456 Castro, San Francisco. “Throwback Thursday,” w/ DJ Jay-R, 9pm, free.
Raven: 1151 Folsom, San Francisco. “1999,” w/ VJ Mark Andrus, 8pm, free.
Ruby Skye: 420 Mason, San Francisco. “Awakening,” w/ Felix Cartal, 9pm, $15-$20 advance.
Underground SF: 424 Haight, San Francisco. “Bubble,” 10pm, free.
Vessel: 85 Campton, San Francisco. “Base: Local,” w/ Bardia F, ThuyVu, Mac Vaughn, John Kaberna, Lexel, 10pm, free with RSVP.
HIP-HOP
Eastside West: 3154 Fillmore, San Francisco. “Throwback Thursdays,” w/ DJ Madison, 9pm, free.
John Colins: 138 Minna, San Francisco. “Rewind,” w/ DJ J.W. Sounds, First Thursday of every month, 10pm, free.
Skylark Bar: 3089 16th St., San Francisco. “Peaches,” w/ lady DJs DeeAndroid, Lady Fingaz, That Girl, Umami, Inkfat, and Andre, 10pm, free.
Slim’s: 333 11th St., San Francisco. Aer, RDGLDGRN, New Beat Fund, 8pm, $17.
ACOUSTIC
Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. Misisipi Mike & The Midnight Gamblers, First Thursday of every month, 9pm
Atlas Cafe: 3049 20th St., San Francisco. The Bogues, 8pm, free.
Bazaar Cafe: 5927 California, San Francisco. Acoustic Open Mic, 7pm
Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. Songwriters in the Round with Heather Combs, Kelly McFarling, Eoin Harrington, Brad Brooks, 8pm, $8.
The Independent: 628 Divisadero, San Francisco. Agnes Obel, 8pm, sold out.
The Lost Church: 65 Capp, San Francisco. Jeff Conley & Elena de da Garza, Brandon Eardley, 8pm, $10.
Milk Bar: 1840 Haight, San Francisco. S.F. Acoustic Sessions, w/ Leila Motaei, Scarth Locke, Jeff Desira, 7:30pm, free.
Musicians Union Local 6: 116 Ninth St., San Francisco. San Francisco Singer-Songwriters’ Workshop, hosted by Robin Yukiko, First Thursday of every month, 6:30pm, $25 (free for AFM members).
Plough & Stars: 116 Clement, San Francisco. The Shannon Céilí Band, First Thursday of every month, 9pm, free.
JAZZ
Blush! Wine Bar: 476 Castro, San Francisco. Doug Martin’s Avatar Ensemble, 7:30pm, free.
Cigar Bar & Grill: 850 Montgomery, San Francisco. Jimmy Grant Quartet, First Thursday of every month, 8pm, free.
Feinstein’s at the Nikko: 222 Mason, San Francisco. Paula West, 8pm, $35-$50.
Jazz Bistro at Les Joulins: 44 Ellis, San Francisco. Eugene Pliner Quartet with Tod Dickow, First and Third Thursday of every month, 7:30pm, free.
Le Colonial: 20 Cosmo, San Francisco. Steve Lucky & The Rhumba Bums, 7:30pm
Pier 23 Cafe: Pier 23, San Francisco. Judy Hall Trio, 7pm, free.
The Royal Cuckoo: 3202 Mission, San Francisco. Charlie Siebert & Chris Siebert, 7:30pm, free.
Savanna Jazz Club: 2937 Mission, San Francisco. Savanna Jazz Jam with David Byrd, 7pm, $5.
Top of the Mark: One Nob Hill, 999 California, San Francisco. Stompy Jones, 7:30pm, $10.
Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Barbara Ochoa, 7:30pm, free.
INTERNATIONAL
Bissap Baobab: 3372 19th St., San Francisco. “Pa’Lante!,” w/ Juan G, El Kool Kyle, Mr. Lucky, 10pm, $5.
Pachamama Restaurant: 1630 Powell, San Francisco. “Jueves Flamencos,” 8pm, free.
Sheba Piano Lounge: 1419 Fillmore, San Francisco. Gary Flores & Descarga Caliente, 8pm
Verdi Club: 2424 Mariposa, San Francisco. The Verdi Club Milonga, w/ Christy Coté, DJ Emilio Flores, guests, 9pm, $10-$15.
REGGAE
Neck of the Woods: 406 Clement, San Francisco. Maoli, Mango Kingz, on the upstairs stage, 9pm, $12-$15.
Pissed Off Pete’s: 4528 Mission St., San Francisco. Reggae Thursdays, w/ resident DJ Jah Yzer, 9pm, free.
BLUES
50 Mason Social House: 50 Mason, San Francisco. Bill Phillippe, 5:30pm, free.
Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. Tad Robinson, 7:30 & 9:30pm, $20.
The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. Chris Ford, First Thursday of every month, 4pm
SFJAZZ Center: 205 Franklin, San Francisco. Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers, playing the music of Bessie Smith (in the Joe Henderson Lab), 7 & 8:30pm, $30.
COUNTRY
The Parlor: 2801 Leavenworth, San Francisco. “Twang Honky Tonk & Country Jamboree,” w/ DJ Little Red Rodeo, 7pm, free.
EXPERIMENTAL
The Luggage Store: 1007 Market, San Francisco. Power Stations, Conan the Barbiturate, 8pm, $6-$10.
SOUL
Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. West Grand Boulevard, 9:30pm, $5.
Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Teena Marie Birthday Tribute with Ashling “Biscuit” Cole, 8pm, $19-$23.

FRIDAY 7
ROCK
Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. Chum, 9:30pm, $12-$15.
Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. Scale the Summit, The Ocean, The Atlas Moth, Silver Snakes, DJ Rob Metal, 8pm, $12-$14.
Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. Gripin, Twenty7, 9pm, $30-$40.
The Chapel: 777 Valencia, San Francisco. Black Cobra Vipers, Jefferititi’s Nile, Sister Chief, 9pm, $12.
DNA Lounge: 375 11th St., San Francisco. Fake Your Own Death, I Am Animal, In Letter Form, Cash for Gold, 8:30pm, $8-$10.
El Rio: 3158 Mission, San Francisco. Friday Live: Mary Ocher, DJ Emotions, 10pm, free.
Elbo Room: 647 Valencia, San Francisco. Glitter Wizard, Christian Mistress, Ovvl, 9:30pm, $8.
Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. Donkee, Tiger Honey Pot, Majestic Beast, Manstration, 9pm, $6.
Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. Overland, Crash Landings, First Contact, Sean O’Brien & His Dirty Hands, 9pm, $10.
The Independent: 628 Divisadero, San Francisco. Gardens & Villa, Waterstrider, Reuben & The Dark, 9pm, $13-$15.
Milk Bar: 1840 Haight, San Francisco. Solids, Pup, Balms, 9pm, $8-$10.
Slim’s: 333 11th St., San Francisco. The Greening, Everyone Is Dirty, Sweet Chariot, 9pm, $14.
Thee Parkside: 1600 17th St., San Francisco. Heartsounds, The Mighty Fine, Point of View, The Business End, 9pm, $8.
DANCE
1015 Folsom: 1015 Folsom, San Francisco. MartyParty, Joker, Robot Koch, Nick Hook, Pumpkin, Nesta, Releece, Dov, Jocelyn, 10pm, $15 advance.
Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. “Brass Tax,” w/ resident DJs JoeJoe, Ding Dong, Ernie Trevino, Mace, First Friday of every month, 10pm, $5.
Audio Discotech: 316 11th St., San Francisco. Umek, Ben Seagren, Dean Samaras, 9pm, $15 advance.
BeatBox: 314 11th St., San Francisco. “Pulse SF: 3-Year Anniversary,” w/ Ticon, Emok, Critical Choice, 10pm, $25-$30 advance.
Beaux: 2344 Market, San Francisco. “Manimal,” 9pm
The Cafe: 2369 Market, San Francisco. “Boy Bar,” w/ DJ Matt Consola, 9pm, $5.
Cat Club: 1190 Folsom, San Francisco. “Strangelove: A Tribute to Skinny Puppy,” w/ DJs Tomas Diablo, Daniel Skellington, Lexor, and Panic, 9:30pm, $7 ($3 before 10pm).
The Cellar: 685 Sutter, San Francisco. “F.T.S.: For the Story,” 10pm
The EndUp: 401 Sixth St., San Francisco. “Trade,” 10pm, free before midnight.
The Grand Nightclub: 520 Fourth St., San Francisco. “We Rock Fridays,” 9:30pm
Harlot: 46 Minna, San Francisco. DJ Spider, 9pm
Infusion Lounge: 124 Ellis, San Francisco. “Flight Fridays,” 10pm, $20.
Lookout: 3600 16th St., San Francisco. “HYSL: Handle Your Shit Lady,” 9pm, $3.
Madrone Art Bar: 500 Divisadero, San Francisco. “Dirty Rotten Dance Party,” w/ Kap10 Harris, Shane King, guests, First Friday of every month, 9pm, $5.
MatrixFillmore: 3138 Fillmore, San Francisco. “F-Style Fridays,” w/ DJ Jared-F, 9pm
Mezzanine: 444 Jessie, San Francisco. “Future Fridays,” w/ Posso, Non Sequitur, Erika K, Monika Santucci, 9pm, $10.
Monarch: 101 Sixth St., San Francisco. Bob Moses, DJ M3, Lisbona, 9:30pm, $15-$20.
Powerhouse: 1347 Folsom, San Francisco. “Nasty,” First Friday of every month, 10pm, $5.
Public Works: 161 Erie, San Francisco. “Direct to Earth,” w/ Barem, Troy Pierce, Brian Knarfield, Max Gardner (in the main room), 9pm, $13-$20; “Play It Cool,” w/ Hound Scales, Avalon Emerson, Derek Opperman, Matthew Favorites, Guillaume Galuz (in the OddJob Loft), 10pm, $10.
Q Bar: 456 Castro, San Francisco. “Pump: Worq It Out Fridays,” w/ resident DJ Christopher B, 9pm, $3.
Rickshaw Stop: 155 Fell, San Francisco. Rüfüs, Lemaitre, DJ Aaron Axelsen, 9:30pm, $15-$17.
Ruby Skye: 420 Mason, San Francisco. Quintino, 9pm, $20-$30 advance.
Slate Bar: 2925 16th St., San Francisco. “Haçeteria,” w/ New Jack, Greg M, Jason P, Smac, Tristes Tropiques, Nihar, 10pm, $5.
Temple: 540 Howard, San Francisco. “Boogaloo Bounce,” w/ Brother Board, D-Clan, Freefall, 10pm, $15.
Underground SF: 424 Haight, San Francisco. “Bionic,” 10pm, $5.
Vessel: 85 Campton, San Francisco. “Blitz,” w/ Revolvr, DJ MyKill, Shawn Steele, Keelan, 10pm, $10-$30.
Wish: 1539 Folsom, San Francisco. “Bridge the Gap,” w/ resident DJ Don Kainoa, Fridays, 6-10pm, free; “Depth,” w/ resident DJs Sharon Buck & Greg Yuen, First Friday of every month, 10pm, free.
HIP-HOP
EZ5: 682 Commercial, San Francisco. “Decompression,” Fridays, 5-9pm
Mighty: 119 Utah, San Francisco. “Where’d You Get Those?,” w/ Bobbito, Stretch Armstrong, DJ Shortkut, DJ Proof, 9pm, $15 advance.
Nickies: 466 Haight, San Francisco. “First Fridays,” w/ The Whooligan & Dion Decibels, First Friday of every month, 11pm, free.
Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. De La Soul, 8 & 10pm, $46.
ACOUSTIC
Bazaar Cafe: 5927 California, San Francisco. Vessna Scheff, 7pm
Dolores Park Cafe: 501 Dolores, San Francisco. Beryl Baker & Co., 7:30pm
The Lost Church: 65 Capp, San Francisco. Cotton Polly, David Sobel & The Toms, 8pm, $10.
Plough & Stars: 116 Clement, San Francisco. A Talent for Mischief, 9pm
Red Poppy Art House: 2698 Folsom, San Francisco. Squid Inc. with Carrie Katz, 7:30pm, $10-$15.
The Sports Basement: 610 Old Mason, San Francisco. “Breakfast with Enzo,” w/ Enzo Garcia, 10am, $5.
St. Cyprian’s Episcopal Church: 2097 Turk, San Francisco. First Fridays Song Circle, First Friday of every month, 7pm, $5-$10.
JAZZ
Atlas Cafe: 3049 20th St., San Francisco. Jazz at the Atlas, 7:30pm, free.
Beach Chalet Brewery & Restaurant: 1000 Great Highway, San Francisco. Johnny Smith, 8pm, free.
Bird & Beckett: 653 Chenery, San Francisco. Don Prell’s SeaBop Ensemble, First Friday of every month, 5:30pm, free.
Cafe Royale: 800 Post, San Francisco. Wrapped in Plastic, First Friday of every month, 9pm
Feinstein’s at the Nikko: 222 Mason, San Francisco. Paula West, 8pm, $35-$50.
Jazz Bistro at Les Joulins: 44 Ellis, San Francisco. Charles Unger Experience, 7:30pm, free.
The Palace Hotel: 2 New Montgomery, San Francisco. The Klipptones, 8pm, free.
Pier 23 Cafe: Pier 23, San Francisco. Hard Bop Collective, 8pm, free.
Savanna Jazz Club: 2937 Mission, San Francisco. Savanna Jazz Trio, 7pm, $8.
SFJAZZ Center: 205 Franklin, San Francisco. Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers, playing the music of Billie Holiday (in the Joe Henderson Lab), 7 & 8:30pm, $30.
Top of the Mark: One Nob Hill, 999 California, San Francisco. Black Market Jazz Orchestra, 9pm, $10.
Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Joyce Grant, 8pm, free.
INTERNATIONAL
Bissap Baobab: 3372 19th St., San Francisco. “Paris-Dakar African Mix Coupe Decale,” 10pm, $5.
Cafe Cocomo: 650 Indiana, San Francisco. Taste Fridays, featuring local cuisine tastings, salsa bands, dance lessons, and more, 7:30pm, $15 (free entry to patio).
Cigar Bar & Grill: 850 Montgomery, San Francisco. Rumbaché, 10pm
City Hall: 1 Drive Carlton B. Goodlett, San Francisco. Gamelan Sekar Jaya, The Rotunda Dance Series opens its 2014 season with this free Balinese music and dance performance., noon, free.
Pachamama Restaurant: 1630 Powell, San Francisco. Cuban Night with Fito Reinoso, 7:30 & 9:15pm, $15-$18.
REGGAE
Gestalt Haus: 3159 16th St., San Francisco. “Music Like Dirt,” 7:30pm, free.
Showdown: 10 Sixth St., San Francisco. “How the West Was Won,” w/ Nowtime Sound, First Friday of every month, 10pm, free.
BLUES
Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. Tad Robinson, 7:30 & 10pm, $22.
Lou’s Fish Shack: 300 Jefferson, San Francisco. Little Wolf & The HellCats, 6pm
Tupelo: 1337 Green, San Francisco. Jinx Jones & The KingTones, First Friday of every month, 9pm
EXPERIMENTAL
Artists’ Television Access: 992 Valencia, San Francisco. Mission Eye & Ear #4, New experimental film and sound collaborations by Suki O’Kane & John Davis, Jason Hoopes & Azin Seraj, Marielle Jakobsons & Kirthi Nath, and more., 8pm, $7-$10.
FUNK
Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. Swoop Unit, First Friday of every month, 6pm, $3-$5.
Make-Out Room: 3225 22nd St., San Francisco. “Loose Joints,” w/ DJs Centipede, Damon Bell, and Tom Thump, 10pm, $5-$10.
SOUL
Edinburgh Castle: 950 Geary, San Francisco. “Soul Crush,” w/ DJ Serious Leisure, 10pm, free.
The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. “Oldies Night,” w/ DJs Primo, Daniel, Lost Cat, friends, First Friday of every month, 10pm, $5.

SATURDAY 8
ROCK
Bender’s: 806 S. Van Ness, San Francisco. Electric Funeral, Hell Fire, 10pm, $5.
Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. The Ataris, Authority Zero, Drag the River, Versus the World, 8pm, sold out.
Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. Dead Ghosts, Los Craters, Mujeres, Banshee Boardwalk, DJ Al Lover, 9pm, $8-$10.
The Chapel: 777 Valencia, San Francisco. JD Samson & MEN, Skip the Needle, People at Parties, 9pm, $16-$18.
El Rio: 3158 Mission, San Francisco. Kepi Ghoulie with Dog Party, Unko Atama, Pogo Ono, 10pm, $8.
Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. The Librarians, Victory & Associates, Charmless, 9pm, $6.
The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. Abrupt, Serpent Crown, Sciatica, Syzygz, 4pm, $6.
Milk Bar: 1840 Haight, San Francisco. Hungry Skinny, Ape Machine, The Missing Pieces, Strange Hotel, DJ Chad Stab, 9pm, $7.
Thee Parkside: 1600 17th St., San Francisco. Stomper 98, The Old Firm Casuals, Control, Custom Fit, 9pm, $15.
DANCE
Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. Jonas Reinhardt, Pharaohs, Roche, ProFan DJs, 9pm, $10.
Audio Discotech: 316 11th St., San Francisco. Fur Coat, Pacific Disco, Papa Lu, 9:30pm, $5-$10 advance.
BeatBox: 314 11th St., San Francisco. Official S.F. White Party Palm Springs Kick Off Party, w/ DJs Chris Cox & Del Stamp, 10pm, $10-$20.
Beaux: 2344 Market, San Francisco. Official Clueless After Party, With Peaches Christ, Mahlae Balenciaga, and DJ Guy Ruben., 9pm, $3.
Cat Club: 1190 Folsom, San Francisco. “Club Gossip: Depeche Mode Night,” w/ DJs Damon, Shon, Low-Life, Melting Girl, and Daniel Skellington, 9pm, $5-$8 (free before 9:30pm).
DNA Lounge: 375 11th St., San Francisco. “Bootie S.F.,” w/ DJ BC, A+D, DJ Jimig, Smash-Up Derby, DJ Dcnstrct, more, 9pm, $10-$15.
Elbo Room: 647 Valencia, San Francisco. “Tormenta Tropical,” w/ Jah Wave, Mr. E, Oro11, Deejay Theory, 10pm, $10.
The EndUp: 401 Sixth St., San Francisco. “Eclectricity,” Second Saturday of every month, 10pm
F8: 1192 Folsom, San Francisco. HGMNY: A Celebration of International Women’s Day, Benefit for the Center for Young Women’s Development with Astronautica, SoSuperSam, Kittens, Smasheltooth, Jaqi Sparrow, Umami, and Pony P., 9pm, $10-$15 advance.
Harlot: 46 Minna, San Francisco. WhiteNoize, 9pm
The Hot Spot: 1414 Market, San Francisco. “Love Will Fix It,” w/ DJ Bus Station John, Second Saturday of every month, 10pm, $5.
Infusion Lounge: 124 Ellis, San Francisco. “One Way Ticket Saturdays,” w/ Eric D-Lux, Second Saturday of every month, 10pm, $20.
The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. “Galaxy Radio,” w/ resident DJs Smac, Emils, Holly B, and guests, Second Saturday of every month, 9pm, free.
Lookout: 3600 16th St., San Francisco. “Bounce!,” 9pm, $3.
Madrone Art Bar: 500 Divisadero, San Francisco. “Music Video Night,” w/ DJs Satva & 4AM, Second Saturday of every month, 10pm, $5.
Mezzanine: 444 Jessie, San Francisco. “Lights Down Low,” w/ Four Tet, Natasha Kmeto, DJ Dials, Sleazemore, Richie Panic, 9pm, sold out.
Mighty: 119 Utah, San Francisco. “Salted,” w/ Colette, Fred Everything, Julius Papp, 10pm, $10-$15 advance.
Monarch: 101 Sixth St., San Francisco. “As You Like It + The Bunker,” w/ Voices from the Lake, Jason Kendig, Christina Chatfield, Carlos Souffront, Mossmoss, 9pm, $20-$25.
OMG: 43 Sixth St., San Francisco. “Fixup: Grime City Reunion,” 10pm, $5.
Public Works: 161 Erie, San Francisco. Burnal Equinox 2014: The Multiverse Outpost, 7pm, $15-$20.
Q Bar: 456 Castro, San Francisco. “Shoop!: The Janet Remix,” w/ DJs Tommy T & Bryan B, 9pm
Rickshaw Stop: 155 Fell, San Francisco. “Cockblock,” w/ DJs Kidd Sysko & Chelsea Starr, 10pm, $10.
Ruby Skye: 420 Mason, San Francisco. Audien, 9pm, $20 advance.
The Stud: 399 Ninth St., San Francisco. “Frolic,” w/ Raid Zero, Lycan Catt, Cohn Jonner, NeonBunny, 8pm, $8 ($4 in costume).
Temple: 540 Howard, San Francisco. Andy Caldwell, Lucas Med, Magnetic, Rich Era, 10pm, $20.
Vessel: 85 Campton, San Francisco. The Chainsmokers, John Beaver, 10pm
Wish: 1539 Folsom, San Francisco. “All Styles & Smiles,” w/ DJ Tom Thump, Second Saturday of every month, 10pm, free.
HIP-HOP
111 Minna Gallery: 111 Minna, San Francisco. “Back to the ‘90s,” Second Saturday of every month, 9:30pm, $10.
Double Dutch: 3192 16th St., San Francisco. “Cash IV Gold,” w/ DJs Kool Karlo, Roost Uno, and Sean G, Second Saturday of every month, 10pm, free.
John Colins: 138 Minna, San Francisco. “Frothin,” w/ resident DJ Matt Cali, Second Saturday of every month, 10pm
Showdown: 10 Sixth St., San Francisco. “The Shit Show,” w/ resident DJ Taurus Scott, Second Saturday of every month, 10pm, two for $5.
ACOUSTIC
Atlas Cafe: 3049 20th St., San Francisco. Craig Ventresco and/or Meredith Axelrod, Saturdays, 4-6pm, free.
Bazaar Cafe: 5927 California, San Francisco. Songwriters in the Round with Alex Jimenez, 7pm
Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. The Royal Oui, Tall Heights, Keyan Keihani, 9pm, $10.
Neck of the Woods: 406 Clement, San Francisco. Grow & Twine, Trebuchet, Travis Hayes, on the downstairs stage, 9pm, $8.
Pa’ina: 1865 Post, San Francisco. Jim “Kimo” West, 7pm, $10.
Plough & Stars: 116 Clement, San Francisco. “Americana Jukebox,” w/ One Grass Two Grass Red Grass Bluegrass, 9pm, $6-$10.
St. Cyprian’s Episcopal Church: 2097 Turk, San Francisco. Misner & Smith, Maurice Tani, Sound of Sirens, 7:30pm, $15-$18.
JAZZ
Center for New Music: 55 Taylor, San Francisco. Vardan Ovsepian, 8pm, $10-$15.
Cigar Bar & Grill: 850 Montgomery, San Francisco. Josh Jones Latin Jazz Ensemble, 10pm
Feinstein’s at the Nikko: 222 Mason, San Francisco. Paula West, 7 & 9:30pm, $35-$50.
Jazz Bistro at Les Joulins: 44 Ellis, San Francisco. Bill “Doc” Webster & Jazz Nostalgia, 7:30pm, free.
Savanna Jazz Club: 2937 Mission, San Francisco. Savanna Jazz Trio, 7pm, $8.
SFJAZZ Center: 205 Franklin, San Francisco. Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers, playing the music of Etta James (in the Joe Henderson Lab), 7 & 8:30pm, $30.
Sheba Piano Lounge: 1419 Fillmore, San Francisco. The Robert Stewart Experience, 9pm
INTERNATIONAL
1015 Folsom: 1015 Folsom, San Francisco. “Pura,” 9pm, $20.
Amoeba Music: 1855 Haight, San Francisco. Sila, 2pm, free.
Bissap Baobab: 3372 19th St., San Francisco. Misión Flamenca, Monthly live music and dance performances., Second Saturday of every month, 7:30pm “Paris-Dakar African Mix Coupe Decale,” 10pm, $5.
Make-Out Room: 3225 22nd St., San Francisco. “El SuperRitmo,” w/ DJs Roger Mas & El Kool Kyle, 10pm, $5 before 11pm
Pachamama Restaurant: 1630 Powell, San Francisco. Eddy Navia & Pachamama Band, 8pm, free.
Red Poppy Art House: 2698 Folsom, San Francisco. Bang Data, 7:30pm, $10-$20.
Space 550: 550 Barneveld, San Francisco. “Club Fuego,” 9:30pm
BLUES
Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. Sista Monica, 7:30 & 10pm, $24.
Lou’s Fish Shack: 300 Jefferson, San Francisco. Robert “Hollywood” Jenkins, 6pm
The Riptide: 3639 Taraval, San Francisco. G.G. Amos, 9:30pm, free.
The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. Dave Workman, Second Saturday of every month, 4pm
FUNK
Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. The Humidors, Jordan & The Ritual, DJ K-Os, 9:30pm, $10 advance.
The Independent: 628 Divisadero, San Francisco. Dumpstaphunk, Katdelic, 9pm, $22-$25.
ROCKABILLY
Pier 23 Cafe: Pier 23, San Francisco. The Royal Deuces, 8pm, free.
Slim’s: 333 11th St., San Francisco. Kim Lenz & The Jaguars, The B-Stars, Secret Town, DJ Tanoa, 9pm, $15.
SOUL
Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Chanté Moore, 8 & 10pm, $35.

SUNDAY 9
ROCK
Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. Richie Ramone, He Who Cannot Be Named, Bite, The Unfortunate Bastard, 8pm, $12-$15.
DNA Lounge: 375 11th St., San Francisco. Scarlett Fever ‘14, Rett Syndrome benefit show with The Chop Tops, MoFo Party Band, The Memphis Murder Men, Lords of S.F., Stigma 13, more, 1pm, $15.
El Rio: 3158 Mission, San Francisco. Down & Outlaws, Mark Nelsen Band, The Parmesans, 8pm, $5.
Make-Out Room: 3225 22nd St., San Francisco. Sea Dramas, New Sun Company, 7:30pm, $8.
DANCE
Beaux: 2344 Market, San Francisco. “Full of Grace: A Weekly House Music Playground,” 9pm, free.
The Cellar: 685 Sutter, San Francisco. “Replay Sundays,” 9pm, free.
The Edge: 4149 18th St., San Francisco. “’80s at 8,” w/ DJ MC2, 8pm
Elbo Room: 647 Valencia, San Francisco. “Dub Mission,” w/ Mungo’s Hi Fi featuring Solo Banton, DJ Sep, 9pm, $12-$17.
The EndUp: 401 Sixth St., San Francisco. “T.Dance,” 6am-6pm; “The Rhythm Room,” Second Sunday of every month, 8pm
F8: 1192 Folsom, San Francisco. “Stamina,” w/ Drumsound & Bassline Smith, 10pm, free.
The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. “Sweater Funk,” 10pm, free.
Lookout: 3600 16th St., San Francisco. “Jock,” Sundays, 3-8pm, $2.
MatrixFillmore: 3138 Fillmore, San Francisco. “Bounce,” w/ DJ Just, 10pm
Otis: 25 Maiden, San Francisco. “What’s the Werd?,” w/ resident DJs Nick Williams, Kevin Knapp, Maxwell Dub, and guests, 9pm, $5 (free before 11pm).
The Parlor: 2801 Leavenworth, San Francisco. “Sunday Sessions,” w/ DJ Marc deVasconcelos, 9pm, free.
Q Bar: 456 Castro, San Francisco. “Gigante,” 8pm, free.
Temple: 540 Howard, San Francisco. “Sunset Arcade: Mardi Gras Madness,” 18+ dance party & game night with Mt. Eden, Sound It Out, Harris Pilton, Russ Mack, Self Dustrukt, Saphyre, more, 8pm, $10-$20; “Sunset Arcade,” 18+ dance party & game night, 9pm, $10.
HIP-HOP
Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. “Return of the Cypher,” 9:30pm, free.
ACOUSTIC
Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. Levi Strom, Matthew Hable, The Gospel Flats, 8pm, $8-$10.
Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. David Novick, Matt Kivel, 8:30pm, $6.
Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. Maggie McClure, Jessica Campbell, Essence, Sara Beth Go, 8pm, $10.
The Lucky Horseshoe: 453 Cortland, San Francisco. Bernal Mountain Bluegrass Jam, 4pm, free; The Bernal Hillbillies, Second Sunday of every month, 8pm
Madrone Art Bar: 500 Divisadero, San Francisco. “Spike’s Mic Night,” Sundays, 4-8pm, free.
Milk Bar: 1840 Haight, San Francisco. Lonesome Locomotive, Rocket Frog Rodeo, Dusty Green Bones Band, 4pm, free.
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church: 1755 Clay, San Francisco. “Sunday Night Mic,” w/ Roem Baur, 5pm, free.
Tupelo: 1337 Green, San Francisco. “Twang Sundays,” w/ The Coburns, 7pm, free.
JAZZ
Chez Hanny: 1300 Silver, San Francisco. Calvin Keys Trio, 4pm, $20 suggested donation.
Feinstein’s at the Nikko: 222 Mason, San Francisco. Paula West, 7pm, $35-$50.
Jazz Bistro at Les Joulins: 44 Ellis, San Francisco. Bill “Doc” Webster & Jazz Nostalgia, 7:30pm, free.
Madrone Art Bar: 500 Divisadero, San Francisco. “Sunday Sessions,” 10pm, free.
Martuni’s: 4 Valencia, San Francisco. Madame Jo Trio, second Sunday of every month, 4-6pm, free.
Pier 23 Cafe: Pier 23, San Francisco. Gary Flores Ensemble, 5pm, free.
Revolution Cafe: 3248 22nd St., San Francisco. Jazz Revolution, 4pm, free/donation.
SFJAZZ Center: 205 Franklin, San Francisco. Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers, playing the music of Sarah Vaughan (in the Joe Henderson Lab), 5:30 & 7pm, $30.
Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Kris Bowers Quintet featuring Julia Easterlin, Myele Manzanza Trio with Mark de Clive-Lowe & Ben Shepherd, 7pm, $17-$19.
Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Carol Luckenbach, 7:30pm, free.
INTERNATIONAL
Atmosphere: 447 Broadway, San Francisco. “Hot Bachata Nights,” w/ DJ El Guapo, 5:30pm, $10-$20.
Bissap Baobab: 3372 19th St., San Francisco. “Brazil & Beyond,” 6:30pm, free.
El Rio: 3158 Mission, San Francisco. Salsa Sundays, Second and Fourth Sunday of every month, 3pm, $8-$10.
Thirsty Bear Brewing Company: 661 Howard, San Francisco. “The Flamenco Room,” 7:30 & 8:30pm
BLUES
Lou’s Fish Shack: 300 Jefferson, San Francisco. Sam Johnson, 4pm
The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. Blues Power, 4pm; The Door Slammers, Second Sunday of every month, 9:30pm
Sheba Piano Lounge: 1419 Fillmore, San Francisco. Bohemian Knuckleboogie, 8pm, free.
Swig: 571 Geary, San Francisco. Sunday Blues Jam with Ed Ivey, 9pm
COUNTRY
The Riptide: 3639 Taraval, San Francisco. Joe Goldmark & The Seducers, Second Sunday of every month, 7:30pm, free.
SOUL
Delirium Cocktails: 3139 16th St., San Francisco. “Heart & Soul,” w/ DJ Lovely Lesage, 10pm, free.

MONDAY 10
ROCK
Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. Books on Fate, Night Train, City of Women, 6pm, $5.
Milk Bar: 1840 Haight, San Francisco. Lemme Adams, Red Ribbon, Charm, 9pm, free.
DANCE
DNA Lounge: 375 11th St., San Francisco. “Death Guild,” 18+ dance party with DJs Decay, Joe Radio, Melting Girl, & guests, 9:30pm, $3-$5.
Q Bar: 456 Castro, San Francisco. “Wanted,” w/ DJs Key&Kite and Richie Panic, 9pm, free.
Underground SF: 424 Haight, San Francisco. “Vienetta Discotheque,” w/ DJs Stanley Frank and Robert Jeffrey, 10pm, free.
ACOUSTIC
Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. The Pick Bluegrass Jam, Second Monday of every month, 6pm, free; Toshio Hirano, Second Monday of every month, 9pm, free.
Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. Scott Barkan, Muncie, The Old Way, 9pm, $5.
The Chapel: 777 Valencia, San Francisco. Diane Cluck, Sondra Sun-Odeon, 8pm, $13-$15.
The Chieftain: 198 Fifth St., San Francisco. The Wrenboys, 7pm, free.
Elbo Room: 647 Valencia, San Francisco. The Riverbreaks, Evan & The Eccentrics, 9pm, $8.
Fiddler’s Green: 1333 Columbus, San Francisco. Terry Savastano, 9:30pm, free/donation.
Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. Open Mic with Brendan Getzell, 8pm, free.
Osteria: 3277 Sacramento, San Francisco. “Acoustic Bistro,” 7pm, free.
The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. Peter Lindman, 4pm
JAZZ
Jazz Bistro at Les Joulins: 44 Ellis, San Francisco. Eugene Pliner Quartet with Tod Dickow, 7:30pm, free.
Le Colonial: 20 Cosmo, San Francisco. Le Jazz Hot, 7pm, free.
Sheba Piano Lounge: 1419 Fillmore, San Francisco. City Jazz Instrumental Jam Session, 8pm
Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Nora Maki, 7:30pm, free.
REGGAE
Skylark Bar: 3089 16th St., San Francisco. “Skylarking,” w/ I&I Vibration, 10pm, free.
BLUES
The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. The Bachelors, 9:30pm
EXPERIMENTAL
Center for New Music: 55 Taylor, San Francisco. Thom Blum: Soundscraper, 8pm, $10-$15.
SOUL
Madrone Art Bar: 500 Divisadero, San Francisco. “M.O.M. (Motown on Mondays),” w/ DJ Gordo Cabeza & Timoteo Gigante, 8pm, free.

TUESDAY 11
ROCK
Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. Cellar Doors, Cool Ghouls, 9:15pm continues through March 25, $7-$10.
Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. Little Sister, Apogee Sound Club, The Secret Secretaries, 8:30pm, $8.
El Rio: 3158 Mission, San Francisco. Alone in the Universe, Miss Massive Snowflake, Lucid Optics, 7pm, $5.
Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. Lo Cash Ninjas, Jokes for Feelings, Spawn Atomic, Black Dream, 9pm, $5.
The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. Shannon & The Clams, Marriage & Cancer, Mane, DJ Hang The, 9:30pm, $8.
DANCE
Aunt Charlie’s Lounge: 133 Turk, San Francisco. “High Fantasy,” w/ DJ Viv, Myles Cooper, & guests, 10pm, $2.
Harlot: 46 Minna, San Francisco. “Tutu Tuesday,” w/ resident DJ Atish, Second Tuesday of every month, 9pm, $7 ($2 in a tutu before 11pm).
Monarch: 101 Sixth St., San Francisco. “Soundpieces,” 10pm, free-$10.
Q Bar: 456 Castro, San Francisco. “Switch,” w/ DJs Jenna Riot & Andre, 9pm, $3.
Underground SF: 424 Haight, San Francisco. “Shelter,” 10pm, free.
Wish: 1539 Folsom, San Francisco. “Tight,” w/ resident DJs Michael May & Lito, 8pm, free.
HIP-HOP
Double Dutch: 3192 16th St., San Francisco. “Takin’ It Back Tuesdays,” w/ DJs Mr. Murdock & Roman Nunez, Second Tuesday of every month, 10pm, free.
ACOUSTIC
Bazaar Cafe: 5927 California, San Francisco. Songwriter in Residence: Lonnie Lazar, 7pm continues through March 25.
Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. Amy Obenski, ArtemesiaBlack, David Colón, 8pm, $7.
Plough & Stars: 116 Clement, San Francisco. Seisiún with Barry O’Connell & Vinnie Cronin, 9pm
Rickshaw Stop: 155 Fell, San Francisco. Scott H. Biram, Larry & His Flask, Whiskey Shivers, Tom VandenAvond, 7:30pm, $13.
JAZZ
Beach Chalet Brewery & Restaurant: 1000 Great Highway, San Francisco. Gerry Grosz Jazz Jam, 7pm
Blush! Wine Bar: 476 Castro, San Francisco. Kally Price & Rob Reich, 7pm, free.
Burritt Room: 417 Stockton St., San Francisco. Terry Disley’s Rocking Jazz Trio, 6pm, free.
Cafe Divine: 1600 Stockton, San Francisco. Chris Amberger, 7pm
Jazz Bistro at Les Joulins: 44 Ellis, San Francisco. Clifford Lamb, Mel Butts, and Friends, 7:30pm, free.
Le Colonial: 20 Cosmo, San Francisco. Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers, 7pm
Revolution Cafe: 3248 22nd St., San Francisco. West Side Jazz Club, 5pm, free.
Tupelo: 1337 Green, San Francisco. Mal Sharpe’s Big Money in Jazz Band, 6pm
Verdi Club: 2424 Mariposa, San Francisco. “Tuesday Night Jump,” w/ Stompy Jones, 9pm, $10-$12.
Wine Kitchen: 507 Divisadero St., San Francisco. Hot Club Pacific, 7:30pm
Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Tommy Igoe Big Band, 8pm, $22.
Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Riley Bandy, 7:30pm, free.
INTERNATIONAL
Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. Gautam Tejas Ganeshan, Classical Revolution, Cash Pony, 7:30pm, $7-$10.
Cafe Cocomo: 650 Indiana, San Francisco. Salsa Tuesday, w/ DJs Good Sho & El de la Clave, 8:30pm, $10.
The Cosmo Bar & Lounge: 440 Broadway, San Francisco. Conga Tuesdays, 8pm, $7-$10.
F8: 1192 Folsom, San Francisco. “Underground Nomads,” w/ rotating resident DJs Amar, Sep, and Dulce Vita, plus guests, 9pm, $5 (free before 9:30pm).
REGGAE
Milk Bar: 1840 Haight, San Francisco. “Bless Up,” w/ Jah Warrior Shelter Hi-Fi, 10pm
BLUES
Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. Ron Thompson & The Resistors, 7:30 & 9:30pm, $15.
EXPERIMENTAL
Center for New Music: 55 Taylor, San Francisco. sfSoundSalonSeries, w/ Joan La Barbara, 7:49pm, $10-$15.
SOUL
Make-Out Room: 3225 22nd St., San Francisco. “Lost & Found,” w/ DJs Primo, Lucky, and guests, 9:30pm, free. 2

Theater Listings: March 5 – 11, 2014

Michael Redmond
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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

Crystal Springs Eureka Theatre, 215 Jackson, SF; www.crystalspringstheplay.com. $20-65. Previews Thu/6, 8pm. Opens Fri/7, 8pm. Runs Fri-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. Through March 23. Eureka Theatre presents Kathy Rucker’s world-premiere drama about parenting in the digital age.

BAY AREA

Accidental Death of an Anarchist Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Roda Theatre, 2015 Addison, Berk; www.berkeleyrep.org. $29-99. Previews Fri/7-Sat/8 and Tue/11, 8pm; Sun/9, 7pm. Opens March 12, 8pm. Runs Tue and Thu-Sat, 8pm (no show April 18; additional 2pm shows March 20 and April 17; also Sat, 2pm, but no matinee March 22); Sun, 2 and 7pm. Through April 20. Berkeley Rep presents comic actor Steven Epp in Dario Fo’s explosive political farce, directed by Christopher Bayes,

Once On This Island Lucie Stern Theatre, 1305 Middlefield, Palo Alto; www.theatreworks.org. $19-73. Previews Wed/5-Fri/7, 8pm. Opens Sat/8, 8pm. Runs Tue-Wed, 7:30pm; Thu-Sat, 8pm (also Sat, 2pm); Sun, 2 and 7pm. Through March 30. TheatreWorks performs the Tony-nominated musical about a star-crossed love affair in the tropics, inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid.

ONGOING

The Altruists Shelton Theater, 533 Sutter, SF; www.shewolftheater.com. $19-34. Thu/6-Sat/8, 8pm. She Wolf Theater performs Nicky Silver’s “politically incorrect” play that exposes the real motivations behind altruistic behavior.

Children Are Forever (All Sales are Final!) Stage Werx Theatre, 446 Valencia, SF; www.brownpapertickets.com. $15. Fri-Sat, 8pm. Through March 22. Writer-performer and comedian Julia Jackson’s well acted and consistently funny autobiographical solo show details her and her female partner’s attempt to adopt a newborn girl from a young African American mother in Florida. Along the way, Jackson’s smart script details the trials, red tape, and unexpected market incentives in the field of adoption for a same-sex, interracial couple. If the generally involving story nevertheless attenuates a little across its two-act structure, Coke Nakamoto’s precise direction (which builds on original direction by W. Kamau Bell) offers a lively framework for Jackson’s excellent characterizations as well as her frank and interesting commentary on the social, political messiness of certain natural urges. (Avila)

Feisty Old Jew Marsh San Francisco Main Stage, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. $25-100. Sat, 8pm; Sun, 7pm (Sun/9, performance will be a reading of Charlie Varon’s Fish Sisters). Through March 16. Charlie Varon performs his latest solo show, a fictional comedy about “a 20th century man living in a 21st century city.”

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.

Hundred Days Z Space, 450 Florida, SF; www.zspace.org. $10-100. Wed and Sun, 7pm; Thu-Sat, 8pm. Through April 6. Married musical duo the Bengsons (Abigail and Shaun) provide the real-life inspiration and guiding rock ‘n’ roll heart for this uneven but at times genuinely rousing indie musical drama, a self-referential meta-theater piece relating the story of a young couple in 1940s America who fall madly in love only to discover one of them is terminally ill. As an exploration of love, mortality, and the nature of time, the story of Sarah and Will (doubled by the Bengsons and, in movement sequences and more dramatically detailed scenes, by chorus members Amy Lizardo and Reggie D. White) draws force from the potent musical performances and songwriting of composer-creators Abigail and Shaun Bengson (augmented here by the appealing acting-singing chorus and backup band that also feature El Beh, Melissa Kaitlyn Carter, Geneva Harrison, Kate Kilbane, Jo Lampert, Delane Mason, Joshua Pollock). Playwright Kate E. Ryan’s book, however, proves too straightforward, implausible, and sentimental to feel like an adequate vessel for the music’s exuberant, urgent emotion and lilting, longing introspection. Other trappings of director Anne Kauffman’s elaborate production (including an inspired set design by Kris Stone that echoes the raw industrial shell of the theater; and less-than-inspired choreography by the otherwise endlessly inventive Joe Goode) can add texture at times but also prove either neutral figures or distracting minuses in conveying what truth and heft there is in the material. Ultimately, this still evolving world premiere has a strong musical beat at its core, which has a palpable force of its own, even if it’s yet to settle into the right combination of story and staging. (Avila)

Jerusalem San Francisco Playhouse, 450 Post, SF; www.sfplayhouse.org. $20-100. Wed/5-Thu/6, 7pm; Fri/7-Sat/8, 8pm (also Sat/8, 3pm). SF Playhouse presents the West Coast premiere of English playwright Jez Butterworth’s West End and Broadway hit, a three-act revel led by a larger-than-life rebel, a stout boozed-up drug-dealer, habitual fabulist, and latter-day Digger of sorts named Johnny “Rooster” Byron (Brian Dykstra). The dominion of this Falstaffian giant is the English countryside outside his squalid trailer door, not far from Stonehenge, where he seems to incarnate a rather dissipated version of an ancient English independence, like one of the great mythical beings of rural lore. Aptly enough, it’s Saint George’s Day, the feast day of England’s national saint, but it’s not all a party this time around. Authorities have issued a final 24-hour eviction notice on Rooster’s tin door; there are luxury apartments in the works; and there’s concern in town about the underage teens who flock to Rooster like so many fledglings — one, in particular, has gone missing: Phaedra (Julia Belanoff), who we see at the very outset of the play donning a fairy costume and singing the title song, based on the Blake poem and England’s unofficial national anthem. The next 24 hours will be either the breaking point or the apotheosis for all Rooster has made himself out to be. In Butterworth’s big-eyed comedy, we are meant to feel a stake in this outcome whether we actually like Rooster or not — his independence, the scope of his life and vision, suggests the outer limit of possibility in an ever more disciplined and circumscribed world. Director Bill English (who also designed the impressive bucolic-trailer-park set) and his large cast (which includes a strong Ian Scott McGregor as longtime Rooster sidekick, Ginger) dive into the comedy with gusto. But somehow the drama, the larger stakes in the storyline, falls short. A certain requisite intensity and momentum are only fitfully achieved. Dykstra, as the expansive antihero, has the biggest burden here. And while he has an appealing swagger throughout, his wayward brogue and unconvincing bellicosity undercut the culmination of the play’s (admittedly somewhat overwrought) mythopoeic proportions. (Avila)

Lovebirds Marsh San Francisco Studio, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. $15-50. Thu-Fri, 8pm; Sat, 8:30pm. Through March 15. Theater artist and comedian Marga Gomez presents the world premiere of her 10th solo show, described as “a rollicking tale of incurable romantics.”

Mommy Queerest Exit Studio, 156 Eddy, SF; www.divafest.info. $15-25. Fri-Sat, 8pm. Through March 29. DIVAfest and Guerrilla Rep present Kat Evasco (who co-wrote with John Caldon) in an autobiographical solo comedy about the relationship between a lesbian daughter and her closeted lesbian mother.

Napoli! ACT’s Geary Theater, 415 Geary, SF; www.act-sf.org. $10-120. Wed/5-Sat/8, 8pm (also Sat/8, 2pm); Sun/9, 2pm. American Conservatory Theater offers Bay Area audiences a rare look at one of the Neapolitan plays by Italy’s famed writer Eduardo De Filippo (1900-1984). Set in a humble home in working-class Naples during and just after World War II, amid the transition from Fascism to the postwar order, the play’s broad comedy comes with a strong undercurrent of social drama, as well as unexpectedly poignant moments. Its hero is the head of the household, Gennaro (former ACT core company member Marco Barricelli in a boisterous and gently moving performance), whose upright nature proves increasingly out-of-step with the times and indeed his own family, as his wife, Amalia (a commanding Seana McKenna), begins a black-market trade in coffee beans that becomes an all-out family crime ring by war’s end. While this dynamic offers fodder for some rather hokey if not unenjoyable comedy, the play gathers itself into a serious and timely indictment of privilege and its corrosion of community, as well as the need for solidarity as the only viable, indeed the only satisfying way forward. If the message and the playwright-messenger (De Fillipo, also an actor, originated the part of Gennaro himself) come across today as somewhat heavy-handed, it remains hard to dismiss Napoli! as just a museum piece. That’s due in part to director Mark Rucker’s large and graceful cast, as well as a buoyant new translation by Linda Alper and ACT’s Beatrice Basso. But it’s also the prescience and appositeness for us, all these many years later and miles away, of the play’s fundamentally social and political concerns. (Avila)

“Risk Is This … The Cutting Ball New Experimental Plays Festival” Tides Theater, 533 Sutter, Second Flr; www.cuttingball.com. Free ($20 donation for reserved seating). Fri-Sat, 8pm. (Starting March 14, venue changes to Exit on Taylor, 277 Taylor, SF). Through March 29. Five new works in staged readings, including two from Cutting Ball resident playwright Andrew Saito.

The Scion Marsh San Francisco, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. $15-60. Thu-Fri, 8pm; Sat, 5pm. Through April 18. In his latest solo show, Brian Copeland (Not a Genuine Black Man; The Waiting Period) explores an infamous crime in his hometown of San Leandro: the 2000 murder of three government meat inspectors by Stuart Alexander, owner of the Santos Linguisa Factory. The story is personal history for Copeland, at least indirectly, as the successful comedian and TV host recounts growing up nearby under the common stricture that “rules are rules,” despite evidence all around that equity, fairness, and justice are in fact deeply skewed by privilege. Developed with director David Ford, the multiple-character monologue (delivered with fitful humor on a bare-bones stage with supportive sound design by David Hines) contrasts Copeland’s own youthful experiences as a target of racial profiling with the way wealthy and white neighbor Stuart Alexander, a serial bully and thug, consistently evaded punishment and even police attention along his path to becoming the “Sausage King,” a mayoral candidate, and a multiple murderer (Alexander died in 2005 at San Quentin). The story takes some meandering turns in making its points, and not all of Copeland’s characterizations are equally compelling. The subject matter is timely enough, however, though ironically it is government that seems to set itself further than ever above the law as much as wealthy individuals or the bogus “legal persons” of the corporate world. The results of such concentrated power are indeed unhealthy, and literally so — Copeland’s grandmother (one of his more persuasive characterizations) harbors a deep distrust of processed food that is nothing if not prescient —but The Scion’s tale of two San Leandrans leaves one hungry for more complexity. (Avila)

Shit & Champagne Rebel, 1772 Market, SF; shitandchampagne.eventbrite.com. $25. Fri-Sat, 8pm. Open-ended. D’Arcy Drollinger is Champagne White, bodacious blonde innocent with a wicked left hook in this cross-dressing ’70s-style white-sploitation flick, played out live on Rebel’s intimate but action-packed barroom stage. Written by Drollinger and co-directed with Laurie Bushman (with high-flying choreography by John Paolillo, Drollinger, and Matthew Martin), this high-octane camp send-up of a favored formula comes dependably stocked with stock characters and delightfully protracted by a convoluted plot (involving, among other things, a certain street drug that’s triggered an epidemic of poopy pants) — all of it played to the hilt by an excellent cast that includes Martin as Dixie Stampede, an evil corporate dominatrix at the head of some sinister front for world domination called Mal*Wart; Alex Brown as Detective Jack Hammer, rough-hewn cop on the case and ambivalent love interest; Rotimi Agbabiaka as Sergio, gay Puerto Rican impresario and confidante; Steven Lemay as Brandy, high-end calf model and Champagne’s (much) beloved roommate; and Nancy French as Rod, Champagne’s doomed fiancé. Sprawling often literally across two buxom acts, the show maintains admirable consistency: the energy never flags and the brow stays decidedly low. (Avila)

The Speakeasy Undisclosed location (ticket buyers receive a text with directions), SF; www.thespeakeasysf.com. $60-90 (add-ons: casino chips, $5; dance lessons, $10). Thu-Sat, 7:40, 7:50, and 8pm admittance times. Through March 15. Boxcar Theater’s most ambitious project to date is also one of the more involved and impressively orchestrated theatrical experiences on any Bay Area stage just now. An immersive time-tripping environmental work, The Speakeasy takes place in an “undisclosed location” (in fact, a wonderfully redesigned version of the company’s Hyde Street theater complex) amid a period-specific cocktail lounge, cabaret, and gambling den inhabited by dozens of Prohibition-era characters and scenarios that unfold around an audience ultimately invited to wander around at will. At one level, this is an invitation to pure dress-up social entertainment. But there are artistic aims here too. Intentionally designed (by co-director and creator Nick A. Olivero with co-director Peter Ruocco) as a fractured super-narrative — in which audiences perceive snatches of overheard stories rather than complete arcs, and can follow those of their own choosing — there’s a way the piece becomes specifically and ever more subtly about time itself. This is most pointedly demonstrated in the opening vignettes in the cocktail lounge, where even the ticking of Joe’s Clock Shop (the “cover” storefront for the illicit 1920s den inside) can be heard underscoring conversations (deeply ironic in historical hindsight) about war, loss, and regained hope for the future. For a San Francisco currently gripped by a kind of historical double-recurrence of the roaring Twenties and dire Thirties at once, The Speakeasy is not a bad place to sit and ponder the simulacra of our elusive moment. (Avila)

Tipped & Tipsy Marsh Studio Theater, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. $15-50. Sat, 5pm; Sun, 7pm. Through April 6. Solo performer Jill Vice performs her Fringe Festival hit.

Ubu Roi Exit on Taylor, 277 Taylor, SF; www.cuttingball.com. $10-50. Thu/6, 7:30pm; Fri/7-Sat/8, 8pm (also Sat/8, 2pm); Sun/9, 5pm. Cutting Ball Theater performs Alfred Jarry’s avant-garde parody of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, presented in a new translation by Cutting Ball artistic director Rob Melrose.

The World of Paradox Garage, 715 Bryant, SF; www.paradoxmagic.com. $12-15. Mon, 8pm (no show Mon/10). Through April 7. Footloose presents David Facer in his solo show, a mix of magic and theater.

The World’s Funniest Bubble Show Marsh San Francisco, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. $8-11. Sun, 11am. Through March 9. The popular, kid-friendly show by Louis Pearl (aka “The Amazing Bubble Man”) returns to the Marsh.

Yellow New Conservatory Theatre Center, 25 Van Ness, SF; www.nctcsf.org. $25-45. Wed-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. Through March 23. New Conservatory Theatre Center performs the Bay Area premiere of Del Shores’ Mississippi-set family drama.

BAY AREA

Bread and Circuses La Val’s Subterranean, 1834 Euclid, Berk; www.impacttheatre.com. $20-25. Thu-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 7pm. Through April 6. Impact Theatre performs “a cavalcade of brutal and bloody new short plays” by various contemporary playwrights.

Escanabe in da Moonlight Live Oak Theatre, 1301 Shattuck, Berk; www.theatrefirst.com. $10-30. Thu/6-Sat/8, 8pm. TheatreFIRST performs Jeff Daniels’ raucous comedy.

Geezer Marsh Berkeley, 2120 Allston, Berk; www.themarsh.org. $25-50. Thu, 8pm; Sat, 5pm. Through April 26. Geoff Hoyle moves his hit comedy about aging to the East Bay.

Gideon’s Knot Aurora Theatre, 2081 Addison, Berk; www.auroratheatre.org. $32-60. Wed/5-Sat/8, 8pm; Sun/9, 2 and 7pm. Aurora and director Jon Tracy’s Bay Area premiere of Johnna Adams’ two-hander features strong acting, strong enough almost to make us believe in its premise. A harried mother named Corryn (a terrific Jamie J. Jones) arrives at the empty middle-school classroom overseen by a distracted teacher, Heather (a subdued yet agitated Stacy Ross). Corryn, proud but somehow desperate, admits to having not slept. Heather initially doesn’t know why she’s there — until it becomes clear she’s the mother of a recent suicide, who has come to keep her appointment for a parent-teacher conference. The two women await the arrival of the absent principal, but Corryn presses for answers now to the circumstances surrounding her child’s final days, which included his suspension from school and a beating received at the hands of fellow students. Heather, who seems to be hiding some separate anxiety or grief of her own (and is, though what we don’t learn until nearly the end of the play), does her best to deflect any such conversation until the principal arrives but is soon embroiled in an argument with the headstrong and canny mother in front of her, a literature professor at a major university. Their dance centers on Corryn’s son’s last assignment, a short story, one his teacher sees as nothing but “hate-filled poisonous attacks,” but his mother calls “poetry.” In addition to the clash between a teacher’s authority and a mother’s regard, there’s a class component to these differing perspectives, we presume. Yet there is a real issue here, somewhere, about art and education and authority — or would be if it did not end up buried along with the young writer we never meet. Playwright Adams advances the dramatic tension by tacking this way and that around her subject, but loses sight of the shore meanwhile, as her characters debate whether or not the short story contains a virtuous accusation against an instance of child abuse, only to drop this crux a moment later in a hard-to-credit squeamishness on Corryn’s part over the potentially homoerotic longings of her deceased son. The final note lands in an even hokier key of mutual sorrow and understanding. (Avila)

The House That Will Not Stand Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison, Berk; www.berkeleyrep.org. $29-59. Tue and Thu-Sat, 8pm (also Sat and March 13, 2pm); Wed, 7pm; Sun, 2 and 7pm. Through March 16. July 4, 1836: As a white New Orleans patriarch (Ray Reinhardt) passes from the scene, under somewhat mysterious circumstances, his longtime mistress, Beartrice (an imposing, memorable Lizan Mitchell), and their daughters (the charmingly varied trio of Joniece Abbott-Pratt, Flor De Liz Perez, and Tiffany Rachelle Stewart) — all free women of color — vie for dominance while trying to secure their respective futures in Berkeley Rep’s sumptuous and beautifully acted world premiere. Nationally acclaimed playwright and Oakland native Marcus Gardley (And Jesus Moonwalked the Mississippi; This World in a Woman’s Hands) brews up a historically rich and revealing, as well as witty and fiery tale here, based on the practice of plaçage (common-law marriages between white men and black Creole women), grounding it in the large personalities of his predominately female characters — who include a nosy and angling intruder (played with subtlety by Petronia Paley) — and lacing it all with a delirious dose of magical realism via the voodoo charms of Beartrice’s slave, Makeda (Harriett D. Foy, who with Keith Townsend Obadike also contributes lush, atmospheric compositions to the proceedings). Gardley delves productively into the history overall, although he sometimes indulges it too much in awkward and ultimately unnecessary expository dialogue. When he allows his characters full scope for expression of their personalities and relationships, however, the dialogue sails by with brio and punch —something the powerhouse cast, shrewdly directed by Patricia McGregor, makes the most of throughout. (Avila)

Lasso of Truth Marin Theatre Company, 397 Miller, Mill Valley; www.marintheatre.org. $37-58. Tue and Thu-Sat, 8pm (also Thu/6, 1pm; March 15, 2pm); Wed, 7:30pm; Sun, 2 and 7pm. Through March 16. Marin Theatre Company performs Carson Kreitzer’s new play about the history of Wonder Woman.

The Lion and the Fox Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant, Berk; www.centralworks.org. $15-28. Thu-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 5pm. Through March 30. Central Works performs a prequel to its 2009 hit, Machiavelli’s The Prince, which depicts a face-off between Niccolo Machiavelli and Cesare Borgia.

A Maze Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby, Berk; www.justtheater.org. $20-25. Wed/5-Sat/8, 8pm; Sun/9, 5pm. Following a well-received run last summer at Live Oak Theater, Just Theater’s West Coast premiere of Pittsburgh-based playwright Rob Handel’s 2011 jigsaw drama gets a second life, courtesy of presenter Shotgun Players, in this remounting at Ashby Stage. Half the pleasure of a play like this is the unfolding of its serpentine plot, which becomes much more linear in the second half but initially seems to hover around three very disparate situations: 17-year-old Jessica (Frannie Morrison), recently escaped from eight years of captivity in the home and cellar of her kidnapper, prepares for an interview with a Barbara Walters-like TV journalist (Lauren Spencer); Oksana (Sarah Moser) and Paul (Harold Pierce), who head up their own highly successful rock band (suggestively titled the Pathetic Fallacy), are in the midst of a tough transition as Oksana checks Paul into rehab; and a fairytale King (Lasse Christiensen) responds to the Queen’s (Janis DeLucia) news that they are about to have an “heir” by beginning construction on a gigantic, seemingly endless maze emanating outward from their cozy den to the furthest reaches of the kingdom. Meanwhile, the director of the rehab clinic (Carl Holvick-Thomas) introduces Paul to another artist-resident, a fussy, eccentric author named Beeson (Clive Worsley) at work on a multi-volume graphic novel of maddening intricacy. As the three storylines begin to coalesce, the play asks us to consider questions about artistic liberty, authorship, responsibility, human connection — big themes like that. It does so in a mostly playful, only slightly eerie way, despite the grim central situation revolving around the bright and surprisingly outgoing Jessica. Employing almost the identical cast as last time, again under director Molly Aaronson-Gelb, the proceedings unfold with generally solid acting, if not always persuasive dialogue, at least where things are meant to be more or less realistic (to an extent, the fairytale segment comes across more compellingly for being strictly bound by the artificial nature of its narrative). There’s a quirky quality to the play, and the production, that amuses, even as the coy plotline bemuses. And much like an amusement park adventure, the play makes sure no one really gets lost. This is a play that is happy to tell you the various ways the central “maze” might be read metaphorically, for instance, so that everything is tidy and clear — like a fairytale, or a graphic novel — not so mysterious in the end, just tinged with a kind of comfortable melancholy. (Avila)

The Music Man Julia Morgan Theater, 2640 College, Berk; www.berkeleyplayhouse.org. $17-60. Fri and March 20, 7pm; Sat, 1 and 6pm; Sun, noon and 5pm. Through March 23. There’s trouble in River City! See it unfold amid all those trombones at Berkeley Playhouse.

PERFORMANCE/DANCE

“Acentos Revival” Red Poppy Art House, 2698 Folsom, SF; www.redpoppyarthouse.org. Thu/6, 7:30pm. $10-15. Three featured poets and two open mic segments.

“Bad Ass B!tches” Bindlestiff Studio, 185 Sixth St, SF; www.bindlestiffstudio.org. Sat/8, 9pm. $12. Performance extravaganza in honor of International Women’s Day, with comedy, burlesque, live music, dance, and more.

“The Balcony” Exit on Taylor, 277 Taylor, SF; www.cuttingball.com. Sun/9, 1pm. Free. Cutting Ball Theater’s Hidden Classics Reading Series presents this reading of Jean Genet’s experimental play.

“Belles and Whistles Variety Show” Boom Boom Room, 1601 Fillmore, SF; www.boomboomblues.com. Tue/11, 8:30pm. $10. Comedian Danny Dechi hosts this variety show of music, comedy, magic, dance, and more.

“Black Choreographers Festival: Here & Now” ODC Theater, 3153 17th St, SF; www.bcfhereandnow.com. Thu/6-Sat/8, 8pm. $18-30. “Draft/By Series” presented by Robert Moses’ Kin in association with the Black Choreographers Festival and ODC Theater.

“The Buddy Club Children’s Shows” Randall Museum Theater, 199 Museum Wy, SF; www.thebuddyclub.com. Sun/9, 11am-noon. $8. With illusionist Timothy James.

Caroline Lugo and Carolé Acuña’s Ballet Flamenco Peña Pachamama, 1630 Powell, SF; www.carolinalugo.com. Sat/8, March 16, 22, and 30, 6:15pm. $15-19. Flamenco performance by the mother-daughter dance company, featuring live musicians.

“Comedy Bottle with Sean Keane” Purple Onion at Kells, 530 Jackson, SF; www.purpleonionatkells.com. Fri/7-Sat/8, 7pm. $10. The stand-up comedian performs.

Feinstein’s at the Nikko Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason, SF; www.feinsteinssf.com. This week: Paula West, Thu/6-Fri/7, 8pm; Sat/8-Sun/9, 7pm (also Sat/8, 9:30pm), $35-50.

“Letter from Birmingham Jail” Grace Cathedral, 1100 California, SF; www.gracecathedral.org. Mon/10, 7:30pm. $30-50. Acclaimed actor and playwright Anna Deavere Smith perfoms in this performance of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s landmark document of the civil rights movement.

“Magic at the Rex” Hotel Rex, 562 Sutter, SF; www.magicattherex.com. Sat, 8pm. Ongoing. $25. Magic and mystery with Adam Sachs and mentalist Sebastian Boswell III.

“The Magic Flute” Center for New Music, 55 Taylor, SF; themagicflute.brownpapertickets.com. Fri/7, 7pm. $15-20. Waffle Opera performs a stripped-down version of Mozart’s classic, with new English dialogue.

“Peiling Kao and Christy Funsch” Meridian Gallery, 535 Powell, SF; www.meridiangallery.org. Fri/7-Sat/8, 6pm. $8-10. Choreographer-performers Kao and Funsch perform a work inspired by Abby Leigh’s current exhibit in the gallery, with live music and additional performances by Aura Fischbeck and Celine Alwyn Parker.

“Point Break Live!” DNA Lounge, 373 11th St, SF; www.dnalounge.com. Fri/7 and April 4, 7:30 and 11pm. $25-50. Dude, Point Break Live! is like dropping into a monster wave, or holding up a bank, like, just a pure adrenaline rush, man. Ahem. Sorry, but I really can’t help but channel Keanu Reeves and his Johnny Utah character when thinking about the awesomely bad 1991 movie Point Break or its equally yummily cheesy stage adaptation. And if you do an even better Keanu impression than me — the trick is in the vacant stare and stoner drawl — then you can play his starring role amid a cast of solid actors, reading from cue cards from a hilarious production assistant in order to more closely approximate Keanu’s acting ability. This play is just so much fun, even better now at DNA Lounge than it was a couple years ago at CELLspace. But definitely buy the poncho pack and wear it, because the blood, spit, and surf spray really do make this a fully immersive experience. (Steven T. Jones)

“Rotunda Dance Series: Gamelan Sekar Jaya” San Francisco City Hall, 1 Carlton B. Goodlett Pl, SF; www.dancersgroup.org. Fri/7, noon. Free. The Balinese music and dance ensemble performs.

San Francisco A Cappella Festival Palace of Fine Arts, 3301 Lyon, SF; harmony-sweepstakes.com/bayarea.html. Sat/8, 8pm. $29.50. With hosts Ro Sham Bo and 38th Ave., Business Casual, Halfway to Midnight, Hearsay, Loose Interpretations, and others.

Sarah Berges Dance Dance Mission Theater, 3316 24th St, SF; www.sarahbergesdance.com. Fri/7-Sat/8, 8pm; Sun/9, 4pm. $10-15. Spring Season 2014 performance with premieres including The Black Dahlia, Kyrie, and The Kiss.

“Writers with Drinks” Make-Out Room, 3225 22nd St, SF; www.writerswithdrinks.com. Sat/8, 7:30pm. $5-10. With Clifford Chase, Rachel Cantor, AV Flox, and Melissa Broder.

BAY AREA

Bay Area Playback Theatre Open Secret, 923 C St, San Rafael; www.brownpapertickets.com. Sat/9, 8pm. $12-18. Improv based on true tales from the audience.

“Collage des Cultures Africaines Dance and Drum Conference” Oakland Technical High School Theater, 4351 Broadway, Oakl; www.diamanocoura.org. Sat/8, 8pm. $15-30. A gala performance highlights this weekend-long conference and class series hosted by the Diamano Coura West African Dance Company. Check website for complete schedule of events.

Diablo Ballet Lesher Center for the Arts, 1601 Civic, Walnut Creek; www.diabloballet.org. Thu/6, 6:30pm. $26-52. The company celebrates its 20th anniversary with this special performance, featuring premieres, a film retrospective, and more.

“MarshJam Improv Comedy Show” Marsh Berkeley, 2120 Allston, Berk; www.themarsh.org. Fri, 8pm. Ongoing. $10. Improv comedy with local legends and drop-in guests.

“Di Megileh” JCC East Bay, 1414 Walnut, Berk; www.jewishmusicfestival.org. Thu/6 and Sat/8, 8pm; Sun/9, 2pm; Mon/10, $15-22. Yiddish Theater Collective presents a Purim musical by Itzik Manger, performed in Yiddish with English supertitles.

“Pinball Prom with Feminist Tendencies” Pacific Pinball Museum, 1510 Webster, Alameda; www.pacificpinball.org. Sat/8, 8pm. $15. All-women’s pinball league Belles and Chimes and the Pacific Pinball Museum present this night of political comedy with Feminist Tendencies, followed by a “pinball prom” with dancing and photos.

“Poetry Express” Himalayan Flavors, 1585 University, Berk; poetryexpressberkeley.blogspot.com. Mon, 7pm. Free. Ongoing. This week: Hao Tran, plus open mic.

“The Pump and Dump: A Parentally Incorrect Comedy Show” Sweetwater Music Hall, 19 Corte Madera, Mill Valley; www.pumpanddumpshow.com. Wed/5, 8pm. $20. Also Fri/7, 8pm, $20, Verdi Club, 2424 Mariposa, SF. Comedian Shayna Ferm and sidekick MC Doula host this raucous evening of mom-focused comedy, music, and more.

“Some Girl(s)” Dragon Theatre, 2120 Broadway, Redwood City; www.dragonproductions.net. Fri-Sat, 8pm (also Sat, 2pm); Sun, 2pm. Through March 16. $15. Dragon Theater’s 2nd Stages Program kicks off with this production of Neil LaBute’s dark comedy. *

 

Year of the Workhorse

Michael Redmond
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Year of the Workhorse

Photos by Erin Conger

arts@sfbg.com

Patrick Brown, sound engineer and owner of the Mission’s Different Fur Studios, is a busy guy — both literally a man about town, as well as on the internets. I’ve started calling him the Santa Claus of social medias — always watchin’ his friends’ web behaviors, good, bad, whatever. He’s consistently first to like posts and favorite tweets, while simultaneously pulling off epic shifts in the studio.

But despite the screen-mediated chatter we had recently traded, I hadn’t actually seen the guy in months. I wanted to interview him: I hoped for secrets, opinions about the SF music biz, and other pertinent wizardry. With this in mind, I got an insider tip from his girlfriend: the promise of dim sum could usually lure him out of the studio.

Our “date” landed on Superbowl Sunday, and we happily avoided sports fans by venturing to Chinatown. Beneath red lanterns and pouring rain, we pulled up barstools at the Buddha Lounge and ordered Lucky beers, listening to “PYT” on the jukebox and watching a regular sway his hips in the doorway.

“Is that some kind of fat joke?” he asked, when I ‘fessed up to the social-media Santa nickname, as he nibbled on the bartender’s gift of microwave popcorn. It was Chinese New Year; a celebratory firecracker screeched in the street.

“I regularly spend 12 hours a day in a room. I can’t be out in the world, but I still want to exchange information out there,” he explained. Social media is his way of showing support while buried beneath work, he said. He links people to projects, and projects to people, patting the community on the back with likes and re-tweets.

In the seven years that he’s owned The Fur — he bought it from the previous owners in 2008, just four years after starting as an intern — it’s become increasingly important for him to extend his love of the music scene beyond the studio. This means showing face at venues, promoting bands, and partnering with brands that share like-minded intent.

“It’s important for people here to be building things versus bashing,” he says, noting the city’s current debate about tech and how it’s affecting the SF music scene. (Brown recently spoke to the issue while seated on a panel of music industry folks at The Chapel, seeming relatively unfazed by the complaints and quandaries.)

“This is all awfully familiar,” he says, recalling his experiences throughout the first dot-com boom — when, much like the current, monetarily-fueled tension, swarms of musicians and sound engineers left for the promised lands of LA and New York. The music biz ached with abandonment.

While things today may appear similar, he insists they’re not the same.

“The culture of San Francisco has changed, but it doesn’t mean the music business is suffering. It may mean musicians are suffering,” he says, adding that this city isn’t particularly fair to a lot of people and industries. “Sure, musicians should be able to make a living, but not everyone is gonna make it. It’s no different with sound engineers. Do you know how many interns I’ve fired? It’s really competitive out there.”

When Brown himself began as an intern at Different Fur in 2004, the SF scene was still recouping from tech deflation. Business was dry, and Brown saw opportunity in the quiet: space to learn, fuck up, and grow. It worked. He took over as studio manager three years later, and then in 2008 he bought the whole damn rig.

“I decided to stay and make my own shit,” he says. “And now I can do whatever I want. I know it sounds cliché, but it’s true.” At the time of our interview, the studio’s calendar was booked through May, sometimes double-booked. Does The Fur hog too much of his time? He scoffs.

“I didn’t pick a career where I would make a million dollars and I didn’t pick a 9-to-5,” he says. “I work long hours for crazy people — musicians — and in the process, I’ve become one of those crazy people.”

Brown’s career path followed a nomadic, diverse education: he studied architecture in Paris, English and psychology in New York, and advertising and film in SF. He repeatedly found himself failing, bored, and planning his escape to the next shiny curriculum.

By the time art school had begun to lose its appeal, he’d begun recording a few low-key recording projects with musician friends. The needle dropped: He did a year at SF State for Music Business, following it up with two years at Ex’pression College. He was hooked.

“People always ask me if listening to the same three-minute track for 12 hours on repeat drives me nuts,” he says, shaking his head, and takes a sip of round two: a pink Mai Tai. “I love it. It was my cue — that’s how I knew I actually wanted to be a sound engineer.”

The more diverse his repertoire can be, the better: A long list of recent projects includes an Armenian classical quartet, a dance hall remix, darkwave, and a Brazilian pop group. (“They all inform each other,” he says.) Brown is also a member of the Grammy board, plays host for the Converse Rubbertracks sessions, and occasionally makes music with his buddy Robert Pera as Woof Beats. He loves throwing events, like a recent listening party for the Grouch and Eligh. His latest addition is sound consulting for GitHub, a partnership aimed at creating fruitful connections between music and tech.

To put it lightly, he’s a workhorse. The horse is, of course, the latest Chinese zodiac sign to come into its 12-year rotation and, as a 1978 baby, Brown claims stallion status. The timing is right, too, since 2013 proved rough: Steve Brodsky, one of his closest friends and cohorts, passed away, and two much-loved Fur employees gave their notice. Brown’s mood shift was palpable, the year of grieving slowly eroding his usual sarcastic banter.

But the new year is freshly upon us and there’s already a notable difference in his mood. His hooves are shiny, so to speak — geared up for the gallop ahead.

“This year I want hang time with my girlfriend…I can’t sit in front of a console for 16 hours a day,” he says with conviction, then contradicts it all by admitting he also doesn’t want to work less. He laughs. “I’m not sure how it’s going to work exactly. All I know is that I’m in a better mood about it all.”

Branching out

Michael Redmond
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Branching out

DANCE

ODC Theater has a good track record of presenting homegrown and visiting companies, some making their local debuts, others having been around for a while. In between these ODC-presented programs — or, increasingly these days, co-presented with other organizations — are slots for artists who want to self-produce, which means that they rent the space for a fixed fee.

The remodeled theater, with its upgraded technical facilities, can accommodate not only dance, but musical and language-based performances. It has become a flexible, desirable venue in a city that has too few of them. Yet if I read history correctly, a kind of open-door policy has always been part of ODC’s mission, even during its more modest times — as in 1976, when it bought what used to be a hardware store and before that a stable.

Bianca Cabrera’s two-year-old East Bay-based troupe Blind Tiger Society (the name comes from a Prohibition-era speakeasy) is the latest of these self-producing independents to take advantage of what ODC Theater has to offer.

Though Cabrera has shown work locally in small studio settings, the world premiere of the hourlong The Aftermath Affair is the company’s most ambitious effort yet. Sixteen women, some clearly more technically trained than others, threw themselves with considerable energy and commitment into fast-paced unisons, scurrying on the tips of their toes one moment, and then entangling themselves head over heels, only to then freeze into identical sculptural poses.

By far the most intriguing aspect of what was a decidedly odd affair was Cabrera’s attempt to create her own language from disparate sources. With a background in cabaret and musical theater, in addition to modern dance and ballet, she has a lot to draw on. While her vocabulary doesn’t yet cohere into a flexible enough tool, the yanking together or simple juxtaposing of elements from modern dance, cabaret, contact improvisation, and even ballet was intriguing in the way it tried to break down easy categorizations and perceptual barriers.

Cabrera’s dancers make good use of strong upper-body movements with articulated necks and shoulders, perhaps borrowed from belly dancing. Much of the movement for the many duets and small ensembles, however, was crystallized out of contact improvisation, with its give and taking of weight, supporting each other, and allowing a movement thread to run its course. Despite their robust physicality, these encounters were so formalized that sometimes they felt regimented. The plain beige-brown costumes, which looked like uniforms, probably didn’t help. Fortunately, several of the solos communicated a controlled but enthusiastic sense of being in the moment.

Contrasting with earthbound sequences were formal unisons of lines: diagonals, wedges, parallels, intersections, and overlappings that could have come from Broadway or movie musicals. To see a kick line of 16 pairs of (more or less) unison legs advance downstage was really most unusual.

A finely developed tactile sense proved an essential ingredient to Aftermath. Hands were everywhere. The dancers contacted each other with their fingers, exploring each other’s bodies and their own as if wanting to access some hidden knowledge. They wrapped arms tightly around themselves and held their hands over their pelvis as if trying to hold something in. Yet all of this was curiously clinical, devoid of any erotic implications.

Some the imagery also recalled wildlife observations on the National Geographic channel, in which animals sniff each other out and make tentative physical contact only to retreat again. When some of the dancers scurried back and forth across the stage on tiptoes, I thought of sandpipers trying to escape approaching waves.

Toward the end, pallor drops on Aftermath like fog with a sense of impending doom. The dancers plopped to the ground, rolled like logs, and then mechanically turned like the hands of a clock. I couldn’t quite see a connection to the rest of this worthwhile though not entirely successful endeavor.

Ben Juodvalkis’ dramatic and colorful score gave Aftermath its backbone. Cabrera, however, should have hired a lighting designer. Making such primitive use of the theater’s excellent facilities was a waste.

Independent productions at ODC resume with Gamelan Sekar Jaya (April 4-5) and Company C (April 25-May 5). Immediately on the horizon are three co-presentations. March 6-8, as the last lineup of this year’s Black Choreographers Festival, Robert Moses’ Kin has a double bill: as part of the company’s 2014 “BY Series,” Bliss Kohlmeyer, Dexandro Montalvo, and Gregory Dawson set works for the Kin dancers; for Draft, Moses choreographed for 10 guest performers.

March 21-22 brings Israeli dancers Niv Sheinfeld and Oren Laor, in Two Room Apartment, their adaptation of what was considered a highly erotic duet by the husband and wife team Liat Dror and Nir Ben-Gal.

And joined by guest artist and former Sweet Honey of the Rock member Ysaye M. Barnwell, Eric Kupers’ Dandelion Dancetheater will reprise his double bill Tongues/Gather March 26. *

www.odcdance.org

 

Live Shots: The Limousines lead a nonstop dance party at DNA Lounge

Steven T. Jones
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Live Shots: The Limousines lead a nonstop dance party at DNA Lounge

By Jonathan Roisman

It was more than three years ago when I first saw the Limousines on stage. I hadn’t heard a song of theirs and the half-filled Nob Hill Masonic Center was waiting for Weezer to step on stage and take them back in time on their “Memories” tour time machine. In the meantime, we were stuck in the present, listening to an unknown indie electronic duo that danced their asses off as they performed. As lead singer Eric Victorino sang about crusty socks and stacks of pizza boxes, I realized the Limousines had a knack for entertaining a crowd.

Flash forward to Thursday night [Feb. 27] at the DNA Lounge at this year’s Noise Pop festival. Two full-length albums later, including last year’s Hush, and the Limousines’ talent for energizing an audience had only gotten better. 

limousines

Fronted by the aforementioned singer-songwriter Victorino and jack-of-all-trades instrumentalist and producer Giovanni Giusti, the band successfully weaved together a setlist featuring songs from their entire catalog, including their 2009 EP, Scrapbook.

The band kicked off the show with their 2010 viral hit “Internet Killed the Video Star,” as Victorino tossed a red beach ball into the crowd to keep everyone’s hands in the air. As the song ended and the ball made its way back to the stage, Victorino popped it with childlike amusement before rolling through more songs from their debut album, Get Sharp.

The Bay Area-based pair didn’t take much time to talk to the crowd, but the nearly nonstop-dancing audience didn’t seem to mind a bit. They just wanted more music. The Limousines delivered with the energetic Hush opening track “Love is A Dog From Hell.”

limousines

When Victorino did decide to banter with the crowd, he was humble, if not particularly articulate. “This band means an awful fucking lot to us,” he said. And it showed. The Limousines played their smooth blend of electro-pop and synth-rock for nearly 80 minutes, giving the crowd their money’s worth.  The mostly twenty-somethings on the ground floor danced and clapped and made out with one another for nearly as long. The balcony was filled with a slightly older and less energetic crowd, but they looked like they were enjoying themselves as well.

As the show went on I realized something:  the Limousines are far from unique musicians. Their lyrics pine over heartbreak and wild nights. But it they set themselves apart from other performers with their attitude. Victorino and Giusti (and a third touring member from Texas) clearly wanted to be there. Their energy didn’t let up as they neared the end of their set with a number of tracks from Hush, including “The Last Dance,” and “Bedbugs,” the latter of which dealt with the fallout of sleeping with a friend. “I could lie and tell you we could still be friends,” Victorino shouted, “but you know it ain’t true.”

limousines

Before finishing the evening off with “Very Busy People,” an anthem to masturbation and Donnie Darko, Victorino took a moment to look at the crowd and thank them for coming out on a Thursday night. “I’m too told for this shit,” he said. But that was a lie. He was still young enough to care and put forth an effort to entertain a paying audience. The Limousines may not be the next smash-hit electronic band, but they know how to liven up a room — and that still counts for a hell of a lot.

— @JonRoisman

Matthew Dear presents Audion, in a shipping container of LED triangles

Steven T. Jones
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Matthew Dear presents Audion, in a shipping container of LED triangles

At this point I have no idea when this show is going to start, but it’s 9:22 and there’s another loner type rubbing the wood grain pillar in the middle of Mighty. He’s got his hood up as if keeping a low-profile, but
blowing it otherwise. It looks like he took the wrong drugs, slowing down when he might want to speed up. Because at this point in the evening, with some crew members apparently still wiring up the massive amount of lights on stage, he might be in for a wait.

Matthew Dear, the headliner for the night under his Audion moniker, is wandering around the club. Seems typically calm and collected, but I wonder if there’s panic behind the scenes. The show — complete with a custom visual installation — was originally scheduled to be at the Regency Ballroom but was moved to this much smaller venue due to poor ticket sales. (You could see the marketing urgency increasing with each email, first listing the show discreetly as “Audion,” and then “Audion Live: Subvertical,” before finally throwing all the names out in a final push with “Matthew Dear Presents Audion Live: Subvertical.”) After changing venues and dropping the ticket price, Noise Pop also announced all previously issued tickets would now come with a +1. Maybe it’s the rainy weather, but there’s hardly anyone on the dancefloor yet.

audion

Except for squeaky-shoes, which is a good sign. A ubiquitous figure around SF clubs, in my experience if squeaky-shoes is at a show, you’ve made a good decision about your evening entertainment. (We call him squeaky-shoes because his shoes are really squeaky, especially when he’s dancing, in an individual style that involves leaping sideways/backwards a solid five feet at a time, pausing just before colliding with someone, and then walking away as if nothing happened.) He also always wears a comparatively silent ballcap. Look for him. He may be your spirit guide.

As far as I’m concerned, Matrixxman can not go on soon enough, as the same track has been playing over the P.A. for nearly 45 minutes. Aside from the dull bass, the music is drowned out, as if coming from the Chinese restaurant next door. Enduring this together, the woman besides me strikes up a conversation. She doesn’t know Matrixxman, Audion, or even Matthew Dear: she’s here for the lights, knowing that the visual setup was designed by the same team who did the mind-bending work on Amon Tobin’s ISAM.

audion

WhenI last saw Matrixxman, it was at the same venue, and he was doing a closing set for Le1f. One track he played — “C.U.N.T.” by Tronco Traxx — is permanently lodged in my brain. Google it. Your expectations will be met. Tonight he’s keeping things a bit more in pocket, setting up the headliner with a less potentially alienating mix dominated by jacked up house, chopped diva vocals, and something that sounded like Prince (and may well have been Prince).

When the main event starts, all I can think of is packaging. Maybe it’s the corrugated plastic material that Matthew Dear is encased in, a neat sphere made up of interlocking LED-lit triangles; if Amon Tobin had a spaceship, Dear has a shipping container. It’s even branded in a way: the press release pointed out the resemblance between the triangles and the A in Audion. To me they look like a swirl of tracking buttons, with larger “reverse” and “play” arrows on each side of the stage. Like the comprehensive 10-year-spanning collection Audion X, this production seems designed to deliver Dear/Audion in an iconic form.

Tobin once impressed on me that not all electronic music is meant for dancing, so having a visual production like ISAM made sense. But while Tobin via ISAM warped around to places feet can’t easily follow, this isn’t really the case with Audion. Dear, particularly in this format, is clearly making dance music, heavily indebted to Detroit. (Not just the techno, but the car industry: his set drives along with little pause, frequently punctuated by a slow pulsing swell, revving and switching gears. See: “Mouth to Mouth” or “Motormouth.”)

A lot of the crowd dancing up front seems capable of following along unfazed, as if it’s just another night at Mighty. I’m more conflicted and end up with the ones in the back, stunned in place, not sure which
way to go. From back there, it could be a jaded rock show.

I look for the support beam molester from earlier, but don’t see him at all under the lights.

He’s probably fine.

audion

Movers/Shakers: Two rare visits by European contemporary dance-makers this weekend

Sue Vaughan
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Movers/Shakers: Two rare visits by European contemporary dance-makers this weekend

Here are two very special opportunities to see (and, in at least one case, join in on) the work of some leading European contemporary dance/performance makers passing through town this weekend…

My Own Bodies – a solo for many

Sweden-based Shake it Collaborations (SiC) is an internationally active company comprised of Tove Sahlin and Dag Andersson. A small crowd of friends and acquaintances was in attendance last Sunday, in the Tenderloin, for the couple’s highly social duet, Roses & Beans, which featured no roses (but a few flowers) and no beans (but one hell of a layer cake). Deploying exuberant as well as exasperated movement, popular song (sung a cappella and sometimes directly into each other’s mouths), and a shrewd sense of humor, the piece sparked and built upon spontaneous interactions with and among the audience — all the while exploring various frames for the conception, reception, transmission, rejection, and abeyance of love as an organizing principle.

It was a memorable encounter, and, fortunately, not the last: This Friday and Saturday at CounterPULSE, Tove Sahlin will perform her everybody-in-the-pool solo, My Own Bodies.

The piece, which premiered in Stockholm’s House of Dance in 2013, is a 40-minute shakeout in which the audience contributes to a “common shake action.” The piece explores shaking as movement, as metaphor, as empathetic medium, as emotional trigger and state, and whatever else ends up on the floor. Come ready to quake. It should be a Richter 9.

Fri/28–Sat/1, 8pm, free (RSVP at counterpulse.org)

CounterPULSE

1310 Mission, SF

www.counterpulse.org

 

An Evening of Contemporary Dance

Meanwhile, a few blocks away on Market, you can find ACT’s Costume Shop alive this Saturday night with two more contemporary dance pieces.

From Italy, well-known choreographer and dancer Caterina Basso presents Il Volume Com’era, her solo piece, which was selected for the Venice Biennale project Prima Danza in 2013.

“The project arises primarily from the desire to be alone in the room and to work on movement, movement that is not guided by the prompting of others,” reads Basso’s statement from the Biennale premiere. “The work takes shape on the basis of a body that moves invisible objects, in a kind of action composed of displacements and short paths through the spaces. A fragmented but natural pace that is transmitted by the activity of the hands to the entire body. A fragile body because it is blocked by clearly defined limits, it seeks a place but is an obstacle to itself, its parts do not collaborate, as if each of them were engaging in passive resistance. A body that cannot find a suitable place, the comfort of feeling welcomed in a detail of time and space, the relief of a relationship. A halting movement that becomes rhythm, which searches for the way out of paths and rules, without really finding them.”

Sharing the bill with Basso are San Francisco dancer-choreographers Liz Tenuto and Monique Jenkinson, who will reprise the excellent duet they premiered at last year’s West Wave festival: the witty, sensual, vital Am I Square?

Sat/1, 8pm, $10

ACT Costume Shop

1117 Market, SF 

RSVP to bbasso@act-sf.org

Courtney Barnett gets droll at the Rickshaw Stop

Steven T. Jones
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courtney
Courtney Barnett at the Rickshaw Stop Monday night.

By Sloane Martin

Standing outside the Rickshaw Stop before Courtney Barnett‘s set, I’m watching her chat with her bandmates when one of the girls working merch pops out to let Barnett know that they’ve run out of everything — shirts, albums, posters. “Oh, hang on,” Barnett cries. “I think we have a couple more t-shirts in the car!” And she’s off, grabbing the minivan keys from her drummer so she can dig out something to sell to San Francisco. Despite the shaggy hair and the tomboy-cool outfit of striped t-shirt, jeans, and Chelsea boots, she genuinely has appreciation for the fans who have come out.

That moment set the right tone for a goofy, humble, and electrically entertaining set on Monday night, one of several sold-out shows kicking off Noisepop 2014. Courtney Barnett (and the Courtney Barnetts, a rhythm section comprised of drummer Dave Mundy and bassist Andrew Loane) is a former bartender from Melbourne, Australia. Her debut album The Double EP: A Sea of Split Peas has gained considerable popularity over the past several months, fueled by a lauded performance at CMJ in October 2013. If you weren’t one of the fans lucky enough to grab a copy of the record before it sold out, you’ll have to order one from Barnett herself. The performer started her label, Milk! Records, which she described onstage as “me packing up CDs in my bedroom,” to release her own music as well as that of friends like Jen Cloher and Fraser A. Gorman. New York independent label Mom + Pop Music will release A Sea of Split Peas on CD and vinyl in the US later this year.

Wandering onstage and looking a bit bemused by the crowd’s excitement, Barnett launched into 40 minutes of tight, shredding guitar riffs and droll lyrics. Her eager, energetic drummer and bassist provided a heavy low-end that nearly drowned out some of her funnier moments. Her signature impassive delivery of the drawling line, “Just because you’re older than me / doesn’t mean you have to be so condescending,” on “Out of the Woodwork,”  and the opening of “Lance Jr.,” “I masturbated to the songs you wrote / resuscitated all my hopes,” was too enjoyable to be missed. After a slow start, Barnett and her bandmates seemed to loosen up, or maybe wake up, as they’ll finally be headed back to Australia for a much deserved rest after this final US show. All that time on the road made for a tightly rehearsed show, however, as at one point even the headbanging of each band member was perfectly in sync. Once the onstage banter started, it became clear that Barnett comes by her lyrical humor quite naturally, as she assured us that if we missed the chance to buy a t-shirt or a CD, “I’ll hug each and every one of you, and Andy will kiss you, and Dave will sign your chest.”

The crowd of hesitantly spastic dancers seemed not to know quite what to do with the deadpan vocals set against an enthusiastically kinetic rhythm section. Word to the wise: Either bob your head or bounce up and down or choose noodle arms, lest you lose your expensive beer to the floor, as the gentleman next to me did. Hopefully these fans figure out their dance strategies by the time the next record comes out, as the new song Barnett played us midway through her set was a promising sign of consistently fantastic work ahead. As the crowd sang along to “Avant Gardener,” Barnett’s sprawling narrative of an asthma attack suffered in her front garden, it was easy to sympathize with lines like, “Should have stayed in bed today / I much prefer the mundane,” but I, at least, was glad to have gotten out of bed to see her.

Music Listings Feb. 26-Mar 4, 2014

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WEDNESDAY 26
ROCK
50 Mason Social House: 50 Mason, San Francisco. The Ever After, The Proofs, 8pm, free.
Bender’s: 806 S. Van Ness, San Francisco. Noise Pop Happy Hour: CCR Headcleaner, Skate Laws, Bicycle Day, 5pm, free.
Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. Noise Pop 2014: Strange Vine, French Cassettes, Dante Elephante, Irontom, 7pm, $10-$12.
Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. Noise Pop 2014: The Fresh & Onlys, Cool Ghouls, Sandy’s, Luke Sweeney, 8pm, $12-$14.
The Chapel: 777 Valencia, San Francisco. Noise Pop 2014: Papercuts, Vetiver, The Donkeys, Eric D. Johnson, DJ Britt Govea, 8pm, $15-$18.
El Rio: 3158 Mission, San Francisco. Beast Fiend, Neurotrash, Twat, 8pm, $5.
Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. Dancer, Gravys Drop, 8:30pm, free.
Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. Thieves of Malta, Great Highway, Future Us, 8pm, $8.
The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. Little Person, April & The Paradigm, Harriot, The Tender Few, DJ Ryan Smith, 8pm, $5-$8.
Milk Bar: 1840 Haight, San Francisco. The Midnight Snackers, Spooky Flowers, Jet Trash, Friends W/O Benefits, 8pm, $5.
Rickshaw Stop: 155 Fell, San Francisco. Ty Segall, Burnt Ones, Endless Bummer, 8pm, sold out.
SFSU Campus, Cesar Chavez Student Center: 1650 Holloway, San Francisco. Midnight Sons, Adult Books, Wyatt Blair, Bicycle Day, 6pm, free.
Slim’s: 333 11th St., San Francisco. Cibo Matto, Salt Cathedral, 8pm, $26.
DANCE
Beaux: 2344 Market, San Francisco. “BroMance: A Night Out for the Fellas,” 9pm, free.
The Cafe: 2369 Market, San Francisco. “Sticky Wednesdays,” w/ DJ Mark Andrus, 8pm, free.
Cat Club: 1190 Folsom, San Francisco. “Bondage A Go Go,” w/ DJs Damon, Tomas Diablo, & guests, 9:30pm, $5-$10.
Club X: 715 Harrison, San Francisco. “Electro Pop Rocks,” 18+ dance night with Borgeous, DJ Audio1, Non Sequitur, Self Dustrukt, Nano Sage, LegitSoda, more, 9pm, $10-$20.
Edinburgh Castle: 950 Geary, San Francisco. “1964,” w/ DJ Matt B & guests, Second and Fourth Wednesday of every month, 10pm, $2.
Elbo Room: 647 Valencia, San Francisco. “Bodyshock,” w/ Chrissy Murderbot, Blk Rainbow, DJ Crackwhore, Unit 77, 9pm, $8-$10.
F8: 1192 Folsom, San Francisco. “Housepitality,” w/ Acidman, Tyrel Williams, Bai-ee, Mrs. Blythe, 9pm, $5-$10.
Infusion Lounge: 124 Ellis, San Francisco. “Indulgence,” 10pm
Lookout: 3600 16th St., San Francisco. “What?,” w/ resident DJ Tisdale and guests, 7pm, free.
Madrone Art Bar: 500 Divisadero, San Francisco. “Rock the Spot,” 9pm, free.
MatrixFillmore: 3138 Fillmore, San Francisco. “Reload,” w/ DJ Big Bad Bruce, 10pm, free.
Q Bar: 456 Castro, San Francisco. “Booty Call,” w/ Juanita More, Joshua J, guests, 9pm, $3.
HIP-HOP
Neck of the Woods: 406 Clement, San Francisco. “Over the Hump,” w/ Children of the Funk, 10pm, free.
The NWBLK: 1999 Bryant, San Francisco. Noise Pop 2014: Our Vinyl Weighs a Ton, Stones Throw Records showcase featuring performances by Peanut Butter Wolf, J Rocc, Jonwayne, and Knxwledge at 8pm, preceded by a screening of the documentary Our Vinyl Weighs a Ton: This Is Stones Throw Records at 5pm, $20-$25.
Skylark Bar: 3089 16th St., San Francisco. “Mixtape Wednesday,” w/ resident DJs Strategy, Junot, Herb Digs, & guests, 9pm, $5.
ACOUSTIC
Cafe Divine: 1600 Stockton, San Francisco. Craig Ventresco & Meredith Axelrod, 7pm, free.
Fiddler’s Green: 1333 Columbus, San Francisco. Terry Savastano, Every other Wednesday, 9:30pm, free/donation.
Plough & Stars: 116 Clement, San Francisco. The Toast Inspectors, Last Wednesday of every month, 9pm
JAZZ
Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. Gaucho, Eric Garland’s Jazz Session, The Amnesiacs, 7pm, free.
Balancoire: 2565 Mission St., San Francisco. “Cat’s Corner,” 9pm, $10.
Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. Royal Jelly, 9:30pm, $5.
Burritt Room: 417 Stockton St., San Francisco. Terry Disley’s Rocking Jazz Trio, 6pm, free.
Club Deluxe: 1511 Haight, San Francisco. Patrick Wolff Quartet, 9pm, free.
Jazz Bistro at Les Joulins: 44 Ellis, San Francisco. Charles Unger Experience, 7:30pm, free.
Le Colonial: 20 Cosmo, San Francisco. The Cosmo Alleycats featuring Ms. Emily Wade Adams, 7pm, free.
Revolution Cafe: 3248 22nd St., San Francisco. Michael Parsons Trio, Every other Wednesday, 8:30pm, free/donation.
Sheba Piano Lounge: 1419 Fillmore, San Francisco. Sebastian Parker Trio, 8pm
Top of the Mark: One Nob Hill, 999 California, San Francisco. Ricardo Scales, Wednesdays, 6:30-11:30pm, $5.
Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Thelonious Monk Institute All-Star Sextet with Ambrose Akinmusire & Lisa Henry, 8pm, $16-$20.
Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Amanda King, 7:30pm, free.
INTERNATIONAL
Bissap Baobab: 3372 19th St., San Francisco. “Baobab!,” timba dance party with DJ WaltDigz, 10pm, $5.
Cafe Cocomo: 650 Indiana, San Francisco. “Bachatalicious,” w/ DJs Good Sho & Rodney, 7pm, $5-$10.
Cigar Bar & Grill: 850 Montgomery, San Francisco. Individúo, 8pm
Make-Out Room: 3225 22nd St., San Francisco. “International Freakout A Go-Go,” 10pm, free.
Pachamama Restaurant: 1630 Powell, San Francisco. Cafe Latino Americano, 8pm, $12.
The Rite Spot Cafe: 2099 Folsom, San Francisco. Redwood Tango Ensemble, 8pm, free.
BLUES
Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. The Cash Box Kings, 7:30 & 9:30pm, $15.
The Royal Cuckoo: 3202 Mission, San Francisco. Big Bones & Chris Siebert, 7:30pm, free.
The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. Takezo, 9:30pm
EXPERIMENTAL
Center for New Music: 55 Taylor, San Francisco. Loop 2.4.3, Prism, 8pm, $5-$12.
SOUL
Monarch: 101 Sixth St., San Francisco. “Color Me Badd,” coloring books and R&B jams with Matt Haze, DJ Alarm, Broke-Ass Stuart, guests, Wednesdays, 5:30-9:30pm, free.

THURSDAY 27
ROCK
Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. “Mods v. Rockers,” w/ Little Wild, The M-Tet, DJ Dutch Crunch, 8:30pm, $5-$7.
Bender’s: 806 S. Van Ness, San Francisco. Noise Pop Happy Hour: Dude York, A Million Billion Dying Suns, A-1 & Rawdad, 5pm, free.
Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. Hibbity Dibbity, Big Baby Guru, Wag, 9:30pm, $5 advance.
Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. Noise Pop 2014: Bottomless Pit, Kinski, Vir, Wild Moth, 8pm, $15.
Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. Noise Pop 2014: Mark Mulcahy, Mark Eitzel, Vikesh Kapoor, Whiskerman, 8pm, $12-$14.
The Chapel: 777 Valencia, San Francisco. Noise Pop 2014: Mother Falcon, Foxtails Brigade, Kan Wakan, The Airplanes, 8pm, $15.
DNA Lounge: 375 11th St., San Francisco. Noise Pop 2014: The Limousines, Nova Albion, The Hundred Days, Taxes, DJ Immigre, 8pm, $15 advance.
El Rio: 3158 Mission, San Francisco. Bad Bad, Talk of Shamans, Pleasure Gallows, 8pm, $5.
Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. Pleistocene, Lauren O’Connell, The Jerfs, 8:30pm, $6.
Rickshaw Stop: 155 Fell, San Francisco. Noise Pop 2014: Popscene with Broods, ASTR, DJ Aaron Axelsen, 9:30pm, $13 advance.
S.F. Eagle: 398 12th St., San Francisco. Ritchie White Orchestra, Deep Teens, Younger Lovers, Club Meds, 9pm, $8.
SFSU Campus, Cesar Chavez Student Center: 1650 Holloway, San Francisco. Cool Ghouls, Mystic Braves, Mr. Elevator & The Brain Hotel, Knits, 6pm, free.
DANCE
1015 Folsom: 1015 Folsom, San Francisco. Noise Pop 2014: Digital Mystikz, DJ Rashad, Paradigm, Nebakaneza, Lud Dub, Johnny5, Mr. Kitt, 10pm, $17.50 advance.
Abbey Tavern: 4100 Geary, San Francisco. DJ Schrobi-Girl, 10pm, free.
Aunt Charlie’s Lounge: 133 Turk, San Francisco. “Tubesteak Connection,” w/ DJ Bus Station John, 9pm, $5-$7.
Beaux: 2344 Market, San Francisco. “Men at Twerk,” 9pm, free.
The Cafe: 2369 Market, San Francisco. “¡Pan Dulce!,” 9pm, $5.
Cat Club: 1190 Folsom, San Francisco. “Throwback Thursdays,” ‘80s night with DJs Damon, Steve Washington, Dangerous Dan, and guests, 9pm, $6 (free before 9:30pm).
The Cellar: 685 Sutter, San Francisco. “XO,” w/ DJs Astro & Rose, 10pm, $5.
Club X: 715 Harrison, San Francisco. “The Crib,” 9:30pm, $10, 18+.
Elbo Room: 647 Valencia, San Francisco. “Afrolicious,” w/ DJs Pleasuremaker, Señor Oz, and guests, 9:30pm, $5-$8.
Infusion Lounge: 124 Ellis, San Francisco. “I Love Thursdays,” 10pm, $10.
Madrone Art Bar: 500 Divisadero, San Francisco. “Night Fever,” 9pm, $5 after 10pm
Mezzanine: 444 Jessie, San Francisco. Noise Pop 2014: Com Truise, Phantoms, Kauf, DJ Dials, 9pm, $15-$17.
Milk Bar: 1840 Haight, San Francisco. Gen-Y, Witowmaker, Fever Witch, Dirty Coyote, Alice Cunt & Myst Connection, DJ Doggie Chow, 8pm, $5.
Q Bar: 456 Castro, San Francisco. “Throwback Thursday,” w/ DJ Jay-R, 9pm, free.
Raven: 1151 Folsom, San Francisco. “1999,” w/ VJ Mark Andrus, 8pm, free.
Ruby Skye: 420 Mason, San Francisco. “Mardi Gras,” w/ Jerome Isma-Ae, Riggi & Piros, 9pm, $15-$20 advance.
Underground SF: 424 Haight, San Francisco. “Bubble,” 10pm, free.
Vessel: 85 Campton, San Francisco. “Base,” w/ Nic Fanciulli, 10pm, $5-$10.
HIP-HOP
Eastside West: 3154 Fillmore, San Francisco. “Throwback Thursdays,” w/ DJ Madison, 9pm, free.
John Colins: 138 Minna, San Francisco. “#Quattro,” w/ DJ Dino, Fourth Thursday of every month, 9pm
Skylark Bar: 3089 16th St., San Francisco. “Peaches,” w/ lady DJs DeeAndroid, Lady Fingaz, That Girl, Umami, Inkfat, and Andre, 10pm, free.
Slim’s: 333 11th St., San Francisco. Noise Pop 2014: Shabazz Palaces, Cities Aviv, Extra Classic, Raw-G, 8pm, $20-$22.
SPARC: 1256 Mission, San Francisco. Jel, Maus Haus, Grown Kids Radio DJs, 7pm, free with RSVP.
Temple: 540 Howard, San Francisco. Thugg Chains Launch Party, w/ Indaskyes, VNDMG, Chains & Frames, Sayer, Groucho, Free Fall Crew, Intellitard, more, 10pm, $5.
ACOUSTIC
Atlas Cafe: 3049 20th St., San Francisco. Bluegrass & Old-Time Music Jam Session, Last Thursday of every month, 8-10pm, free.
Bazaar Cafe: 5927 California, San Francisco. Acoustic Open Mic, 7pm
Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. Wendy Colonna, Kendra McKinley, 9pm, $10.
Plough & Stars: 116 Clement, San Francisco. Emperor Norton Céilí Band, 9pm
JAZZ
Blush! Wine Bar: 476 Castro, San Francisco. Doug Martin’s Avatar Ensemble, 7:30pm, free.
Cafe Claude: 7 Claude, San Francisco. Nova Jazz, 7:30pm, free.
Cafe Royale: 800 Post, San Francisco. The Hexaphonics, 9pm
Cigar Bar & Grill: 850 Montgomery, San Francisco. Charged Particles, 8pm
Feinstein’s at the Nikko: 222 Mason, San Francisco. Paula West, 8pm, $35-$50.
Le Colonial: 20 Cosmo, San Francisco. Swing Fever, 7:30pm
Pier 23 Cafe: Pier 23, San Francisco. Art Lewis Trio, 7pm, free.
The Royal Cuckoo: 3202 Mission, San Francisco. Charlie Siebert & Chris Siebert, 7:30pm, free.
SFJAZZ Center: 205 Franklin, San Francisco. Terrence Brewer Jazz Quartet, Mosaic CD release party (in the Joe Henderson Lab), 7 & 8:30pm, $20.
Top of the Mark: One Nob Hill, 999 California, San Francisco. Stompy Jones, 7:30pm, $10.
Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Jackie Ryan, 8 & 10pm, $16-$25.
Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Barbara Ochoa, 7:30pm, free.
INTERNATIONAL
Bissap Baobab: 3372 19th St., San Francisco. “Pa’Lante!,” w/ Juan G, El Kool Kyle, Mr. Lucky, 10pm, $5.
Cafe Cocomo: 650 Indiana, San Francisco. VibraSÓN, DJ Good Sho, 8pm, $12.
Pachamama Restaurant: 1630 Powell, San Francisco. “Jueves Flamencos,” 8pm, free.
Red Poppy Art House: 2698 Folsom, San Francisco. Therianthrope, Ian Faquini & Rebecca Kleinmann, 7:30pm, $10-$15.
Sheba Piano Lounge: 1419 Fillmore, San Francisco. Gary Flores & Descarga Caliente, 8pm
Verdi Club: 2424 Mariposa, San Francisco. The Verdi Club Milonga, w/ Christy Coté, DJ Emilio Flores, guests, 9pm, $10-$15.
REGGAE
Pissed Off Pete’s: 4528 Mission St., San Francisco. Reggae Thursdays, w/ resident DJ Jah Yzer, 9pm, free.
BLUES
50 Mason Social House: 50 Mason, San Francisco. Bill Phillippe, 5:30pm, free.
Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. Alan Iglesias & Crossfire, 7:30 & 9:30pm, $20.
The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. T-Wrex & The Primitive Rhythm, 4pm; Cathy Lemons, 9:30pm
Tupelo: 1337 Green, San Francisco. G.G. Amos, 9pm
COUNTRY
The Parlor: 2801 Leavenworth, San Francisco. “Twang Honky Tonk & Country Jamboree,” w/ DJ Little Red Rodeo, 7pm, free.
EXPERIMENTAL
The Luggage Store: 1007 Market, San Francisco. Collin McKelvey with Paul Clipson, HeadBoggle, Eric Sanchez, 8pm, $6-$10.

FRIDAY 28
ROCK
Bender’s: 806 S. Van Ness, San Francisco. Noise Pop Happy Hour: Future Twin, Cocktails, Blood Sister, 5pm, free.
Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. The Sofa Kings, 9:30pm, $10 advance.
Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. Noise Pop 2014: No Age, Hindu Pirates, Dune Rats, Creative Adult, 9pm, $12-$14.
Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. Stu Allen & Mars Hotel, 9pm, $15-$18.
The Chapel: 777 Valencia, San Francisco. Noise Pop 2014: The Soft White Sixties, No, The She’s, Cannons & Clouds, 8pm, $13-$15.
DNA Lounge: 375 11th St., San Francisco. The Moth & The Flame, The Trims, Ghost Town Jenny, Frozen Folk, 8pm, $10-$12.
El Rio: 3158 Mission, San Francisco. Friday Live: Tiburona, DJ Emotions, 10pm, free.
Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. Noise Pop 2014: Sonny & The Sunsets, Penny Machine, 9pm, $12.
Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. Pebble Theory, Silver Griffin, Van Aragon, 9pm, $9.
The Independent: 628 Divisadero, San Francisco. Noise Pop 2014: Real Estate, The Shilohs, Dream Boys, 8pm, $20.
Jewish Community Center of San Francisco: 3200 California, San Francisco. Noise Pop 2014: Throwing Muses, Mark Eitzel, 8pm, sold out.
Milk Bar: 1840 Haight, San Francisco. Tournament of Hearts, Tall Fires, Midnight DJ set, 9pm, $5.
Rickshaw Stop: 155 Fell, San Francisco. Noise Pop 2014: Bleached, Terry Malts, Mystic Braves, Tropical Popsicle, 9pm, $13-$15.
Slim’s: 333 11th St., San Francisco. Noise Pop 2014: Cold Cave, Painted Palms, Dirty Ghosts, Happy Fangs, 8pm, $16-$18.
Thee Parkside: 1600 17th St., San Francisco. Dave Hause, Northcote, 9pm, $10.
Vacation: 651 Larkin, San Francisco. Breakarts, Murder Murder, Planes of Satori, 9pm, free.
DANCE
1015 Folsom: 1015 Folsom, San Francisco. Noise Pop 2014: Scene Unseen III with Mr. Carmack, Kelela, Majical Cloudz, Supreme Cuts, Purple, plus DJs from Honey Soundsystem, Popscene, Push the Feeling, Trap City, Isis, and more, 9pm, free with RSVP.
Audio Discotech: 316 11th St., San Francisco. Prok & Fitch, Festiva, 9pm, $10 advance.
BeatBox: 314 11th St., San Francisco. “Eye Candy,” w/ VJ Bill Dupp, 9pm, $10.
Beaux: 2344 Market, San Francisco. “Manimal,” 9pm
The Cafe: 2369 Market, San Francisco. “Boy Bar,” w/ DJ Matt Consola, 9pm, $5.
Cat Club: 1190 Folsom, San Francisco. “Dark Shadows,” w/ DJs Daniel Skellington, Melting Girl, Panic, and Skarkrow, 9:30pm, $7 ($3 before 10pm).
The Cellar: 685 Sutter, San Francisco. “F.T.S.: For the Story,” 10pm
DNA Lounge: 375 11th St., San Francisco. “Trap & Bass,” w/ HeRobust, UltraViolet, Napsty, Harris Pilton, Smookie Illson, 9pm, $10-$20.
Elbo Room: 647 Valencia, San Francisco. “120 Minutes,” w/ Little Pain, Sad Andy, Santa Muerte, Chauncey CC, 10pm, $8-$10.
The EndUp: 401 Sixth St., San Francisco. “Trade,” 10pm, free before midnight.
F8: 1192 Folsom, San Francisco. “A Night of Rong Music,” w/ DJ Spun, Jeffrey Sfire, Corey Black, Ken Vulsion, 9pm, $10.
The Grand Nightclub: 520 Fourth St., San Francisco. “We Rock Fridays,” 9:30pm
Harlot: 46 Minna, San Francisco. Richie G, 9pm
Infusion Lounge: 124 Ellis, San Francisco. “Flight Fridays,” 10pm, $20.
Lookout: 3600 16th St., San Francisco. “HYSL: Handle Your Shit Lady,” 9pm, $3.
Madrone Art Bar: 500 Divisadero, San Francisco. “I ♥ the ‘90s,” w/ DJs Samala, Teo, Mr. Grant, & Sonny Phono, Fourth Friday of every month, 9pm, $5.
MatrixFillmore: 3138 Fillmore, San Francisco. “F-Style Fridays,” w/ DJ Jared-F, 9pm
Mercer: 255 Rhode Island, San Francisco. “SoulHouse,” w/ Le Charm, Lawrence Petty, Timoteo Gigante, 9pm
Mezzanine: 444 Jessie, San Francisco. Noise Pop 2014: Beardyman, The Genie, Matt Haze, 9pm, $19-$21.
Monarch: 101 Sixth St., San Francisco. “Night Moves: 2-Year Anniversary,” w/ John Tejada, Shiny Objects, J-Boogie, Deejay Theory, Papa Lu, 9pm, $10-$20.
Public Works: 161 Erie, San Francisco. “Resonate,” w/ Esgar, DJ Nobody, Ruff Draft, Mophono, Citizen Ten, Bdot, Mr. Muddbird, Tone, Joe Mousepad (in the OddJob Loft), 9pm, $5-$10; Danny Tenaglia, Nikita, John Kaberna, in the main room, 9pm, $20-$30.
Q Bar: 456 Castro, San Francisco. “Pump: Worq It Out Fridays,” w/ resident DJ Christopher B, 9pm, $3.
Ruby Skye: 420 Mason, San Francisco. “Mardi Gras,” w/ Manufactured Superstars, Niko Zografos, Daun Giventi, 9pm, $20 advance.
Supperclub San Francisco: 657 Harrison, San Francisco. “Spin,” w/ Eric Lee, WhiteNoize, DJ Taj, 10pm
Underground SF: 424 Haight, San Francisco. “Bionic,” 10pm, $5.
Vessel: 85 Campton, San Francisco. “Project X,” w/ Sebastian Concha, Clarisse & Josephine, Rose, 10pm, $10-$30.
Wish: 1539 Folsom, San Francisco. “Bridge the Gap,” w/ resident DJ Don Kainoa, Fridays, 6-10pm, free.
HIP-HOP
EZ5: 682 Commercial, San Francisco. “Decompression,” Fridays, 5-9pm
John Colins: 138 Minna, San Francisco. “#Flow,” w/ The Whooligan & Mikos Da Gawd, Fourth Friday of every month, 10pm, free befoe 11pm
Mighty: 119 Utah, San Francisco. “Back 2 the Basics,” w/ Andre Nickatina, J. Espinosa, J-Pro, Chuy Gomez, Fran Boogie, 10pm, $15-$25 advance.
Sloane: 1525 Mission, San Francisco. “Lift Off: The Darling Society Edition,” w/ DJ DC Is Chillin & DJ Amen, 9:30pm, $20.
ACOUSTIC
Bazaar Cafe: 5927 California, San Francisco. Tommy P, M.J. Lee, Wesley Woo, 7pm, free.
Plough & Stars: 116 Clement, San Francisco. “Hillbilly Robot: An Urban Americana Music Event,” w/ The Harmed Brothers, Emily Bonn & The Vivants, 9pm, $10-$15.
The Sports Basement: 610 Old Mason, San Francisco. “Breakfast with Enzo,” w/ Enzo Garcia, 10 a.m., $5.
JAZZ
Atlas Cafe: 3049 20th St., San Francisco. Jazz at the Atlas, 7:30pm, free.
Beach Chalet Brewery & Restaurant: 1000 Great Highway, San Francisco. Johnny Smith, 8pm, free.
Bird & Beckett: 653 Chenery, San Francisco. Chuck Peterson Quintet, Fourth Friday of every month, 5:30pm
Cafe Claude: 7 Claude, San Francisco. Jinx Jones Jazz Trio, 7:30pm, free.
Feinstein’s at the Nikko: 222 Mason, San Francisco. Paula West, 8pm, $35-$50.
Jazz Bistro at Les Joulins: 44 Ellis, San Francisco. Charles Unger Experience, 7:30pm, free.
The Palace Hotel: 2 New Montgomery, San Francisco. The Klipptones, 8pm, free.
Pier 23 Cafe: Pier 23, San Francisco. Frank Tusa Band, 8pm, free.
Red Poppy Art House: 2698 Folsom, San Francisco. Broken Shadows Family Band, 7:30pm, $10-$15.
The Royal Cuckoo: 3202 Mission, San Francisco. Jules Broussard, Danny Armstrong, and Chris Siebert, 7:30pm, free.
Savanna Jazz Club: 2937 Mission, San Francisco. Savanna Jazz Trio, 7pm, $8.
SFJAZZ Center: 205 Franklin, San Francisco. Terrence Brewer Latin Jazz Quintet, Mi Historia CD release party (in the Joe Henderson Lab), 7 & 8:30pm, $20.
Top of the Mark: One Nob Hill, 999 California, San Francisco. Black Market Jazz Orchestra, 9pm, $10.
Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Joyce Grant, 8pm, free.
INTERNATIONAL
Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. Baxtalo Drom, International shimmying for lovers of Balkan music, bellydancers, and burlesque., Fourth Friday of every month, 9pm, $5-$10.
Bissap Baobab: 3372 19th St., San Francisco. “Paris-Dakar African Mix Coupe Decale,” 10pm, $5.
Cafe Cocomo: 650 Indiana, San Francisco. Taste Fridays, featuring local cuisine tastings, salsa bands, dance lessons, and more, 7:30pm, $15 (free entry to patio).
Cigar Bar & Grill: 850 Montgomery, San Francisco. Candela, 10pm
Pachamama Restaurant: 1630 Powell, San Francisco. Cuban Night with Fito Reinoso, 7:30 & 9:15pm, $15-$18.
Slate Bar: 2925 16th St., San Francisco. “Stereo,” w/ DJ Chico X & Monchis the DJ, 9:30pm, $5-$10.
REGGAE
Gestalt Haus: 3159 16th St., San Francisco. “Music Like Dirt,” 7:30pm, free.
BLUES
Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. Alan Iglesias & Crossfire, 7:30 & 10pm, $22.
Cafe Royale: 800 Post, San Francisco. Allister’s Chicago Blues Jam, Last Friday of every month, 9pm
Lou’s Fish Shack: 300 Jefferson, San Francisco. Nat Bolden, 6pm
The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. Jan Fanucchi, Last Friday of every month, 4pm; Ron Thompson, 9:30pm
FUNK
Make-Out Room: 3225 22nd St., San Francisco. “Loose Joints,” w/ DJs Centipede, Damon Bell, and Tom Thump, 10pm, $5-$10.
SOUL
Edinburgh Castle: 950 Geary, San Francisco. “Soul Crush,” w/ DJ Serious Leisure, 10pm, free.
Underground SF: 424 Haight, San Francisco. “Sissy Strut,” w/ The Handsome Young Men (DJs Ponyboy, Lil MC, Katie Duck, & Durt), Fourth Friday of every month, 10pm, $3-$5.
Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Dave Hollister, 8 & 10pm, $34-$45.

SATURDAY 1
ROCK
Bender’s: 806 S. Van Ness, San Francisco. Noise Pop Happy Hour: Winter Teeth, Tiger Honey Pot, Disastroid, 5pm, free; Fatso Jetson, The Grannies, 10pm, $5.
Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. Noise Pop 2014: Free Salamander Exhibit, Black Map, Lasher Keen, Happy Diving, 9pm, $15.
Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. Noise Pop 2014: No Age, Cheatahs, GRMLN, Straight Crimes, 8pm, $12-$14.
The Chapel: 777 Valencia, San Francisco. Noise Pop 2014: Mikal Cronin, Blood Sister, Old Light, Vertical Scratchers, 8pm, $13-$15.
El Rio: 3158 Mission, San Francisco. Fang, Texas Thieves, Trouble Maker, 9pm, $10.
Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. Buffalo Tooth, Creative Adult, The Vibrating Antennas, Culture Abuse, 9pm, $8.
The Independent: 628 Divisadero, San Francisco. Noise Pop 2014: Real Estate, The Shilohs, Dominant Legs, 8pm, $20.
The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. Nomad, Permanent Ruin, Pig DNA, Apriori, 5pm, $7.
Milk Bar: 1840 Haight, San Francisco. Bedrücken, Hazzard’s Cure, Butt Problems, Szandora LaVey, benefit show for Miss Eva von Slüt, 8pm, $7.
The Riptide: 3639 Taraval, San Francisco. Jinx Jones & The KingTones, 9:30pm, free.
Slim’s: 333 11th St., San Francisco. Moistboyz, Qui, 9pm, $16.
Thee Parkside: 1600 17th St., San Francisco. Madball, Twitching Tongues, Born Low, Never Healed, 9pm, $15.
DANCE
Audio Discotech: 316 11th St., San Francisco. Amtrac, Light Echo, Jayko, 9pm, $10 advance.
BeatBox: 314 11th St., San Francisco. “Industry,” w/ DJs Joe Gauthreaux & Jamie J. Sanchez, 10pm, $20 advance.
Cat Club: 1190 Folsom, San Francisco. “Leisure,” w/ DJs Aaron, Omar, & Jetset James, First Saturday of every month, 10pm, $7.
DNA Lounge: 375 11th St., San Francisco. “Bootie S.F.,” w/ DJs Adrian, Faroff, Tripp, Fox, Kool Karlo, Medic, Starr, Tannhäuser Gate, and more, 9pm, $10-$15.
The EndUp: 401 Sixth St., San Francisco. “Play,” First Saturday of every month, 10pm
Il Pirata: 2007 16th St., San Francisco. “Requiem,” w/ DJs Xiola, Calexica, and Noveli, 10pm, $5.
Lookout: 3600 16th St., San Francisco. “Bounce!,” 9pm, $3.
Madrone Art Bar: 500 Divisadero, San Francisco. “The Prince & Michael Experience,” w/ DJs Dave Paul & Jeff Harris, First Saturday of every month, 9pm, $5.
Mercer: 255 Rhode Island, San Francisco. “Surface Tension,” w/ Powell, Beau Wanzer, more, 10pm, $10-$15 advance.
Mighty: 119 Utah, San Francisco. Opel 12-Year Anniversary, w/ Elite Force, Meat Katie, Syd Gris, Melyss, Kimba, Alain Octavo, DJ Denise, Andy P, DJ Dane, A.M. Rebel, more, 10pm, $18 advance.
The NWBLK: 1999 Bryant, San Francisco. Noise Pop 2014: Ladytron (DJ set), Jimmy Tamborello, 9pm, $20.
Public Works: 161 Erie, San Francisco. Sixth Annual Eye Heart SF Mardi Gras, w/ Party Favor, Manics, The Schmidt, MyKill, R3y, more, 9pm, $15-$50.
Rickshaw Stop: 155 Fell, San Francisco. Trapeze XI: The Big-Bass Burlectro-Swing Affair, Smokey Joe & The Kid, The Klown, and DJ Delachaux provide the music for burlesque routines by Bunny Pistol, Reagan Riot, Double Dang Duo, and more., 9pm, $12-$15.
Ruby Skye: 420 Mason, San Francisco. “Mardi Gras,” w/ Super8 & Tab, Jaytech, Nick G, 9pm, $20 advance.
The Stud: 399 Ninth St., San Francisco. “Go Bang!,” w/ DJs Shawn Ryan, Glenn Rivera, Steve Fabus, and Sergio Fedasz, 9pm, $7 (free before 10pm).
Underground SF: 424 Haight, San Francisco. “Push the Feeling,” w/ Nitemoves, Al Lover, Yr Skull, Epicsauce DJs, 9pm, $6.
Vessel: 85 Campton, San Francisco. “Swank,” w/ Plastik Funk, Pheeko Dubfunk, 10pm, $10-$30.
HIP-HOP
John Colins: 138 Minna, San Francisco. “N.E.W.: Never Ending Weekend,” w/ DJ Jerry Ross, First Saturday of every month, 9pm, free before 11pm
Slate Bar: 2925 16th St., San Francisco. “Touchy Feely,” w/ The Wild N Krazy Kids, First Saturday of every month, 10pm, $5 (free before 11pm).
Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Afrika Bambaataa (DJ set), DJ Jahi, 10:30pm, $24-$26.
ACOUSTIC
Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. The Wild Reeds, The Herbert Bail Orchestra, 9pm, $7-$10.
Atlas Cafe: 3049 20th St., San Francisco. Craig Ventresco and/or Meredith Axelrod, Saturdays, 4-6pm, free.
Bazaar Cafe: 5927 California, San Francisco. Migrant Pickers, Dinner with the Kids, Jonny Mac, 7pm
Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. Sugar Ponies, Andrew Levin Band, Tim Brochier Band, Thunderegg, 9pm, $10.
The Lucky Horseshoe: 453 Cortland, San Francisco. Slow Motion Cowboys, 9pm
Pa’ina: 1865 Post, San Francisco. Kapala, 6:30pm
Plough & Stars: 116 Clement, San Francisco. Paddy O’Brien with Richard Mandel, Opening night of the Crossroads Irish-American Festival., 9pm, $15-$20.
Revolution Cafe: 3248 22nd St., San Francisco. Seth Augustus, First Saturday of every month, 9pm, free/donation.
JAZZ
50 Mason Social House: 50 Mason, San Francisco. Oakland Byrds, 7pm, $8.
The Emerald Tablet: 80 Fresno, San Francisco. Faith Winthrop with Tammy Hall, Aaron Germain, and Carmen Cansino, 8pm, $15 suggested donation.
Feinstein’s at the Nikko: 222 Mason, San Francisco. Paula West, 7 & 9:30pm, $35-$50.
Jazz Bistro at Les Joulins: 44 Ellis, San Francisco. Bill “Doc” Webster & Jazz Nostalgia, 7:30pm, free.
Savanna Jazz Club: 2937 Mission, San Francisco. Savanna Jazz Trio, 7pm, $8.
SFJAZZ Center: 205 Franklin, San Francisco. Amina Figarova Sextet, in the Joe Henderson lab, 7 & 8:30pm, $25.
Sheba Piano Lounge: 1419 Fillmore, San Francisco. The Robert Stewart Experience, 9pm
Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Barbara Ochoa, 8pm, free.
INTERNATIONAL
1015 Folsom: 1015 Folsom, San Francisco. “Pura,” 9pm, $20.
Bissap Baobab: 3372 19th St., San Francisco. “Paris-Dakar African Mix Coupe Decale,” 10pm, $5.
Make-Out Room: 3225 22nd St., San Francisco. “El SuperRitmo,” w/ DJs Roger Mas & El Kool Kyle, 10pm, $5 before 11pm
Pachamama Restaurant: 1630 Powell, San Francisco. Eddy Navia & Pachamama Band, 8pm, free.
Roccapulco Supper Club: 3140 Mission, San Francisco. 47th Friends of Brazil Carnaval Ball, w/ Sotaque Baiano, Fogo na Roupa, Aquarela, DJ Elle, DJ Kblo, more, 9pm, $30 advance.
Space 550: 550 Barneveld, San Francisco. “Club Fuego,” 9:30pm
REGGAE
Mezzanine: 444 Jessie, San Francisco. J Boog, Los Rakas, Bayonics, DJ Jah Yzer, 9pm, $30.
BLUES
Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. Janiva Magness, 7:30 & 10pm, $22.
The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. The Jukes, First Saturday of every month, 4pm; Daniel Castro, First Saturday of every month, 9:30pm
Thee Parkside: 1600 17th St., San Francisco. Bones to Breakers, Benefit for motorcycle accident victim Vanessa Bezerra featuring blues music by The Blue Swamis., 3pm, $5.
EXPERIMENTAL
Center for New Music: 55 Taylor, San Francisco. Choreographies of Creation & Destruction: The Live Cinemas of John Davis & Greg Pope, Experimental film screenings with live soundtrack performances., 7:30pm, $5-$10.
FUNK
Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. The Willie Waldman Project, 9:30pm, $15-$20.
SOUL
El Rio: 3158 Mission, San Francisco. “Hard French,” w/ DJs Carnita & Brown Amy, First Saturday of every month, 2pm, $7.
Elbo Room: 647 Valencia, San Francisco. “Saturday Night Soul Party,” w/ DJs Lucky, Phengren Oswald, & Paul Paul, First Saturday of every month, 10pm, $10 ($5 in formal attire).
Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Will Downing, 8pm, sold out.

SUNDAY 2
ROCK
The Chapel: 777 Valencia, San Francisco. Noise Pop 2014: Rogue Wave, Trails & Ways, 4pm, $20.
El Rio: 3158 Mission, San Francisco. Marbler, The Krypters, The Yes Go’s, 8pm, $5.
Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. Big Tits, Warm Soda, Dimples, 8:30pm, $6.
Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. The Hodges, Shot in the Dark, 8pm, $7.
Slim’s: 333 11th St., San Francisco. Lydia (performing Illuminate), Saint Motel, Golden Sun, 7pm, $15.
Verdi Club: 2424 Mariposa, San Francisco. Rainbow Beast, 12:30 & 4:30pm, $10-$20.
DANCE
Beaux: 2344 Market, San Francisco. “Full of Grace: A Weekly House Music Playground,” 9pm, free.
The Cellar: 685 Sutter, San Francisco. “Replay Sundays,” 9pm, free.
The Edge: 4149 18th St., San Francisco. “’80s at 8,” w/ DJ MC2, 8pm
Elbo Room: 647 Valencia, San Francisco. “Dub Mission,” w/ Alpha Steppa, DJ Sep, Maneesh the Twister, 9pm, $6 (free before 9:30pm).
The EndUp: 401 Sixth St., San Francisco. “T.Dance,” 6 a.m.-6pm; “BoomBox,” First Sunday of every month, 8pm
F8: 1192 Folsom, San Francisco. “Stamina,” w/ DJs Lukeino, Jamal, and guests, 10pm, free.
The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. “Sweater Funk,” 10pm, free.
Lookout: 3600 16th St., San Francisco. “Jock,” Sundays, 3-8pm, $2.
MatrixFillmore: 3138 Fillmore, San Francisco. “Bounce,” w/ DJ Just, 10pm
Monarch: 101 Sixth St., San Francisco. “Reload,” w/ Tara Brooks, Lee Reynolds, Dmitry Purple, Jamie Schwabl, Zach Walker, 9pm, $5-$10.
The NWBLK: 1999 Bryant, San Francisco. Noise Pop 2014: Closing Night Party with Machinedrum, 6pm, $10.
Otis: 25 Maiden, San Francisco. “What’s the Werd?,” w/ resident DJs Nick Williams, Kevin Knapp, Maxwell Dub, and guests, 9pm, $5 (free before 11pm).
The Parlor: 2801 Leavenworth, San Francisco. “Sunday Sessions,” w/ DJ Marc deVasconcelos, 9pm, free.
Q Bar: 456 Castro, San Francisco. “Gigante,” 8pm, free.
Temple: 540 Howard, San Francisco. “Sunset Arcade,” 18+ dance party & game night, 9pm, $10.
HIP-HOP
Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. “Return of the Cypher,” 9:30pm, free.
El Rio: 3158 Mission, San Francisco. “Swagger Like Us,” First Sunday of every month, 3pm
Skylark Bar: 3089 16th St., San Francisco. “Shooz,” w/ DJ Raymundo & guests, First Sunday of every month, 10pm, free.
ACOUSTIC
The Lucky Horseshoe: 453 Cortland, San Francisco. Bernal Mountain Bluegrass Jam, 4pm, free.
Madrone Art Bar: 500 Divisadero, San Francisco. “Spike’s Mic Night,” Sundays, 4-8pm, free.
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church: 1755 Clay, San Francisco. “Sunday Night Mic,” w/ Roem Baur, 5pm, free.
Tupelo: 1337 Green, San Francisco. “Twang Sundays,” w/ The Gravel Spreaders, 7pm, free.
JAZZ
Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. Kally Price Old Blues & Jazz Band, First Sunday of every month, 9pm, $7-$10.
Bird & Beckett: 653 Chenery, San Francisco. Jinx Jones’ Jazzabilly All-Stars, 4:30pm
Jazz Bistro at Les Joulins: 44 Ellis, San Francisco. Bill “Doc” Webster & Jazz Nostalgia, 7:30pm, free.
Madrone Art Bar: 500 Divisadero, San Francisco. “Sunday Sessions,” 10pm, free.
Revolution Cafe: 3248 22nd St., San Francisco. Jazz Revolution, 4pm, free/donation.
The Royal Cuckoo: 3202 Mission, San Francisco. Lavay Smith & Chris Siebert, 7:30pm, free.
SFJAZZ Center: 205 Franklin, San Francisco. Amina Figarova Sextet, in the Joe Henderson lab, 5:30 & 7pm, $20.
Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Chris Duggan, 7:30pm, free.
INTERNATIONAL
Atmosphere: 447 Broadway, San Francisco. “Hot Bachata Nights,” w/ DJ El Guapo, 5:30pm, $10 ($18-$25 with dance lessons).
Bissap Baobab: 3372 19th St., San Francisco. “Brazil & Beyond,” 6:30pm, free.
Thirsty Bear Brewing Company: 661 Howard, San Francisco. “The Flamenco Room,” 7:30 & 8:30pm
REGGAE
Mezzanine: 444 Jessie, San Francisco. J Boog, Los Rakas, Thrive, DJ Jah Yzer, 9pm, $30.
BLUES
The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. Blues Power, 4pm
Sheba Piano Lounge: 1419 Fillmore, San Francisco. Bohemian Knuckleboogie, 8pm, free.
Swig: 571 Geary, San Francisco. Sunday Blues Jam with Ed Ivey, 9pm
CLASSICAL
San Francisco Conservatory of Music: 50 Oak, San Francisco. Hot Air Music Festival, Fifth annual student-run showcase of avant-classical compositions featuring free performances by the Ignition Duo, Mobius Trio, Friction Quartet, New Keys, and more., 12:30-9pm, free.
COUNTRY
The Riptide: 3639 Taraval, San Francisco. “The Hootenanny West Side Revue,” First Sunday of every month, 7:30pm, free.
EXPERIMENTAL
Musicians Union Local 6: 116 Ninth St., San Francisco. Noertker’s Moxie, Ze Bib!, 7:30pm, $8-$10.
SOUL
Delirium Cocktails: 3139 16th St., San Francisco. “Heart & Soul,” w/ DJ Lovely Lesage, 10pm, free.
Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Will Downing, 7pm, $55-$75.

MONDAY 3
ROCK
Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. PigPen Theatre Co., The Tragic Thrills, 9pm, $7-$10.
DNA Lounge: 375 11th St., San Francisco. We Butter the Bread with Butter, King Loses Crown, Honour Crest, Lions Lions, 7:30pm, $10-$13.
The Independent: 628 Divisadero, San Francisco. The Wild Feathers, Saints of Valory, Jamestown Revival, 8pm, $13-$15.
DANCE
DNA Lounge: 375 11th St., San Francisco. “Death Guild,” 18+ dance party with DJs Decay, Joe Radio, Melting Girl, & guests, 9:30pm, $3-$5.
Q Bar: 456 Castro, San Francisco. “Wanted,” w/ DJs Key&Kite and Richie Panic, 9pm, free.
Underground SF: 424 Haight, San Francisco. “Vienetta Discotheque,” w/ DJs Stanley Frank and Robert Jeffrey, 10pm, free.
ACOUSTIC
Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. Front Country, First Monday of every month, 9pm, free.
The Chieftain: 198 Fifth St., San Francisco. The Wrenboys, 7pm, free.
Fiddler’s Green: 1333 Columbus, San Francisco. Terry Savastano, 9:30pm, free/donation.
Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. Open Mic with Brendan Getzell, 8pm, free.
Osteria: 3277 Sacramento, San Francisco. “Acoustic Bistro,” 7pm, free.
The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. Peter Lindman, 4pm
Slim’s: 333 11th St., San Francisco. Nicole Atkins, Arc Iris, Davey Horne, 8pm, $15.
JAZZ
Cafe Divine: 1600 Stockton, San Francisco. Rob Reich, First and Third Monday of every month, 7pm
Jazz Bistro at Les Joulins: 44 Ellis, San Francisco. Eugene Pliner Quartet with Tod Dickow, 7:30pm, free.
Le Colonial: 20 Cosmo, San Francisco. Le Jazz Hot, 7pm, free.
Make-Out Room: 3225 22nd St., San Francisco. “The Monday Make-Out,” w/ Talk More, Eli Wallace’s Platform, Timothy Orr Ensemble, 8pm, free.
Sheba Piano Lounge: 1419 Fillmore, San Francisco. City Jazz Instrumental Jam Session, 8pm
Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Riley Bandy, 7:30pm, free.
REGGAE
Skylark Bar: 3089 16th St., San Francisco. “Skylarking,” w/ I&I Vibration, 10pm, free.
BLUES
The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. The Bachelors, 9:30pm
EXPERIMENTAL
Center for New Music: 55 Taylor, San Francisco. Mchtnchts, John Shiurba’s 3-3 on 3/3, Crystal Moon Cone, 7:30pm, $8-$10.
SOUL
Madrone Art Bar: 500 Divisadero, San Francisco. “M.O.M. (Motown on Mondays),” w/ DJ Gordo Cabeza & Timoteo Gigante, 8pm, free.

TUESDAY 4
ROCK
Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. Cellar Doors, Cool Ghouls, 9:15pm Starts . continues through March 25, $7-$10.
Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. The Casket Girls, The Stargazer Lilies, Dott, Dreamend, 8pm, $10.
Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. Kevin Moan & The Reptiles, Vamos, 8:30pm, $5.
Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. Bend Sinister, Grand Tarantula, Ensemble Mik Nawooj, 8pm, $8.
The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. Ava Luna, Chastity Belt, Dude York, Krill, 9:30pm, $7.
DANCE
Aunt Charlie’s Lounge: 133 Turk, San Francisco. “High Fantasy,” w/ DJ Viv, Myles Cooper, & guests, 10pm, $2.
Laszlo: 2532 Mission, San Francisco. “Beards of a Feather,” Enjoy classy house records, obscuro disco, and laid-back late-’80s jams with DJ Ash Williams and guests, First Tuesday of every month, 9pm, free.
Monarch: 101 Sixth St., San Francisco. “Soundpieces,” 10pm, free-$10.
Q Bar: 456 Castro, San Francisco. “Switch,” w/ DJs Jenna Riot & Andre, 9pm, $3.
Underground SF: 424 Haight, San Francisco. “Shelter,” 10pm, free.
Wish: 1539 Folsom, San Francisco. “Tight,” w/ resident DJs Michael May & Lito, 8pm, free.
ACOUSTIC
Bazaar Cafe: 5927 California, San Francisco. Songwriter in Residence: Lonnie Lazar, 7pm Starts . continues through March 25.
Rickshaw Stop: 155 Fell, San Francisco. Mariee Sioux, Yesway, Honey.Moon.Tree., 8pm, $10.
JAZZ
Beach Chalet Brewery & Restaurant: 1000 Great Highway, San Francisco. Gerry Grosz Jazz Jam, 7pm
Blush! Wine Bar: 476 Castro, San Francisco. Kally Price & Rob Reich, 7pm, free.
Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. Mardi Gras with Wil Blades featuring the Jazz Mafia Horns, Stanford Marching Band, Brass Band Mission, 8pm, $12-$15.
Burritt Room: 417 Stockton St., San Francisco. Terry Disley’s Rocking Jazz Trio, 6pm, free.
Cafe Divine: 1600 Stockton, San Francisco. Chris Amberger, 7pm
Jazz Bistro at Les Joulins: 44 Ellis, San Francisco. Clifford Lamb, Mel Butts, and Friends, 7:30pm, free.
Le Colonial: 20 Cosmo, San Francisco. Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers, 7pm
Revolution Cafe: 3248 22nd St., San Francisco. West Side Jazz Club, 5pm, free; Conscious Contact, First Tuesday of every month, 8pm, free.
Tupelo: 1337 Green, San Francisco. Mal Sharpe’s Big Money in Jazz Band, 6pm
Verdi Club: 2424 Mariposa, San Francisco. “Tuesday Night Jump,” w/ Stompy Jones, 9pm, $10-$12.
Wine Kitchen: 507 Divisadero St., San Francisco. Hot Club Pacific, 7:30pm
Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Emily Hayes, 7:30pm, free.
INTERNATIONAL
Cafe Cocomo: 650 Indiana, San Francisco. Salsa Tuesday, w/ DJs Good Sho & El de la Clave, 8:30pm, $10.
The Cosmo Bar & Lounge: 440 Broadway, San Francisco. Conga Tuesdays, 8pm, $7-$10.
Elbo Room: 647 Valencia, San Francisco. Carnaval Fat Tuesday with Fogo na Roupa, DJs Elan & Carioca, 9pm, $10.
F8: 1192 Folsom, San Francisco. “Underground Nomads,” w/ rotating resident DJs Amar, Sep, and Dulce Vita, plus guests, 9pm, $5 (free before 9:30pm).
REGGAE
Milk Bar: 1840 Haight, San Francisco. “Bless Up,” w/ Jah Warrior Shelter Hi-Fi, 10pm
BLUES
Fillmore Center Plaza: Fillmore (at O’Farrell), San Francisco. Fat Tuesday in the Fillmore with Bobbie Webb, 5pm, free.
The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. Lisa Kindred, First Tuesday of every month, 9:30pm, free.
EXPERIMENTAL
Center for New Music: 55 Taylor, San Francisco. Joseph Van Hassel: New Music for Snare Drum, 7:30pm, $10-$15.
FUNK
Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. Mardi Gras with the Fat Tuesday Band, 7:30 & 9:30pm, $15.
SOUL
Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. The JRo Project, First Tuesday of every month, 9:30pm, $5.
Make-Out Room: 3225 22nd St., San Francisco. “Lost & Found,” w/ DJs Primo, Lucky, and guests, 9:30pm, free.
Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Moonchild, 8pm, $12-$14. 2

SF’s Happy Fangs just want you to dance already

Steven T. Jones
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0

What do you get when two incredibly energetic performers — a guy and a girl who are each accustomed to being at the helm of a band, to commanding attention as the focal point of the room — decide to form a band together?

If the guy and girl in question are Mike Cobra of King Loses Crown and Rebecca Gone Bad (aka Rebecca Bortman), formerly of My First Earthquake, what you get is Happy Fangs — a band known for a ferocious, fiery, determinedly and cathartically fun live show, with music that owes equal debts to anthemic pop and classic ‘70s punk rock, and an aesthetic that’s maybe one part French New Wave, two parts experimental art school final. They also make up a new song, on the spot and with audience participation, once during every performance. Did I mention they seem to be having fun?

Ahead of their Noise Pop show this Friday at Slim’s — at which they’ll be performing for the first time with their third member, brand-new drummer Jess Gowrie — we caught up with the pair to hear about their influences, their onstage dynamic, and the importance of having cute girls dancing in the front row.

San Francisco Bay Guardian: I know Happy Fangs started when another project ended. How did the two of you meet up?

Rebecca Bortman: My old band shared a practice space [with Mike’s]…and when word went out that I was quitting, he sent me an email.

Mike Cobra: I contacted her asking what she was up to next, because if she said she was gonna stop making music, I would tell her that she shouldn’t, because she’s super talented.

RB: He was jumping in front of my talent train.

MC: And she sent back an email saying, “Well, I’m looking to start a band with just one other person and see what happens.” So I said, “OK, let’s do a couple demos.” We shared demos via email back and forth for a couple months before we decided to get together and start writing songs.

SFBG: So much of your energy and dynamic onstage seems to come from the contrast between you. Is it always harmonious, being a band made of front-people?

MC: As far as personas go, it’s true we’re very different: we say she’s the happy and I’m the fangs. But I don’t think we compete onstage, exactly. That’s part of our goal with adding the drummer, as well — she’s a very expressive, animated person, and we like to give people something to look at, even if it is competing. If anything, I think it keeps us on our toes.

SFBG: What did each of you listen to growing up? Do your influences complement each other?

RB: The one tape I listened to when I was young was The Big Chill soundtrack. Wait, also, [Michael Jackson’s] “We Are the World,” which has a B-side that’s Bruce Springsteen doing [Jimmy Cliff’s semi-obscure song] “Trapped,” live. Which is a really powerful song that gets really quiet, and then really loud. That song sculpted my desire to be on stage, Bruce Springsteen on the live “Trapped.”

MC: There’s one very first song that I remember listening to. I had an older brother, and when I was four years I would listen to his 8-tracks, with headphones, and I remember just rewinding and replaying this one song, one guitar riff, over and over again. It wasn’t until I was older that I realized it was Kiss’ first album. So I’ve been kinda stuck to that my whole life. I also got a lot of old-school country music, late ‘60s, early ‘70s music from my mom. And then I started listening to a really weird mixture of things as an adult, lots of punk rock, hardcore, metal. I say I like everything from Johnny Cash to Cannibal Corpse.

SFBG: I read another interview with y’all where you mention drawing inspiration from Kathleen Hanna, whom I also adore a borderline embarrassing amount. What is it about her work that strikes you?

RB: For me, the girl-punk, Riot Grrl stuff was all genuinely transformational for me when I was younger. I always think of that moment when a little girl realizes it’s not all about ballerinas and choo-choo trains…I love the idea of the moment when someone who’s maybe been proper and cute up until that point discovers her power — to me there’s an emotion of a five-year-old screaming [in our music]. This woman actually sent us this video of her daughter running around screaming [our song] “Lion Inside You,” and we were just like, “Yes! Do it!!”

MC: And for me, even being a guy, she was kind of one of the only people in the past 15 years who I feel like was very truly punk rock, in the sense of say, [Minor Threat/Fugazi frontman] Ian MacKaye, or Henry Rollins, in that she stayed very true to what she was, and she’s still doing it, still making music. She broke down a lot of boundaries, which is really inspiring.

SFBG: You both live in the city, yeah? Any thoughts on the current doomsday-ish conversation about how artists are fleeing SF because it’s so expensive?

RB: I want to be respectful and sympathetic to people who are leaving, because that totally sucks. I do have an affordable place to live in SF, in the Castro, and I know a lot of people are not in that situation. I also do think the culture of the city is totally changing. One thing that keeps us here is Mike and I also both work in an industry that’s here — we’re both designers. We kind of never stop working.

MC: I think San Francisco is a tough place to make music right now, and the situations where music venues are closing definitely affect everybody. And bands like Thee Oh Sees and Ty Segall — I definitely understand why they would want to [leave], if you’re a touring band and thats how you’re making your money, you don’t want to spend it all on rent! That has definitely sucked a lot of the arts out of the city. At the same time, I think it’s a city that’s constantly been about change, from the time of the forty-niners. The same thing happened in the ‘60s, and with punk rock in the ‘80s, then metal…it’s a place of constant change, and I do think you kind of have to roll with it.

RB: Also, both of us are from much shittier places. I’ve been here 7 years, he’s been here 14, but we’re still in utter appreciation of the fact that we live in paradise. Yes, paradise is changing, but it’s still way better than Pittsburgh.

SFBG: You guys released a self-titled EP in October. What’s next for the band?

RB: Well, first, with this show, we have to haze our new drummer, Jess. This will probably involve some sort of vegan blood substitute. And we’ll be playing an awesome show with a bill of all female-fronted bands at Bottom of the Hill on April 5. Then later in the year, we’re going to record and release a full-length album, hopefully this fall, and go on tour — we’re going to Canada in the summer for a festival, so alert the officials.

SFBG: What else should people be on the lookout for at this show in particular?

MC: Well, it’s our first time playing without a drum machine, so if people haven’t seen us before, great; if they have, I think it’ll be a pretty big change in a really good way.

RB: The other thing I’ve been thinking about is people dancing at our shows, and how I wish it would happen more. To be totally sexist, I’ve noticed that having a couple of really hot girls dancing up front really helps. So girls, women, ladies, if you will dance, please come out. In fact, you can email us and we’ll put you on the list: happyfangsmusic [at] gmail.com.

Happy Fangs (w/ Cold Cave, Dirty Ghosts, and Painted Palms)
Fri/28, 7pm, $16
Slim’s
333 11th St, SF
www.slimspresents.com

This Week’s Picks: February 26 – March 4, 2014

Michael Redmond
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WEDNESDAY 26

Fresh and Onlys

Yeah, Ty Segall moved to LA and Thee Oh Sees are on an indefinite hiatus, but chin up! The Fresh and Onlys aren’t going anywhere. Keeping the SF garage rock scene alive, these hometown heroes are tireless, performing almost constantly around the city since their inception in 2008. Sure, you’ve seen ’em before and you’ll probably see ’em again, but this is prime: headlining the city’s greatest (and most fitting) down n’ dirty rock club as a part of Noise Pop, the city’s greatest (and most affordable!) arts festival. And if you haven’t seen ’em before, get on it! These dudes can write a catchy tune with just the right amount of melancholy like nobody’s business. (Haley Zaremba)

With Sandy’s

8pm, $14

Brick and Mortar Music Hall

1710 Mission, SF

(415) 800-8782

www.brickandmortarmusic.com

 

THURSDAY 27

Com Truise

It is only fitting that Com Truise embarks on a national tour at the same time the new RoboCop film is in movie theaters. Both the electronic funk producer and the futuristic peace officer are products of the ’80s, borrow heavily from the era, rely on shiny technological weaponry, and owe a shout-out to Michigan. Since 2010, Ann Arbor’s trendy Ghostly International label has championed Truise’s artistic exploits, including the shimmering Wave 1 EP released this year. Truise concocts muddled, vintage, bass-heavy synthwave, the type of emphatic sound that might arise if Joy Division or New Order were selected for RoboCop reprogramming. (Kevin Lee)

With Phantoms, Kauf, DJ Dials

9pm, $19

Mezzanine

444 Jessie, SF

(415) 625-8880

www.mezzaninesf.com

 

Jel

Forget the music, watching Jel repeatedly punch drum machine pads and twist sampler knobs on bulky, last-gen machinery would be worth the price of admission. The East Bay-based electronic hip-hop producer manages to keep his appendages intact while stabbing out a dizzying array of kick drums, snares and percussion in ever-shifting breakbeat arrangements and tempos. On his latest LP, Late Pass (Anticon), Jel balances bass with shoegaze melodies, hints of psychedelia, electric guitar chords and some of his own emceeing. In line with the political undertones throughout the album (“Don’t get comfortable,” the title track advises), this show marks the two-year anniversary of the San Francisco Patient and Resource Center, a medical cannabis nonprofit. (Lee)

With Maus Haus, Grown Kids Radio DJs

7pm-10 pm, free (RSVP required for non-Noise Pop badge holders)

Sparc

1256 Mission, SF

(415) 252-7727

www.sparcsf.org

 

FRIDAY 28

Bleached

It won’t surprise anyone to learn that Bleached’s Clavin sisters are longtime friends of Best Coast’s Bethany Cosentino. Bleached dishes out the same brand of blissed-out, beach-blonde pop morsels that has been pouring out of Southern California (San Fernando Valley, in the Clavins’ case) for the past few years. This isn’t to say that there’s nothing special about this sister act: The Clavins have an amazing aptitude for earworms and feel-good noises paired with feel-bad lyrics, and Bleached’s recent debut album establishes that the band is not to be dismissed as one of the crowd — the sisters have been sneaking into punk shows and honing their musical chops for years, and it shows. (Zaremba)

With Terry Malts, Mystic Braves, Tropical Popsicle

8:30pm, $15

Rickshaw Stop

155 Fell, SF

(415) 861-2011

www.rickshawstop.com

 

Other Minds Festival

What do jazz saxophone legend Roscoe Mitchell, experimental composer Joseph Byrd, and an African grey parrot have in common? They’re all sharing a bill at the 19th annual Other Minds Festival, a two-day celebration of avant-garde music, taking place for the first time at the SFJAZZ Center. This year’s festival also includes performances by award-winning pianist Myra Melford, the premiere of synthesizer superstar Donald Buchla’s Drop by Drop, and a specially commissioned performance of Roscoe Mitchell’s Nonaah for four bass saxophones — a rare instrument in its own right. The LA Times calls this the “West Coast’s premier festival of new music,” so if you’re not afraid to get a little out there, this is the place to be. (Emma Silvers)

8pm, Fri/28 – Sat/1, $25-$65

SFJAZZ Center

201 Franklin, SF

(866) 920-5299

www.otherminds.org

 

SATURDAY 1

James Bond

While most people are probably familiar with James Bond as a character from the film and literary worlds, the iconic spy has also had his danger- and damsel-filled missions and adventures featured in comics and newspaper strips around the globe. Suit up and join Alan J. Porter, author of the book James Bond: The History of the Illustrated 007, for a discussion and slideshow highlighting the secret agent’s other realm of action. Cartoon Art Museum chairman Ron Evans and artist Mike Capozzola will host this evening’s festivities, which will also include a look at vintage Bond memorabilia, prizes, an auction, and of course, martinis — shaken, not stirred, naturally. (Sean McCourt)

7:30-9:30pm, $7

Cartoon Art Museum

655 Mission St, SF

(415) CAR-TOON

www.cartoonart.org

 

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.

Perhaps Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. should transition into full-time DJ work. On one track of their new (and free to download) mixtape Produce Vol. 1, indie rockers Joshua Epstein and Daniel Zott cheekily layer vocals from both the Notorious BIG and the Beach Boys over 16-bit video game beats, creating an unexpected and playful mashup. “Beach Blanket Biggie” epitomizes the irreverent approach and wide-ranging musical influences of the Detroit-based duo. Their sophomore LP The Speed of Things (Warner Bros. Records) collects bright vocals, moody folk, electronically shifted acoustic samples, and a splash of uptempo synth-pop, as evidenced by the recent single “If You Didn’t See Me [Then You Weren’t On The Dancefloor]”. (Lee)

With Chad Valley

9 pm, $20

The Fillmore

1805 Geary, SF

(415) 346-6000

www.thefillmore.com

 

Afrika Bambaataa

Without Afrika Bambaataa, hip-hop as we know it would not have existed; he is credited for coining the term “hip-hop” back in 1982, more than three decades ago. That same year, Bambaataa released his seminal single “Planet Rock,” a daring electrofunk track featuring vocoders and synthesizers that transformed rap and electronic music genres. Part of the hip-hop patriarch’s staying power can be attributed to the connections he fostered in the ’70s and ’80s, when he hosted gatherings to promote peace and social change, and shaped a generation of artists. Continuing to DJ and produce tracks that mix funk, breaks, fusion, and rock also helps to ensure fans that hip-hop’s godfather isn’t going anywhere. (Lee)

With DJ Jahi

10:30 pm, $26

Yoshi’s San Francisco

1330 Fillmore, SF

(415) 655-5600

www.yoshis.com/sanfrancisco

 

SUNDAY 2

SF History Expo

With the city by the Bay going through yet another period of transformation, now is the perfect time to look back on its incredible history and learn some of the stories that shaped the modern metropolis we know and love today. The 2014 San Francisco History Expo will feature more than 50 exhibitors creating special “mini-museums” and booths onsite, along with a variety of presentations, films, displays, and more — all taking place at the Old Mint, one of the few buildings to survive the earthquake and fire of 1906. (Sean McCourt)

$5, 11am-5pm Sat, 11am-4pm Sun

The Old Mint 88 5th St, SF

www.sfhistoryexpo.org

 

Isness Productions Presents First Sundays Yoga

Who’s trying to get downward dog tonight? For those who like to get down on the dance floor as well as on their yoga mats, head to the Regency for an evening of yoga, live music, organic food, eco-vending and holistic healing. Isness Productions’ Scott Franklin Manning has been using music as a healing power and a means to break down barriers since the ’90s, but this event marks the grand opening of his First Sundays gatherings. Practice yoga with two Yoga Tree instructors, Laura Burkhart and writer/spiritual man-about-town Mark Morford, with an electronic soundtrack by DJ Little John. Later on, DJ Garth will start the dance party, followed by an all-vinyl set by Wicked Sound System. The all-ages event will also feature a yoga class for kids and holistic activities from tarot reading to collective chair massages and an organic tea and raw chocolate lounge. As if it couldn’t get anymore wholesome, 100 percent of the proceeds fund school garden projects in San Francisco. (Laura B. Childs)

3pm – 9pm, $35

The Regency

1290 Sutter, SF

www.firstsundays.com

 

Murder in Pigalle launch party with Cara Black

French private investigator (and magnet for trouble) Aimée Leduc is back at it again in Murder in Pigalle. San Francisco Library Laureate and best-selling author Cara Black celebrates her latest installment in the French mystery series with a book reading and signing. Inspired by a true-crime story during the summer of 1998, Murder in Pigalle follows Aimée Leduc as she tries to slow down her hectic lifestyle — until a serial rapist wreaks havoc on Paris’ Pigalle neighborhood. When the criminal strikes too close to home, Aimée can’t help but become involved. The suspense will leave you au bout de souffle. (Childs)

3pm, free

Books Inc. at Laurel Village

3515 California, SF

www.booksinc.net

 

MONDAY 3

Marshall Elementary School Second Annual Best Tamales Contest

There are few Central American delicacies as exceptional as the tamale. Wrapped up like a present, the masa dish can be filled with gooey cheeses, spiced meats, or an assortment of veggies. But what makes a tamale the best tamale? Marshall Elementary School is a on a quest to find el major tamale de la Mission. After its immense success last year, the tamale contest will once again bring the community together to help raise money for the underfunded school. Parents of students and the school’s Mission neighbors will cook up a variety of homemade tamales based on their places of origin, ranging from the Yucatan to right here in San Francisco. Expect tastes from many other regions of Mexico and Latin America as well! (Childs)

6pm – 8pm, $30

Roosevelt Tamale Parlor

2817 24th St, SF

 

TUESDAY 4

Tosca

Tosca is the sound you hear in a dimly-lit lounge, resplendent with plush velvet seats and sensual wisps of scented candle smoke. Austrian downtempo luminaries Richard Dorfmeister and Rubert Hubert make a rare foray this side of the Atlantic with a six-stop trip through North America. Sophomore studio album Suzuki (!K7 Recordings) remains a gold standard in the lounge music genre, as refreshingly lush and catchy today as when it was released at the turn of the millennium. Their newest LP, Odeon, is a vocal-laden voyage that entices listeners through layered atmospherics and dramatic tones. This live performance will feature the longtime pair alternating between piano and electronics, accompanied by vocalists and visuals from Austria’s Ars Electronica Futurelab. (Lee)

With Cath Coffey and Robert Gallagher

8pm, $35

The Independent

628 Divisadero, SF (415) 771-1421

www.theindependentsf.com

 

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Rocked worlds

Michael Redmond
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0
Rocked worlds

THEATER

There are two sides to every road. But ask a long-haul trucker, a traveling salesman, or a pair of wandering minstrels like the Bengsons, and they’ll remind you that those sides converge at the horizon line.

The Bengsons — married musician-songwriters Abigail and Shaun — met randomly through a gig in New York City back in the late aughts. A mutual attraction, immediate and fierce, led them to become engaged within weeks of their first conversation. Both then in their early 20s, with serious and eclectic musical backgrounds, they recall the courtship as a whirlwind of powerful new emotions, bright and dark. Fast on the heels of marriage came five years of traveling across the country as their own band — a sure blend of musical influences that slips across various genres, in a sort of indie folk, neo-vaudevillian, truck stop cabaret, and drive-by rock opera that more or less dovetails with their daily selves. Among much else, living and learning as peripatetic artists and lovers has given them the opportunity to explore the meaning of all those feelings that led to their highly creative, itinerant relationship.

The fruit of that exploration is in the world premiere this week of Hundred Days, a major musical-theatrical venture carefully nurtured by Z Space and three years in the making. Directed by Anne Kauffman and with a book by Bay Area–based playwright Kate E. Ryan — both fully collaborative partners in the project, the Bengsons readily acknowledge — Hundred Days is something like a real-life Once: a true love affair cast through a darkly playful fictional story about Sarah (Abigail Bengson) and Will (Shaun Bengson), two 20somethings who find their powerful new love comes with a serious expiration date.

The production is no mere concert (though it rocks, loudly and well), but every inch a theatrical experience. Ryan provides a complete and involving narrative spine to the at times raucous, at times haunting musical set pieces. Moreover, Hundred Days features a large and talented cast of actors and musicians (including El Beh, Melissa Kaitlyn Carter, Geneva Harrison, Kate Kilbane, Jo Lampert, Amy Lizardo, Dalane Mason, Joshua Pollock, and Reggie D. White); a moody and mercurial set design by Kris Stone (aglow with a sort of post-industrial romanticism courtesy of lighting designer Allen Willner); and choreography by renowned San Francisco dance maker Joe Goode.

But at its heart are a body of songs of surprising force and subtlety, in dynamic arrangements that showcase both the Bengsons’ hard-won skills as musicians and composers, as well as their exhilarating ability to convey a rare sense of emotional honesty, of uncensored feeling, in their work. Before a recent rehearsal ahead of the show’s first previews, the couple sat down and shared musings on the journey that brought them here.

SF Bay Guardian You’ve described your courtship as being a kind of existential crisis, in that it suddenly put life in an unsettling new perspective.

Shaun Bengson It did start to feel incredibly short.

Abigail Bengson It’s life’s irony that in rushing to live life fully you do collide more quickly with the end of it. Rushing towards life is inevitably rushing towards death. That’s true of everybody. In the play, we put a timer on it, to help us talk about it in a more concrete way. But that’s just how we feel every day anyway [laughs] It’s just sort of the situation.

SB They’re such big feelings, it’s taken a really long time to sort them out and figure out what’s going on there — a lot of the wonder, and also the neurosis and the fear — all of that is where the show came from.

AB The more we’ve unpacked what was initially just an enormous feeling of life and dread in one package, the more we’ve discovered how ordinary that is. I’d say that’s been my primary comfort. In that moment I felt like, “I am struck by lighting. I am going to die.” My experience of life is no longer separate from my experience of death. I’m finding that that is true for so many people.

Any big love, not necessarily for a spouse, but for a child or for a parent, can have that same effect of making life an emergency and making death feel near. But also, in living with that breath in my throat for long enough, I’ve started to be able to soften into that and say, “OK, so now we make a sandwich.” I mean, how do we live in an ordinary way in the face of this thing that feels so enormous? Why is it all we’re thinking about all the time? I don’t know. I guess that’s why we ended up writing all those songs about it.

SFBG And that led you out on the road. How did five years of traveling, your day-to-day life on the road, actually come about?

SB We were living in an apartment in Brooklyn, and I had one year left on my teaching contract. We were playing in our band and working on the show. At the end of my school year, I still had the whole summer [paid]. At the same time, our very dear friend David was going back to South Africa, so he said, “You can stay in my house for the summer.” So we had these two months when we’d still have money from my teaching gig and we’d have a place to live. So we went and lived in the Berkshires for a couple of months, finished a show and set up tour dates, and left from there. We thought maybe we’d go back—maybe I could go back to teaching, if things didn’t work.

AB I never felt that. [Shaun laughs.]

SFBG It felt right to leave?

SB It felt really good. It felt like such a relief.

AB It felt honest. It felt right. True to the way I think and what I am. It meant our life became, you know, gas money and Taco Bell, but it also became playing a lot of shows, doing a lot of service work in different places and learning a lot through that. We got to be students again in that sense, by putting ourselves in situations that were intensely uncomfortable over and over again, and writing music about them. It was a little songwriting boot camp of our own design. And we were getting to know each other’s styles and how we would write. I also feel, like, thank god we were married. I don’t know how you could be a musician and not marry a musician.

SFBG You hit the road five years ago and haven’t turned back. Was there a point early on where you hesitated? Were there any gigs that made you think again?

AB The first crappy gig I remember being really educational — and making me want to do it more even, though it was painful — was when we were at this biker bar…

SB Oh, yeah, this was in the Valley outside of Los Angeles. What was it called? Something like—it’s not Topanga. Tujunga? Is that place?

AB Fact-check all of this, we’re totally full of crap. [Fact check: Sunland-Tujunga sits in northeastern Los Angeles.] But we were playing this bar. Everybody was angry looking, a lot of shaved heads. I was [looking around the room, thinking], “What is going on with you?” Scared. So we got up and we played all the songs that we had written to date that were the most ferocious and aggressive and loud — and then we were kind of running out of those. So at the very end of the night we played this one song. It’s actually about a woman we knew well, whose daughter had passed away, and her struggling with that. And we sang for her and about that, in the moment sort of ready to get booed.

Then, when the set ended, this pack of — now, I know, lovely gentlemen, but at the time, terrifying — figures came towards me, and were weeping. They just said, “That one. Wish you had played more like that.” And I was like, “Fuck, me too.” I mean, I love those aggressive songs, too, they’re a big part of what we do, but it was such a lesson in prejudice for me — that I had judged what they would like, and assumed that it wouldn’t be anything honest for me.

SB It’s the lesson I’m still constantly learning. It takes so much more courage to be actually genuine in a moment. If I’m not careful, my tendency can be to play towards what I perceive people’s expectations are for the event, versus when we try to play the songs we most want to play and are most “us.”

AB But I also think it’s incredible training to play in rooms that are not receptive at first. Because part of the task then is to create the space where people can lean forward. I feel it was one of the best trainings for me. Play somewhere where they wish you were just playing Lynyrd Skynyrd. Where they wish you were a DJ. That’s the best place to go.

SFBG Have you two every attempted anything on the scale of Hundred Days before?

SB and AB No.

AB That was part of why we called it an opera at first. Because opera, they say, is the most collaborative art form — that you need every possible kind of artist to come in and make it happen. And that’s what Z Space has done, is allow for that.

SB It’s been really amazing.

AB It’s been a dream. *

HUNDRED DAYS

Through April 6, $10-$100

Previews Wed/26, 7pm; Thu/27-Fri/28, 8pm; opens Sat/1, 8pm

Runs Wed and Sun, 7pm; Thu-Sat, 8pm

Z Space

450 Florida, SF

www.zspace.org

 

Theater Listings: February 26 – March 4, 2014

Michael Redmond
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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

Mommy Queerest Exit Studio, 156 Eddy, SF; www.divafest.info. $15-25. Opens Fri/28, 8pm. Runs Fri-Sat, 8pm. Through March 29. DIVAfest and Guerrilla Rep present Kat Evasco (who co-wrote with John Caldon) in an autobiographical solo comedy about the relationship between a lesbian daughter and her closeted lesbian mother.

“Risk Is This … The Cutting Ball New Experimental Plays Festival” Tides Theater, 533 Sutter, Second Flr; www.cuttingball.com. Free ($20 donation for reserved seating). Opens Fri/28, 8pm. Runs Fri-Sat, 8pm. (Starting March 14, venue changes to Exit on Taylor, 277 Taylor, SF). Through March 29. Five new works in staged readings, including two from Cutting Ball resident playwright Andrew Saito.

Tipped & Tipsy Marsh Studio Theater, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. $15-50. Opens Sat/1, 5pm. Runs Sat, 5pm; Sun, 7pm. Through April 6. Solo performer Jill Vice performs her Fringe Festival hit.

ONGOING

The Altruists Shelton Theater, 533 Sutter, SF; www.shewolftheater.com. $19-34. Thu-Sat, 8pm. Through March 8. She Wolf Theater performs Nicky Silver’s “politically incorrect” play that exposes the real motivations behind altruistic behavior.

Children Are Forever (All Sales are Final!) Stage Werx Theatre, 446 Valencia, SF; www.brownpapertickets.com. $15. Fri-Sat, 8pm. Through March 22. W. Kamau Bell directs Julia Jackson in her solo show about adoption.

Feisty Old Jew Marsh San Francisco Main Stage, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. $25-100. Sat, 8pm; Sun, 7pm (Sun/2, performance at 2pm; March 9, performance will be a reading of Charlie Varon’s Fish Sisters). Through March 16. Charlie Varon performs his latest solo show, a fictional comedy about “a 20th century man living in a 21st century city.”

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.

Hundred Days Z Space, 450 Florida, SF; www.zspace.org. $10-100. Previews Wed/26, 7pm; Thu/27-Fri/28, 8pm. Opens Sat/1, 8pm. Runs Wed and Sun, 7pm; Thu-Sat, 8pm. Through April 6. Z Space presents the world premiere of a folk rock odyssey conceived and created by Abigail and Shaun Bengson.

An Indian Summer Exit Theatre, 156 Eddy, SF; www.wehavemet.org. $20-40. Thu/27-Sat/1, 8pm. Multi Ethnic Theater presents local playwright Charles Johnson’s parable of race relations in the Deep South of the 1980s. On a small stage split into two alternating scenes by a movable wall in director-designer Lewis Campbell’s set, two sets of working-class residents of rural Alabama, one white and one black, have their discrete worlds unexpectedly collide. Musician Charlie Ray (a less than convincing Kevin Wisney) is fresh from the pen and living with girlfriend Pearle (AJ Davenport). Plucking at his guitar, he dreams of getting some money to afford time in a recording studio. But his brother Bobby (Paul Rodriguez) has a way of talking him into sketchy schemes, which has Pearle worried, especially after a visit from the Sheriff (Richard Wenzel). For his part, Bobby is hoping to make some money to appease his pregnant wife, Sarah (Bree Swartwood), who wants Bobby to move her and their baby to Maine. Meanwhile, Junior (a forceful Bennie Lewis, alternating nights with Stuart Hall) is a feisty wheelchair bound African American man living in a small trailer. Junior’s friend Emmitt (Fabian Herd, alternating with Vernon Medearis) tries to convince him he should put his money in a bank rather than keeping it in his trailer — especially now that Junior is selling his land for a tidy sum — but Junior doesn’t trust banks. Next, Junior gets a letter from a lawyer claiming half the profit from the land sale on behalf of a long lost, half-white relative — the offspring of an illicit romance between Junior’s father and a white woman, related to Pearle. The situation, of course, spells trouble. But while we see it coming, there’s meant to be pathos in the tangled connections among these parallel stories. Unfortunately, the artificial nature of the plot makes it hard to credit, while the desultory pace and uneven acting make the going harder still. (Avila)

Jerusalem San Francisco Playhouse, 450 Post, SF; www.sfplayhouse.org. $20-100. Tue-Thu, 7pm; Fri-Sat, 8pm (also Sat, 3pm). Through March 8. SF Playhouse presents the West Coast premiere of English playwright Jez Butterworth’s West End and Broadway hit, a three-act revel led by a larger-than-life rebel, a stout boozed-up drug-dealer, habitual fabulist, and latter-day Digger of sorts named Johnny “Rooster” Byron (Brian Dykstra). The dominion of this Falstaffian giant is the English countryside outside his squalid trailer door, not far from Stonehenge, where he seems to incarnate a rather dissipated version of an ancient English independence, like one of the great mythical beings of rural lore. Aptly enough, it’s Saint George’s Day, the feast day of England’s national saint, but it’s not all a party this time around. Authorities have issued a final 24-hour eviction notice on Rooster’s tin door; there are luxury apartments in the works; and there’s concern in town about the underage teens who flock to Rooster like so many fledglings — one, in particular, has gone missing: Phaedra (Julia Belanoff), who we see at the very outset of the play donning a fairy costume and singing the title song, based on the Blake poem and England’s unofficial national anthem. The next 24 hours will be either the breaking point or the apotheosis for all Rooster has made himself out to be. In Butterworth’s big-eyed comedy, we are meant to feel a stake in this outcome whether we actually like Rooster or not — his independence, the scope of his life and vision, suggests the outer limit of possibility in an ever more disciplined and circumscribed world. Director Bill English (who also designed the impressive bucolic-trailer-park set) and his large cast (which includes a strong Ian Scott McGregor as longtime Rooster sidekick, Ginger) dive into the comedy with gusto. But somehow the drama, the larger stakes in the storyline, falls short. A certain requisite intensity and momentum are only fitfully achieved. Dykstra, as the expansive antihero, has the biggest burden here. And while he has an appealing swagger throughout, his wayward brogue and unconvincing bellicosity undercut the culmination of the play’s (admittedly somewhat overwrought) mythopoeic proportions. (Avila)

Lovebirds Marsh San Francisco Studio, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. $15-50. Thu-Fri, 8pm; Sat, 8:30pm. Through March 15. Theater artist and comedian Marga Gomez presents the world premiere of her 10th solo show, described as “a rollicking tale of incurable romantics.”

Napoli! ACT’s Geary Theater, 415 Geary, SF; www.act-sf.org. $10-120. Wed-Sat, 8pm (also Sat, 2pm); Sun, 2pm; Tue, 7pm (Tue/4, show at 8pm). Through March 9. American Conservatory Theater offers Bay Area audiences a rare look at one of the Neapolitan plays by Italy’s famed writer Eduardo De Filippo (1900-1984). Set in a humble home in working-class Naples during and just after World War II, amid the transition from Fascism to the postwar order, the play’s broad comedy comes with a strong undercurrent of social drama, as well as unexpectedly poignant moments. Its hero is the head of the household, Gennaro (former ACT core company member Marco Barricelli in a boisterous and gently moving performance), whose upright nature proves increasingly out-of-step with the times and indeed his own family, as his wife, Amalia (a commanding Seana McKenna), begins a black-market trade in coffee beans that becomes an all-out family crime ring by war’s end. While this dynamic offers fodder for some rather hokey if not unenjoyable comedy, the play gathers itself into a serious and timely indictment of privilege and its corrosion of community, as well as the need for solidarity as the only viable, indeed the only satisfying way forward. If the message and the playwright-messenger (De Fillipo, also an actor, originated the part of Gennaro himself) come across today as somewhat heavy-handed, it remains hard to dismiss Napoli! as just a museum piece. That’s due in part to director Mark Rucker’s large and graceful cast, as well as a buoyant new translation by Linda Alper and ACT’s Beatrice Basso. But it’s also the prescience and appositeness for us, all these many years later and miles away, of the play’s fundamentally social and political concerns. (Avila)

The Scion Marsh San Francisco, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. $15-60. Thu/27-Fri/28, 8pm; Sat/1, 5pm. Brian Copeland’s fourth solo show takes on “privilege, murder, and sausage.”

Shit & Champagne Rebel, 1772 Market, SF; shitandchampagne.eventbrite.com. $25. Fri/28-Sat/1, 8pm. D’Arcy Drollinger is Champagne White, bodacious blonde innocent with a wicked left hook in this cross-dressing ’70s-style white-sploitation flick, played out live on Rebel’s intimate but action-packed barroom stage. Written by Drollinger and co-directed with Laurie Bushman (with high-flying choreography by John Paolillo, Drollinger, and Matthew Martin), this high-octane camp send-up of a favored formula comes dependably stocked with stock characters and delightfully protracted by a convoluted plot (involving, among other things, a certain street drug that’s triggered an epidemic of poopy pants) — all of it played to the hilt by an excellent cast that includes Martin as Dixie Stampede, an evil corporate dominatrix at the head of some sinister front for world domination called Mal*Wart; Alex Brown as Detective Jack Hammer, rough-hewn cop on the case and ambivalent love interest; Rotimi Agbabiaka as Sergio, gay Puerto Rican impresario and confidante; Steven Lemay as Brandy, high-end calf model and Champagne’s (much) beloved roommate; and Nancy French as Rod, Champagne’s doomed fiancé. Sprawling often literally across two buxom acts, the show maintains admirable consistency: the energy never flags and the brow stays decidedly low. (Avila)

The Speakeasy Undisclosed location (ticket buyers receive a text with directions), SF; www.thespeakeasysf.com. $60-90 (add-ons: casino chips, $5; dance lessons, $10). Thu-Sat, 7:40, 7:50, and 8pm admittance times. Through March 15. Boxcar Theatre presents Nick A. Olivero’s re-creation of a Prohibition-era saloon, resulting in an “immersive theatrical experience involving more than 35 actors, singers, and musicians.”

Twelfth Night Intersection for the Arts, 925 Mission, SF; www.calshakes.org. $20. Thu/27-Sun/2, 8pm (also Sun/2, 2pm). California Shakespeare Theater kicks off its 40th anniversary season with a touring performance of Shakespeare’s classic romance, featuring an all-female cast.

Ubu Roi Exit on Taylor, 277 Taylor, SF; www.cuttingball.com. $10-50. Thu, 7:30pm; Fri-Sat, 8pm (also Sat, 2pm); Sun, 5pm. Through March 9. Cutting Ball Theater performs Alfred Jarry’s avant-garde parody of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, presented in a new translation by Cutting Ball artistic director Rob Melrose.

The World of Paradox Garage, 715 Bryant, SF; www.paradoxmagic.com. $12-15. Opens Mon/24, 8pm. Runs Mon, 8pm (no show March 10). Through April 7. Footloose presents David Facer in his solo show, a mix of magic and theater.

Yellow New Conservatory Theatre Center, 25 Van Ness, SF; www.nctcsf.org. $25-45. Wed-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. Through March 23. New Conservatory Theatre Center performs the Bay Area premiere of Del Shores’ Mississippi-set family drama.

The World’s Funniest Bubble Show Marsh San Francisco, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. $8-11. Sun, 11am. Through March 9. The popular, kid-friendly show by Louis Pearl (aka “The Amazing Bubble Man”) returns to the Marsh.

BAY AREA

Can You Dig It? Back Down East 14th — the 60s and Beyond Marsh Berkeley, 2120 Allston, Berk; www.themarsh.org. $20-35. Fri/28, 8pm; Sat/1, 8:30pm. 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. Note: review from an earlier run of the show. (Avila)

Escanabe in da Moonlight Live Oak Theatre, 1301 Shattuck, Berk; www.theatrefirst.com. $10-30. Thu-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 5pm. Through March 8. TheatreFIRST performs Jeff Daniels’ raucous comedy.

Geezer Marsh Berkeley, 2120 Allston, Berk; www.themarsh.org. $25-50. Thu/27, 8pm; Sat/1, 5pm. Geoff Hoyle moves his hit comedy about aging to the East Bay.

Gideon’s Knot Aurora Theatre, 2081 Addison, Berk; www.auroratheatre.org. $32-60. Wed-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2 and 7pm. Through March 9. Aurora and director Jon Tracy’s Bay Area premiere of Johnna Adams’ two-hander features strong acting, strong enough almost to make us believe in its premise. A harried mother named Corryn (a terrific Jamie J. Jones) arrives at the empty middle-school classroom overseen by a distracted teacher, Heather (a subdued yet agitated Stacy Ross). Corryn, proud but somehow desperate, admits to having not slept. Heather initially doesn’t know why she’s there — until it becomes clear she’s the mother of a recent suicide, who has come to keep her appointment for a parent-teacher conference. The two women await the arrival of the absent principal, but Corryn presses for answers now to the circumstances surrounding her child’s final days, which included his suspension from school and a beating received at the hands of fellow students. Heather, who seems to be hiding some separate anxiety or grief of her own (and is, though what we don’t learn until nearly the end of the play), does her best to deflect any such conversation until the principal arrives but is soon embroiled in an argument with the headstrong and canny mother in front of her, a literature professor at a major university. Their dance centers on Corryn’s son’s last assignment, a short story, one his teacher sees as nothing but “hate-filled poisonous attacks,” but his mother calls “poetry.” In addition to the clash between a teacher’s authority and a mother’s regard, there’s a class component to these differing perspectives, we presume. Yet there is a real issue here, somewhere, about art and education and authority — or would be if it did not end up buried along with the young writer we never meet. Playwright Adams advances the dramatic tension by tacking this way and that around her subject, but loses sight of the shore meanwhile, as her characters debate whether or not the short story contains a virtuous accusation against an instance of child abuse, only to drop this crux a moment later in a hard-to-credit squeamishness on Corryn’s part over the potentially homoerotic longings of her deceased son. The final note lands in an even hokier key of mutual sorrow and understanding. (Avila)

The House That Will Not Stand Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison, Berk; www.berkeleyrep.org. $29-59. Tue and Thu-Sat, 8pm (also Sat and March 13, 2pm); Wed, 7pm; Sun, 2 and 7pm. Through March 16. July 4, 1836: As a white New Orleans patriarch (Ray Reinhardt) passes from the scene, under somewhat mysterious circumstances, his longtime mistress, Beartrice (an imposing, memorable Lizan Mitchell), and their daughters (the charmingly varied trio of Joniece Abbott-Pratt, Flor De Liz Perez, and Tiffany Rachelle Stewart) — all free women of color — vie for dominance while trying to secure their respective futures in Berkeley Rep’s sumptuous and beautifully acted world premiere. Nationally acclaimed playwright and Oakland native Marcus Gardley (And Jesus Moonwalked the Mississippi; This World in a Woman’s Hands) brews up a historically rich and revealing, as well as witty and fiery tale here, based on the practice of plaçage (common-law marriages between white men and black Creole women), grounding it in the large personalities of his predominately female characters — who include a nosy and angling intruder (played with subtlety by Petronia Paley) — and lacing it all with a delirious dose of magical realism via the voodoo charms of Beartrice’s slave, Makeda (Harriett D. Foy, who with Keith Townsend Obadike also contributes lush, atmospheric compositions to the proceedings). Gardley delves productively into the history overall, although he sometimes indulges it too much in awkward and ultimately unnecessary expository dialogue. When he allows his characters full scope for expression of their personalities and relationships, however, the dialogue sails by with brio and punch —something the powerhouse cast, shrewdly directed by Patricia McGregor, makes the most of throughout. (Avila)

An Ideal Husband Douglas Morrison Theatre, 22311 N. Third St, Hayward; www.dmtonline.org. $10-29. Thu/27-Sat/1, 8pm; Sun/2, 2pm. Douglas Morrison Theatre performs Scott Munson’s adaptation of the Oscar Wilde classic, reset in 1959 Washington, DC.

Lasso of Truth Marin Theatre Company, 397 Miller, Mill Valley; www.marintheatre.org. $37-58. Tue and Thu-Sat, 8pm (also Sat/1 and March 15, 2pm; March 6, 1pm); Wed, 7:30pm; Sun, 2 and 7pm. Through March 16. Marin Theatre Company performs Carson Kreitzer’s new play about the history of Wonder Woman.

The Lion and the Fox Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant, Berk; www.centralworks.org. $15-28. Thu-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 5pm. Through March 30. Central Works performs a prequel to its 2009 hit, Machiavelli’s The Prince, which depicts a face-off between Niccolo Machiavelli and Cesare Borgia.

A Maze Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby, Berk; www.justtheater.org. $20-25. Wed-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 5pm. Through March 9. Following a well-received run last summer at Live Oak Theater, Just Theater’s West Coast premiere of Pittsburgh-based playwright Rob Handel’s 2011 jigsaw drama gets a second life, courtesy of presenter Shotgun Players, in this remounting at Ashby Stage. Half the pleasure of a play like this is the unfolding of its serpentine plot, which becomes much more linear in the second half but initially seems to hover around three very disparate situations: 17-year-old Jessica (Frannie Morrison), recently escaped from eight years of captivity in the home and cellar of her kidnapper, prepares for an interview with a Barbara Walters-like TV journalist (Lauren Spencer); Oksana (Sarah Moser) and Paul (Harold Pierce), who head up their own highly successful rock band (suggestively titled the Pathetic Fallacy), are in the midst of a tough transition as Oksana checks Paul into rehab; and a fairytale King (Lasse Christiensen) responds to the Queen’s (Janis DeLucia) news that they are about to have an “heir” by beginning construction on a gigantic, seemingly endless maze emanating outward from their cozy den to the furthest reaches of the kingdom. Meanwhile, the director of the rehab clinic (Carl Holvick-Thomas) introduces Paul to another artist-resident, a fussy, eccentric author named Beeson (Clive Worsley) at work on a multi-volume graphic novel of maddening intricacy. As the three storylines begin to coalesce, the play asks us to consider questions about artistic liberty, authorship, responsibility, human connection — big themes like that. It does so in a mostly playful, only slightly eerie way, despite the grim central situation revolving around the bright and surprisingly outgoing Jessica. Employing almost the identical cast as last time, again under director Molly Aaronson-Gelb, the proceedings unfold with generally solid acting, if not always persuasive dialogue, at least where things are meant to be more or less realistic (to an extent, the fairytale segment comes across more compellingly for being strictly bound by the artificial nature of its narrative). There’s a quirky quality to the play, and the production, that amuses, even as the coy plotline bemuses. And much like an amusement park adventure, the play makes sure no one really gets lost. This is a play that is happy to tell you the various ways the central “maze” might be read metaphorically, for instance, so that everything is tidy and clear — like a fairytale, or a graphic novel — not so mysterious in the end, just tinged with a kind of comfortable melancholy. (Avila)

The Music Man Julia Morgan Theater, 2640 College, Berk; www.berkeleyplayhouse.org. $17-60. Fri and March 20, 7pm; Sat, 1 and 6pm; Sun, noon and 5pm. Through March 23. There’s trouble in River City! See it unfold amid all those trombones at Berkeley Playhouse.

PERFORMANCE/DANCE

“The Aftermath Affair” ODC Theater, 3153 17th St, SF; www.odcdance.org. Fri/28-Sun/2, 8pm. $20-35. Blind Tiger Society performs a world premiere by choreographer Bianca Cabrera.

Caroline Lugo and Carolé Acuña’s Ballet Flamenco Peña Pachamama, 1630 Powell, SF; www.carolinalugo.com. Sat/1, March 8, 16, 22, and 30, 6:15pm. $15-19. Flamenco performance by the mother-daughter dance company, featuring live musicians.

“Collected Stories” Cartwright Hotel, 524 Sutter, SF; www.collectedstoriessf.com. Thu/27-Sat/1, 8pm (also Sat/1, 2pm); Sun/2, 2pm. $21-28. Expression Productions performs a “pop-up theater” take on Donald Margulies’ drama about a university professor and her protégé.

“Dream Queens Revue” Aunt Charlie’s Lounge, 133 Turk, SF; www.dreamqueensrevue.com. Wed/26, 9:30pm. Free. Drag with Collette LeGrande, Ruby Slippers, Sophilya Leggz, Bobby Ashton, and more.

Feinstein’s at the Nikko Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason, SF; www.feinsteinssf.com. This week: Paula West, Thu/27-Fri/28, 8pm; Sat/1, 7 and 9:30pm, $35-50.

“Magic at the Rex” Hotel Rex, 562 Sutter, SF; www.magicattherex.com. Sat, 8pm. Ongoing. $25. Magic and mystery with Adam Sachs and mentalist Sebastian Boswell III.

“The Magic Flute” Center for New Music, 55 Taylor, SF; themagicflute.brownpapertickets.com. Thu/27 and March 7, 7pm; Sun/2, 2pm. $15-20. Waffle Opera performs a stripped-down version of Mozart’s classic, with new English dialogue.

“Partyiac Arrest: A Post-Valentine’s Hangover Cabaret” Mojo Theatre, 2940 16th St, #27, SF; www.mojotheatre.com. Fri/28-Sat/1, 8pm. $10-15. Raucous variety show (comedy, music, circus acts, short films, and more) with Mojo Theatre.

“Point Break Live!” DNA Lounge, 373 11th St, SF; www.dnalounge.com. March 7 and April 4, 7:30 and 11pm. $25-50. Dude, Point Break Live! is like dropping into a monster wave, or holding up a bank, like, just a pure adrenaline rush, man. Ahem. Sorry, but I really can’t help but channel Keanu Reeves and his Johnny Utah character when thinking about the awesomely bad 1991 movie Point Break or its equally yummily cheesy stage adaptation. And if you do an even better Keanu impression than me — the trick is in the vacant stare and stoner drawl — then you can play his starring role amid a cast of solid actors, reading from cue cards from a hilarious production assistant in order to more closely approximate Keanu’s acting ability. This play is just so much fun, even better now at DNA Lounge than it was a couple years ago at CELLspace. But definitely buy the poncho pack and wear it, because the blood, spit, and surf spray really do make this a fully immersive experience. (Steven T. Jones)

“The Romane Event Comedy Show” Make-Out Room, 3225 22nd St, SF; www.pacoromane.com. Wed/26, 8-10pm. $10. With Bay Area comedy all-stars Paco Romane, Will Durst, Karina Dobbins, and Nick Palm.

BAY AREA

“Black Choreographers Festival: Here & Now” This week: Laney College Theater, 900 Fallon, Oakl; www.bcfhereandnow.com. Fri/28-Sat/1, 8pm. $10-25.The festival, which runs through March 8, continues its 10th anniversary with “BCF Oakland,” featuring works by Joanna Haigood, Gregory Dawson, Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Portsha Jefferson, and Kendra Kimbrough Barnes.

“The Buddy Club Children’s Shows” JCC of the East Bay Theater, 1414 Walnut, Berk; www.thebuddyclub.com. Sun/2, 11am. $8. With acrobat and juggler Dana Smith. Also Sun/2, 11:30am, $8, Kanbar Center for the Performing Arts, 200 N. San Pedro, San Rafael; www.thebuddyclub.com. With magician Brian Scott.

“MarshJam Improv Comedy Show” Marsh Berkeley, 2120 Allston, Berk; www.themarsh.org. Fri, 8pm. Ongoing. $10. Improv comedy with local legends and drop-in guests.

“Poetry Express” Himalayan Flavors, 1585 University, Berk; poetryexpressberkeley.blogspot.com. Mon, 7pm. Free. Ongoing. This week: Zora Raab, plus open mic. *

 

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