Dance

Bully pulpit

Erica Hanna
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Bully pulpit

arts@sfbg.com 

YEAR IN FILM While teen bullying might be quite topical, it’s far from being a new issue, as evidenced by Stephen King’s first published novel, Carrie. Set in the hormone-jittery corridors of a suburban high school, the 1974 tome details an outsider’s humiliating entrance into womanhood, as well as the ruthless revenge she enacts on her cruel classmates after she discovers she has the power to move objects with her mind.

Dubbed “The Black Prom” by the book, the disastrous dance at which Carrie White is humiliated for the last time takes on the ominous tenor of a terrorist attack or a wholesale massacre — a fictional foreshadowing of Columbine-scale carnage. While the fact that Carrie has been bullied is positioned as the motive for her rampage, her actions suggest far more than just a wounded lashing-out or a classic revenge fantasy. Although the phrase wasn’t yet common, what Carrie most resembles is a weapon of mass destruction, not a misunderstood misfit. What makes Carrie a horror story is the inhuman scale of her murderous frenzy.

The year 2013 marked a revival for the enigma that is Carrie White, with a remake of the 1976 Brian De Palma movie (as well as, incidentally, the 1988 musical). Director Kimberly Peirce had the harder struggle for relevance, as the original film is considered one of the best horror films ever made, garnering Oscar nominations, American Film Institute nods, and a generation of moviegoers who will never forget jumping in their seats at its oft-imitated, last-act “gotcha” scare.

In Peirce’s fitful homage, the dreamy haze of De Palma’s slo-mo sequences is replaced by a glut of clunky CGI shots that shred the screen. Stepping into the role made iconic by Sissy Spacek, the decidedly non-frumpy Chloë Grace Moretz unleashes her telekinetic talent as a sort of wizardry — striking Merlin the Magician poses with outstretched hands. It borders on irritating. And the mean-girl posse’s reliance on their camera phones and YouTube channels stands to date Peirce’s movie for future generations, just as surely as the hairstyles in De Palma’s date his.

Speaking of which, the De Palma movie admittedly has a few eye-rolling moments of its own. It’s so comfortably bound to the conventions of the seventies that trigger-tempered gym teacher Miss Collins (Betty Buckley) both chain smokes and wears raccoon-thick eyeliner to class, and teen heartthrob Tommy Ross (William Katt) sports a mane of ringlets so angelic you’d swear they were spun from pure disco gold. Whenever Carrie uses her burgeoning powers, a Psycho-esque violin riff screeches in the background, and John Travolta’s doltish bad boy barely appears capable of tying his own shoelaces, let alone engineering his patented blood-bucket humiliation device.

But what makes the story of Carrie so horrifying is precisely that which places her beyond reconstruction. What neither De Palma nor Peirce can quite manage is turning Carrie into a righteous anti-hero. The more they try to create empathy for their tortured protagonist, the more cartoonish and exaggerated her destructive frenzy appears — a gratuitous tsunami of blood, blaze, and blade. Ultimately what works against turning Carrie into a victim is simply that the force of her firepower is too great. She might not have plotted her vengeance, but she’s fully aware that she’s packing her own kind of heat. From the first moment she deliberately uses it to kill, she is damned.

Carrie‘s overkill also stunts its potential as a darkly comedic revenge fantasy à la Heathers (1988), since Carrie, like so many real-life teen shooters, winds up dead herself. Only one of her repentant classmates tries to reach out before the inevitable happens. It’s this scene that most stymies both De Palma and Peirce, since King’s quiet dénouement is decidedly uncinematic — yet it’s a powerful one, an exchange of final words and psychic impressions as Carrie’s life ebbs out of her beside the wrecked remains of the roadhouse she was presumably conceived in. Here, at last, is the moment of self-awareness — and yes, regret — that we need in order to recognize Carrie White as another casualty of her own paranormal capabilities. And until someone figures out a way to film it, we’ll never quite be able to believe it on the big screen. *

 

TEN SELF-CURATED DOUBLE FEATURES (OR, IN PRAISE OF TWO-DOLLAR WEDNESDAY AT LOST WEEKEND VIDEO)

 

Art world confidential Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present (2010) and Pina (2011)

Feeling a little peckish Grizzly Man (2005) and Ravenous (1999)

Finding love in all the wrong places Lolita (1962) and The Glamorous Life of Sachiko Hanai (2003)

Traveling blues Schultze Gets the Blues (2003) and Genghis Blues (1999)

Streets of San Francisco The Laughing Policeman (1973) and The Maltese Falcon (1941)

Outsider music The Devil and Daniel Johnston (2005) and American Hardcore (2006)

Entering the zone Stalker (1979) and Sans Soleil (1983)

Morbid fascinations Colma: The Musical (2006) and The Bridge (2006)

Never mind the remakes Let the Right One In (2008) and Oldboy (2003)

My favorite movie mash-up ever Freaks (1932) and Wisconsin Death Trip (1999)

Spiking the box office

Erica Hanna
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Spiking the box office

arts@sfbg.com 

YEAR IN FILM It’s tough to remember much of the ’90s — what with the air horns and kindercore, flannel and Flavor Flav — but I seem to recall Spike Lee giving the orders that seemed to finally, fully come to pass in 2013: “Make black film.”

Irony of ironies, when it seemed like so many black filmmakers were following through and doing just that — telling their communities’ stories, visualizing their own histories, and fearlessly unlocking troubling and painful key themes — Lee sidled away from Red Hook Summer, last year’s murky return to the fabled Brooklyn stomping grounds of 1989’s Do the Right Thing, and seemed to move toward a fallback position as actioner-for-hire with his redo of Park Chan-wook’s Oldboy, as if to prove that, testify, he can crush skulls just like his old Amerindie-boys-club rival Quentin Tarantino.

Yet isn’t Lee’s Oldboy a “black film” concerning unjust incarceration or bondage, as much as Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave and Hunger are? Perhaps. The connections were in place, if you cared to look: the stasis of 12 Year‘s near-still opening shot, as Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and other slaves facing the audience, waiting and listening to a white foreman’s directions, has its corollary in the multiple shots in Lee Daniels’ The Butler, of Forest Whitaker’s butler Cecil Gaines, face frozen. He’s the veritable “invisible man,” instructed to disappear into the background at White House dinners and forever listening for direction. And waiting — as if wondering when the moviemaking establishment will move on from its habit of bestowing statuettes for African American portraits in servitude, à la The Help (2011) and Driving Miss Daisy (1989).

It’s been a long time coming — much like a certain African American president that butler Gaines had waited a lifetime to meet. Five years into that presidency, the man who tried to “do the right thing” has, intentionally or not, changed the conversation on black representation on screens both big and small. The country’s ready to look at its past and break down the codes, whether they concern slavery, birthers’ loaded allegations about Obama’s “un-American-ness,” Paula Deen’s alleged workplace racism, or Julianne Hough’s wrongheaded Halloween costume — a blackface tribute to “Orange is the New Black” character Crazy Eyes.

This year’s contenders looked to not only historical role models like Jackie Robinson in 42 and Nelson Mandela in Mandela: A Long Walk to Freedom) — in movies made by white filmmakers — but also lighter, aspirational figures such as Tyler Perry (who laid siege on the box office with two efforts, A Madea Christmas and Peeples), as well as the glossy buppies populating popular comedy sequel The Best Man Holiday. Fans blew up the Interwebs with indignation when some misbegotten USA Today editor came up with the headline “Holiday Nearly Beats Thor as Race-Themed Films Soar.”

The Best Man Holiday is bourgie worlds away from Spike Lee favorite Fruitvale Station. (One wonders if the acclaimed indie will serve as a model for Lee’s own Kickstarter-fueled Trayvon Martin project.) Filling out the many shades of his protagonist’s story, and leading with cell phone footage of the fatal shooting, director Ryan Coogler never overplays the naturalistic narrative centered on Oscar Grant, so often writ larger than life all over Oakland in posters and street art. Though it was released at height of Martin-related outrage, the film keeps sensation and sentimentality at bay, apart from a foreboding scene of a stray dog’s sudden death. Like that hound on the run, Michael B. Jordan’s Grant is a driving, hustling, partying study in movement. Fully immersed in a multicultural Bay Area where racism operates in subtler and more complex ways than ever before, he, like any other restless rider, is just trying to get home.

Whitaker threw his weight behind Fruitvale Station as a producer — but his Gaines and The Butler seem wildly different on their stiff, sad surfaces. So much is simmering within Whitaker’s stocky form, his steadfast servant with access to power that he’s forbidden to use, and those blank looks. “We got two faces: ours and the ones that we got to show the white folks. Now to get up in the world, we have to make them feel non-threatened,” mentor Maynard (Clarence Williams III of The Mod Squad) offers. Surrounded by Daniels players like Mariah Carey and Lenny Kravitz, Gaines has one leg in a horrifying sharecropper past and another in upwardly mobile mid-century America, which filmmaker Daniels emphasizes by juxtaposing lynched black men with the stars and stripes at The Butler’s start.

The director goes on to unfurl his showiest stylistic flourishes in a series of jump cuts aimed at the spectacle of hypocrisy perpetually unfolding in the White House, as a table is carefully laid for a excruciating formal state dinner, and the Freedom Riders — Gaines’ son among them — are humiliated while staging a stoic sit-in at a Southern lunch counter. Passive resistance, in all its many forms, is the locus of both tragedy and heroism in The Butler.

Nature, with its dripping moss, strange sunsets, and even Biblical pestilence, provides brief snatches of beauty in 12 Years a Slave, as McQueen foregrounds the mechanistic business of slavery in the tools used for cutting cane, the wheels of a river boat. Free-born violinist Northup is beaten into a kind of tool after he’s kidnapped and sold into slavery. His body, nude and exposed to traffickers and buyers, is transformed into a commodity that doesn’t belong to him. His talents are also forced into new uses, as when he fiddles frantically while a mother is torn from her children in a horror-show of a salesroom floor — and later, during a torturous, late-night dance staged by Michael Fassbender’s damaged, sadistic slave owner. The effect of seeing familiar white actors (like Fassbender, and the stars who play The Butler’s various commanders in chief) reel by in a parade of status quo perpetrators, not saviors. In both 12 Years and The Butler, it’s disorienting — as if everyone in Hollywood is also aching to “make black film.”

12 years a slave

Lupita Nyong’o in 12 Years a Slave

Bridging McQueen’s explorations of physical and psychological abjection, Hans Zimmer’s slow-burning, string-laden score picks up where it left off in McQueen’s 2011 Shame, about Fassbender’s sex addict enchained to his confused desires. In terms of desire, it’s all too clear where Ejiofor’s Northup stands (“I don’t want to survive — I want to live!” he declares), and to his credit, McQueen makes his nightmarish 172-year-old descent all too relevant, especially at a time when the Obama administration addresses the persistent crime of human trafficking. It’s just a small leap of imagination to think of one’s story, name, and legal status blotted out and turned around by force and a gnawing “you’re nothing but a Georgia runaway” counter-narrative, reminding the viewer that no one is truly free when others are enslaved. *

 

KIMBERLY CHUN’S US-DOMINATED 10 FOR ’13 

 

 (in alphabetical order)

Best second time around: 12 Years a Slave (Steve McQueen, US/UK)

Luxe clucks: The Bling Ring (Sofia Coppola, US/UK/France/Germany/Japan)

Best off-base SF-by-way-of-Jersey: Blue Jasmine (Woody Allen, US)

Finest funny-sad threesome: Enough Said (Nicole Holofcener, US)

Bay pride: Fruitvale Station (Ryan Coogler, US)

Best flouting of the laws of physics: Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón, US)

Best use of entire songs: Inside Llewyn Davis (Ethan and Joel Coen, US/France)

Best tortured threesome: The Past (Asghar Farhadi, France/Italy)

Inspired grills and thrills: Spring Breakers (Harmony Korine, US) Rapturous apocalypse: This Is the End (Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen, US)

Promo: BRAVA’s NYE Comedy Fiesta tickets are on sale now!

Maria Poblet
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Promo: BRAVA’s NYE Comedy Fiesta tickets are on sale now!

BRAVA’s Annual Comedy Fiesta will be the Mission District’s one stop destination to get your laugh and your dance on!

Join Marga Gomez (LOGO Network, GLAAD Award Winner) and special guests (2013 Best of the Bay winner) Dhaya Lakshminarayanan and Micia Mosely. Mario Montes (Comedy Bodega) will emcee as we laugh our way into 2014.  The Comedy Fiesta will be immediately followed by a Countdown Party with DJ Mark Mark and free champagne for all at midnight.

Buy your tickets NOW at brava.org!

Tuesday, December 31 at 9pm @ BRAVA Theatre Center, 2781 24th St., SF

Joy to the stage: Smuin Ballet’s ‘The Christmas Ballet’ is a tradition worth keeping

Sue Vaughan
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Smuin Ballet’s The Christmas Ballet, which the late choreographer Michael Smuin premiered in 1995, has earned its spot among the myriad of Bay Area holiday entertainments. This year’s opening night at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts — performances run through Dec. 28 — was packed with a casually dressed yet festive crowd of all ages, including grandparents with their elementary school age charges. (Gratefully absent were the toddlers that flood ballet performances). It was probably the most diverse and receptive audience an evening of ballet can muster these days.

And why not. The late choreographer knew how to entertain a crowd. With this take on the holidays he created a flexible show that changes a little bit every year as new material gets added and some of it is shelved for the time being. Christmas shows Smuin at his best — a broad-based love for music, an excellent sense of how to communicate through dance, and at his not so good —an unwillingness or inability to dig below the surface. Here he offered a mostly well-grown evergreen of what the holidays represent: kitsch and grandeur, sentimentality and sentiment, conviviality and loneliness, all wrapped up in tinsel-covered package.

The ballet is divided into two parts, “Classical Christmas,” with a frontispiece of Renaissance angel musicians blowing away their heavenly songs; the after-intermission introduces “Cool Christmas” with Louis Armstrong’s inimitable reciting of ‘Twas the Night before Christmas, which runs over grade school kids’ illustrations of the poem, including one which disputes the fact that “not even a mouse” was stirring.

The first part’s highlights from great and classical music works remain problematic. These are the sections in which the music has to carry the communicative weight because the choreography too often slithers over the top of the scores. Still, to see Smuin’s men soar in flying jetés and the women kick their legs to the beginning of Bach’s Magnificat suggested what could have been.

When he let himself be guided by simplicity Smuin’s choreography often beguiles. The calm walking patterns for Veni, Veni Emmanuel that evolved into a garland dance grew out of the music’s longing. New company member Eduardo Permuy did his best to convey La Virgen Lava Panãles‘ lilting poignancy, in which nature jubilates while the virgin washes diapers. Another newish dancer, Nicole Haskins, who stood out every time she was on stage, phrased the Zither Carol every so musically.

Also lovely to watch was the gently celebratory Gloucester Wassail, which echoed folk dance traditions. Robert Dekkers’ The Bells, an intricately structured and high-spirited sextet, became a welcome addition this year.

For “Cool Christmas,” the pointe shoes came off, and everybody went to town. The post-intermission segment is filled with popular music: Willie Nelson, Irving Berlin, the Chieftains, Eartha Kitt, and Elvis Presley — where Smuin was most comfortably at home. He also had a special touch with ballads. Blue Christmas, with a pelvis-rolling and grinning Jonathan Dummar plus a bevy of teeny boppers, was on the dot. So were, on a much softer note, Erin Yarbrough and Ben Needham Wood, who turned a ribbon into a cat’s cradle as they wooed each other in Pretty Paper. Twirling his drumsticks ever more expertly, Wood built Drummer Boy into something more expressive than sheer technical expertise.

Popular music has also inspired some non-Smuin additions from previous years. Robert Sund’s jazz-based trio Winter Wonderland (Erica Chipp, Haskin and Yarbrough) still looks fresh. Val Caniparoli’s Jingle Bells Mambo was performed lustily by Aidan DeYoung, Weston Krukow, and Jonathan Powell. And Amy Seiwert’s new, full-company I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm — a romp involving headgear (among other things) — is sure to join the list of perennial favorites.

Still, there are super favorites. Santa Baby, with its oversized boa, was back, but unless the company finds another dancer of Celia Fushille’s sophistication and wit — not to speak of her legs — it might have to be shelved. Shannon Hurlburt, Dummar, and Powell tap-danced through the sad-sack Droopy Little Christmas Tree, which finally hit the dust. Hurlburt also returned in his tap shoes for Bells of Dublin, which he premiered brilliantly quite a few years ago.

Some other numbers work because of how well these dancers realize slapstick. To watch Krukow wobble on that surfboard like a country hick on a Hawaiian vacation in Christmas Island is enough to make you fall in love with every failed body builder. But perhaps the most heartwarming solo in “Cool Christmas” — because you both laugh at and want to embrace her — is Terez Dean in Seiwert’s furiously stomping, yet ever so lonely, Please Come Home for Christmas. Even if you don’t like the holidays, “The Christmas Ballet” is worth seeing. And it just might change your anti-Yule attitude to boot.

“XXmas: The Christmas Ballet, 2013 Edition”
Tonight and Sat/21, 8pm (also Sat/21, 2pm); Sun/22, 2 and 7pm; Tue/24, 2pm; Dec 26-28, 8pm (also Dec 26, 2pm), $24-64
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
Lam Research Theater
700 Howard, SF
www.smuinballet.org

Music Listing: Dec. 18-24, 2013

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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WEDNESDAY 18

ROCK

Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. Holograms, TV Ghost, G. Green, 9 p.m., $10-$12.

Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. The Sweet Bones, Sam Code & The Gums, Edge City Ruins, Johns, Jack Graves, 9 p.m., $5-$7.

Cafe Du Nord: 2170 Market, San Francisco. MoonFox, Spider Heart, Lady Stardust, DJ Neil Martinson, 8:30 p.m., $8.

The Chapel: 777 Valencia St., San Francisco. Holidaze with The Blank Tapes, The Electric Magpie, The Spiral Electric, Assateague, 8 p.m., $12.

El Rio: 3158 Mission, San Francisco. Neon Anyway, The Threads S.F., Clementine’s Day, 8 p.m., $5.

Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. The Kaizoku, Largesse, 8:30 p.m., $5.

Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. The Shams Eire, The Guverment, Another Tangent, Paul Magill, 8 p.m., $5.

The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. The Riflemen, Nasty Christmas, Names, Richard Toomer, 9:30 p.m., $6.

Milk Bar: 1840 Haight, San Francisco. Owl Paws, Yassou Benedict, Fell Runner, Sunhaze, 9 p.m., $5.

DANCE

Beaux: 2344 Market, San Francisco. “BroMance: A Night Out for the Fellas,” 9 p.m., free.

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

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

Club X: 715 Harrison, San Francisco. “Electro Pop Rocks: The EPR Nightmare Before Christmas,” 18+ dance night, 9 p.m., $15 advance.

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

F8: 1192 Folsom St., San Francisco. “Housepitality,” w/ Guillaume & The Coutu Dumonts, Dave Aju, Tyrel Williams, Mike Bee, 9 p.m., $5-$10.

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

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

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

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

Make-Out Room: 3225 22nd St., San Francisco. “Burn Down the Disco,” w/ DJs 2shy-shy & Melt w/U, Third Wednesday of every month, 9 p.m., free.

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

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

Showdown: 10 Sixth St., San Francisco. “Nokturnal,” w/ DJs Coyle & Gonya, Third Wednesday of every month, 9 p.m., free.

HIP-HOP

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

Slate Bar: 2925 16th St., San Francisco. “Special Blend,” w/ resident DJs LazyBoy & Mr. Murdock, 9 p.m., free.

ACOUSTIC

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

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

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

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

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

JAZZ

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

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

The Independent: 628 Divisadero, San Francisco. Charlie Hunter & Scott Amendola Duo, DJ Harry Duncan, 8 p.m., $20.

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

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

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

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

Sheba Piano Lounge: 1419 Fillmore, San Francisco. Fran Sholly, 8 p.m.

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

Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Anya Malkiel, 7:30 p.m., free.

INTERNATIONAL

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

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

Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. VOENA: Voices of the Season, 7 p.m., $14-$21.

BLUES

Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. HowellDevine, 8 & 10 p.m., $15.

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

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

SOUL

Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. “Soul Train Revival,” w/ Ziek McCarter, Third Wednesday of every month, 9:30 p.m., $5.

Elbo Room: 647 Valencia, San Francisco. Myron & E, New Love Soul Revue, The Selecter DJ Kirk, 9 p.m., $8.

THURSDAY 19

ROCK

Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. Caught a Ghost, The Coffis Brothers & The Mountain Men, 9:30 p.m., $8-$10.

Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. Good Riddance, Cobra Skulls, Western Addiction, 9 p.m., $13-$15.

Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. Midnight Nasties, Working from Home, 9 p.m., $5-$7.

DNA Lounge: 375 11th St., San Francisco. Blood on the Dance Floor, Davey Suicide, The Relapse Symphony, Haley Rose, Lionfight, Kat Haus, 7 p.m., $17-$20.

S.F. Eagle: 398 12th St., San Francisco. Victory & Associates, Sit Kitty Sit, Winter Teeth, The Secret Secretaries, 9 p.m., $8.

Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. Everyone Is Dirty, Frozen Folk, Light Thieves, 8:30 p.m., $6.

Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. Manzanita Falls, Ash Thursday, 9 p.m., $7.

Milk Bar: 1840 Haight, San Francisco. Should We Run, The Tropics, Gotaway Girl, 8:30 p.m., $8.

DANCE

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

Audio Discotech: 316 11th St., San Francisco. “Trap City,” w/ Kennedy Jones, UltraViolet, Harris Pilton, Napsty, Lé Swndle, more, 10 p.m., $10-$20.

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

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

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

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

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

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

F8: 1192 Folsom St., San Francisco. “Beat Church,” w/ Knowa Lusion, Tiger Fresh, Spekt1, Releece, Morzfeen, more, 10 p.m., $5-$10.

Harlot: 46 Minna, San Francisco. Marques Wyatt, 9 p.m.

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

John Colins: 138 Minna, San Francisco. “SoLuna,” w/ resident DJ Miquel Penn, Third Thursday of every month, 9 p.m., free.

Laszlo: 2532 Mission, San Francisco. “Werk It,” w/ DJ Kool Karlo, Third Thursday of every month, 9 p.m., free.

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

Monarch: 101 6th St., San Francisco. Together, Typhoon Haiyan benefit with Worthy, Atish, Bells & Whistles, Elz, Papa Lu, Joey Alaniz, DJ Bluz, DJ Vinroc, Mr. E, The Whooligan, more., 7 p.m., donation.

Neck of the Woods: 406 Clement St., San Francisco. Blaus, on the downstairs stage, 10 p.m. continues through Dec. 26, free with RSVP.

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

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

Rickshaw Stop: 155 Fell, San Francisco. “Popscene,” w/ Wild Cub, Aaron Axelsen, 10 p.m., $13-$15.

Ruby Skye: 420 Mason, San Francisco. “Awakening,” w/ Adrian Lux, 9 p.m., $20-$30 advance.

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

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

Vessel: 85 Campton, San Francisco. “Base,” w/ DJs Alessandro, Rooz, and John Kaberna, 10 p.m., $5-$10.

HIP-HOP

1015 Folsom: 1015 Folsom St., San Francisco. Yasiin Bey aka Mos Def, Kev Choice, Jahi, DJ D-Sharp, Mr. E, DJ Leydis, 9 p.m., $25-$35 advance.

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

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

Showdown: 10 Sixth St., San Francisco. “Tougher Than Ice,” w/ DJs Vin Sol, Ruby Red I, and Jeremy Castillo, Third Thursday of every month, 10 p.m.

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

ACOUSTIC

Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. The Amigos Band, Ben Flocks, 7:30 p.m., $7-$10.

Atlas Cafe: 3049 20th St., San Francisco. Bluegrass & Old-Time Music Jam Session, 8 p.m., free.

Bazaar Cafe: 5927 California, San Francisco. Acoustic Open Mic, 7 p.m.

Cigar Bar & Grill: 850 Montgomery, San Francisco. The Neckbeard Boys, 8 p.m.

The Independent: 628 Divisadero, San Francisco. Nat Keefe Concert Carnival, w/ Tim Carbone, Tim Flannery, The T Sisters, Melody Walker & Jacob Groopman, Matt Sharkey, The Coeds, members of Hot Buttered Rum, DJ Shooey, more, 8 p.m., $20-$35.

The Lost Church: 65 Capp St., San Francisco. The Scrap on Capp: Songwriter Grudge Match, w/ Maurice Tani vs. Paul Griffiths, 8 p.m., $10.

Make-Out Room: 3225 22nd St., San Francisco. Parker Gibbs’ Annual Holiday Craptacular, S.F. Food Bank can drive featuring Marc & The Casuals, Mark Eitzel, Kelley Stoltz, Paula Frazer, Joel Robinow, Justin Frahm, more, 7 p.m., $15 plus non-perishable food item.

Plough & Stars: 116 Clement, San Francisco. Emperor Norton Céilí Band, 9 p.m.

JAZZ

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

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

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

Jazz Bistro at Les Joulins: 44 Ellis, San Francisco. Eugene Pliner Quartet with Tod Dickow, First and Third Thursday of every month, 7:30 p.m., free.

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

The Lucky Horseshoe: 453 Cortland, San Francisco. Ralph Carney’s Serious Jass Project, 9 p.m.

Pier 23 Cafe: Pier 23, San Francisco. Grant Levin Group, 7 p.m., free.

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

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

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

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

INTERNATIONAL

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

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

Jewish Community Center of San Francisco: 3200 California, San Francisco. “Celebrating Cuba,” w/ Vission Latina, 7 p.m., free with RSVP (required), arts@jccsf.org.

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

Sheba Piano Lounge: 1419 Fillmore, San Francisco. Gary Flores & Descarga Caliente, 8 p.m.

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

REGGAE

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

Slim’s: 333 11th St., San Francisco. Bayonics, Native Elements, Da Mainland, DJ Mr. Lucky, 9 p.m., $14.

BLUES

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

Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. Jules Leyhe, 7:30 & 9:30 p.m., $15.

The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. Chris Ford, Third Thursday of every month, 4 p.m.; Craig Horton, 9:30 p.m.

COUNTRY

The Parlor: 2801 Leavenworth, San Francisco. “Twang Honky Tonk & Country Jamboree,” w/ DJ Little Red Rodeo, 7 p.m., free.

EXPERIMENTAL

The Luggage Store: 1007 Market, San Francisco. Dave DeFilippo, Joshua Marshall, 8 p.m., $6-$10.

FUNK

Cafe Du Nord: 2170 Market, San Francisco. Black Christmas with the Afrofunk Experience & Broun Fellinis, 8:30 p.m., $8.

SOUL

Make-Out Room: 3225 22nd St., San Francisco. “Sugar Snap,” w/ DJ JZA, Third Thursday of every month, 6 p.m., free; “Soul: It’s the Real Thing,” 11 p.m., free.

Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Sweet Soul Christmas with Greg Adams & East Bay Soul, 8 p.m., $25.

FRIDAY 20

ROCK

Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. Eric McFadden & Friends, The Pleasure Kills, The Campbell Apartment, 9:30 p.m., $10-$12.

Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. Freestone Peaches, Pat Nevins, 9 p.m., $7-$10.

Cafe Du Nord: 2170 Market, San Francisco. Icewater, Eleanor Friedberger, Michael & The Strange Land, Proceeds benefit a fund established in Grant Martin’s memory to provide music assistance for underprivileged students., 9:30 p.m., $10-$15.

El Rio: 3158 Mission, San Francisco. Friday Live: Steel Hotcakes, DJ Emotions, 10 p.m., free.

Elbo Room: 647 Valencia, San Francisco. The El Vez & Rosie Flores Mexmas Show, w/ Toshio Hirano, DJ Sid Presley, 9 p.m., $15-$18.

Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. The Night Falls, The Desert Line, The Beggars Who Give, Bears for Sharks, 9 p.m., $8.

The Independent: 628 Divisadero, San Francisco. The Growlers, The Abigails, Mystic Braves, 9 p.m., $20.

Slim’s: 333 11th St., San Francisco. Exodus, Nails, Hellfire, 8 p.m., $25.

DANCE

1015 Folsom: 1015 Folsom St., San Francisco. “Re:Creation,” w/ Purity Ring (DJ set), Giraffage, Sweater Beats, Insightful, B. Lewis, Pony Bwoy, DJ Dials, more, 10 p.m., $15-$20 advance.

Audio Discotech: 316 11th St., San Francisco. Pezzner, Fred Everything, 9:30 p.m., $10 advance.

BeatBox: 314 11th St., San Francisco. “Bears in the Dark,” w/ DJ John LePage, 10 p.m., $5-$10.

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

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

Cat Club: 1190 Folsom, San Francisco. “Violator: A Depeche Mode Tribute Night,” w/ DJs Tomas Diablo, Daniel Skellington, and Sage, 9:30 p.m., $7 ($4 before 10 p.m.).

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

DNA Lounge: 375 11th St., San Francisco. “The End,” w/ Hieroglyphics, Wick-it the Instigator, Ill-Esha, K Theory, Sugarpill, Singularity, Sam F, Mutrix, Stylust Beats, Clark Kent, LabRat, J. Lately, many more, 8 p.m., $25-$35.

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

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

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

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

Madrone Art Bar: 500 Divisadero, San Francisco. “That ‘80s Show,” w/ DJs Dave Paul & Jeff Harris, Third Friday of every month, 9 p.m., $5.

Manor West: 750 Harrison, San Francisco. “Fortune Fridays,” w/ DJ Solarz & Marcus Lee, 10 p.m.

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

Monarch: 101 6th St., San Francisco. “Disco Knights,” w/ Wolf + Lamb, DJ M3, Anthony Mansfield, 10 p.m., $15-$20 advance.

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

Public Works: 161 Erie, San Francisco. “Odyssey,” w/ Matrixxman, Vin Sol, Robin Simmons (in the OddJob loft), 9:30 p.m., $10.

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

Ruby Skye: 420 Mason, San Francisco. Fleming & Lawrence, aka John 00 Fleming & Christopher Lawrence, 9 p.m., $20-$25 advance.

Slate Bar: 2925 16th St., San Francisco. “A Darling Nikki/Hella Gay Soirée,” w/ DJs Durt, Finn, Black, and G-Star, 9 p.m., $5.

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

Vessel: 85 Campton, San Francisco. Autoérotique, Justin Milla, 10 p.m., $10-$30.

Wish: 1539 Folsom, San Francisco. “Bridge the Gap,” w/ resident DJ Don Kainoa, Fridays, 6-10 p.m., free; “Depth,” w/ resident DJs Sharon Buck & Greg Yuen, Third Friday of every month, 10 p.m., free.

HIP-HOP

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

John Colins: 138 Minna, San Francisco. “Juicy,” w/ DJ Ry Toast, Third Friday of every month, 10 p.m., $5 (free before 11 p.m.).

Mighty: 119 Utah, San Francisco. Mighty 10-Year Anniversary, w/ Triple Threat DJs Shortkut, Apollo, and Vinroc, 9 p.m., $5 (free before midnight with RSVP).

Public Works: 161 Erie, San Francisco. DJ Z-Trip, DJ Goldenchyld, J-Boogie, Ren the Vinyl Archaeologist, 9 p.m., $18.

Rickshaw Stop: 155 Fell, San Francisco. American Tripps Hip-Hop & Ping Pong: Ho-Ho-Ho Edition, w/ DJ Beauregard, 8 p.m., $5-$7.

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, 10 p.m.

ACOUSTIC

Bazaar Cafe: 5927 California, San Francisco. John Elliott, 7 p.m.

The Chapel: 777 Valencia St., San Francisco. KALX Solstice in Stereo, w/ Foxtails Brigade, The Seshen, Farallons, 9 p.m., $12-$14.

Mercury Cafe: 201 Octavia, San Francisco. Toshio Hirano, Third Friday of every month, 7:30 p.m., free, all ages.

Old First Presbyterian Church: 1751 Sacramento, San Francisco. Golden Bough: A Celtic Yuletide Celebration, 8 p.m., $14-$17.

Pa’ina: 1865 Post St., San Francisco. Ukulenny, 7 p.m.

Plough & Stars: 116 Clement, San Francisco. “Bluegrass Bonanza,” w/ The Dust Bowl Cavaliers, Nobody from Nashville, 9 p.m., $6-$10.

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. ESP Quartet, 7:30 p.m., free.

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

Bird & Beckett: 653 Chenery, San Francisco. The Third Quartet, Third Friday of every month, 5:30 p.m., free.

Cafe Claude: 7 Claude, San Francisco. Marcus Shelby Trio, 7:30 p.m., free.

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

The Palace Hotel: 2 New Montgomery, San Francisco. The Klipptones, 8 p.m., free.

Pier 23 Cafe: Pier 23, San Francisco. Hard Bop Collective, 8 p.m., free.

Revolution Cafe: 3248 22nd St., San Francisco. Emily Anne’s Delights, Third Friday of every month, 8:45 p.m., free/donation.

Savanna Jazz Club: 2937 Mission, San Francisco. Benn Bacot, 7:30 p.m., $8.

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

Verdi Club: 2424 Mariposa, San Francisco. Sixth Annual Stompy Jones Sleigh Ride, 8 p.m., $15.

Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. The Count Basie Orchestra, 8 & 10 p.m., $29-$35.

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

INTERNATIONAL

Asiento: 2730 21st St., San Francisco. “Kulcha Latino,” w/ resident selectors Stepwise, Ras Rican, and El Kool Kyle, Third Friday of every month, 9 p.m., free.

Bissap Baobab: 3372 19th St., San Francisco. Qumbia Qrew, Third Friday of every month, 8 p.m.; “Paris-Dakar African Mix Coupe Decale,” 10 p.m., $5.

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

Cigar Bar & Grill: 850 Montgomery, San Francisco. Conjunto Picante, 10 p.m.

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

Red Poppy Art House: 2698 Folsom, San Francisco. A Night of Latin American Music, 7:30 p.m., $10-$15.

REGGAE

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

BLUES

Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. Rod Piazza & The Mighty Flyers, 7:30 & 10 p.m., $24.

Lou’s Fish Shack: 300 Jefferson St., San Francisco. Eldon Brown, 6:30 p.m.

The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. Highwater Blues, 4 p.m.; Chris Cobb, 9:30 p.m.

FUNK

Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. “Hella Tight,” w/ resident DJs Vinnie Esparza, Jonny Deeper, & Asti Spumanti, Third Friday of every month, 10 p.m., $5.

Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. Bad Jellyfish, 9:30 p.m., $20 advance.

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

SOUL

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

Feinstein’s at the Nikko: 222 Mason St., San Francisco. “Love Hangover: LaChanze Sings Diana Ross,” Fri., Dec. 20, 8 p.m.; Sat., Dec. 21, 7 p.m., $30-$50.

The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. “Oldies Night,” W/ DJs Primo, Daniel, Lost Cat, and friends, Third Friday of every month, 10 p.m., $5.

The Royal Cuckoo: 3202 Mission, San Francisco. Freddie Hughes & Chris Burns, 7:30 p.m., free.

SATURDAY 21

ROCK

Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. Happy Body Slow Brain, Facing New York, Gavin Castleton, Via Coma, 9 p.m., $10-$12.

Cafe Du Nord: 2170 Market, San Francisco. Beware of Darkness, Down & Outlaws, 9:30 p.m., $10.

El Rio: 3158 Mission, San Francisco. The Atomic Machines, The Shams Eire, Fenton Coolfoot & The Right Time, 9 p.m., $8.

Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. Hungry Skinny, Saturn Cats, Brasil, 9:30 p.m., $6.

The Independent: 628 Divisadero, San Francisco. The Growlers, The Abigails, Cat Signs, 9 p.m., $20.

Make-Out Room: 3225 22nd St., San Francisco. Windham Flat, That’s Not Her, 7:30 p.m., $8.

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

Slim’s: 333 11th St., San Francisco. The Vandals’ 18th Annual Christmas Formal with Emily’s Army, The Blast, 9 p.m., $18.

Thee Parkside: 1600 17th St., San Francisco. Youth Brigade, Civil War Rust, Rats in the Wall, Bum City Saints, 9 p.m., $12.

DANCE

Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. “Pance Darty,” w/ Jjaaxxnn & Duke, Third Saturday of every month, 9 p.m., $7.

Audio Discotech: 316 11th St., San Francisco. Felix Da Housecat, Andrew Phelan, Mario Dubbz, 9:30 p.m., $10 advance.

BeatBox: 314 11th St., San Francisco. “Evolution,” w/ DJ Alexander, 10 p.m.

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

Cat Club: 1190 Folsom, San Francisco. “New Wave City: Numan League – A Double-Synth Tribute to Gary Numan and the Human League,” w/ DJs Skip, Shindog, Low-Life, Kenny, and Moonshine, 9 p.m., $7-$12.

The Chapel: 777 Valencia St., San Francisco. The Range, 9 p.m., $12.

DNA Lounge: 375 11th St., San Francisco. “Bootie S.F.,” w/ Entyme, MyKill, Meikee Magnetic, Mixtress ShiZaam, more., 9 p.m., $10-$15.

The EndUp: 401 Sixth St., San Francisco. “The Show,” w/ Syd Gris, DJ Denise, Dragn’fly, Influence, Ryan Cavalier, Bill Samuels, Ben Seagren, Lise Rose, Beau Kelly, 10 p.m.

F8: 1192 Folsom St., San Francisco. “Team Supreme S.F.,” w/ B. Lewis, Colta, Mike Gao, Jnthn Stein, Kenny Segal, Ruff Draft, more, 9 p.m., $5-$15.

Il Pirata: 2007 16th St., San Francisco. “Requiem,” w/ DJs Xiola, Owen, and Dire DeLorean, 10 p.m.

Infusion Lounge: 124 Ellis, San Francisco. “Social Addiction,” Third Saturday of every month, 10 p.m., $20.

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

Madrone Art Bar: 500 Divisadero, San Francisco. “Fringe,” w/ DJs Blondie K & subOctave, Third Saturday of every month, 9 p.m., $5 (free before 10 p.m.).

Manor West: 750 Harrison, San Francisco. “Chemistry Saturdays,” w/ DJ Scooter, 10 p.m.

Mezzanine: 444 Jessie, San Francisco. “Fools in the Night: Winter Wonderland,” w/ Viceroy, Mystery Skulls, FM Attack, Amble, 9 p.m., $15.

Mighty: 119 Utah, San Francisco. “Salted,” w/ Grant Nelson, Miguel Migs, Julius Papp, 10 p.m., $10 before 11 p.m.

Milk Bar: 1840 Haight, San Francisco. “The Queen Is Dead: A Tribute to the Music of Morrissey & The Smiths,” w/ DJ Mario Muse & guests, Third Saturday of every month, 9 p.m.

Monarch: 101 6th St., San Francisco. “Night Moves,” w/ Kevin Knapp, Jimmy B, Brothers in Arms (J-Boogie & Deejay Theory), Papa Lu, 9 p.m., $10-$20.

Powerhouse: 1347 Folsom, San Francisco. “Beatpig,” Third Saturday of every month, 9 p.m.

Public Works: 161 Erie, San Francisco. “Deep Blue,” w/ Tini, DJ Rooz, more (in the main room), 9:30 p.m., $10-$20; “All Night Long,” w/ DJ Garth (in the OddJob Loft), 10 p.m., $7 advance.

Rickshaw Stop: 155 Fell, San Francisco. “Gameboi S.F.: The Annual Xmas Party,” w/ VJ LaRock, 9:30 p.m., $8-$15.

Ruby Skye: 420 Mason, San Francisco. “World Town: 6-Year Anniversary,” w/ Henrix, Trevor Simpson, 9 p.m., $20 advance.

Slate Bar: 2925 16th St., San Francisco. “Smiths Night S.F.,” w/ The Certain People Crew, Third Saturday of every month, 10 p.m., $5.

Slide: 430 Mason, San Francisco. “Luminous,” w/ DJ Zhaldee, Third Saturday of every month, 9 p.m.

The Stud: 399 Ninth St., San Francisco. Squrrrl Gives Back, Larkin Street Youth Services benefit with DJs Trevor Sigler, Joe Pickett, and Ben Holder., 9 p.m., $5.

Vessel: 85 Campton, San Francisco. EDX, 10 p.m., $10 advance.

HIP-HOP

111 Minna Gallery: 111 Minna St., San Francisco. “Shine,” Third Saturday of every month, 10 p.m.

Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. Rappin’ 4-Tay, RBL Posse, Cellski, Equipto, 10 p.m., $8-$10.

John Colins: 138 Minna, San Francisco. “The Bump,” w/ The Whooligan, Third Saturday of every month, 10 p.m., free.

The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. “The Booty Bassment,” w/ DJs Dimitri Dickinson & Ryan Poulsen, Third Saturday of every month, 10 p.m., $5.

Showdown: 10 Sixth St., San Francisco. “Purple,” w/ resident DJs ChaunceyCC & Party Pablo, Third Saturday of every month, 10 p.m.

Skylark Bar: 3089 16th St., San Francisco. “Night Swim,” w/ resident DJ Mackswell, Third Saturday of every month, 10 p.m.

ACOUSTIC

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

Bazaar Cafe: 5927 California, San Francisco. Sweet Hayah, Samuel Roland, Olivia Clayton, 7 p.m.

Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. Bonnie Sun, Jean Marc Enriquez, Gyasi Ross, 9 p.m., $10.

The Lost Church: 65 Capp St., San Francisco. Eight Belles, Jameson Swanagon, 8 p.m., $10.

The Lucky Horseshoe: 453 Cortland, San Francisco. Xmas with the Bogues, 9 p.m.

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

The Rite Spot Cafe: 2099 Folsom, San Francisco. Toshio Hirano, 9 p.m., free.

St. Cyprian’s Episcopal Church: 2097 Turk, San Francisco. Celtic Winter Solstice Concert with Four Shillings Short & Brocelïande, 7:30 p.m., $10-$12.

JAZZ

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

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

Pier 23 Cafe: Pier 23, San Francisco. Legends & Friends, 8 p.m., free.

The Royal Cuckoo: 3202 Mission, San Francisco. Jules Broussard, Danny Armstrong, and Chris Siebert, 7:30 p.m., free.

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

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

Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. The Count Basie Orchestra, 8 & 10 p.m., $29-$35.

INTERNATIONAL

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

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

Cafe Cocomo: 650 Indiana, San Francisco. La Fuerza Gigante, El DJ X, 8 p.m., $15.

Cigar Bar & Grill: 850 Montgomery, San Francisco. Orquesta La Clave Del Blanco, 10 p.m.

Make-Out Room: 3225 22nd St., San Francisco. “El SuperRitmo,” w/ DJs Roger Mas & El Kool Kyle, 10 p.m., $5 before 11 p.m.

Old First Presbyterian Church: 1751 Sacramento, San Francisco. Kitka: Wintersongs, 8 p.m., $15-$25.

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

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

Revolution Cafe: 3248 22nd St., San Francisco. Go Van Gogh, Third Saturday of every month, 9 p.m., free/donation.

Space 550: 550 Barneveld, San Francisco. “Club Fuego,” 9:30 p.m.

Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Nene Malo, in Yoshi’s lounge, 10:30 p.m., $25-$30.

BLUES

Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. Rod Piazza & The Mighty Flyers, 7:30 & 10 p.m., $24.

Lou’s Fish Shack: 300 Jefferson St., San Francisco. Willie G, 6:30 p.m.

The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. Tony Perez & Second Hand Smoke, Third Saturday of every month, 4 p.m.; Stan Erhart, 9:30 p.m.

EXPERIMENTAL

Center for New Music: 55 Taylor St., San Francisco. RTD3, 8 p.m., $7-$10.

FUNK

Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. Funk Revival Orchestra, Swoop Unit, DJ K-Os, 9:30 p.m., $10-$15.

Pa’ina: 1865 Post St., San Francisco. Typhoon Fundraiser with Chocolate Rice, 7 p.m.

SOUL

Elbo Room: 647 Valencia, San Francisco. “Saturday Night Soul Party,” w/ DJs Lucky, Phengren Oswald, and Paul Paul, Third Saturday of every month, 10 p.m., $10 ($5 in formal attire).

Feinstein’s at the Nikko: 222 Mason St., San Francisco. “Love Hangover: LaChanze Sings Diana Ross,” Fri., Dec. 20, 8 p.m.; Sat., Dec. 21, 7 p.m., $30-$50.

SUNDAY 22

ROCK

DNA Lounge: 375 11th St., San Francisco. The Jingle Bell Rock & Metal Fest 2013, w/ First Contact, This Plague Between Us, Orbiting Pluto, The Wet Bandits, Point of Interest, Ocelot, Global Affront, Bellyfull, Hairstrike, Sketch Republic, Posers, The A6’s, Parkside, Only the Pinkys, Pillars of Hercules, Mythra, Buried, 5:30 p.m., $10-$15.

Great American Music Hall: 859 O’Farrell, San Francisco. The Ugly Sweater Social: Day 1, w/ Finish Ticket, French Cassettes, 9 p.m., $1-$20.

Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. Wreck & Reference, Creepers, So Stressed, 8:30 p.m., $6.

Make-Out Room: 3225 22nd St., San Francisco. Chrome Eagle, Crystal Goblet, 7:30 p.m., $8.

Slim’s: 333 11th St., San Francisco. Strung Out (playing An American Paradox), Voodoo Glow Skulls, Dearly Divided, 8 p.m., $18-$20.

Sub-Mission Art Space (Balazo 18 Gallery): 2183 Mission, San Francisco. Jokes for Feelings, Sarchasm, Push, MFB, Skank Bank, 7:30 p.m., $7.

DANCE

BeatBox: 314 11th St., San Francisco. “Tea-Rex,” w/ DJ Corey Craig, 4-8 p.m., $10.

Beauty Bar: 2299 Mission, San Francisco. “The Horror Hop: A December to Dismember,” w/ DJs Creepy B, Adrienne Scissorhands, and Roxy Rolle, 10 p.m., free.

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

Club X: 715 Harrison, San Francisco. “Electro Pop Rocks: EPR’s Electric Christmas,” 18+ dance night, 9 p.m.

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

Elbo Room: 647 Valencia, San Francisco. “Dub Mission,” w/ Kush Arora, Jimmy Love, DJ Sep, 9 p.m., $6 (free before 9:30 p.m.).

The EndUp: 401 Sixth St., San Francisco. “T.Dance,” 6 a.m.-6 p.m.; “Local Love,” Fourth Sunday of every month, 8 p.m.; “Sunday Sessions,” 8 p.m.

F8: 1192 Folsom St., San Francisco. “Stamina,” w/ Flaco, Submorphics, Retox, Canadub, 10 p.m., free.

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

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

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

Monarch: 101 6th St., San Francisco. “Reload,” w/ Pedro Arbulu, 9 p.m., $5.

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

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

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

The Stud: 399 Ninth St., San Francisco. “Cognitive Dissonance,” Fourth Sunday of every month, 6 p.m.

HIP-HOP

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

ACOUSTIC

Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. Merry Flipping Christmas Variety Show, w/ Heidi Alexander, Noelle Cahill, Jen Snyder, Sonny Smith, Justin Frahm, Rob Spector, Paula Frazer, Bart Davenport, Paul Costuros, Matt Shapiro, more, 9 p.m.

Bazaar Cafe: 5927 California, San Francisco. Manjali Light, 6 p.m.

Lou’s Fish Shack: 300 Jefferson St., San Francisco. Sam Johnson, 4 p.m.

The Lucky Horseshoe: 453 Cortland, San Francisco. Bernal Mountain Bluegrass Jam, 4 p.m., free; JimBo Trout & The Fishpeople, 8 p.m.

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

Plough & Stars: 116 Clement, San Francisco. The Pat O’Donnell Band, 9 p.m.

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

JAZZ

Bird & Beckett: 653 Chenery, San Francisco. Buena Vista Jazz Band, 4:30 p.m., free.

Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. Kim Nalley’s Gospel Christmas, 7:30 & 9:30 p.m., $22.

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

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

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

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

Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Amanda Addleman, 7:30 p.m., free.

INTERNATIONAL

Atmosphere: 447 Broadway, San Francisco. “Hot Bachata Nights,” w/ DJ El Guapo, 5:30 p.m., $10 ($18-$25 with dance lessons).

Balancoire: 2565 Mission St., San Francisco. “Tardeadas Tropicales,” 3 p.m.

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

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

Pier 23 Cafe: Pier 23, San Francisco. Mario Flores, 5 p.m., free.

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

Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Christmas with the Celts, 2 & 6 p.m., $28-$55.

BLUES

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

Sheba Piano Lounge: 1419 Fillmore, San Francisco. Bohemian Knuckleboogie, 8 p.m., free.

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

SOUL

Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. Jasmine Nichol, 8th Grader, 8 p.m., $15-$25.

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

MONDAY 23

ROCK

Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. Local Hero, Eager Eyes, Before the Brave, 8 p.m., $8-$10.

Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. Breakaway Patriot, Musical Charis, 9 p.m., $7-$10.

Slim’s: 333 11th St., San Francisco. The Ugly Sweater Social: Day 2, w/ Finish Ticket, Picture Atlantic, 9 p.m., sold out.

DANCE

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

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

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

ACOUSTIC

Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. The Pick Bluegrass Jam, Fourth Monday of every month, 6 p.m., free; The Earl Brothers, Fourth Monday of every month, 9 p.m., free.

Bazaar Cafe: 5927 California, San Francisco. Patrick Luckett & Hanako Irie, 7 p.m.

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

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

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

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

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

JAZZ

Jazz Bistro at Les Joulins: 44 Ellis, San Francisco. Eugene Pliner Quartet with Tod Dickow, 7:30 p.m., free.

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

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

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

Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Natasha Miller’s Annual Holiday Concert, 8 p.m., $16-$20.

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

REGGAE

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

BLUES

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

SOUL

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

TUESDAY 24

DANCE

Ruby Skye: 420 Mason, San Francisco. Latke Ball 2013, Presented by the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin, and Sonoma Counties., 9 p.m., $30-$50.

JAZZ

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

Jazz Bistro at Les Joulins: 44 Ellis, San Francisco. Clifford Lamb, Mel Butts, and Friends, 7:30 p.m., free.

Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Clairdee’s 11th Annual Christmas Eve Show, 8 p.m., $20.

Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Hubert Emerson, 7:30 p.m.

GOSPEL

Slim’s: 333 11th St., San Francisco. Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir Ensemble, 7 & 9:30 p.m., $15. 2

Sage Listings: Dec. 18-24, 2013

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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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

Disney’s Beauty and the Beast Curran Theatre, 445 Geary, SF; www.shnsf.com. $60-160. Sat/21, 2 and 7:30pm; Sun/22, Dec 29, and Jan 5, noon and 5:30pm; Dec 23-28 and Dec 30-Jan 4, 2pm (also Dec 28 and Jan 3-4, 7:30pm).Through Jan 5. Disney’s version of the classic tale comes to the stage. Bring it, Mrs. Potts!

ONGOING

Amaluna Big Top at AT&T Park, Third Street at Terry A. Francois Blvd, SF; www.cirquedusoliel.com. $50-175. Check website for schedule, including special holiday showtimes. Through Jan 12. Cirque de Soleil is back in town, this time bringing its Tempest-inspired Amaluna to the big top set up outside AT&T Park. Touted for being a celebration of “women [sic] power,” it seems initially odd that the design elements are so focused on the male peacock feather — all greens and blues and graceful, with curving “fronds” rising up from the stage. Jungle sounds chirp in the background as a bevy of Amazonian women in bejeweled headdresses and a mischievous lizard-man circulate the room until the show starts with the lovely abstraction of a floating red cloud of translucent fabric dancing in a single beam of light. The flimsy plotline is forgettable, a coming-of-age and courtship tale between the island’s young princess, Miranda (Iuliia Mykhailova) and a shipwrecked young Romeo (Evgeny Kurkin), though the parallel courtship between the two comic figures of Jeeves (Nathalie Claude) and Deeda (Shereen Hickman) provides a bit of levity and a novel use for footballs. The most realized character is probably Cali (Victor Kee), the half-lizard, whose prehensile tail and neon body paint give him an otherworldly allure, but it’s the aerialist goddesses and fierce embodiments of the storm that are most memorable from an acrobatic point-of-view, and Lara Jacobs’ unique balancing act from a meditative one. (Gluckstern)

Avenue Q New Conservatory Theatre Center, 25 Van Ness, SF; www.nctcsf.org. $25-45. Wed-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. Through Jan 12. New Conservatory Theatre Center performs the Tony-winning comedy.

The Barbary Coast Revue Stud Bar, 399 Ninth St, SF; eventbrite.com/org/4730361353. $10-40. Wed/18, 9pm. Blake Wiers’ new “live history musical experience” features Mark Twain as a tour guide through San Francisco’s wild past.

The Book of Mormon Orpheum Theatre, 1192 Market, SF; www.shnsf.com. $60-120. Wed-Sat, 8pm (also Sat, 2pm); Sun, 1 and 6:30pm. Through Jan 19. When approaching the oeuvre of South Parkcreators Matt Stone and Trey Parker, it’s best to check your political correctness at the door. That’s certainly no less true of their 2011 Broadway musical The Book of Mormon, co-penned with Robert Lopez (of Avenue Q fame), despite the clean-scrubbed appearance of their fumbling albeit well-intentioned missionary protagonists. Sent to Uganda for two years, top mission pupil Elder Price (Nic Rouleau) and his clumsy but affable partner Elder Cunningham (A.J. Holmes) are faced with a village oppressed by a scenery-chewing warlord, a demoralized coterie of fellow missionaries who have yet to have a successful conversion, and their own fraught, odd-couple dynamic. Rouleau’s Price is an appropriate blend of smarm, charm, and secret self-doubt while Holmes excels in his portrayal of a perennial-loser-turned-prophet (his power ballad-esque solo in “Man Up” is one of the show’s best). Of their hosts, the wry Mafala (James Vincent Meredith) and his sweet but strong-willed daughter Nabulungi (Syesha Mercado) get the most stage time, but it’s the crude and caustic General (David Aron Damane) who grabs the most attention. The gleefully profane “Hasa Diga Eebowai,” a Forbidden Zone-style “Spooky Mormon Hell Dream”, and the deliriously blasphemous “Joseph Smith, American Moses,” round out the entertaining, and strangely informative, score. Though it’s (very) unlikely to convert you to the Church of Latter-Day Saints, there’s a good chance you’ll want to convert to the church of Parker and Stone, if you haven’t already. (Gluckstern)

A Christmas Carol Geary Theater, 415 Geary, SF; www.act-sf.org. $20-95. Wed/18-Sat/21, 7pm (also Sat/21, 2pm); Sun/22, 1 and 5:30pm; Mon/23, 2 and 7pm; Tue/24 and Dec 26-27, 1pm (also Dec 27, 5:30pm); Dec 28, 1pm. Through Dec 28. American Conservatory Theater mounts its annual production of the Dickens classic, with James Carpenter as Scrooge and Ken Ruta as Jacob Marley’s ghost.

Cinderella Buriel Clay Theater, African American Art and Culture Complex, 762 Fulton, SF; www.african-americanshakes.org. $12.50-50. Sat/21-Sun/22, 3pm (also Sat/21, 8pm). African-American Shakespeare Company presents this fairy-tale production for the holidays.

Crones for the Holidays: The Sequel Exit Theatre, 156 Eddy, SF; www.crackpotcrones.com. $20. Sat-Sun, 3pm (also Sat, 8pm). Through Dec 29. Vignettes, improv, songs, and more, written by and starring Terry Baum and Carolyn Myers.

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.

The Golden Girls: The XMAS Episodes Victoria Theatre, 2961 16th, SF; www.trannyshack.com. $30. Thu/19-Sat/21, 8pm; Sun/22, 7pm. Plastic Christmas tree, 80s TV jingles, men in muumuus — it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Two new (old) episodes from the classic television sitcom enliven this year’s staging of the seasonal favorite, starring drag luminaries Heklina, as Dorothy; Cookie Dough, as Sophia; Matthew Martin (who also directs), as Blanche; and Pollo Del Mar, as Rose. Decked to the halls in frighteningly festive outfits courtesy of costumers Landa Lakes and Van Hedwall, the ladies bring out the geriatric within, while proving over and over again that nobody ever really grows up anyway. Laurie Bushman, Manuel Caneri, Peter Griggs, and Jordan Wheeler round out the cast, along with a rotating roster of special guests (including opening night’s appearance by Donna Sashet). Yule laugh, Yule cry, mostly Yule laugh. (Avila)

It’s Christmas, Carole! Creativity Theater, 221 Fourth St, SF; www.itschristmascarole.com. $10-20. Thu/19-Fri/20, 7pm; Sat/21-Sun/22, 2 and 5pm. Michael Phillis’s broadly comic, all-ages take on A Christmas Carol proves a sweet, amusing, and admiringly well-acted 60-minute Christmas pudding in the hands of director Andrew Nance and his charmingly offbeat cast, which includes physical comedienne Sara Moore as the eponymous Christmas grouch. Playwright Phillis, with equally sharp timing and rubbery features, plays Carole’s coworker Bob, a young gay urbanite longing to go back home for Christmas and reconnect with his estranged, disapproving mother. Carole drives a hard bargain but eventually agrees to take over his workload for the day —namely Christmas day, a workday by any other measure for their terrifyingly mean old boss, Mr. Scrooge (Dave Garrett). Also working that day is the cloying goody-goody of the office, played with a hilarious excess of syrup by Dawn Meredith Smith, who doubles as the sassy Ghost of Christmas Breaks in the fitful imagination of slumbering Carole. There the Ghost of Christmas Bonuses (Rory Davis) also makes an appearance, and Carole of course makes a discovery about family, friends, and loved ones that turns even her boss’s bitchiness right around. (Avila)

The Jewelry Box: A Genuine Christmas Story The Marsh San Francisco, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. $15-40. Fri, 8pm; Sat, 5pm. Through Dec 28. Brian Copeland performs the world premiere of his new, holiday-themed work, an Oakland-set autobiographical tale that’s a prequel to his popular Not a Genuine Black Man.

My Beautiful Launderette New Conservatory Theatre Center, 25 Van Ness, SF; www.nctcsf.org. $25-45. Wed/18-Sat.21, 8pm; Sun/22, 2pm. In this stage adaptation of the 1985 Hanif Kureishi-Stephen Frears film, SF newcomer Javi Harnly takes on the role of Omar, a British-Pakistani youth with an eye for business opportunity, while Robert Rushin portrays his former schoolmate and eventual lover Johnny, a working-class tough and erstwhile fascist whose navigation of Thatcher-era London is fraught with poverty and violence. While the play sticks to much of the original’s plot, the cast is reduced to a chamber septet, with the perhaps unintended consequence of creating an extra layer of isolation for Johnny, whose former “mates” remain offstage, leaving him to be defined almost solely by his relationships to Omar and Omar’s family. Director Andrew Nance’s pacing errs on the side of sedate, subduing the more passionate responses of many of the supporting characters: Omar’s restless cousin Tania (Radhika Rao); his widowed, alcoholic father (Ravi Bhatnagar); his mercurial entrepreneur uncle Nasser (Keith Stevenson); and Nasser’s kittenish mistress (Cat Luedtke). Only Daniel Redmond as the unrepentantly shady Salim gets to fully embody his character’s extremist views and actions, while the sweetly awkward chemistry between the two protagonists does produce a nice bit of heat, their refreshingly matter-of-fact relationship encompassing a full spectrum of emotion and circumstance. (Gluckstern)

The Oy of Sex Marsh San Francisco, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. $20-100. Thu-Fri, 8pm; Sat, 8:30pm. Through Jan 18. Comedian Alicia Dattner performs her solo show, based on her stories from her own life and love addiction.

Storefront Church San Francisco Playhouse, 450 Post St, Second Flr, SF; www.sfplayhouse.org. $30-100. Tue-Thu, 7pm (no shows Dec 24-25 or Jan 1); Fri-Sat, 8pm (also Sat, 3pm); Sun, 2pm (also Sun/22, 7pm). Through Jan 11. Weighty themes come leavened by sharp comedy and engaging characters in this 2012 play from New York’s John Patrick Shanley (Doubt), now enjoying a strong and lively Bay Area premiere at SF Playhouse in director Joy Carlin’s well cast production. Ethan, a gregarious retired accountant and professed secular Jew (a hilarious and endearing Ray Reinhardt) tries to get some relief for his Puerto Rican wife, Jessie (a bubbly Gloria Weinstock), who is perilously behind on her loan payments. But it’s like getting the proverbial blood from a stone during his meeting with her humorless and immobile — indeed, partly paralyzed — loan officer (a quietly shattered Rod Gnapp). Ethan appeals to morality; loan officer Reed sticks to the rules of the system. Enter Donaldo (an admirably sure yet understated Gabriel Marin), the Bronx’s upstanding borough president and the son of Jessie’s old friend. Donaldo has much bigger business with the bank underway (a proposed mall deal that will bring jobs, if at the expense of local character) and at first begs off — until he learns his mother has co-signed the loan. Soon, Donaldo is visiting the source of Jessie’s money problems: a somber Pentecostal preacher and Katrina-refugee named Chester (a gently solemn Carl Lumbly) who has installed a traffic-less church in the storefront below her apartment but remains himself paralyzed by depression and uncertainty. Donaldo, himself a preacher’s son, and Chester soon engage in a fiery and captivating debate that turns on the contradictions between moral conviction and worldly compromise. From there on, a fractured congregation of sorts begins to form around the preacher and Donaldo, including the unctuous yet aloof CEO of the bank (played with bounding confidence by a fine Derek Fischer). It all leads to a rousingly funny and tender scene that makes good on the season’s usual lip service to fraternal feeling and communal values. (Avila)

Too Many Tamales: A Holiday Story for the Whole Family Marsh San Francisco, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. $8-35. Opens Sat/21, 2 and 8pm. Runs Sun/22-Mon/23, Dec 27-30, and Jan 2-4, 2pm. Through Jan 4. Marsh Youth Theater and author Gary Soto collaborate on this high-energy holiday show — complete with puppets and Mexican music — based on Soto’s picture book.

BAY AREA

Edward Gant’s Amazing Feats of Loneliness Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby, Berk; www.shotgunplayers.org. $20-35. Wed-Thu, 7pm; Fri-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 5pm. Through Jan 11. Shotgun Players performs Anthony Neilson’s comic romp set in “a sensual Edwardian world of top hats, fantastical puppets, and flash powder.”

Little Women Lucie Stern Theatre, 1305 Middlefield, Palo Alto; www.theatreworks.org. $19-79. Tue-Wed and Dec 30, 7:30pm (no shows Dec 24-25; Dec 31, show at 2pm only; no show Jan 1); Thu-Sat, 8pm (also Sat and Dec 26 and Jan 4, 2pm); Sun, 2 and 7pm. Through Jan 4. TheatreWorks performs the musical adaptation of the Louisa May Alcott tale.

Mame Hillbarn Theatre, 1285 East Hillsdale, Foster City; www.hillbarntheatre.org. $19-40. Thu/19-Sat/21, 8pm (also Sat/21, 2pm); Sun/22, 2pm. Hillbarn Theatre performs Jerry Herman’s classic musical.

The Pianist of Willesden Lane Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Thrust Theatre, 2015 Addison, Berk; www.berkeleyrep.org. $29-89. Tue and Thu-Sat, 8pm (also Sat, 2pm; no shows Tue/24 or Dec 31); Wed and Sun, 7pm (also Sun, 2pm; matinees only Sun/22 and Jan 5; no show Dec 25). Extended through Jan 5. Mona Golabek stars in this solo performance inspired by her mother, a Jewish pianist whose dreams and life were threatened by the Nazi regime.

PERFORMANCE/DANCE

“Broadway Bingo” Feinstein’s at the Nikko, Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason, SF; www.feinsteinssf.com. Wed, 7-9pm. Ongoing. Free. Countess Katya Smirnoff-Skyy and Joe Wicht host this Broadway-flavored night of games and performance.

“A Chanticleer Christmas” St. Ignatius, 650 Parker, SF; www.chanticleer.org. Sun/22, 8pm. $30-65. The Grammy-winning vocal ensemble performs profound and joyous seasonal tunes.

“Comedy Bottle with Tom Smith” Purple Onion at Kells, 530 Jackson, SF; www.purpleonionatkells.com. Fri/20-Sat/21, 7pm. $10. Headliner Smith performs with Matthew Groom and Ira Summer.

“Exquisite Corpse Theatre: Sci-Fi: Defenders of Intergalactic Donuts” Stage Werx Theatre, 446 Valencia, SF; www.stagewerx.org. Fri/20-Sat/21, 7pm. $23. Mikl-em, Stage Werx, and Foul Play present this combination party, writing game, and performance. Dress in sci-fi togs and assist the artists in writing the show.

“Fiesta Navidena” Peña Pachamama, 1630 Powell, SF; www.carolinalugo.com. Sat/21-Sun/22 and Dec 27-28, 6:15pm. $15-21. Carolina Lugo and Carolé Acuña’s Ballet Flamenco performs a holiday show.

“From the Bay to Bahia” Brava Theater Center, 2781 24th St, SF; www.locobloco.org. Sat/21, 8pm. $5-20. An evening inspired by Loco Bloco’s summer cultural exchange in Bahia, Brazil, with dance, spoken word, and musical performances.

“G. Scott Lacy’s Holiday Cabaret” Society Cabaret at Hotel Rex, 562 Sutter, SF; www.societycabaret.com. Fri/20-Sat/21, 8pm; Sun/22, 2pm. $20-40. A seasonal blend of music and song.

“Happy Birthday Jesus: The Alaska Christmas Show” Rebel, 1760 Market, SF; www.brownpapertickets.com. Wed/18-Fri/20, 7:30 and 10pm. $22.50. RuPaul’s Drag Race fan fave Alaska Thunderfuck performs her off-Broadway show.

“Hark, the Herald Angels Swing!” Davies Symphony Hall, 201 Van Ness, SF; www.cityboxoffice.com. Sun/22, 8pm. $18-65. The SF Girls Chorus and School, plus Alumnae Chorus, perform jazzy holiday songs arranged by Marcus Shelby.

“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas: An Evening with Connie Champagne as Judy Garland” Feinstein’s at the Nikko, Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason, SF; www.feinsteinssf.com. Wed/18, 8pm. $25-35 ($20 minimum food and beverage purchase). The acclaimed performer presents her annual holiday show.

“Hysterical Historical San Francisco, Holiday Edition” Shelton Theater, 533 Sutter, SF; www.sheltontheater.org. Sun, 7pm. Through Dec 29. $30-40. Comic Kurt Weitzman performs.

“Jackie Beat’s O Holy Hell!” Rebel, 1760 Market, SF; www.brownpapertickets.com. Sun/22, 7 and 9pm. $26. “Everyone’s favorite Grinch” returns to SF for her annual anti-holiday tribute.

“Kung Pao Kosher Comedy” New Asia Restaurant, 772 Pacific, SF; www.koshercomedy.com. Dec 24-26, 6pm (dinner show); 9:30pm (cocktail show). $44-64. Stand-up with Gary Gulman, Adrianne Tolsch, Samson Koletkar, and Lisa Geduldig.

“Mark Foehringer’s Nutcracker Sweets” Southside Theater, Fort Mason Center, Marina at Laguna, SF; www.brownpapertickets.com. Fri/20-Tue/24, 11am and 2pm (also Sat/21-Sun22, 4pm). $18-28. Contemporary ballet company Mark Foehringer Dance Project SF performs its fifth annual production of this Nutcracker-inspired work aimed at families with young children.

“Mittens and Mistletoe: A Winter Circus Cabaret” Dance Mission Theater, 3316 24th St, SF; www.sweetcanproductions.com. Fri/20-Sat/21, 8pm; Sun/22-Tue/24, 2pm (also Sun/22 and Tue/24, 4pm). $15-60. Light-hearted, circus-themed holiday variety show, with juggling, clowning, trapeze acts, and more.

“Okeanos Intimate” Aquarium of the Bay, Pier 39, SF; www.capacitor.org. Sat, 8pm. $20-30 (free aquarium ticket with show ticket). Extended through Dec 28. Choreographer Jodi Lomask and her company, Capacitor, revive 2012’s Okeanos — a cirque-dance piece exploring the wonder and fragility of our innate connection to the world’s oceans — in a special “intimate” version designed for the mid-size theater at Pier 39’s Aquarium of the Bay. The show, developed in collaboration with scientists and engineers, comes preceded by a short talk by a guest expert — for a recent Saturday performance it was a down-to-earth and truly fascinating local ecological history lesson by the Bay Institute’s Marc Holmes. In addition to its Cirque du Soleil-like blend of quasi-representational modern dance and circus acrobatics — powered by a synth-heavy blend of atmospheric pop music — Okeanos makes use of some stunning underwater photography and an intermittent narrative that includes testimonials from the likes of marine biologist and filmmaker Dr. Tierney Thys. The performers, including contortionists, also interact with some original physical properties hanging from the flies — a swirling vortex and a spherical shell — as they wrap and warp their bodies in a kind of metamorphic homage to the capacity and resiliency of evolution, the varied ingenuity of all life forms. If the movement vocabulary can seem limited at times, and too derivative, the show also feels a little cramped on the Aquarium Theater stage, whose proscenium arrangement does the piece few favors aesthetically. Nevertheless, the family-oriented Okeanos Intimate spurs a conversation with the ocean that is nothing if not urgent. (Avila)

Paula Poundstone Palace of Fine Arts, 3301 Lyon, SF; www.palaceoffinearts.org. Fri/20, 8pm. $35. The comedian and NPR personality performs.

“Point Break Live!” DNA Lounge, 373 11th St, SF; www.dnalounge.com. Jan 3, Feb 7, 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)

“San Francisco Magic Parlor” Chancellor Hotel Union Square, 433 Powell, SF; www.sfmagicparlor.com. Thu-Sat, 8pm. Ongoing. $40. Magic vignettes with conjurer and storyteller Walt Anthony.

“Santa Claus is Coming Out” Eureka Theatre, 215 Jackson, SF; www.combinedartform.com. Thu/19-Fri/20, 8pm; Sat/21, 9:30pm; Sun/22, 5pm; Mon/23, 6pm; Tue/24, 3pm. $20-35. Jeffrey Solomon performs his solo play exploring “the secret romantic life of the holiday icon.”

“The Santaland Diaries” Eureka Theatre, 215 Jackson, SF; www.combinedartform.com. Sat/21, 7pm; Sun/22-Mon/23 and Dec 26-29, 8pm (also Sun/22 and Dec 29, 2pm); Mon/23, 8pm; Tue/24, 1pm. David Sinaiko performs David Sedaris’ tale of working as an elf, adapted to the stage by Joe Mantello.

“Shotz: Orwellian Consumer-mas” Tides Theare, 533 Sutter, SF; www.amoisnyc.org. Wed/18, 8pm. $10. AmiosSF presents five short plays relating to the theme of “Orwellian Consumer-mas.” Each is required to include the line “It’s free. Freee!”

“Sing You A Merry Christmas” Grace Cathedral, 1100 California, SF; www.gracecathedral.org. Sat/21, 11am. $5-25. A sing-along for younger children and their families

“Speechless Faux Holiday Christmas Event” Public Works, 161 Erie, SF; www.speechlesslive.com. Thu/19, 7:30pm. $20. Entertainers, entrepreneurs, and audience members present spontaneous PowerPoint presentations. In keeping with the season, this edition is formatted as a faux holiday party, complete with an ugly sweater contest.

“A Verry Merry Murder Mystery” Bayfront Theater, B350 Fort Mason Center, SF; www.improv.org. Fri/20-Sat/21, 8pm. $20. This concession to the holiday season has more red in it than green. The return of the popular improv show by Bay Area Theatre Sports (BATS) technically has Christmas in it: Along with the 1930s English manor house, it’s part of the setting for murder, as well as the sleuthing and shenanigans that must invariably ensue. Nothing else is certain, however. The audience provides the necessary ingredients to get this full-length completely improvised who-knows-who’ll-have-dunit up and running, including the murder weapon (a dirty sock, the night I went, fiendishly enough). The fine cast (which changes slightly each night) includes the highly imaginative, lightening quick Tim Orr along with fellow BATS veterans like William Hall (who did exceptional work in a Scottish brogue and imaginary kilt), Kasey Klemm, Jenny Rosen, and Regina Saisi; as well as relative newcomers like Ben Johnson and company guest Ethan Karson, both of whom are outstanding. The masterful Joshua Raoul Brody improvises the musical score. (Avila)

“XXmas: The Christmas Ballet, 2013 Edition” Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Lam Research Theater, 700 Howard, SF; www.smuinballet.org. Wed/18-Sat/21, 8pm (also Sat/21, 2pm); Sun/22, 2 and 7pm; Tue/24, 2pm; Dec 26-28, 8pm (also Dec 26, 2pm). $24-64, Smuin Ballet’s annual holiday show boasts festive ballet, tap, and swing-dance numbers.

BAY AREA

“The Biggest Gift” Lesher Center for the Arts, Margaret Lesher Theatre, 1601 Civic, Walnut Creek; www.leshercenter.org. Thu/19, 11:30am; Fri/20, 9:30am, 11am, and 6:30pm; Sat/21, 10am, 11:30am, 1pm, and 4pm; Sun/22, 11am and 1pm. $14. Fantasy Forum Actors Ensemble presents a Christmas-themed, family-friendly musical.

“The Nutcracker” Paramount Theatre, 2025 Broadway, SF; www.ticketmaster.com. Sat/21-Sun/22, 2pm; Tue/24, 11am. $20-59.50. Oakland Ballet performs Graham Lustig’s version of the classic ballet, with music by the Oakland East Bay Symphony.

“Scrooge: The Haunting of Ebenezer” Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby, Berk; www.shotgunplayers.org. Mon/23-Tue/24, 8pm. $15. Jeff Garrett plays all the Christmas Carol parts in this solo version of the classic tale.

“A Swell Noël” Aurora Theatre Company, 2081 Addison, Berk; www.auroratheatre.org. Wed/18-Sat/21, 7:30pm; Sun/22, 5pm. $25-32. Cabaret star Craig Jessup performs songs by Noël Coward, Jacques Brel, Stephen Sondheim, and other composers. *

Bravo!

Michael Redmond
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Bravo!

arts@sfbg.com

YEAR IN THEATER Before the holiday season crushes us in its tinsel-glinted maw and poops us out into 2014, it’s time to cast a backward glance and ponder 2013’s best moments in theater and performance.

Most satisfyingly enigmatic flights Getting lost can be a good thing. It can concentrate the attention, heighten the senses, activate the imagination, leave room for reflection — and leave something to talk about afterward. This is as true for a visit to the theater as it is for a walk around town.

The great director Robert Wilson put it like this when, speaking in 2012 in Berkeley during the revival of Einstein on the Beach, he noted the difference between his brand of theater and the average: “It’s something that you can freely associate with. [In the usual theater piece] you’re constantly told what to think or how to respond. If you go to the theater tonight, if you go to Broadway, every 20 seconds, 10 seconds, no more than 30, you have to react. It’s always, ‘Do you understand? Do you get it? Do you understand? Do you get it? Do you understand? Do you get it? Do you understand? Do you get it? Do you understand? Do you get it?’ And after a while you don’t understand anything. So in this work it’s ok to get lost.”

Without detracting from the power that can attend even the most didactic of narratives, let’s hear it for the productions this year that did not shy away from abstraction and mystery, as in Shotgun Players’ staging of Linda McLean’s strangers, babies or (more radically, if in workshop form) Affinity Project’s Nocturne (the best part in foolsFURY’s inaugural Factory Parts, a works-in-progress festival). (Robert Avila)

Best Habitués of the Home Theater Circuit We’re big fans of the Home Theater Festival and the back-to-the-basics performance model it so ably demonstrates. But where the festival ends, at the threshold of one’s own doorstep, the notion that there could be a whole DIY living room tour circuit is gaining ground. Two recent exemplars of this lo-key, high-mileage approach are Sebastopol’s the Independent Eye, which just returned home from a month-long, cross-country sojourn during which it performed 17 shows — nine in living rooms — and San Francisco’s Right Brain Performancelab expanded its private-home Due West salon into a roving three-weekend run of its 10-year anniversary performance, What Stays?, from Half Moon Bay to Oakland. (Nicole Gluckstern)

Most “Twisted” take on the big screen Dogugaeshi at Zellerbach Playhouse. Combining his own brand of invention and humor with the titular ancient Japanese form — in which moving sets of painted screens coaxed the eye through a seemingly infinite recession of figurative and abstract environments — master puppeteer Basil Twist and his deft collaborators created an opulent, entrancing, even mystical journey that ranks as one of the purest theatrical experiences all year. (Avila)

Most Pervasive Unofficial Theme for 2013: “Losing my Religion” While our headlines were more concerned with political détente and economic implosion, our stages were full of struggles of a more personal nature: that of religious belief (or lack thereof). With works like Tanya Shaffer’s Siddhartha-inspired musical The Fourth Messenger; Mugwumpin’s mesmerizing fall from prophetic grace, The Great Big Also; the epistemological ponderings of a dead felid in SF Playhouse’s Bengal Tiger at the Bagdhad Zoo; and the wounded evangelicalism simmering in Aurora Theatre’s A Bright New Boise, both actors and audiences were forced to confront questions of faith in ways that pointed to unresolved unease on both sides of the pulpit. (Gluckstern)

Most overdue Bay Area debut The Wooster Group + New York City Players at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. This production of three of Eugene O’Neill’s early seafaring one-acts seemed to flummox many, though the audience I sat with seemed as riveted as I was by the strange, challenging approach to these texts. Certainly it was a little misleading to describe this as a Wooster Group production — despite having two Wooster actors in the cast and a Wooster set, it was very much in debt to the idiosyncratic and deeply committed approach of director and playwright Richard Maxwell and his NYC Players, who made up the majority of the cast. A long overdue Bay Area visit by these acclaimed companies, it anyway made for one of the more distinctive and provoking encounters between actors and audience all year. (Avila)

Most Memorable Elementals In Aurora Theatre’s production of Max Frisch’s The Arsonists, fire played an ominous role, a tool deployed to destroy the civilization it helped build, while in Ragged Wing Ensemble’s collaborative Time Sensitive, ice took the main stage, with a dripping block signifying both the passage of time and the impermanence of the material world. While at first glance the two plays were to each other as fire and ice — one a carefully modulated farce, the other a frenetic roller coaster of status seekers and secret keepers — both inventively explored common themes of moral decay and the follies of keeping up appearances in a society full of questionable values and diminishing spiritual rewards. (Gluckstern)

Best performance of herself Judith Butler at CounterPULSE. The famed philosopher and theorist of the performativity of gender appeared as part of the ongoing Dance Discourse series, in dialogue with CounterPULSE’s Julie Phelps and outstanding performances by artists DavEnd, and Xandra Ibarra and Hentyle Yapp. While confessing it was not always easy “performing Judith Butler,” the Berkeley prof proved game, contributing to an exceptionally lively cross-disciplinary encounter. (Avila)

Playwriting Series Most Likely to Win a Gold Medal: San Francisco Olympians Festival Here be giants. Plus gods, mortals, and mythological creatures brought to often hilarious life by dozens of local playwrights and theatre artists over the course of three weeks. The brainchild of No Nude Men’s Stuart Bousel, the festival features an array of thematically-connected staged readings featuring characters long forgotten by contemporary audiences: Teucer, Thersites, Laodike, Cruesa, and Neoptolemus, to name but a few. Not content to stick to the script, SF Olympians offers a corresponding gallery show of fine art, encourages wild experimentation such as the debut installment of Megan Cohen’s crowd-directed “Totally Epic Odyssey,” and has even generated a book of new plays (Songs of Hestia, EXIT Press 2011). (Gluckstern)

Most persuasive British accents Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart in No Man’s Land at Berkeley Rep. In fact, the pair, true British theater royalty, made it all look so easy. (Avila)

Theater Company Most Likely to Boldly Go… Whether a given production is a hit or miss, Cutting Ball’s commitment to staging new absurdist and experimental works has secured it a very important spot in the Bay Area’s theatrical firmament. And although very different in content, the world premieres of Andrew Saito’s boldly apocalyptic Krispy Kritters in the Scarlett Night and Basil Kreimendahl’s quixotic, gender-queer vaudeville Sidewinders provided an essential sounding board for two bright new talents who would have otherwise struggled long to find homes for their misfit children. (Gluckstern)

Best mess Anthony Rizzi’s An Attempt to Fail at Groundbreaking Theater with Pina Arcade Smith at Kunst-Stoff. The Frankfurt-based American performer and former William Forsythe dancer took over the Grove Street loft space for three glorious nights in February as a magnificently straight-shooting queer amalgam of Jack Smith, Penny Arcade, and Pina Bausch, flouncing, crawling, and climbing around the bric-a-brac properties strewn around the room, dancing with anyone who wanted to, dropping a laptop from a ladder (ostensibly by accident), and generally flailing with memorable brio and brilliance. (Avila)

A Few Luminous Performances That Reminded Us There Are No Small Actors, Only Small Stages Donald Currie as Sandy in Cutting Ball’s Sidewinders; Nick Medina as Belinsky in Shotgun Player’s Shipwreck; James Udom as Freddy in Performers Under Stress’ Scamoramaland; Tamar Cohn as the Old Woman in Cutting Ball’s The Chairs; Safiya Fredericks as Sydney in 42nd Street Moon’s It’s a Bird…It’s a Plane…It’s Superman; and Amy Lizardo as Yitzhak in Boxcar Theatre’s Hedwig and the Angry Inch. (Gluckstern)

Most promising solo debut Safiya Martinez in So You Can Hear Me, at the Marsh. Writer-performer Martinez memorably recounted her shattering experience as a 23-year-old special ed teacher in the South Bronx, inhabiting lives and personalities still too rarely seen on any stage, and with a precision and verve equally uncommon. (Avila) *

 

This Week’s Picks: December 18 – 24, 2013

Michael Redmond
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Keep the season safe from Gary Busey.

WEDNESDAY 12/18

 

“Noir City Xmas”

Fans of sultry dames, smoking guns, and sinister characters — as well as anyone hankering for a break from fizzy, fuzzy holiday clatter — need only slink down a dark alley … er, Castro Street … to “Noir City Xmas,” hosted by Eddie “Czar of Noir” Muller and Audra “Ms. Noir City” Wolfmann. The 35mm double-bill kicks off with cult indie crime drama Blast of Silence (1961), with writer-director-star Allen Baron in person. Next up is 1947’s mega-rare Christmas Eve, which sounds like it might be sentimental until you hear its alternate title: Sinner’s Holiday. Now you’re talkin’! Attendees will also get first look at the program for Noir City 12, coming up next month. (Cheryl Eddy)

7pm, $10

Castro Theatre

420 Castro, SF

www.noircity.com

 

 

“Naked Girls Reading Presents: All I Want for Christmas”

Bookstores are closing, magazines are going out of print, and the classics go for pocket change on Amazon. To some, it would seem that the written word has gone out of fashion. The women of Naked Girls Reading disagree. Appearing in 18 cities worldwide, these ladies are proving that literature is as attractive as ever with their nude readings of everything from Homer’s The Odyssey to “Chicken Little.” San Francisco’s chapter includes a retired Harley mechanic and burlesque producer, an author-sexologist, a goldsmith-dominatrix, and an actor-dancer-clown. At their “All I Want for Christmas” event, the lovely ladies will read selections from their holiday favorites, including Charles Dickens to Lemony Snicket. (Janina Glasov)

8pm, $20

Center for Sex and Culture

1349 Mission, SF

www.sexandculture.org

 

 

Holograms

Some bands would like to think that listening to their music is a religious experience. Swedish post-punk band Holograms takes this cliché to the next level. Hot off its second release, Forever, the band seeks to capture the feeling of music being played in a church or temple. The vocals echo hauntingly — and just like an old-timey church organ, the synthesizers seem to come in at the right time to elevate Hologram’s musical sermons. Though the band’s been compared to Joy Division on many an occasion, Holograms’ sound is also derivative of ’80s goth at times. Can I get an “amen”? (Erin Dage) With TV Ghost, G. Green 9pm, $12 Bottom of the Hill

1233 17th St, SF www.bottomofthehill.com

 

 

“Holiday StrEat Flicks:” Home Alone

While 14 members of the McCallister family rush around their three-story Winnetka, Ill., home, packing for their holiday vacation in Paris, you’re biting into a steamed Coca-Cola braised pork bun. When Kevin, the baby of the Home Alone (1990) family, wakes up to an empty house and realizes he’s been left behind, he orders himself a pizza, just as you grab your own wood-fired slice from Del Popolo. As Harry and Marv, shady burglars also known as the Wet Bandits, sneak around the yard looking for a way in, you’re trying to figure out how to bite into your frozen mousse pop. By the time Kevin’s family returns on Christmas day, you’re sipping mulled wine at this month’s StrEat Flicks and enjoying (not being) Home Alone. (Kaylen Baker).

7pm, free

SoMa StrEat Food Park

428 11th St, SF

www.somastreetfoodpark.com

THURSDAY 12/19

 

Santa Claus Is Coming Out

This year, Father Christmas comes out of the closet instead of down the chimney in Jeffrey Solomon’s solo show, here for a limited run. The acclaimed off-Broadway play explores what happens when Santa admits that he has been living a lie: Mrs. Claus is just an actor, and Mr. Kringle’s true love is a man named Giovanni. Naturally, conservative parents freak out, and a “Santa-Gate” scandal follows Claus’ controversial confession. Solomon’s show probes the reasons why. “Would people be willing to cancel Christmas as we know it,” he wonders, “rather than let the red suited homosexual into their homes and hearts?” (Glasov)

Thu/19-Fri/20, 8pm; Sat/21, 9:30pm; Sun/22, 5pm; Mon/23, 6pm; Tues/24, 3pm, $25-$35

Eureka Theatre

215 Jackson, SF

www.combinedartform.com

 

 

Gremlins and Lethal Weapon

When it comes to films that are considered “holiday classics” by the majority of people, titles such as White Christmas (1954) and Miracle on 34th Street (1947) are likely tossed around. But two of the best Christmas movies — Gremlins (1984) and Lethal Weapon (1987) — are showing tonight at the Castro. What better way to celebrate the season than with Gizmo and pals fending off little green monsters that go caroling and scaring the hell out of mean old people? And Riggs and Murtaugh keeping the season safe from Gary Busey? It’s going to be an ’80s nostalgic blast — but remember, whatever you do, don’t feed any of your furry friends after midnight! (Sean McCourt)

Gremlins, 7pm; Lethal Weapon, 9pm, $8.50-$11

Castro Theatre

429 Castro, SF

www.castrotheatre.com

FRIDAY 12/20

 

Exodus

If you’re not into the plethora of holiday-related events this week, go to a metal show instead. Credited as being the band that brought thrash to the Bay Area — helping spawn a scene that’s still thriving today — Richmond’s Exodus has been going strong for over 30 years. Playing a brand of aggressive, fast-tempo music, the band has remained a head-banging force through numerous lineup changes and studio albums. Also joining in on the fun is Oxnard’s Nails. Combining elements of early grindcore and power violence, this SoCal band simply rips. So forget the various parties and mixers, and put some money down on what could be one of the heaviest shows of the season. (Dage)

With Hellfire

8pm, $25

Slim’s

333 11th St., SF

www.slimspresents.com

 

 

Growlers

I didn’t see the Growlers at Outside Lands last summer, or when the band played a VICE party in Mexico City while I traveled there that same month. Alas, I’ll be home for Christmas during its two nights at the Independent, so I’ll miss out again. Fortunately I can absorb the Costa Mesa band’s cult-like hippie vibes and appreciate its spooky, retro aesthetic through videos. You, however, should go. With a new EP, Gilded Pleasures, there’s a chance to hear some fresh material — and if the videos are any indication of the live experience, you’ll find the finger is on some filthy, reverb-rich pulse and you won’t be able to look away. (Andre Torrez)

With Abigails, Mystic Braves

Fri/20-Sat/21, 9pm, $20

Independent

628 Divisadero

www.theindependentsf.com

SATURDAY 12/21

 

Youth Brigade

Formed by brothers Adam, Mark, and Shawn Stern in 1980, Youth Brigade made its mark on the early California punk scene not only with empowering anthems like “Fight to Unite,” but also with the DIY attitude with which members went about making their music. The Los Angeles-born band started the Better Youth Organization to promote shows and put out records for themselves and for their friends’ bands, and after more than 30 years, the label continues to go strong, and the group still plays with a raw, rebellious energy and spirit. (McCourt)

With Civil War Rust, Rats in the Wall, Bum City Saints

9pm, $12

Thee Parkside

1600 17th St., SF

www.theeparkside.com

 

 

UpSwing Aerial Dance

Cherie Carson’s UpSwing Aerial Dance Company is a small, Berkeley-based group of people who love to spend their time on ropes and trapezes — and even, at times, on stilts and unicycles. Only three years old, the group grew out of a pickup ensemble that wanted to perform on a more regular basis. At home in the Eighth Street arts complex, where it also presents its shows, UpSwing honors the longest night of the year and the return of the sun with a Winter Solstice celebration. In addition to the UpSwing dancers, junior group Teens Who Fly will make an appearance. Alissa Kaplan Soto designed an interactive visual installation, and musicians Dave Worm, Midnight Ramblers, and Sahib Amar and Amar Singh will do their share to make this a welcoming, audience-participation-invited holiday event. (Rita Felciano)

5:30 and 8pm, $10-$25

Studio 12

2525 Eighth St, Berk

www.upswingaerialdance.org

 

 

Saturday Write Fever

Do you do some of your best writing under extreme duress? Can you act the hell out of a script that’s just been handed to you? Time to stretch your spontaneity muscles at Saturday Write Fever. Every third Saturday, EXIT Theatre and the San Francisco Theater Pub host writers and performers for a mixer that gives way to a 30-minute writing sprint on a topic chosen that night, during which participants turn out original monologues. Actors are then cast from the audience (no previous acting experience necessary!) for flash performances of these hot-off-the-press works. Hosted by local writers Stuart Bousel and Megan Cohen, this coming together of creative community may move at lightning speed, but it is certain to be unforgettable. (Kirstie Haruta)

8:30pm, free

EXIT Theatre

156 Eddy, SF

www.theexit.org

TUESDAY 12/24

 

Kung Pao Kosher Comedy

Years ago, comedian Lisa Geduldig put a new twist on the old unwritten law that says “Jews must go to a Chinese restaurant on Christmas” after finding herself telling Jewish jokes at the Peking Garden Club in South Hadley, Mass. Soon thereafter, Kung Pao Kosher Comedy was born. With two shows a night over three days, the 21st annual show offers six chances to escape the holiday madness and have a good laugh. This year’s headliner is Gary Gulman, a Boston native whose resume brims with late-night talk show appearances and Comedy Central spots; he was also a runner-up on Last Comic Standing. Joining him are stand-up and improv star Adrianne Tolsch; Asian American Theater Company Comedy Competition winner Samson Koletkar; and, of course, host Geduldig. Proceeds from the shows benefit San Francisco and Marin Food Banks’ Healthy Children Pantries and the San Francisco Jewish Home’s Esther Weintraub Comedy Clinic. (Haruta)

Dec 24-26, 6pm (dinner show); 9:30pm (cocktail show), $44-$64

New Asia Restaurant 772 Pacific, SF www.koshercomedy.com Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir Rise up, clap your hands, and sway to the beat, because tonight the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir hollers holy at its 25th annual Holiday Concert. Rumor has it that temporary architectural reinforcements may be added to the walls at Slim’s, because the soulful bellowing of these gospel crooners could easily blow the roof off and bring down the house. Though the December holidays don’t immediately conjure up the deep timber and breathtaking vibrato of gospel and spiritual music, the OIGC’s mission — “to inspire joy and unity among all people” — coincides harmoniously with the holiday spirit. Joyful noise, indeed! (Baker) 7 and 9:30pm, $15 Slim’s 333 11th St, SF www.oigc.org

Candy crush

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Candy crush

marke@sfbg.com

YEAR IN NIGHTLIFE The drink of the year was the Chinese Mai Tai at Lipo Lounge. It’s $9, but it’s huge and you only need one. Or maybe a half, if you want to remember your pants. Oh, just drink the whole thing.

It was another supersweet, neon-bright yet sonically sophisticated year of clubbing and dance music, full of ups, downs, and twirl-arounds. Celebrated rave cave 222 Hyde and Hayes Valley drag outpost Marlena’s closed (boooo). But Mighty and 1015 got mindblowing new sound systems, Monarch and DNA Lounge expanded, Project One inherited 222’s speakers, Public Works and F8 doubled-down on adventurous bookings, and ambitious venues Audio Discotech and Beaux opened (and are still finding their footing). And we got a new dance music record store, RS94109, and rising dark techno star, Vereker.

As far as music goes: we’ve managed to fend off the worst of pop-EDM, while welcoming the drum ‘n bass and big-room ’90s sound comeback with open underground arms. (Also, there is an actual underground!) San Francisco’s still a major destination for techno up-and-comers — and even though you may stumble across some clueless tech-bros sporting 2k7-wear or novelty rasta wigs on our finer dance floors, give them a hug and hope they improve! It’s all good.

>>Read Emily Savage’s take on the YEAR IN MUSIC 2013 

Before I get into some of my favorite 2013 things, let’s tip a hat to two legends we lost this year: Scott Hardkiss and Cheb i Sabbah. Between them, they brought a whole world’s worth of music to our dance floors and spanned generations. Dancing forever in their honor.

HIP-HOP, Q’ED UP

Hip-hop got so good in 2013, the Year that Twerking Ate the Internet. Trap sounds and molly pops seemed to invigorate the East Bay scene: E-40 dropped a zillion slaps, while Iamsu! and Sage the Gemini (who can totally get it, hellieu) swerved onto the national scene. Buffed-up SF legends Latyrx dropped a nifty disc after two decades. In the bigtime, Kanye bought up every edgy electronic producer he could to impress Pitchfork, while Danny Brown and Kendrick Lamar recontextualized essential ’90s rap tropes — gangsta and concept albums, respectively, but in a party way.

Unfortunately, another ’90s rap trope, tired homophobia, was also revived, with Eminem and Tyler, the Creator fumbling bigtime. This time, however, there was such a huge and thriving queer hip-hop party scene that we could look right past all that lazy ish. Queer rap broke big in 2012 when eye-catching artists blended witch-dark sounds, quantum vogue moves, and afro-surreal poetry with R&B licks, broken bass boost, and neon-bright performance art.

That scene deepened and brightened this year — here, at super parties like Swagger Like Us, 120 Minutes, Fix Yr Hair, and House of Babes and unstoppable homegrown talent like Micahtron, Double Duchess, and even cameo appearances by classic homohop babes Deep Dickollective — proving that spitting flames can still burn down the disco. And queer-rap resistance even grabbed the national spotlight when Daddie$ Pla$tic‘s electro-anarchic “Google Google Apps Apps” went viral.

 

SWEET AND LOW

The Honey Soundsystem crew ended its Sunday night parties at the top of its game with a huge blowout — surprise marriage proposal, performance by fabled ’80s singer Jorge Socarras, and slew of unannounced guest DJs included. Honey was an ostensibly gay club, but that might have just been a feint to pack the floor with hairdressers. While it never ceased brazenly shoving its raw homosexuality in the oft-frigid techno scene’s face, its influence went way beyond the queer sphere. For five years, it was our best weekly in terms of musical guests (Wednesdays’ fantastic Housepitality almost ties it on that score), bringing in a mind-blowing roster of international underground players.

But Honey Sundays were more. Will there ever be a party ballsy enough to take as a month-long theme the skyrocketing real estate market, condo-mapping its venue and printing “luxury house” brochures? Or base the décor of one of its biggest parties around a collection of putrid haters’ comments? What promoters, nowadays, even bother to actually design and print challenging works of art as posters and flyers, or truly transform their venues? (DJ Bus Station John, still our gold standard, is the only one I can think of.)

Fortunately, Honey parties will continue, just not weekly. But SF is full of such amazingly talented crews, both well-established (As You Like It, No Way Back, Sunset, Lights Down Low, Icee Hot, Opel, Pink Mammoth) and burgeoning (Isis, Face, Modular, Mighty Real, Trap City, Odyssey). My wish for 2014 is that many of these really invest themselves in building a whole vibe for their parties, top to bottom, instead of just relying on groovy headliners, online promotions, and audience goodwill. As the changing city chases out its artists and loses its edge, we need entire worlds of freakiness to escape into and call our own.

 

TOP SOUNDS OF 2013

>> Nebakaneza, “Expansion Project, Vols. 1-11“

What does our most forward-thinking dubstep DJ do when dubstep’s no longer an option? He deepens his crates, cycling through 12 months-worth of excellent mixes, themed by genres like yacht rock and classic soul, to rediscover his bass roots while transforming his sound into something even more thrilling.

>> Swedish House Mafia, Bill Graham Center, Feb. 16

I finally get it! All you need is a $1 million light rig, 40,000 glowsticks, an indoor fireworks show, and an arena full of half-naked teens. This EDM stuff is actually kind of fun.

>> The Disclosure Effect

Disclosure’s Grammy-nominated debut Settle (Cherrytree) will nest atop most critic’s dance picks this year, and rightly so: the young Lawrence Brothers brought lovely, 2-step-fueled house back into headphones and charts worldwide. But if it also brings more attention to breezy sonic relatives like Bondax, AlunaGeorge, Joe Hertz, the Majestic Casual roster, and the hundreds of bedroom producers who suddenly switched from making EDM and dubstep to deeper house sounds, then so much the better.

>> Deafheaven, Sunbather (Deathwish, Inc.)

Shoegaze plus death metal equals an arctic beauty and burning mystery that transcends even My Bloody Valentine’s wonderful, self-released mbv and, when listened to alongside this year’s icy electronic-ish masterworks like Tim Hecker’s Virgins (Paper Bag Records) and the Haxan Cloak’s Excavations (Tri Angle) — or more emotive ones like Chance of Rain (Hyperdub) by Laurel Halo, Psychic (Matador) by Darkside, or Engravings (Tri Angle) by Forest Swords — makes strange sense of a near future.

Steve Reich, “Music for 18 Musicians,” SF Contemporary Music Players, Jan. 28

The fact that there was a near-riot to get into a performance this hypnotic, hyper-complex 50-minute 1974 piece by minimalist icon Reich attests to SF’s ravenous appetite for “contemporary classical.” That the audience sat in stunned silence a full two minutes after the piece concluded before exploding with applause attests to the excellence of our local players. (And while we’re on “classical,” kudos, too, to the SF Opera’s summer production of Mozart’s “Cosi fan tutte” — three fantastic hours of the most ravishing singing I’ve ever heard.

>> Patrick Cowley, School Daze 2 x LP (Dark Entries)

The instant Internet popularity of Montag’s trippy “Porn Archives Lo-Fi Mix” earlier this year should have tipped off the coming re-evaluation of porn soundtracks as electronic artworks. But when members of Honey Soundsystem released this two-disc compilation of fascinating, atmospheric early tracks by local electronic wizard Patrick Cowley (1950-1982) used in ’80s gay porn flicks, it became a critical sensation.

>> Regis, As You Like It and Public Works, July 26

Here’s a question: Do you need to actually be at a party to enjoy it? I was out of town when this joint went down. But after witnessing my feeds blow up and listening obsessively to the Soundcloud set, later posted to Youtube, it feels like I was there when the young Brit freaked everyone out with a hard, deep techno set. No FOMO, baby.

>> Throwback monthly, Mighty

I may be fascinatingly elderly, but all the young kids flocked to the ’90s big-room house sound revival this year. This party, a SF reunion brimming with new faces, classic tracks, and legends at the decks, is like Universe plus cool straight people, or maybe the End Up in the East Bay.

>> Jay Tripwire

I fell deep(er) in love with so many DJs this year: Guy Gerber, Kyle Hall, Osunlade, J.Phlip, Greg Wilson, Catz ‘n Dogz, South London Ordnance, Finnebassen, 0Phase, MK, Vakula, Robert Hood, Huerco S., Kastle, Psychemagik, Jeff Mills, Keep Schtum, Stretford Dogs Club — but this revered Canadian DJ’s DJ always sets my (vinyl!) standard, especially with this year’s banging techno DJ Mag and expansive Electronic Groove (best deep house buildup of the year on that one, imho) mixes.

>> Divoli S’vere, Ckuntinomksz Vols. 1-3

Vogue beats continued to come into, er, vogue harder than ever this year, their flashy attitude and underground authenticity influencing musicmakers, like our own up-and-coming Soo Wavey label. Young NYCer Divoli, however, gives you real quantum fishiness to gag on all day — and goes waaay above your wig, hunty. These three volumes of lightning-made bedroom beats might be overload, but take us into some incredible sonic landscapes, beyond the balls.

>> Mexico

Forget Miami, Playa del Carmen is the new Ibiza of North America — with all the tech house festivals, bare white flesh, and urbanizing displacement (and opportunity) that entails. And Mexico’s tech scene, like its economy recently, is coming on strong with players like Rebolledo and White Visitation. But the best nightlife sound in the world still comes from Plaza Garibaldi at 3am in Mexico City, when dozens of spangled mariachi bands play all at once for your attention. Pure musical bliss.

 

 

Keep moving

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Keep moving

arts@sfbg.com

YEAR IN DANCE This is not 12 Days of Christmas but 12 Months of Dancing. And while there were plenty of lords-a-leaping and ladies dancing (and even a few drummers drumming and pipers piping), there is nothing even remotely accumulative in this annual looking-back at the year that was. Chronology — and what stood out within a particular month because of the generating ideas — and their shape on the stage determined the (sometimes difficult) selection.

January Bebe Miller, a feminist post-modern choreographer, has been making work for over 25 years. So her multimedia A History (Jan. 25, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts), announced as a piece about “remembering remembering,” sounded just about right. It was and it wasn’t. The concept proved more intriguing than its realization, but watching the work attempt to give shape to complex ideas offered its own satisfaction.

February Modern dance repertory company Hubbard Street Dance Chicago teaming with Alonzo King LINES Ballet in the gorgeous Azimuth (Feb. 2, Cal Performances) seemed like one of the year’s unlikelier projects. Yet to watch Hubbard’s dancers take to LINES’ skewed approach to ballet with such ease — and seeing King rise to the challenge of choreographing for a large ensemble with utter confidence — was surprising and delightful.

March With the world premiere of Alexei Ratmansky’s From Foreign Lands (March 1, War Memorial Opera House) San Francisco Ballet acquired another treasure from possibly the most gifted ballet choreographer working today. In a series of beautifully distinct, picture-postcard scenes of refined dancing, the choreographer honored the roots of ballet in social dance. (Lands will return Feb. 18-March 1, during SFB’s upcoming season.)

April As an Indian American dancer, singer, musician, writer, and actor, Sheetal Gandhi has a lot of resources. She excellently drew on all of them for Bahu-Beti-Biwi (Daughter-in-Law, Daughter, Wife)(April 19, ODC Theater), her humorous and poignant portrait of the restrictions that still shape Indian women’s lives, both in this country and in India.

May The wild applause notwithstanding, it was such a relief to watch the end of Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg’s overwrought Rodin (May 11, Cal Performances), based on the sculptor’s relationship with his pupil and lover Camille Claudel. You try to keep an open mind about an artist’s take on ideas, but sometimes it’s time to say “enough is enough, never again.”

June Though we also got versions by Yuri Possokhov and Bill T. Jones this year, Mark Morris and the Bad Ass Jazz Trio’s Spring, Spring, Spring (June 12, Cal Performances) was the most radical as well as most cogent reinterpretation of The Rite of Spring. Forgoing the original choregraphy and using the score’s four-hand version as musical inspiration generated a work of both ease and heft.

July Serendipity ruled. I happen to catch Pierre Lacotte’s approximation of what Parisian audiences might have seen in 1832 with La Sylphide (July 9, Palais Garnier) generally considered the first Romantic ballet. Excellently — of course — performed by the Paris Opera Ballet, this version looked like a distant cousin of the one we know, and offered a feast of classical dancing set to a score with hokey charm.

August ODC/Dance’s yearly Summer Sampler (Aug. 2-3, ODC Theater) is such a smart idea. As these superb dancers adapt themselves to their more intimate “home” theater and afford an opportunity to observe them up close, they newly reveal themselves as individuals and as a group. This year’s splendidly performed program showcased ODC’s most recent creation, the splendid Triangulating Euclid, Kimi Okada’s sparkling new Two If By Sea, and the company premiere of Kate Weare’s The Light Has Not the Arms to Carry Us.

September The San Francisco Dance Film Festival (Sept. 12-15, various venues) is growing up fast. This annual showcase of screen dance — the intricate partnering of two motion-driven arts — more than ever impressed with the range and quality of its lineup: shorts, documentaries and filmed versions of stage performances. Amy Dowling and Austin Forbord’s Well Contested Sites, filmed on Alcatraz with professional performers and former prisoners, carved itself into your brain as well as into your heart.

October Somehow artists manage to scratch enough support together to keep working (and eating, and living) in the Bay Area. So anniversaries still happen. But I can’t remember a recent one as joyous as Rhythms of Life: Down the Congo Line (Oct. 5, YBCA) for Dimensions Dance Theater’s 40th. To see a whole generation ready to build on what Deborah Vaughan has started was not the least of its gifts.

November In Joe Goode’s Annex, Jo Kreiter’s Flyaway Productions just may have found a home. The venue’s two-story ceilings and industrial look allowed Kreiter to add some discreet ladders, wires, and ropes as support structures for the aerial work she set on her six athletic women dancers. You can take the metaphor inside the piece any way you want, but Give A Woman A Lift (Nov. 8) soared.

December Like it or not, parenthood is life-changing. Maybe that’s why, in Father On (Dec. 5, ODC Theater), Scott Wells’ five dancers — four of who are recent dads — looked not only sleep-deprived but also often frantic. The one non-dad, Rajendra Serber, was the ultimate outsider. Using game structures and sports imagery, Wells created a hilarious but also curiously affectionate piece about the challenges and confusions encountered by the male and his kid. The lesson on becoming a sensitive father left me laughing through tears. *

 

The Performant: Sleep No More

Sue Vaughan
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Upon reaching the fifth floor of the California Institute of Integral Studies, a wall of makeshift web diagrams asks arriving oddience members to detail what the longest amount of time they went without sleep was, and what do they tell themselves to get through stress. The average appears to be around 36 hours — which is about as long as I can boast — but no responders quite match the Guinness Book record of 449 hours held by Maureen Weston, nor even to the 60 hours that Mugwumpin, creators of performative “occurrences,” intend to stay awake in this, its last presentation of the year, Asomnia.

More of an experiment in endurance than a traditional performance marathon, Asomnia ushers in what artistic director Christopher W. White promises to be a season focused on the theme of exhaustion. A rigorous schedule of private confessionals, cognitive testing, hygiene and wellness breaks, group check-ins, and meals are interspersed with performances staged for those in attendance, as well as the time necessary to create them. Every two hours a new piece is ready to be performed for whoever has dropped by at that time, whether it’s 4pm or 4am.
 
The room feels especially conducive to this kind of experiment. Book shelves of philosophical, political, and artistic content line one wall; mirrors, another. A mural of jagged, abstract lines adorns the “stage” area, while a bank of windows offer a spectacular view of the skyline from dusk to dawn to dusk again. Wooden drafting tables, brightly-colored metal stools, and comfy chairs appear scattered almost randomly, and a low table laden with munchies and a fortifying tea kettle invites judicious snacking.

“We’ve been eating a lot,” performer Michelle Talgarow tells me as she gives me a tour of the space around the 30-hour mark. She’s surprisingly alert despite having just performed a medley of musical numbers under the direction of guest artist Erika Chong Shuch, one of four non-asomniancs to direct the “process-oriented performance showings,” or “POPS.” The highlight of Shuch’s piece is almost certainly the moment she places her eight-month-old son Wakes on the ground with the performers and has him “choreograph” a segment to the music of Peter Cetera. The performers seem to appreciate both its whimsy as well as the opportunity to get off their feet for a few minutes, and Wakes basks in his spotlight with the casual aplomb of a pro.

I return around the 35-hour mark and again at the 59-hour mark, when the six core performers (Talgarow, White, Ashley Rogers, El Beh, Stephanie DeMott, and Natalie Greene) present the final POPS: a “best-of” compilation of their favorite performative moments from the weekend. How they even remember what they are is impressive to me, and they range from purely playful (a segment involving sunglasses and the music of Esquivel) to an esoteric game of “Blind Man’s Bluff,” from an impromptu group dance party set to “Drinking in Spanish,” by Diego’s Umbrella, to an equally participatory mirroring exercise involving everyone in the room.

The line between spectators and spectatees, already blurred under the extreme circumstances dissolves completely at this point, the only thing continuing to separate us is amount of sleep we’ve had over the past three days. I can think of no other performance I’ve been to in recent memory where oddience members brought cookies and kittens to fortify the performers, and performers offered gracious cups of tea, hugs, and unfiltered access to their completely vulnerable, sleep-deprived psyches. Sure, ultimately the event comes off as more of a congenial scientific experiment than a cohesive work of theater, but for White, that’s precisely the point.

“Primarily we’re doing this piece as research,” he explains prior to the marathon via email. “And as part of (our) ongoing interest in integrating the audience into the process of making a show, we decided to conduct this research publically.” No word yet on how many hours of sleep each performer got to indulge in that night, but perhaps we’ll discover the results in a future piece.

Amanda Lepore brings the body heat

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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“You know how I’m obsessed with coordinating my outfits,” NYC club legend and “most expensive body in the world” Amanda Lepore breathed into the phone, in advance of her Sat/14 appearance at Beaux in the Castro. “So I spend time getting ready for a night out. If I don’t have a coat that matches I just grab one of my stoles — and then run out real quick to get the cab!” 

I had asked her how she stays so put together, out at all hours in the winter cold. (Lord knows the plastic fantastic chanteuse and fashion muse shouldn’t stand too close to a heater.) But of course she’s a champion, having been at the club kid forefront for two decades. Her influence on nightlife glamour — and appetite for parties — has been enormous, despite her petite frame. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Gc1HbTsjCI

“Marke, you know I’ve been so fortunate to have so many wonderful friends in nightlife. It always seems I have some place to be.” That’s especially true right now. Godmother of the ’80s-’90s downtown NYC scene Susanne Batsch has come roaring back this year with several weekly parties, upping the profile of many established nightlife stars, including Amanda, who knows how to make a grand entrance and keep the party rollin’.  (Amanda is always at her Sunday party Vandam and new Tuesday party at the Soho Grand.)

The last time Ms. Lepore graced our fair shore, she was shooting this piece of gorgeous with her amigo Cazwell, directed by Leo Herrera:

What can we expect this time around?

“A little singing, some holiday songs, cabaret-style — I like to do ‘Santa, Baby,’ that kind of thing. My music is going to go more in a cabaret direction in the future, with dance remixes for the boys, of course.”

And what else can we expect in the future? A little chilly activism:

“I’m off to Russia. I’ve been there before, and at first I was scared. It was very scary, and I was in Moscow, and I wanted to stay in my room. But MTV wanted me to do an interview in a Russian club, and it was really OK. I didn’t feel afraid to be a transsexual on the streets of Russia. I think gay men may have it more difficult, and of course this was in the big city. But I feel it’s important to go and be an out transsexual, for visibility.”

Just don’t freeze, please!

AMANDA LEPORE

with DJ Jodie Harsh

9pm, $5, $10 meet and greet

Beaux

2344 Market, SF.

www.beauxsf.com

 

 

Music Listings: December 11-16, 2013

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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WEDNESDAY 11

ROCK

Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. The Bruises, Lovers, Upstairs Downstairs, 9 p.m., $10.

Cafe Du Nord: 2170 Market, San Francisco. Tommy & The High Pilots, The Lower 48, Will Weston, 8:30 p.m., $8.

The Chapel: 777 Valencia St., San Francisco. Lee Ranaldo & The Dust, Bill Orcutt & Jacob Felix Heule, 9 p.m., $15-$17.

DNA Lounge: 375 11th St., San Francisco. Fates Warning, Artizan, Bay Rum, Field of Stones, 7:30 p.m., $20-$25.

El Rio: 3158 Mission, San Francisco. Hyper Buzz, Heart of the Whale, Not Sure. Not Yet, 8 p.m., $10.

The Independent: 628 Divisadero, San Francisco. Jagwar Ma, Fascinator, 8 p.m., $15.

The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. “Disorder,” w/ Screature, CIVC, Circuit Slave, DJ Nickie Tilsner, 10 p.m., $5.

DANCE

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

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

Clift Hotel, Redwood Room: 495 Geary, San Francisco. “Sessions 004,” w/ Kiwi Time, plus DJs Richard Habib, Jamal Targa, Marija Dunn, Seven, Amber Reyngoudt, and Max Gardner, 6 p.m., free.

Club X: 715 Harrison, San Francisco. “Electro Pop Rocks,” 18+ dance night with the Disco Fries, Aston Shuffle, Harris Pilton, Sychosis, Sonny Daze, Chaos, Slo Mo, Budzak, 9 p.m., $10-$20.

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

Elbo Room: 647 Valencia, San Francisco. Powwoww, Witowmaker, Light Echo, Phntm Club, Popgang DJs, 9 p.m., $5.

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

F8: 1192 Folsom St., San Francisco. “Housepitality,” w/ Jozif, Pattern Drama, Sharon Buck, Johnnie Walker, 9 p.m., $5-$10.

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

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

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

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

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

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

HIP-HOP

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

Slate Bar: 2925 16th St., San Francisco. “Special Blend,” w/ resident DJs LazyBoy & Mr. Murdock, 9 p.m., free.

ACOUSTIC

Bazaar Cafe: 5927 California, San Francisco. Paige Clem, Fiver Brown, Ben Shaw, 7 p.m.

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

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

Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. Ryan Montbleau, Witchdream Mansion, 8 p.m., $12-$15.

Johnny Foley’s Irish House: 243 O’Farrell St., San Francisco. Terry Savastano, Every other Wednesday, 9 p.m., free.

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

JAZZ

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

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

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

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

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

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

Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Tuck & Patti, 8 p.m., $22.

Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Sherri Roberts, 7:30 p.m., free.

INTERNATIONAL

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

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

Rickshaw Stop: 155 Fell, San Francisco. Diana Arbenina & The Night Snipers, DJ Ze’ev, 8 p.m., $50.

BLUES

Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. Kim Wilson All Stars, 7:30 & 9:30 p.m., $30.

Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. Dr. Mojo, 9:30 p.m., free.

The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. Little Jonny & The Giants, 9:30 p.m.

EXPERIMENTAL

Meridian Gallery: 535 Powell, San Francisco. Cheryl Leonard: New Natural Sounds, 7:30 p.m., $8-$10.

FUNK

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

SOUL

The Royal Cuckoo: 3202 Mission, San Francisco. Freddie Hughes & Chris Burns, 7:30 p.m., free.

 

THURSDAY 12

ROCK

Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. City Tribe, Sea Lioness, Travis Hayes, Snow Angel, 8:30 p.m., $8.

DNA Lounge: 375 11th St., San Francisco. Sixth Annual Silicon Valley Rocks, Benefit for Music in Schools Today featuring live music by South Hero, Blues Deluxe, The Funkery, Peter Chung Band, Regime, nSLASHa, Open Source Band, Coverflow, and Rainbow Party., 7 p.m., $25-$65.

The Independent: 628 Divisadero, San Francisco. moe., Dec. 12-14, 9 p.m., $30.

The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. Cocktails, Blood Sister, Happy Diving, 9 p.m., $5.

Milk Bar: 1840 Haight, San Francisco. Split Screens, The Dandelion War, Heavy Color, Jared Padovani, 8:30 p.m., $5.

DANCE

1015 Folsom: 1015 Folsom St., San Francisco. RJD2, Om Unit, Sweatson Klank, DJ Dials, Mophono, Ernie Fresh. Mr. Vos, 10 p.m., $15 advance.

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

Audio Discotech: 316 11th St., San Francisco. “Phonic,” w/ Borgeous, 9:30 p.m., $10 advance.

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

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

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

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

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

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

DNA Lounge: 375 11th St., San Francisco. “8bitSF,” w/ Super Soul Bros, Vicereine, Owlbear, DJ Tracer, 8:30 p.m., $8-$11.

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

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

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

Neck of the Woods: 406 Clement St., San Francisco. Blaus, on the downstairs stage, 10 p.m. continues through Dec. 26, free with RSVP.

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

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

Ruby Skye: 420 Mason, San Francisco. “Awakening,” w/ Ørjan Nilsen, 9 p.m., $20-$30 advance.

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

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

Vessel: 85 Campton, San Francisco. “Base,” w/ Sasha, Gabriel I, Quinn Jerome, 10 p.m., $15 advance.

HIP-HOP

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

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

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

Neck of the Woods: 406 Clement St., San Francisco. iStandard Producer Showcase: Bay Area Edition, 8 p.m., $10 advance.

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

ACOUSTIC

Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. Emily Bonn & The Vivants, Arann Harris & The Farm Band, Supermodal, 9 p.m.

Bazaar Cafe: 5927 California, San Francisco. Acoustic Open Mic, 7 p.m.

Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. Jamestown Revival, Lonesome Locomotive, Keyan Keihani, 8 p.m., $9-$12.

El Rio: 3158 Mission, San Francisco. “Strung Out,” w/ Teja Gerken, Joe Gore, Eric Skye, 7 p.m.

Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. Small Town Therapy, The T Sisters, Indianna Hale, 9 p.m., $10-$20.

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

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

JAZZ

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

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

Cafe Claude: 7 Claude, San Francisco. Vijay Anderson Quartet, 7:30 p.m., free.

Exploratorium: Pier 15, San Francisco. Resonance: Angel City, w/ Roscoe Mitchell, James Fei, William Winant, Sarah Cahill, 7 p.m., $10-$15.

Jazz Bistro at Les Joulins: 44 Ellis, San Francisco. Clifford Lamb, Mel Butts, and Friends, Second Thursday of every month, 7:30 p.m., free.

Pier 23 Cafe: Pier 23, San Francisco. Judy Hall, 7 p.m., free.

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

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

SFJAZZ Center: 205 Franklin St., San Francisco. “Hotplate,” w/ Robert Stewart & Chester Thompson (playing Jimmy Smith’s Back at the Chicken Shack), 8 & 9:30 p.m., $15-$20.

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

Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Tuck & Patti, 8 p.m., $23.

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

INTERNATIONAL

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

Cafe Cocomo: 650 Indiana, San Francisco. Vibrasón, El DJ X, 8 p.m., $12.

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

Sheba Piano Lounge: 1419 Fillmore, San Francisco. Gary Flores & Descarga Caliente, 8 p.m.

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

REGGAE

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

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

BLUES

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

Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. Mike Keneally, 7:30 & 9:30 p.m., $20-$24.

The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. T-Wrex & The Primitive Rhythm, 4 p.m.; Cathy Lemons, 9:30 p.m.

COUNTRY

Atlas Cafe: 3049 20th St., San Francisco. Jinx Jones & Jessica Rose, 8 p.m., free.

The Parlor: 2801 Leavenworth, San Francisco. “Twang Honky Tonk & Country Jamboree,” w/ DJ Little Red Rodeo, 7 p.m., free.

EXPERIMENTAL

50 Mason Social House: 50 Mason, San Francisco. Tri-Cornered Tent Show, Feral Luggage, White Pee, 10 p.m., free.

The Luggage Store: 1007 Market, San Francisco. Ti Femme, Roro, Jack Hertz, 8 p.m., $6-$10.

SOUL

Cigar Bar & Grill: 850 Montgomery, San Francisco. Holiday Party with Big Blu Soul Revue, 7:30 p.m., free.

 

FRIDAY 13

ROCK

Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. 20 Sided Records Holiday Party, w/ Trainwreck Riders, Tartufi, Cannons & Clouds, Couches, 9 p.m., $10.

Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. Cool Ghouls, Santoros, The Spyrals, Unstrung, DJ Al Lover, 9 p.m., $7.

Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. Federation X, Tweak Bird, Feral Ohms, Peace Creep, 9 p.m., $8.

Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. Rue ‘66, Handler Brothers, Consolidated Electric, 9 p.m., $8.

The Independent: 628 Divisadero, San Francisco. moe., Dec. 12-14, 9 p.m., $30.

Make-Out Room: 3225 22nd St., San Francisco. O Presidente, Pancho-san, 7:30 p.m., $8.

Milk Bar: 1840 Haight, San Francisco. Surf Bored, Lemme Adams, Mr. Kind, 8:30 p.m., $8.

Slim’s: 333 11th St., San Francisco. El Ten Eleven, Slow Magic, 9 p.m., $16.

Thee Parkside: 1600 17th St., San Francisco. Slick’s Bash #100 with Poison Idea; Attitude Adjustment; Moses; I, Madman, 9 p.m., $12.

DANCE

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

Audio Discotech: 316 11th St., San Francisco. Juan MacLean (DJ set), Pacific Disco, Papa Lu, 9:30 p.m., $10-$15 advance.

BeatBox: 314 11th St., San Francisco. BeatBox Holiday Party with DJ Russ Rich, 9 p.m., free.

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

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

Cat Club: 1190 Folsom, San Francisco. “Dark Shadows: The Nightmare Before Christmas,” w/ DJs Daniel Skellington, Melting Girl, Joe Radio, and Skarkrow, 9:30 p.m., $7 ($3 before 10 p.m.).

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

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

F8: 1192 Folsom St., San Francisco. “Trap City,” w/ Loudpvck, UltraViolet, Napsty, WolfBitch, The Whooligan, Teleport, Meikee Magnetic, Mixtress Shizaam, 10 p.m., $15.

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

Harlot: 46 Minna, San Francisco. “The Animal Party: Reindeer Unleashed,” w/ Traviswild & Thomas Jack, 9 p.m., $10-$20 advance.

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

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

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

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

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

Mighty: 119 Utah, San Francisco. Mighty 10-Year Anniversary, w/ Hernan Cattaneo, Naveen G, 9 p.m., $20-$30 advance.

Monarch: 101 6th St., San Francisco. “Smoke N’ Mirrors: A Winter Holiday Soirée,” w/ Crazy P, Climbers, Shiny Objects, Lisbona, Trev Campbell, 9 p.m., $10.

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

Public Works: 161 Erie, San Francisco. “Friday the 13th, Part IV,” w/ Zebra Katz, House of LaDosha, 10 p.m., $10-$15.

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

Ruby Skye: 420 Mason, San Francisco. Simon Patterson, John Beaver, 9 p.m., $20 advance.

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

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

Supperclub San Francisco: 657 Harrison, San Francisco. “F*ck It’s Free-zing,” w/ Michael Anthony, Be Smiley, Jimmy Bell, Didje Kelli, 10 p.m., free.

Temple: 540 Howard, San Francisco. The Les, DJ Enfo, DJ E-20, Mikey Tan, DJ Rufio, 10 p.m., $15.

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

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

HIP-HOP

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

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

Mezzanine: 444 Jessie, San Francisco. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, 9 p.m., $25-$45.

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

ACOUSTIC

Dolores Park Cafe: 501 Dolores, San Francisco. Secret Town, 7:30 p.m.

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. Tom Lander, 7:30 p.m., free.

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

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

Cafe Claude: 7 Claude, San Francisco. Alex Conde Trio, 7:30 p.m., free.

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

The Palace Hotel: 2 New Montgomery, San Francisco. The Klipptones, 8 p.m., free.

Pier 23 Cafe: Pier 23, San Francisco. Soul Sauce, 8 p.m., free.

Red Poppy Art House: 2698 Folsom, San Francisco. Rob Reich Trio, 7:30 p.m., $10-$15.

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

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

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

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

INTERNATIONAL

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

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

Cliff House: 1090 Point Lobos, San Francisco. Orquesta Conquistador Quartet, 7 p.m.

Elbo Room: 647 Valencia, San Francisco. Lagos Roots, 10 p.m., $10.

The Emerald Tablet: 80 Fresno St., San Francisco. Flamenco del Oro, 8 p.m., $15 suggested donation.

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

Rickshaw Stop: 155 Fell, San Francisco. La Gente, La Misa Negra, 8 p.m., $10-$13.

Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Sheila E. Birthday Celebration, 8 & 10 p.m., $34-$39.

REGGAE

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

BLUES

Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. Elvin Bishop, 7:30 & 10 p.m., $40.

The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. Jinx Jones & The KingTones, Second Friday of every month, 4 p.m.; T.C. Riders, 9:30 p.m.

EXPERIMENTAL

Artists’ Television Access: 992 Valencia, San Francisco. “Other States,” w/ Evan Caminiti, Danny Paul Grody, and Trevor Montgomery, plus films by Paul Clipson, 8 p.m., $6-$10.

FUNK

Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. Steppin’, DJ K-Os, 9:30 p.m., $10.

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

SOUL

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

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

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

 

SATURDAY 14

ROCK

Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. Kitten, The Hot Toddies, Dog Party, 9:30 p.m., $15.

Connecticut Yankee: 100 Connecticut, San Francisco. Sad Bastard Book Club, Waning, Balms, 9:30 p.m., $10.

Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. The Loyalists, Cinder Cone, Mosshead, 9:30 p.m., $6.

Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. The Comet Empire, The Suborbitals, Akale, 9 p.m., $8.

The Independent: 628 Divisadero, San Francisco. moe., Dec. 12-14, 9 p.m., $30.

The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. The Fucking Buckaroos, Buffalo Tooth, The Parmesans, A Million Billion Dying Suns, 3 p.m., $7.

Thee Parkside: 1600 17th St., San Francisco. Pedal Revolution Benefit Show with Clamhawk Manor, Twinsect, Jamaged Goods, Joe Sikelianos, 4 p.m., $5; The Weirdos, VKTMS, The Re-Volts, DJ Aya Papaya, 9 p.m., $18.

DANCE

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

Audio Discotech: 316 11th St., San Francisco. Solidisco, Chordashian, MyKill, Sunwoo, 9:30 p.m., $10 advance.

BeatBox: 314 11th St., San Francisco. “I Just Wanna F*ckin Dance: First Annual Battle of the Beats,” 10 p.m., $15-$25.

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

Cat Club: 1190 Folsom, San Francisco. “Club Gossip: New Order vs. Erasure,” w/ DJs Damon, Shon, Low-Life, Daniel Skellington, and Panic, 9 p.m., $5-$8 (free before 9:30 p.m.).

DNA Lounge: 375 11th St., San Francisco. “Bootie S.F.,” w/ Smash-Up Derby, A+D, DJ Dada, Myster C, Mr. Washington, Keith Kraft, more, 9 p.m., $10-$15.

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

El Rio: 3158 Mission, San Francisco. Maxwell Powers, Date Nite, Pixel Memory, 9 p.m., $6-$12.

Elbo Room: 647 Valencia, San Francisco. “Tormenta Tropical: 6-Year Anniversary,” w/ Max Glazer, Oro11, Deejay Theory, 10 p.m., $5-$10.

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

The Grand Nightclub: 520 4th St., San Francisco. “Love Generation,” w/ The Fancy Cats, 10 p.m., $20.

Harlot: 46 Minna, San Francisco. “Freak ‘n’ You,” w/ Philipp Jung (of M.A.N.D.Y.), Nick Williams, Dan Sherman, 9 p.m., $10 advance.

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

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

The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. “Galaxy Radio,” w/ Matrixxman, Lel Ephant, Smac, Emils, PlaZa, Holly B, 9 p.m., free.

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

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

Mighty: 119 Utah, San Francisco. Gorgon City, 10 p.m., $12.50-$20.

Monarch: 101 6th St., San Francisco. “No Way Back,” w/ Mudd, Felix Dickinson, Conor, Solar, 10 p.m., $10-$20.

Neck of the Woods: 406 Clement St., San Francisco. French Horn Rebellion, Carousel, on the upstairs stage, 9 p.m., $12-$15.

OMG: 43 6th St., San Francisco. “Fixup,” Second Saturday of every month, 10 p.m., $5 (free before 11 p.m).

Rickshaw Stop: 155 Fell, San Francisco. “Cockblock: The Holiday Party,” w/ DJs Niki-C & Natalie Nuxx, 10 p.m., $10.

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

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

Temple: 540 Howard, San Francisco. Frenchy Le Freak, Pheeko Dubfunk, Lorentzo, 10 p.m., $20.

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

HIP-HOP

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

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

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

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

Slim’s: 333 11th St., San Francisco. Jake Miller, Action Item, Air Dubai, 9 p.m., sold out.

ACOUSTIC

Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. Small Souls, Old Pals, 7 p.m., $5-$7.

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

Bazaar Cafe: 5927 California, San Francisco. Jordan Singh VanderBeek, 7 p.m.

Plough & Stars: 116 Clement, San Francisco. The Shelby Foot Three, 9 p.m.

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

JAZZ

Cafe Claude: 7 Claude, San Francisco. Belinda Blair, 7:30 p.m., free.

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

The Emerald Tablet: 80 Fresno St., San Francisco. Madeline Eastman & Her Trio, 8 p.m., $20 suggested donation.

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

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

San Francisco Golden Gate Rugby Club: 725 California Ave., San Francisco. S.F. Bal Fest: Treasure Island Hop, 9 a.m., $5; S.F. Bal Fest: Aloha Swing Dance, w/ Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers, 7 p.m., $15-$20 ($5 off with costume).

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

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

Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Barbara Ochoa, 8 p.m., free.

INTERNATIONAL

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

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

Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. Makrú, Las Cafeteras, DJ Izzy*wise, 9 p.m., $12-$15.

Cafe Cocomo: 650 Indiana, San Francisco. Orquesta Borinquen, DJ Luis Medina, 8 p.m., $15.

Make-Out Room: 3225 22nd St., San Francisco. “El SuperRitmo,” w/ DJs Roger Mas & El Kool Kyle, 10 p.m., $5 before 11 p.m.

Milk Bar: 1840 Haight, San Francisco. Dança Makèzú’s Kizomba, Semba, and African Rhythms Mega Party, 9:30 p.m., $10.

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

Red Poppy Art House: 2698 Folsom, San Francisco. John Calloway and the New Riders of the Clave Maze, 7:30 p.m., $15-$20.

Space 550: 550 Barneveld, San Francisco. “Club Fuego,” 9:30 p.m.

Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Sheila E. Birthday Celebration, 8 & 10 p.m., $39.

BLUES

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

Pier 23 Cafe: Pier 23, San Francisco. Bobbie Webb, 8 p.m., free.

The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. Dave Workman, Second Saturday of every month, 4 p.m.; Delta Wires, 9:30 p.m.

COUNTRY

The Chapel: 777 Valencia St., San Francisco. Swinging Doors, 9 p.m., free.

FUNK

Public Works: 161 Erie, San Francisco. SantaCon Funk Night, w/ DJs Gordo Cabeza, Timoteo Gigante, Malachi, Señor Oz, Pleasuremaker, Motion Potion, and Phleck, 6 p.m., $5.

SOUL

Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. Wicked Mercies, Kelly Rock, DJ K-Os, 9:30 p.m., $10-$15.

 

SUNDAY 15

ROCK

Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. San Francisco Rock Project’s 2013 Festive Festival of Bands, 5:30 p.m., $10+.

Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. Little Claw, Death Valley Girls, SFPD, 8:30 p.m., $6.

DANCE

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

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

Elbo Room: 647 Valencia, San Francisco. “Dub Mission,” w/ Timoteo Gigante, DJ Sep, J-Boogie, 9 p.m., $6 (free before 9:30 p.m.).

The EndUp: 401 Sixth St., San Francisco. “T.Dance,” 6 a.m.-6 p.m.; “Elements of House,” w/ Mozaic, David Gregory, Dan Sherman, 10 p.m.

F8: 1192 Folsom St., San Francisco. “Stamina,” w/ Bachelors of Science, Jamal, 10 p.m., free.

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

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

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

Mezzanine: 444 Jessie, San Francisco. Paul Kalkbrenner, Bells & Whistles, 7:30 p.m., $20-$30.

Monarch: 101 6th St., San Francisco. “Black Magic Disko,” w/ Mind Against, Brian Bejarano, Star Kommand, 9 p.m., $10-$15.

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

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

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

Slate Bar: 2925 16th St., San Francisco. “She Said…: A Queer Affair,” Third Sunday of every month, 4 p.m., $3-$5.

The Stud: 399 Ninth St., San Francisco. “No Parking on the Dancefloor,” w/ resident DJs Dutchboy & Gehno Aviance, 11 p.m., $5.

HIP-HOP

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

ACOUSTIC

Bazaar Cafe: 5927 California, San Francisco. A Very Shut-Ins Xmas, 6 p.m.

Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. Her Electric Fur, El Joe of the River, Axel Mansoor, Sean Simerly, 8 p.m., $7.

The Lost Church: 65 Capp St., San Francisco. Misner & Smith, Justin Farren, 8 p.m., $10.

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

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

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

Plough & Stars: 116 Clement, San Francisco. Seisiún with John Sherry & Kyle Thayer, 9 p.m.

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

JAZZ

El Rio: 3158 Mission, San Francisco. The Emergency Ensemble, 8 p.m., free.

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

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

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

The Riptide: 3639 Taraval, San Francisco. The Cottontails, Third Sunday of every month, 7:30 p.m., free.

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

San Francisco Golden Gate Rugby Club: 725 California Ave., San Francisco. S.F. Bal Fest: Prohibition Party Swing Dance, w/ The Kally Price Trio, 7 p.m., $15-$20 ($5 off with costume).

Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Lisa Lindsley, 7:30 p.m., free.

INTERNATIONAL

Atmosphere: 447 Broadway, San Francisco. “Hot Bachata Nights,” w/ DJ El Guapo, 5:30 p.m., $10 ($18-$25 with dance lessons).

Balancoire: 2565 Mission St., San Francisco. “Tardeadas Tropicales,” 3 p.m.

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

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

REGGAE

Make-Out Room: 3225 22nd St., San Francisco. Titan Ups, Franco Nero, The Tritonics, 7:30 p.m., $8.

BLUES

Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. HowellDevine, Third Sunday of every month, 8:30 p.m., $7-$10.

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

Sheba Piano Lounge: 1419 Fillmore, San Francisco. Bohemian Knuckleboogie, 8 p.m., free.

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

SOUL

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

 

MONDAY 16

ROCK

Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. Midlake, Sarah Jaffe, 7:30 p.m., $12-$14.

DANCE

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

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

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

ACOUSTIC

Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. Windy Hill, Third Monday of every month, 9 p.m., free.

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

Congregation Sherith Israel: 2266 California, San Francisco. Andrew Bird Gezelligheid, Tift Merritt, Dec. 16-17, 8 p.m., $45.

Elbo Room: 647 Valencia, San Francisco. The Highway Poets, The New Thoreaus, 9 p.m., $6.

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

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

Make-Out Room: 3225 22nd St., San Francisco. “Sad Bastard Club,” Third Monday of every month, 7:30 p.m., free.

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

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

JAZZ

Cafe Divine: 1600 Stockton, San Francisco. Rob Reich, First and Third Monday of every month, 7 p.m.

Jazz Bistro at Les Joulins: 44 Ellis, San Francisco. Eugene Pliner Quartet with Tod Dickow, 7:30 p.m., free.

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

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

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

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

INTERNATIONAL

Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Havana Reunion with Jimmy Branly, Carlitos del Puerto, and Iván “Melón” Lewis, 8 p.m., $24.

REGGAE

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

BLUES

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

COUNTRY

Make-Out Room: 3225 22nd St., San Francisco. “Whiskey River,” w/ DJ Handlebars & Pretty Ricky, Third Monday of every month, 10 p.m., free.

SOUL

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

 

TUESDAY 17

ROCK

Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. Warm Soda, The Herms, POW!, 9 p.m., $12.

S.F. Eagle: 398 12th St., San Francisco. Eric Himan, Zbörnak, 9 p.m.

Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. Dispel, Midnight Sons, King Kong Zilla, 9 p.m., $10.

The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. Shadowhouse, Crimson Scarlet, 2084, Gone to Ground, DJ Laurgactyl, 9:30 p.m., $7.

Slim’s: 333 11th St., San Francisco. Pere Ubu, 8 p.m., $16.

DANCE

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

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

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

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

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

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

HIP-HOP

Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. “S.F. Connects,” w/ Children of the Funk, Telli Prego, Heat, Big Vic, Shark Sinatra, Cole, Jedi, Dreidel, 8 p.m., $5-$8.

ACOUSTIC

Bazaar Cafe: 5927 California, San Francisco. Songwriter in Residence: Kate Kilbane, 7 p.m. continues through Dec. 31.

Congregation Sherith Israel: 2266 California, San Francisco. Andrew Bird Gezelligheid, Tift Merritt, Dec. 16-17, 8 p.m., $45.

Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. Kathryn Anne Davis, Soft Shells, 8:30 p.m., $6.

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

JAZZ

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

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

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

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

Jazz Bistro at Les Joulins: 44 Ellis, San Francisco. Clifford Lamb, Mel Butts, and Friends, 7:30 p.m., free.

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

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

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

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

Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Brenda Reed, 7:30 p.m., free.

INTERNATIONAL

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

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

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

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

REGGAE

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

BLUES

Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. Twice as Good, 7:30 & 9:30 p.m., $15.

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

FUNK

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

SOUL

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

 

Band practice

Michael Redmond
-
0
Band practice

arts@sfbg.com

THEATER We meet above the waterfall in Yerba Buena Gardens. It’s cold, getting dark. Everyone seems relieved to get inside the YBCA theater next door. We’ll talk here for the next hour, standing around a worktable with a gold lamé circle spread over it, before the band heads downstairs to a windowless rehearsal space in the deep well of the building.

Nicole Kidman Is Fucking Gorgeous is the band formerly known as the artists John Foster Cartwright, Maryam Rostami, and Mica Sigourney. In fact, NKIFG is more and less than a band — it’s a conceit, a project title, a series of performances, maybe a forthcoming album? (They don’t know yet.) None of its members actually plays an instrument, as far as I can tell. But they do compose songs, choreography, and objects that they employ in an unfolding series of situations they as readily call parties as performances. And they will have live music infusing their show this weekend at CounterPULSE, courtesy of ongoing collaborator and perennial inspiration Deep Teens.

Embracing a loopy goth spirit, the triumvirate, which has its origins in a performance two years ago at dancer-choreographer Liz Tenuto’s apartment during the Home Theater Festival, takes its send-ups of contemporary dance and performance art tropes seriously. And for all its insouciance and nonchalant humor, the project is at some level equally as much about the crisis of three artists (two of them well-known drag queens, the other a DJ and videographer) finding a way to live and work in today’s severely stratified San Francisco. It also draws eagerly, if obscurely, from their own private lives.

As for the name, its members like to say what they do is defined by both the presence and absence of someone or something called Nicole Kidman. To hear them talk about it, Kidman starts to sound like a key swallowed by a red herring.

“Who cares about Nicole Kidman?” notes Sigourney, with paradoxical delight. “But people do care about her! She’s the perfect vessel.”

What else should you know about Nicole Kidman Is Fucking Gorgeous? The answer to that question took a rambling, circuitous form. It was ultimately put to a Tarot deck set in the middle of the table.

Mica Sigourney So the frame of this reading is around getting at the truths and dispelling the illusions around this project for you. [The first card is] the Seven of Cups, which is about illusion [versus] reality, and picking out the truth. Right now, all of us are [experiencing] an abundance of emotions, an overwhelming amount.

Maryam Rostami Cups are heart energy, heart chakra, love, emotions.

[skipping ahead]

MS So what we need to manifest in our next step in this project — see, I don’t know if this is telling us what to tell Rob.

MR No, I think it is, I think this is great.

MS We are students of creativity…

MR And magic…

MS So we’re not masters of this yet. We’re still learning. Page of Wands is also about adventure and following bliss really. And our final outcome is the Ten of Swords. So it means we’re being stabbed in the back!

MR The Ten of Swords looks like this: It’s all of our fears pointing toward one single spot. The Ten is when the next step is coming. We’ve reached the end of something and it’s the next thing. The Moon, I feel, has to do with a difficult birthing process. The Moon is about traversing these murky emotional territories, which we have done together and we continue to do. I think this represents our fear.

MS Can I give it a reading too?

MR Yes.

MS Ten being the overabundance of the suit, and Tens being about communication and intellect: The outcome is an overabundance of ideas that sometimes feel like a burden, and are sometimes painful because there are just too many ideas happening. So we’re going to end up with too many ideas. Coupled with the Moon, I’m going to say our final outcome will actually be knowledge that is not measurable by the intellect and is much more intuitive and based in mystery, that is, not easily described by the mind.

MR We’re going to have to dig deeper from all of this. The Ten makes us need to take the next step.

MS And that next step is toward the dark. Well, toward intuition.

MR It is toward intuition. I think that moving toward the more Moon aspects will maybe then inform the next piece.

MS Oh, the moon…

MR Oh, the moon, duh! But this is perfect!

MS The moon is in our piece a lot.

MR Like the actual physical moon.

MS So basically, to clarify things for Rob: The Tarot reading says that we need to dispel some illusions for you. What we need to tell you is that we are about to have a moment of reckoning at this show at which we realize our values and our worth, and our sins. And what’s driving us as a collective is to reap the benefits of a good harvest, as well as learn from each other, and continue to be students of creativity, passion, and magic.

MR Ultimately, not to let our fears get us down and to know that we’re going in the right direction.

MS And this being our final outcome makes me think that maybe you should just know: “The moon.”

John Foster Cartwright The moon.

MS We need to shut up with all our ideas and just be like, the moon.

MR I’m with that. *

NICOLE KIDMAN IS FUCKING GORGEOUS

Thu/12-Sun/15, 8pm, $20

CounterPULSE

1310 Mission, SF

www.counterpulse.org

 

Gore to the world

Michael Redmond
-
1
Gore to the world

cheryl@sfbg.com

FILM Consider the giants of ho-ho-horror. Bob Clark’s Black Christmas (1974) boasted an above-average cast (Olivia Hussey, Margot Kidder, Keir Dullea, John Saxon). Christmas Evil (1980) was dubbed “the greatest Christmas movie ever made” by no less an authority than John Waters, who recorded an audio commentary for its 2006 special-edition DVD.

And then there’s Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984), which borrows several of Christmas Evil‘s plot points: a kid suffering mental damage from a Santa-related trauma grows up, unwisely takes a job working with toys, become obsessed with the concepts of “naughty” and “nice,” and eventually snaps. Christmas Evil may have the better last shot (you’ll believe a van can fly!), but Silent Night, Deadly Night is not without its sleazy charms.

Directed by Charles Sellier Jr. — best-known for creating TV’s The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams, he later segued into Christian-themed entertainment — Silent Night, Deadly Night contains scream queen Linnea Quigley, a year before her signature role as the naked, grave-dancing “Trash” in Return of the Living Dead. Though she’s only onscreen for a few minutes, her death scene (shrieking, flailing, topless, wearing jorts, piercing antlers) is Z-grade slasher gold.

Beyond Quigley’s rack (and the other boobs showcased eagerly and gratuitously herein) and some gorgeous Utah location shots, Silent Night, Deadly Night‘s memorable moments come courtesy of its creepy soundtrack. The Internet proves that least one dance remix exists of “Santa’s Watching,” a nightmarish ditty which reprises throughout the film. In the film’s opening credits, it’s a sing-songy lullaby; it plays in full-cheese form on a car radio shortly before unfortunate tot Billy Chapman sees his parents slaughtered by a baddie in a Kris Kringle costume; and it’s sung drunkenly by grown-up Billy’s co-workers at the toy store where he works.

And Santa is, indeed, watching. Early on, wee Billy’s catatonic grandfather snaps to when nobody’s looking, which is one of the film’s few genuinely frightening bits. “Christmas Eve is the scariest damn night of the year!” he croaks with cruel glee. “If you see Santa Claus tonight, you better run for your life!” Point taken, Gramps.

A few years later, Billy and baby brother Ricky are marking time at a Catholic orphanage. Billy’s still traumatized by what he witnessed (exhibit A: he punches the benevolent Santa that comes to visit the kids on Christmas), but the bitchy Mother Superior believes her punishments will set the naughty (ahem) boy right. When the film jumps ahead a few more years, Billy (played as an adult by Robert Brian Wilson) is a strapping lad employed at a dingy toy shop. He’s happy for the first time, therefore we get a peppy montage (more original music!) that spirals into darkness as soon as we realize what month it is.

Guess who’s pressed into Santa-clad service, with predictably messy results? (Not Billy’s boss, who kicks off the store’s after-hours party by announcing “Time to get shitfaced!”) Like Christmas Evil, Silent Night, Deadly Night is novel amid the 1980s slasher wave in that it follows the killer’s story, rather than empowering whatever Jamie Lee Curtis character is left standing at the end. Frankly, by the last reel, it’s a relief when put-upon weirdo Billy goes full psycho, meting out punishment among the naughty (and sparing the very few he deems “nice”).

And what about little Ricky? Oh, he survives to cause his own jingle-bell rampage in the sublimely campy, meme-spawning Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 (1987) and the less-notable Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out! (1989). The series continued with the Clint Howard-starring, witch-themed Silent Night, Deadly Night 4 (1990); and Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker (1991), featuring Hollywood legend Mickey Rooney as the titular craftsman. Spoiler alert: He’s evil. Just like Santa. *

FANGORIA PRESENTS: SILENT NIGHT, DEADLY NIGHT

Sat/14, 10pm, $10

Balboa Theatre

3630 Balboa, SF

cinemasf.com/balboa

 

To have and to hold

Michael Redmond
-
1
To have and to hold

arts@sfbg.com

DANCE RAWdance packed enough movement material into its new Mine to tempt lesser choreographers to dilute it into a much longer work than this quintet’s 55 minutes. But that’s not who Wendy Rein and Ryan T. Smith are. Here joined by Kerre Demme, Aaron Perlstein, and Laura Sharp, the duo created choreography pared down to its essence where every head turn, every lurch, every stabbing leg counts. The work has nothing to with excavating minerals; it has everything to do with possession — what we have or want control over, be it property, physical space, or other people.

Pre-performance images suggested a bunch of people tied up in hanging ropes. Thankfully, none of that materialized. Instead of ropes — they did enter as one of very few props — scenic designer Sean Riley used strands of string for what looked like a three-dimensional map in which multiple roads coalesced into a single point. They reminded me a little of those air routes maps you look at in in-flight magazines when you have run of others things to do. Hanging from the Joe Goode Annex’s high ceiling, Riley’s rope sculpture was airy and light, yet thanks to the weights attached had a downward pull.

Mine turned out to be an intricately structured, excellently performed essay on some of our less noble instincts. Slowly, it began to appear that the idea of “mine” dehumanizes us instead of enriching us. The work started on a pure dance level with images gradually emerging to become more explicit, until a final one was so literal that I wasn’t sure whether it had not gone over the top.

As the audience walked in, Perlstein found a spot for himself. Ever so slowly the other dancers joined him in a pedestrian lineup that quickly scattered into similar but individual expressions. But common moves began to look less innocent as people moved into each other’s space. Did Sharp stumble over a prone Perlstein or did she kick him because he was in her way? A push-up position for two became one for four until the dancers waddled along like some multi-limbed creature. Sinewy and so tightly focused on each other that they looked like one evolving organism, Rein and Smith in a duet looked both delicate and unbreakable. Yet they also had the shifting wariness of boxers about them.

Anxiousness and indifference seeped into Mine like dripping fog. At one point the dancers pounced to the floor and recovered, opening their arms and looking upward as if expecting some relief. At another, like soldiers going to battle, they walked bent over but fiercely yanked their knees to their chests as if to protect them. Holding flashlights in the dark, the men impassively observed the women writhing in some kind of agony. Then it was their turn to watch Perlstein’s simple touch trying to calm a fiercely shaking Smith; it elicited rage. This was one of the few spots in Mine when you could sense a gesture emanating from personal motivation. Perlstein, previously, had shaped a piece of rope into a circle around Smith’s solo. I couldn’t decide whether he was trying to expand or limit a space for the dance.

When three wire baskets descended from the ceiling to encase dancers’ heads, I thought of those dreadful headgears that slaves were forced to wear. Here they turned the dancers into automatons, who on each quarter turn executed identical patterns of small steps. Joel St. Julien’s score — excellent throughout — began to sound as if coming from below water.

In Mine‘s fiercest section, dancers hurled themselves against the theater’s wall, where they stayed as if glued until an intruder yanked or scraped them off, forcing him or herself into the space. It was brutal because it looked so impersonal; it seemed just something that was. Sort of like Lord of the Flies for grown-ups.

But perhaps my favorite moment was also one of its simplest. Sharp danced a limb-slashing solo center space. Her colleagues watched from the corner of the square. Slowly, almost ceremoniously they moved in, shrinking Sharp’s space with every step they took. You could just feel the air constricting around her.

So what about that last image? It did involve a rope; it also reminded me of a Roman chariot. *

MINE

Wed/11-Sun/15, 8pm, $21-25

Joe Goode Annex

401 Alabama, SF

www.rawdance.org

 

Oakland joins 100 cities in national fast food strike

Erica Hanna
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28

It was a bad day for Big Macs, but a good day for workers. 

Joining a nationwide day of action, a wave of over a hundred protesters crowded into a Oakland McDonald’s, on Jackson street, demanding fast food workers to join in the strike.

Four employees joined in the strike, and others briefly joined the march outside.

100 cities across the country held similar strikes, with workers in Detroit, New York City and more demanding a livable wage of $15 an hour. 

The protest was nationally led by labor unions, including the SEIU, but locally it was led by men like Jose Martinez. Martinez led the strike at KFC some time back, and was one of the organizers at the forefront of today’s action at McDonald’s and other fast food outlets. 

“It’s a movement for all fast food workers to come together and fight for our rights,” he said.

Standing with Martinez in Oakland, rapper, performer and music producer Boots Riley said he was in support of the fast food workers’ movement.

“Fighting to raise wages of anyone helps everyone, a high tide raises all boats,” he told the Guardian. “You help make that profit, your labor is worth more than minimum wage.”

Inside, the fast food joint was bursting at the seams, the workers hungry for justice.

“Markeisha! Markeisha! Markeisha!” they screamed, bursting into cheers as the five-foot tall girl hobbled around the counter to join the strike. Markeisha, who did not want her last name used, said she tore her ACL a week ago tripping over one of her children’s toys. She can’t afford not to be at work though, and worked the register from a chair.

We asked if she was afraid to be on strike.

“Afraid? Kind of,” she said. If she lost her job, “I wouldn’t have a way to pay my bills and support her family.”

She has two children, a five year old and an 11 month old. But to her this is important, because she isn’t earning a living wage.

“I haven’t had a raise in three years,” she said. That’s the entire time she’s worked there. Only now that she’s training to be a shift manager is she going to make $8.50 an hour. That’s a raise of fifty cents.

“McDonald’s and our owner-operators are committed to providing our employees with opportunities to succeed,” McDonald’s stated on its website. “We offer employees advancement opportunities, competitive pay and benefits.”

One worker we talked to said they had to visit food banks to eat, even though they were fully employed. McDonalds also wanted to correct the media.

“To right-size the headlines, however, the events taking place are not strikes. Outside groups are traveling to McDonald’s and other outlets to stage rallies,” they wrote.

But contrary to their statements, eventually four workers did join the protesters in their strike, and together they poured out of the McDonalds into the adjoining parking lot. They danced and screamed, all advocating for their right to a livable wage.

Nationally the SEIU has taken the lead in organizing the workers, but locally the protest was organized as a coalition between a number of groups, including the ReFund & ReBuild Oakland Community-Labor Coalition, ACCE, EBASE, the East Bay Organizing Committee, UNITE-HERE Local 2850, OUR WALMART, SEIU 1021, and SEIU ULTCW. 

Music Listings: December 4-10, 2013

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
-
0

WEDNESDAY 4
ROCK
Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. Odd Owl, James Leste, Andrew Blair & Graham Patzner, Ghost Parade, 9 p.m., $8.
El Rio: 3158 Mission, San Francisco. Alabaster & The Original Bastards, Devon McClive & Sons, Tall Fires, 8 p.m., $10.
Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. Sea Knight, Moon Honey, Build Them to Break, 8:30 p.m., $6.
Milk Bar: 1840 Haight, San Francisco. Vandella, Lee Gallagher & the Hallelujah, Fritz Montana, 8:30 p.m., $5.
Rickshaw Stop: 155 Fell, San Francisco. Crash Kings, The Struts, King Washington, 8 p.m., $10.
DANCE
The Cafe: 2369 Market, San Francisco. “Sticky Wednesdays,” w/ DJ Mark Andrus, 8 p.m., free.
Cat Club: 1190 Folsom, San Francisco. “Bondage A Go Go,” w/ DJs Damon, Tomas Diablo, & guests, 9:30 p.m., $5-$10.
Club X: 715 Harrison, San Francisco. “Electro Pop Rocks,” 18+ dance night with Terravita, 9 p.m.
The EndUp: 401 Sixth St., San Francisco. “Tainted Techno Trance,” 10 p.m.
F8: 1192 Folsom St., San Francisco. “Housepitality,” 9 p.m., $5-$10.
Harlot: 46 Minna, San Francisco. “Qoöl,” 5 p.m.
Infusion Lounge: 124 Ellis, San Francisco. “Indulgence,” 10 p.m.
Lookout: 3600 16th St., San Francisco. “What?,” w/ resident DJ Tisdale and guests, 7 p.m., free.
Madrone Art Bar: 500 Divisadero, San Francisco. “Rock the Spot,” 9 p.m., free.
MatrixFillmore: 3138 Fillmore, San Francisco. “Reload,” w/ DJ Big Bad Bruce, 10 p.m., free.
Q Bar: 456 Castro, San Francisco. “Booty Call,” w/ Juanita More, Joshua J, guests, 9 p.m., $3.
HIP-HOP
Skylark Bar: 3089 16th St., San Francisco. “Mixtape Wednesday,” w/ resident DJs Strategy, Junot, Herb Digs, & guests, 9 p.m., $5.
ACOUSTIC
Bazaar Cafe: 5927 California, San Francisco. Kapali Long, 7 p.m.
Cafe Divine: 1600 Stockton, San Francisco. Craig Ventresco & Meredith Axelrod, 7 p.m., free.
Cafe Du Nord: 2170 Market, San Francisco. The Gundersen Family Holiday Special featuring Le Wrens, 8 p.m., $10-$12.
The Chapel: 777 Valencia St., San Francisco. Brendan Canning, Holly Miranda, 8 p.m., $15.
Club Deluxe: 1511 Haight, San Francisco. Happy Hour Bluegrass, 6:30 p.m., free.
Fiddler’s Green: 1333 Columbus, San Francisco. Terry Savastano, Every other Wednesday, 9:30 p.m., free/donation.
Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. Jamie Kent, Cyndi Harvell, 8 p.m., $10.
Plough & Stars: 116 Clement, San Francisco. Jeanie & Chuck’s Bluegrass Country Jam, First Wednesday of every month, 9 p.m., free.
JAZZ
Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. Gaucho, Eric Garland’s Jazz Session, The Amnesiacs, 7 p.m., free.
Burritt Room: 417 Stockton St., San Francisco. Terry Disley’s Rocking Jazz Trio, 6 p.m., free.
Jazz Bistro at Les Joulins: 44 Ellis, San Francisco. Charles Unger Experience, 7:30 p.m., free.
Revolution Cafe: 3248 22nd St., San Francisco. Michael Parsons Trio, Every other Wednesday, 8:30 p.m., free/donation.
Savanna Jazz Club: 2937 Mission, San Francisco. “Cat’s Corner,” 9 p.m., $10.
Top of the Mark: One Nob Hill, 999 California, San Francisco. Ricardo Scales, Wednesdays, 6:30-11:30 p.m., $5.
Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. The Wee Trio, 8 p.m., $17-$21.
Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Anne O’Brien, First Wednesday of every month, 7:30 p.m., free.
INTERNATIONAL
Bissap Baobab: 3372 19th St., San Francisco. Timba Dance Party, w/ DJ WaltDigz, 10 p.m., $5.
Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. Cha-Ching, First Wednesday of every month, 9 p.m., $5.
Cafe Cocomo: 650 Indiana, San Francisco. “Bachatalicious,” w/ DJs Good Sho & Rodney, 7 p.m., $5-$10.
Pachamama Restaurant: 1630 Powell, San Francisco. Aguabella, 8 p.m., $10-$12.
Pier 23 Cafe: Pier 23, San Francisco. David Correa & Cascada, 6 p.m., free.
BLUES
Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. Chris Cain, 7:30 & 9:30 p.m., $20.
SOUL
Lexington Club: 3464 19th St., San Francisco. “Secret Lovers,” w/ DJs Ponyboy, Lil MC, Katie Duck, and Durt, First Wednesday of every month, 9 p.m., free.

THURSDAY 5
ROCK
Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. Guy Fox, Bonnie & The Bang Bang, Growwler, Benefit show for Public Arts Workshop., 9 p.m., $7-$10.
The Chapel: 777 Valencia St., San Francisco. Escondido, Young Moon, 8 p.m., $12-$15.
S.F. Eagle: 398 12th St., San Francisco. The Intelligence, Dylan Shearer, 9 p.m.
Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. The New Mummies, Books on Fate, Kristian Rodriguez, 8:30 p.m., $5.
The Independent: 628 Divisadero, San Francisco. The Long Winters, Sean Nelson, 8 p.m., $15.
The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. Cash Pony, Surplus 1980, BreakArts, 9 p.m.
Mezzanine: 444 Jessie, San Francisco. “Club NSSN,” w/ Portugal. The Man, Chvrches, NoNoNo, The Colourist, Aaron Axelsen, Miles the DJ, 7:30 p.m., $30.
Milk Bar: 1840 Haight, San Francisco. Li Xi, Little Sister, Momotaro, Mashi Mashi, 8:30 p.m., $5.
Red Devil Lounge: 1695 Polk, San Francisco. Dishwalla, Oceanroyal, 9 p.m., $15-$20.
Rickshaw Stop: 155 Fell, San Francisco. Penguin Prison (DJ set), Double Duchess, The Frail, DJ Nick Williams, 9 p.m., $15.
Thee Parkside: 1600 17th St., San Francisco. Rock Bottom, Chrome Eagle, Sweet Chariot, Cop Out, 9 p.m., $5.
DANCE
1015 Folsom: 1015 Folsom St., San Francisco. “A Light in the Attic,” w/ Kaminanda, Kalya Scintilla, Birds of Paradies, Alia, Kitty-D, VNDMG, Balance, Boats, more, 10 p.m., $10 advance.
Abbey Tavern: 4100 Geary, San Francisco. DJ Schrobi-Girl, 10 p.m., free.
Audio Discotech: 316 11th St., San Francisco. “Phonic,” w/ Designer Drugs, Non Sequitur, 9:30 p.m., $10 advance.
Aunt Charlie’s Lounge: 133 Turk, San Francisco. “Tubesteak Connection,” w/ DJ Bus Station John, 9 p.m., $5-$7.
Cafe Du Nord: 2170 Market, San Francisco. Hi Fashion, Bright Light Bright Light, 8 p.m., $10-$12.
The Cafe: 2369 Market, San Francisco. “¡Pan Dulce!,” 9 p.m., $5.
Cat Club: 1190 Folsom, San Francisco. “Throwback Thursdays,” ‘80s night with DJs Damon, Steve Washington, Dangerous Dan, and guests, 9 p.m., $6 (free before 9:30 p.m.).
The Cellar: 685 Sutter, San Francisco. “XO,” w/ DJs Astro & Rose, 10 p.m., $5.
Club X: 715 Harrison, San Francisco. “The Crib,” 9:30 p.m., $10, 18+.
Elbo Room: 647 Valencia, San Francisco. “Afrolicious,” w/ DJs Pleasuremaker, Señor Oz, and live guests, 9:30 p.m., $5-$8.
Infusion Lounge: 124 Ellis, San Francisco. “I Love Thursdays,” 10 p.m., $10.
Lookout: 3600 16th St., San Francisco. “Fluff: A Queer Night of House,” w/ DJs Sissyslap & Dr. Sleep, First Thursday of every month, 9 p.m., $3.
Madrone Art Bar: 500 Divisadero, San Francisco. “Night Fever,” 9 p.m., $5 after 10 p.m.
Pork Store Cafe: 3122 16th St., San Francisco. “Back & Forth,” w/ Ryury & Mr. Rise, 10 p.m., free.
Public Works: 161 Erie, San Francisco. “Black Magic Disko,” w/ Trickski, Shiny Objects, Trev Campbell, Hi-Tem (in the OddJob Loft), 9 p.m., $10-$15.
Q Bar: 456 Castro, San Francisco. “Throwback Thursday,” w/ DJ Jay-R, 9 p.m., free.
Raven: 1151 Folsom St., San Francisco. “1999,” w/ VJ Mark Andrus, 8 p.m., free.
The Tunnel Top: 601 Bush, San Francisco. “Tunneltop,” DJs Avalon and Derek ease you into the weekend with a cool and relaxed selection of tunes spun on vinyl, 10 p.m., free.
Underground SF: 424 Haight, San Francisco. “Bubble,” 10 p.m., free.
Vessel: 85 Campton, San Francisco. “Base,” w/ Tone of Arc, Ean Golden, 10 p.m., $5-$10.
HIP-HOP
Eastside West: 3154 Fillmore, San Francisco. “Throwback Thursdays,” w/ DJ Madison, 9 p.m., free.
The EndUp: 401 Sixth St., San Francisco. “Cypher,” w/ resident DJ Big Von, 10 p.m., $5-$10.
John Colins: 138 Minna, San Francisco. “The Premiere,” video hip-hop party with VDJ T.D. Camp, First Thursday of every month, 9 p.m., $5.
Skylark Bar: 3089 16th St., San Francisco. “Peaches,” w/lady DJs DeeAndroid, Lady Fingaz, That Girl, Umami, Inkfat, and Andre, 10 p.m., free.
Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. KRS-One, Duckwrth, 10:30 p.m., $25.
ACOUSTIC
Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. Misisipi Mike & The Midnight Gamblers, Mipso, 9 p.m., $7.
Bazaar Cafe: 5927 California, San Francisco. Acoustic Open Mic, 7 p.m.
Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. Highway Hymns, Willy Tea Taylor, Jason Eady, 9 p.m., $10.
The Lost Church: 65 Capp St., San Francisco. Mr. Andrew, J.J. Schultz, 8 p.m., $10.
Musicians Union Local 6: 116 Ninth St., San Francisco. San Francisco Singer-Songwriters’ Workshop, hosted by Robin Yukiko, First Thursday of every month, 6:30 p.m., $25 (free for AFM members).
Plough & Stars: 116 Clement, San Francisco. The Shannon Céilí Band, First Thursday of every month, 9 p.m., free.
Slim’s: 333 11th St., San Francisco. Gaby Moreno, David Garza, Cazadero, Irene Diaz, 8 p.m., $15.
Swedish American Hall: 2174 Market, San Francisco. Kaki King, Jerome Holloway, 8 p.m., $15-$17.
JAZZ
Blush! Wine Bar: 476 Castro, San Francisco. Doug Martin’s Avatar Ensemble, 7:30 p.m., free.
Bottle Cap: 1707 Powell, San Francisco. The North Beach Sound with Ned Boynton, Jordan Samuels, and Tom Vickers, 7 p.m., free.
Cigar Bar & Grill: 850 Montgomery, San Francisco. Jimmy Grant Quartet, First Thursday of every month, 8 p.m., free.
Jazz Bistro at Les Joulins: 44 Ellis, San Francisco. Eugene Pliner Quartet with Tod Dickow, First and Third Thursday of every month, 7:30 p.m., free.
Pier 23 Cafe: Pier 23, San Francisco. Dick Fregulia Band, 7 p.m., free.
Savanna Jazz Club: 2937 Mission, San Francisco. Savanna Jazz Jam with Eddy Ramirez, 7:30 p.m., $5.
Top of the Mark: One Nob Hill, 999 California, San Francisco. Stompy Jones, 7:30 p.m., $10.
Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. NaJe, in Yoshi’s lounge, First Thursday of every month, 6:30 p.m., free; Aga Zaryan: “Remembering Nina & Abbey,” 8 p.m., $19-$25.
Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Barbara Ochoa, 7:30 p.m., free.
INTERNATIONAL
Bissap Baobab: 3372 19th St., San Francisco. “Pa’Lante!,” w/ Juan G, El Kool Kyle, Mr. Lucky, 10 p.m., $5.
Pachamama Restaurant: 1630 Powell, San Francisco. “Jueves Flamencos,” 8 p.m., free.
Red Poppy Art House: 2698 Folsom, San Francisco. The Nightingale Trio, Tre Sisters, 7:30 p.m., $10-$15.
Sheba Piano Lounge: 1419 Fillmore, San Francisco. Gary Flores & Descarga Caliente, 8 p.m.
Verdi Club: 2424 Mariposa, San Francisco. The Verdi Club Milonga, w/ Christy Coté, DJ Emilio Flores, guests, 9 p.m., $10-$15.
REGGAE
Neck of the Woods: 406 Clement St., San Francisco. Natural Vibrations, Native Elements, on the upstairs stage, 9 p.m., $15-$20.
Pissed Off Pete’s: 4528 Mission St., San Francisco. Reggae Thursdays, w/ resident DJ Jah Yzer, 9 p.m., free.
BLUES
50 Mason Social House: 50 Mason, San Francisco. Bill Phillippe, 5:30 p.m., free.
Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. Greg Nagy, 8 & 10 p.m., $18.
The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. Chris Ford, First Thursday of every month, 4 p.m.
COUNTRY
The Parlor: 2801 Leavenworth, San Francisco. “Twang Honky Tonk & Country Jamboree,” w/ DJ Little Red Rodeo, 7 p.m., free.
EXPERIMENTAL
The Luggage Store: 1007 Market, San Francisco. Cartoon Justice, The Pascucci-Oppenheim Duo, Cloud Shepherd, 8 p.m., $6-$10.
SOUL
Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. West Grand Boulevard, 9:30 p.m., $5.

FRIDAY 6
ROCK
50 Mason Social House: 50 Mason, San Francisco. Turn Me On Dead, Staring@Stars, Mary Jones’ Lights, Ultra Violent Rays, Waiting Room, 8 p.m.
Amoeba Music: 1855 Haight, San Francisco. Toad the Wet Sprocket, 6 p.m., free.
The Chapel: 777 Valencia St., San Francisco. Patterson Hood, 9 p.m., $22-$25.
DNA Lounge: 375 11th St., San Francisco. Everything Goes Cold, Sorrow Church, Roadside Memorial, DJ Decay, Crashfaster, 9 p.m., $8-$13.
El Rio: 3158 Mission, San Francisco. Friday Live: Boats!, DJ Emotions, 10 p.m., free.
Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. Steel Cranes, Oceanography, Turtle Rising, 9:30 p.m., $6.
Milk Bar: 1840 Haight, San Francisco. High Cliffs, The Wave Commission, Little Smoke, 9 p.m., $8.
Slim’s: 333 11th St., San Francisco. The Aquabats, Kepi Ghoulie, Mike Park, 8 p.m., $20.
Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. The Tubes, 10:30 p.m., $29-$33.
DANCE
1015 Folsom: 1015 Folsom St., San Francisco. Oliver, Classixx, Shy Girls, Lando Kal, Richie Panic, J-Boogie, DeeJay Theory, Justin Milla, Shawn Steele, 10 p.m., $17.50 advance.
Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. “Brass Tax,” w/ resident DJs JoeJoe, Ding Dong, Ernie Trevino, Mace, First Friday of every month, 10 p.m., $5.
Audio Discotech: 316 11th St., San Francisco. Nitin, Silky, J. Remy, 9:30 p.m., $10 advance.
Cafe Flore: 2298 Market, San Francisco. “Kinky Beats,” w/ DJ Sergio, 10 p.m., free.
The Cafe: 2369 Market, San Francisco. “Boy Bar,” w/ DJ Matt Consola, 9 p.m., $5.
Cat Club: 1190 Folsom, San Francisco. “Strangelove: Germany Calling,” w/ DJs Tomas Diablo, Joe Radio, Xander, and Unit 77, 9:30 p.m., $7 ($3 before 10 p.m.).
The Cellar: 685 Sutter, San Francisco. “F.T.S.: For the Story,” 10 p.m.
The EndUp: 401 Sixth St., San Francisco. “Fever,” 10 p.m., free before midnight.
The Grand Nightclub: 520 4th St., San Francisco. “We Rock Fridays,” 9:30 p.m.
Infusion Lounge: 124 Ellis, San Francisco. “Escape Fridays,” 10 p.m., $20.
Lookout: 3600 16th St., San Francisco. “HYSL,” 9 p.m., $3.
Madrone Art Bar: 500 Divisadero, San Francisco. “Dirty Rotten Dance Party,” w/ Kap10 Harris, Shane King, guests, First Friday of every month, 9 p.m., $5.
Manor West: 750 Harrison, San Francisco. “Fortune Fridays,” 10 p.m., free before 11 p.m. with RSVP.
MatrixFillmore: 3138 Fillmore, San Francisco. “F-Style Fridays,” w/ DJ Jared-F, 9 p.m.
Mighty: 119 Utah, San Francisco. “Throwback,” Mighty 10-year anniversary party with DJ Rooz, Tyrel Williams, Miguel Solari, Jayvi Velasco, Lance DeSardi, DJ Gunz, Ren the Vinyl Archaeologist, 9 p.m., free before midnight with RSVP.
Monarch: 101 6th St., San Francisco. “As You Like It,” w/ George FitzGerald, J.Phlip, Galen, Bells & Whistles, 9 p.m., $15-$20 advance.
OMG: 43 6th St., San Francisco. “Release,” 9 p.m., free before 11 p.m.
Powerhouse: 1347 Folsom, San Francisco. “Nasty,” First Friday of every month, 10 p.m., $5.
Public Works: 161 Erie, San Francisco. “Haçeteria,” w/ Cherushii, Glenn Jackson, Ben Deploy, Jason P, Smac, Tristes Tropiques, and Nihar, 9 p.m., $5-$10.
Q Bar: 456 Castro, San Francisco. “Pump: Worq It Out Fridays,” w/ resident DJ Christopher B, 9 p.m., $3.
Rickshaw Stop: 155 Fell, San Francisco. Trapeze X, Featuring music by DJs Delachaux, The Klown, and The Speakeasy Syndicate, plus burlesque by Vienna La Rouge, Kara La Fleur, Fou Fou Ha, and Ze SexBombe Danzeurs., 9 p.m., $10-$15.
Underground SF: 424 Haight, San Francisco. “Bionic,” 10 p.m., $5.
Wish: 1539 Folsom, San Francisco. “Bridge the Gap,” w/ resident DJ Don Kainoa, Fridays, 6-10 p.m., free; “Depth,” w/ resident DJs Sharon Buck & Greg Yuen, First Friday of every month, 10 p.m., free.
HIP-HOP
Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. Nate the Great, The Kid Rated R, Supreme, plus DJs West Kraven, Beatknoxx, and Okeefe, 9 p.m., $10.
Elbo Room: 647 Valencia, San Francisco. “Swagger Like Us,” w/ Cakes Da Killa, Queens D. Light, plus DJs Lady Ryan, DavO, and Boyfriend, 10 p.m., $8.
EZ5: 682 Commercial, San Francisco. “Decompression,” Fridays, 5-9 p.m.
F8: 1192 Folsom St., San Francisco. “Some Type of Way,” w/ MicahTron, Nanosaur, Sean G, Kool Karlo, Roost Uno, 9 p.m., $9.99 (free before 11 p.m.).
Nickies: 466 Haight, San Francisco. “First Fridays,” w/ The Whooligan & Dion Decibels, First Friday of every month, 11 p.m., free.
Public Works: 161 Erie, San Francisco. Big K.R.I.T. (DJ set), DJ D-Sharp, 9 p.m., $10 advance.
Slate Bar: 2925 16th St., San Francisco. “Remix,” w/ Lando 1, 9:30 p.m.
ACOUSTIC
Atlas Cafe: 3049 20th St., San Francisco. Zach Hing, 7:30 p.m., free.
Dolores Park Cafe: 501 Dolores, San Francisco. StringQuake, 7:30 p.m.
Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. Danielia Cotton, RonDre., Venetia Pristavec, Johnny Marnell, 9 p.m., $8-$10.
Plough & Stars: 116 Clement, San Francisco. Avery County, 9 p.m.
The Sports Basement: 610 Old Mason, San Francisco. “Breakfast with Enzo,” w/ Enzo Garcia, 10 a.m., $5.
St. Cyprian’s Episcopal Church: 2097 Turk, San Francisco. First Fridays Song Circle, First Friday of every month, 7 p.m., $5-$10; Alasdair Fraser & Natalie Haas, 8 p.m., $19-$22.
Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. An Acoustic Evening with Al Stewart, 8 p.m., $24-$28.
JAZZ
Beach Chalet Brewery & Restaurant: 1000 Great Highway, San Francisco. Johnny Smith, 8 p.m., free.
Bird & Beckett: 653 Chenery, San Francisco. Don Prell’s SeaBop Ensemble, First Friday of every month, 5:30 p.m., free.
Cafe Royale: 800 Post, San Francisco. Wrapped in Plastic, First Friday of every month, 9 p.m.
Center for New Music: 55 Taylor St., San Francisco. Festivus 2013: Night One, w/ Rent Romus’ Life’s Blood, Adam Shulman & Katy Stephan, The Klaxon Mutant Allstars, Patrick Cress’ Telepathy, 7 p.m., $8-$10.
Cliff House: 1090 Point Lobos, San Francisco. John Kalleen Group, 7 p.m.
Jazz Bistro at Les Joulins: 44 Ellis, San Francisco. Charles Unger Experience, 7:30 p.m., free.
The Palace Hotel: 2 New Montgomery, San Francisco. The Klipptones, 8 p.m., free.
Savanna Jazz Club: 2937 Mission, San Francisco. Savanna Jazz Trio, 7 p.m., $8.
SFJAZZ Center: 205 Franklin St., San Francisco. Giulia Valle, 7 & 8:30 p.m., $15-$20.
Top of the Mark: One Nob Hill, 999 California, San Francisco. Black Market Jazz Orchestra, 9 p.m., $10.
Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Joyce Grant, 8 p.m., free.
INTERNATIONAL
Bissap Baobab: 3372 19th St., San Francisco. “Paris-Dakar African Mix Coupe Decale,” 10 p.m., $5.
Cafe Cocomo: 650 Indiana, San Francisco. Taste Fridays, featuring local cuisine tastings, salsa bands, dance lessons, and more, 7:30 p.m., $15 (free entry to patio).
Croatian American Cultural Center: 60 Onondaga, San Francisco. “Beyond the Borders,” w/ Galbeno Band, 8 p.m., $15.
Pachamama Restaurant: 1630 Powell, San Francisco. Cuban Night with Fito Reinoso, 7:30 & 9:15 p.m., $15-$18.
Red Poppy Art House: 2698 Folsom, San Francisco. Camille Mai Trio, Blind Willies, 7:30 p.m., $10-$20.
REGGAE
Gestalt Haus: 3159 16th St., San Francisco. “Music Like Dirt,” 7:30 p.m., free.
Showdown: 10 Sixth St., San Francisco. “How the West Was Won,” w/ Nowtime Sound, First Friday of every month, 10 p.m., free.
BLUES
Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. Greg Nagy, 8 & 10 p.m., $20.
Tupelo: 1337 Green St., San Francisco. Jinx Jones & The KingTones, First Friday of every month, 9 p.m.
COUNTRY
Thee Parkside: 1600 17th St., San Francisco. Eddie Spaghetti, The Gravel Spreaders, Benjamin Brown, 9 p.m., $10.
FUNK
Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. Swoop Unit, First Friday of every month, 6 p.m., $3-$5.
The Independent: 628 Divisadero, San Francisco. Dragon Smoke (featuring Stanton Moore, Ivan Neville, Eric Lindell, and Robert Mercurio), Mike Dillon, DJ Matt Haze, 9 p.m., $35.
Make-Out Room: 3225 22nd St., San Francisco. “Loose Joints,” w/ DJs Centipede, Damon Bell, & Tom Thump, 10 p.m., $5.
SOUL
Edinburgh Castle: 950 Geary, San Francisco. “Soul Crush,” w/ DJ Serious Leisure, 10 p.m., free.
The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. “Oldies Night,” w/ DJs Primo, Daniel, Lost Cat, friends, First Friday of every month, 10 p.m., $5.

SATURDAY 7
ROCK
50 Mason Social House: 50 Mason, San Francisco. Chronic Town, Gang of Forty, 9:30 p.m., $6.
Bender’s: 806 S. Van Ness, San Francisco. Swiftumz, Violent Change, Tony Molina, 10 p.m., $5.
Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. Roem & The Revival, Kingsborough, Steven Roth Band, 9:30 p.m., $10.
Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. The Flatliners, Living with Lions, Culture Abuse, 9:30 p.m., $12-$15.
Cafe Du Nord: 2170 Market, San Francisco. The Hundred Days, Dangermaker, Bang Bang, Aaron Cuadra, 9 p.m., $8-$10.
El Rio: 3158 Mission, San Francisco. Vulturegeist, Secrets of the Sky, Broken Cities, 9 p.m., $6-$10.
Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. Primitive Hearts, Big Tits, Adam Widener, The Shanghais, 9 p.m., $6.
Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. That Ghost, Golden Drugs, Dante Elephante, Crime Novels, 9 p.m., $8.
The Lost Church: 65 Capp St., San Francisco. Castles in Spain, The Unfortunate Bastard, Stella Royale, 8 p.m., $10.
Make-Out Room: 3225 22nd St., San Francisco. Benefit for Alan Forbes with Harderships, Hot Lunch, The Freeks, Ethan Miller, DJ Jello Biafra, 5 p.m., $10.
Milk Bar: 1840 Haight, San Francisco. The Bad Jones, Super Adventure Club, The Stages of Sleep, 9 p.m., $10.
Neck of the Woods: 406 Clement St., San Francisco. People Get Ready, The Trims, Conquistador, on the downstairs stage, 9 p.m., $12.
Slim’s: 333 11th St., San Francisco. The Mowgli’s, Blondfire, Hunter Hunted, 8 p.m., $16.
DANCE
Audio Discotech: 316 11th St., San Francisco. Bixel Boys, Tropicool, 9:30 p.m., $10 advance.
Cafe Flore: 2298 Market, San Francisco. “Bistrotheque,” w/ DJ Ken Vulsion, 8 p.m., free.
Cat Club: 1190 Folsom, San Francisco. “Leisure,” w/ DJs Aaron, Omar, & Jetset James, First Saturday of every month, 10 p.m., $7.
DNA Lounge: 375 11th St., San Francisco. Bootie S.F.: Hubba Hubba Revue Holiday Show, 9 p.m., $10-$15.
The EndUp: 401 Sixth St., San Francisco. “Play: 1-Year Anniversary Party,” w/ Danny Howells & Nikita, 10 p.m., $15-$20.
Harlot: 46 Minna, San Francisco. Lauren Lane, Bones, Troy Kurtz, Shae B, Burn Unit, 9 p.m., $10.
Infusion Lounge: 124 Ellis, San Francisco. “Volume,” First Saturday of every month, 10 p.m., $10-$20.
The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. “Debaser,” w/ resident DJs EmDee, Jamie Jams, and Stab Master Arson, First Saturday of every month, 10 p.m., $5 (free before 11 p.m. if wearing flannel).
Lookout: 3600 16th St., San Francisco. “Bounce!,” 9 p.m., $3.
Madrone Art Bar: 500 Divisadero, San Francisco. “The Prince & Michael Experience,” w/ DJs Dave Paul & Jeff Harris, First Saturday of every month, 9 p.m., $5.
Mezzanine: 444 Jessie, San Francisco. “Wonder-Full S.F. X,” w/ DJ Spinna, Proof, Hakobo, King Most, 9 p.m., $25-$35.
Mighty: 119 Utah, San Francisco. Mighty 10-Year Anniversary, w/ 2manydjs, Eug, 9 p.m., $25 advance.
Monarch: 101 6th St., San Francisco. “Lights Down Low,” w/ Deniz Kurtel, Pictureplane, Tyrel Williams, Richie Panic, Marco de la Vega, 10 p.m., $15-$20.
Public Works: 161 Erie, San Francisco. Distrikt: Holidaze – The Koktail Edition, With DJ Kramer, John Early, and more., 9 p.m., $10-$15.
Q Bar: 456 Castro, San Francisco. “Homo Erectus,” w/ DJs MyKill & Dcnstrct, First Saturday of every month, 9 p.m., $5.
Ruby Skye: 420 Mason, San Francisco. Project 46, Carl Kennedy, 9 p.m., $20 advance.
The Stud: 399 Ninth St., San Francisco. “Go Bang!: Celebrating Five Years of Atomic Dancefloor Disco Action,” w/ DJs Ken Vulsion, Nicky B, Steve Fabus, and Sergio Fedasz, 9 p.m., $7 (free before 10 p.m.).
Temple: 540 Howard, San Francisco. D:Fuse, Tall Sasha, Vodka Soda, Ks Thant, Self Destrukt, Mr. Kitt, Jai Unda, Babymuah, 10 p.m., $20.
Underground SF: 424 Haight, San Francisco. “Push the Feeling,” w/ residents Yr Skull & Epicsauce DJs, First Saturday of every month, 9 p.m.
Vessel: 85 Campton, San Francisco. “Swank,” w/ Pheeko Dubfunk, DJ Nile, Lorentzo, 10 p.m., $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, 9 p.m., free before 11 p.m.
Slate Bar: 2925 16th St., San Francisco. “Touchy Feely,” w/ The Wild N Krazy Kids, First Saturday of every month, 10 p.m., $5 (free before 11 p.m.).
ACOUSTIC
Amoeba Music: 1855 Haight, San Francisco. Lissie, 3 p.m., free.
Atlas Cafe: 3049 20th St., San Francisco. Craig Ventresco & Meredith Axelrod, Saturdays, 4-6 p.m., free.
Bazaar Cafe: 5927 California, San Francisco. Jamie Purnell, 7 p.m.
Great Star Theater: 630 Jackson, San Francisco. One Man Band Extravaganza, w/ Jordan B. Wilson, 1 Man Banjo, Shovelman, The Slow Poisoner, Cello Joe, 8 p.m., $5.
The Independent: 628 Divisadero, San Francisco. Lissie, Kopecky Family Band, 9 p.m., $18-$20.
Plough & Stars: 116 Clement, San Francisco. “Americana Jukebox,” w/ The Naked Bootleggers, Kemo Sabe, 9 p.m., $6-$10.
Revolution Cafe: 3248 22nd St., San Francisco. Seth Augustus, First Saturday of every month, 9 p.m., free/donation.
The Riptide: 3639 Taraval, San Francisco. The Low Rollers, 9:30 p.m., free.
Swedish American Hall: 2174 Market, San Francisco. Pomplamoose, Steve Poltz, Griffin House, 8 p.m., $20-$25.
JAZZ
Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. Broken Shadows Family Band, 6 p.m.
Center for New Music: 55 Taylor St., San Francisco. Festivus 2013: Night Two, w/ John Shiurba’s 5×5, Lisa Mezzacappa’s Bait & Switch, Noah Phillips, Michael Coleman’s Enjoyer, 7 p.m., $8-$10.
Jazz Bistro at Les Joulins: 44 Ellis, San Francisco. Bill “Doc” Webster & Jazz Nostalgia, 7:30 p.m., free.
Savanna Jazz Club: 2937 Mission, San Francisco. Savanna Jazz Trio, 7 p.m., $8.
SFJAZZ Center: 205 Franklin St., San Francisco. Giulia Valle, 7 & 8:30 p.m., $15-$20.
Sheba Piano Lounge: 1419 Fillmore, San Francisco. The Robert Stewart Experience, 9 p.m.
Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Mike Stern Band featuring Randy Brecker, Anthony Jackson, and Keith Carlock, 8 & 10 p.m., $22-$28.
Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Lisa Lindsley, 8 p.m., free.
INTERNATIONAL
1015 Folsom: 1015 Folsom St., San Francisco. “Pura,” 9 p.m., $20.
Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. Fanfare Zambaleta, Broken Shadows Family Band, 9 p.m.
Bissap Baobab: 3372 19th St., San Francisco. “Paris-Dakar African Mix Coupe Decale,” 10 p.m., $5.
Make-Out Room: 3225 22nd St., San Francisco. “El SuperRitmo,” w/ DJs Roger Mas & El Kool Kyle, 10 p.m., $5.
Old First Presbyterian Church: 1751 Sacramento, San Francisco. Veretski Pass, 8 p.m., $14-$17.
Pachamama Restaurant: 1630 Powell, San Francisco. Peña Eddy Navia & Pachamama Band, 8 p.m., free.
Roccapulco Supper Club: 3140 Mission, San Francisco. Jowell & Randy, 8 p.m., $40 advance.
Space 550: 550 Barneveld, San Francisco. “Club Fuego,” 9:30 p.m.
REGGAE
Red Devil Lounge: 1695 Polk, San Francisco. One Drop, Midnight Raid, Dewey & The Peoples, 9 p.m., $10.
BLUES
Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. Karen Lovely, 7:30 & 10 p.m., $22.
AMERICANA
Plough & Stars: 116 Clement, San Francisco. “Americana Jukebox,” First Saturday of every month, 9 p.m., $6-$10.
FREE
Pier 23 Cafe: Pier 23, San Francisco. Danilo y Universal, 8 p.m., free.
SOUL
Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. Kendra Morris, Binky Griptite, Jordan & The Ritual, DJ heyLove, 9 p.m., $12-$15.
El Rio: 3158 Mission, San Francisco. “Hard French,” w/ DJs Carnita & Brown Amy, First Saturday of every month, 2 p.m., $7.
Elbo Room: 647 Valencia, San Francisco. “Saturday Night Soul Party,” w/ DJs Lucky, Phengren Oswald, & Paul Paul, First Saturday of every month, 10 p.m., $10 ($5 in formal attire).

SUNDAY 8
ROCK
Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. Rio Rio, Coo Coo Birds, Mission Bells, Koruscant Weekend, Jared Cohen & The Future Proof, 7 p.m., $10.
El Rio: 3158 Mission, San Francisco. Benefit for San Francisco Community Land Trust with Future Twin, Annie Girl & The Flight, Baby Alpaca, 8 p.m., $10-$15 suggested donation.
Thee Parkside: 1600 17th St., San Francisco. My Jerusalem, Know Secrets, High Water, 8 p.m., $10.
DANCE
The Cellar: 685 Sutter, San Francisco. “Replay Sundays,” 9 p.m., free.
The Edge: 4149 18th St., San Francisco. “’80s at 8,” w/ DJ MC2, 8 p.m.
Elbo Room: 647 Valencia, San Francisco. “Dub Mission,” w/ King I-Vier, DJ Sep, Maneesh the Twister, 9 p.m., $6 (free before 9:30 p.m.).
The EndUp: 401 Sixth St., San Francisco. “T.Dance,” 6 a.m.-6 p.m.; “Sunday Sessions,” 8 p.m.; “The Rhythm Room,” Second Sunday of every month, 8 p.m.
F8: 1192 Folsom St., San Francisco. “Stamina Sundays,” w/ DJs Lukeino, Jamal, and guests, 10 p.m., free.
The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. “Sweater Funk,” 10 p.m., free.
Lookout: 3600 16th St., San Francisco. “Jock,” Sundays, 3-8 p.m., $2.
MatrixFillmore: 3138 Fillmore, San Francisco. “Bounce,” w/ DJ Just, 10 p.m.
Otis: 25 Maiden, San Francisco. “What’s the Werd?,” w/ resident DJs Nick Williams, Kevin Knapp, Maxwell Dub, and guests, 9 p.m., $5 (free before 11 p.m.).
The Parlor: 2801 Leavenworth, San Francisco. DJ Marc deVasconcelos, 10 p.m., free.
Q Bar: 456 Castro, San Francisco. “Gigante,” 8 p.m., free.
The Stud: 399 Ninth St., San Francisco. “No Parking on the Dancefloor,” w/ resident DJs Dutchboy & Gehno Aviance, 11 p.m., $5.
HIP-HOP
Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. “Return of the Cypher,” 9:30 p.m., free.
ACOUSTIC
Cafe Du Nord: 2170 Market, San Francisco. Ed Kowalczyk, Callaghan, 8 p.m., $30-$35.
Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. Rust & Whiskey, Pirate Radio, The Tough Brothers, 8 p.m., $6.
The Lucky Horseshoe: 453 Cortland, San Francisco. Sunday Bluegrass Jam, 4 p.m., free.
Madrone Art Bar: 500 Divisadero, San Francisco. “Spike’s Mic Night,” Sundays, 4-8 p.m., free.
Make-Out Room: 3225 22nd St., San Francisco. Carolyn Mark, Peter Case with Deep Ellum, Happy Family Singers, 7:30 p.m.
Neck of the Woods: 406 Clement St., San Francisco. “iPlay,” open mic with featured weekly artists, 6:30 p.m., free.
Plough & Stars: 116 Clement, San Francisco. Dave Cory & Friends, 9 p.m.
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church: 1755 Clay, San Francisco. “Sunday Night Mic,” w/ Roem Baur, 5 p.m., free.
JAZZ
Chez Hanny: 1300 Silver, San Francisco. Noel Jewkes Quintet featuring Steve Heckman, 4 p.m., $20 suggested donation.
Jazz Bistro at Les Joulins: 44 Ellis, San Francisco. Bill “Doc” Webster & Jazz Nostalgia, 7:30 p.m., free.
Madrone Art Bar: 500 Divisadero, San Francisco. “Sunday Sessions,” 10 p.m., free.
Martuni’s: 4 Valencia, San Francisco. Madame Jo Trio, second Sunday of every month, 4-6 p.m., free.
Revolution Cafe: 3248 22nd St., San Francisco. Jazz Revolution, 4 p.m., free/donation.
The Royal Cuckoo: 3202 Mission, San Francisco. Lavay Smith & Chris Siebert, 7:30 p.m., free.
SFJAZZ Center: 205 Franklin St., San Francisco. SFJAZZ High School All-Stars Orchestra & Combo, 2 p.m., $5-$20.
Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Mike Stern Band featuring Randy Brecker, Anthony Jackson, and Keith Carlock, 7 & 9 p.m., $20-$25.
Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Brenda Reed, 7:30 p.m., free.
INTERNATIONAL
Atmosphere: 447 Broadway, San Francisco. “Hot Bachata Nights,” w/ DJ El Guapo, 5:30 p.m., $10 ($18-$25 with dance lessons).
Balancoire: 2565 Mission St., San Francisco. “Tardeadas Tropicales,” 3 p.m.
Bissap Baobab: 3372 19th St., San Francisco. “Brazil & Beyond,” 6:30 p.m., free.
El Rio: 3158 Mission, San Francisco. “Salsa Sundays,” Second and Fourth Sunday of every month, 3 p.m., $8-$10.
New Dehli Restaurant: 160 Ellis St., San Francisco. Bollywood Dance Party, Benefit for the Tenderloin After-School Program with DJ Amar, Dholrhythms dance troupe, Indian food buffet, and more., 6-9 p.m., $50 suggested donation.
Pachamama Restaurant: 1630 Powell, San Francisco. Georges Lammam Ensemble, 8 p.m.
Thirsty Bear Brewing Company: 661 Howard, San Francisco. “The Flamenco Room,” 7:30 & 8:30 p.m.
REGGAE
The Independent: 628 Divisadero, San Francisco. Black Uhuru, Mike Pinto, Revival Sound System, 9 p.m., $25.
BLUES
Revolution Cafe: 3248 22nd St., San Francisco. HowellDevine, 8:30 p.m., free/donation.
The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. Blues Power, 4 p.m.
Sheba Piano Lounge: 1419 Fillmore, San Francisco. Bohemian Knuckleboogie, 8 p.m., free.
Swig: 571 Geary, San Francisco. Sunday Blues Jam with Ed Ivey, 9 p.m.
COUNTRY
The Riptide: 3639 Taraval, San Francisco. Joe Goldmark & The Seducers, Second Sunday of every month, 7:30 p.m., free.
EXPERIMENTAL
Musicians Union Local 6: 116 Ninth St., San Francisco. Daniel Pearce/Teddy Rankin-Parker Duo, Lasqo/Adams/Bennett, 7:30 p.m., $8-$10.
SOUL
Delirium Cocktails: 3139 16th St., San Francisco. “Heart & Soul,” w/ DJ Lovely Lesage, 10 p.m., free.
Rickshaw Stop: 155 Fell, San Francisco. Gavin Turek, Midtown Social, DJ Carnita, 8 p.m., $10-$12.

MONDAY 9
ROCK
The Chapel: 777 Valencia St., San Francisco. Basia Bulat, Haunted Summer, 9 p.m., $13-$15.
Elbo Room: 647 Valencia, San Francisco. Capsula, City of Women, 9 p.m., $8.
The Independent: 628 Divisadero, San Francisco. American Authors, The Royal Concept, Misterwives, 8 p.m., $13-$15.
The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. Wooden Indian Burial Ground, 9 p.m., $5.
DANCE
DNA Lounge: 375 11th St., San Francisco. “Death Guild,” 18+ dance party with DJs Decay, Joe Radio, Melting Girl, & guests, 9:30 p.m., $3-$5.
Q Bar: 456 Castro, San Francisco. “Wanted,” w/ DJs Key&Kite and Richie Panic, 9 p.m., free.
Underground SF: 424 Haight, San Francisco. “Vienetta Discotheque,” w/ DJs Stanley Frank and Robert Jeffrey, 10 p.m., free.
ACOUSTIC
Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. The Pick Bluegrass Jam, Second Monday of every month, 6 p.m., free; Toshio Hirano, Second Monday of every month, 9 p.m., free.
Cafe Du Nord: 2170 Market, San Francisco. Hayden, DonCat, 8 p.m., $15.
The Chieftain: 198 Fifth St., San Francisco. The Wrenboys, 7 p.m., free.
Fiddler’s Green: 1333 Columbus, San Francisco. Terry Savastano, 9:30 p.m., free/donation.
Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. Open mic with Brendan Getzell, 8 p.m., free.
The Lost Church: 65 Capp St., San Francisco. The Royal Oui, Big Eagle, 8 p.m., $10.
Osteria: 3277 Sacramento, San Francisco. “Acoustic Bistro,” 7 p.m., free.
The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. Peter Lindman, 4 p.m.
JAZZ
Jazz Bistro at Les Joulins: 44 Ellis, San Francisco. Eugene Pliner Quartet with Tod Dickow, 7:30 p.m., free.
Le Colonial: 20 Cosmo, San Francisco. Le Jazz Hot, 7 p.m., free.
Pier 23 Cafe: Pier 23, San Francisco. Terry Timberlake, 6 p.m., free.
SFJAZZ Center: 205 Franklin St., San Francisco. Monday Night Band Showcase with Adam Theis, 7:30 p.m., free.
Sheba Piano Lounge: 1419 Fillmore, San Francisco. City Jazz Instrumental Jam Session, 8 p.m.
The Union Room at Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. The Session: A Monday Night Jazz Series, pro jazz jam with Mike Olmos, 7:30 p.m., $12.
Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Kitt Weagant, 7:30 p.m., free.
REGGAE
Skylark Bar: 3089 16th St., San Francisco. “Skylarking,” w/ I&I Vibration, 10 p.m., free.
BLUES
The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. The Bachelors, 9:30 p.m.
SOUL
Madrone Art Bar: 500 Divisadero, San Francisco. “M.O.M. (Motown on Mondays),” w/ DJ Gordo Cabeza & Timoteo Gigante, 8 p.m., free.

TUESDAY 10
ROCK
Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. 3 Leafs, American Cream, 8:30 p.m., $5.
Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. Va Va Blume, Watch for Rocks, Worth, 8 p.m., $8.
The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. Tender Buttons, Scraper, Silver Shadows, DJ Grody Cody, 9:30 p.m., $7.
DANCE
Aunt Charlie’s Lounge: 133 Turk, San Francisco. “High Fantasy,” w/ DJ Viv, Myles Cooper, & guests, 10 p.m., $2.
Harlot: 46 Minna, San Francisco. “Tutu Tuesday,” w/ resident DJ Atish, Second Tuesday of every month, 9 p.m., $7 ($2 in a tutu before 11 p.m.).
Monarch: 101 6th St., San Francisco. “Soundpieces,” 10 p.m., free-$10.
Q Bar: 456 Castro, San Francisco. “Switch,” w/ DJs Jenna Riot & Andre, 9 p.m., $3.
Underground SF: 424 Haight, San Francisco. “Shelter,” 10 p.m., free.
Wish: 1539 Folsom, San Francisco. “Tight,” w/ resident DJs Michael May & Lito, 8 p.m., free.
HIP-HOP
Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. “The Show: Holiday Edition,” w/ Smoovie Baby, Show Banga, Troy, Symba, Deltrice, Lyrical Tone, Tonka Boy Dre, more, 8:30 p.m., $10-$15.
Double Dutch: 3192 16th St., San Francisco. “Takin’ It Back Tuesdays,” w/ DJs Mr. Murdock & Roman Nunez, Second Tuesday of every month, 10 p.m., free.
ACOUSTIC
Bazaar Cafe: 5927 California, San Francisco. Songwriter in Residence: Kate Kilbane, 7 p.m. continues through Dec. 31.
Cafe Du Nord: 2170 Market, San Francisco. Erin McKeown & Her Anti-Holiday Spectacular, 9 p.m., $18-$20.
The Chapel: 777 Valencia St., San Francisco. Aiofe O’Donovan, Evie Ladin, 8 p.m., $12-$15.
The Independent: 628 Divisadero, San Francisco. The Lone Bellow, Ivan & Alyosha, 8 p.m., sold out.
Plough & Stars: 116 Clement, San Francisco. Seisiún with Barry O’Connell & Vinnie Cronin, 9 p.m.
JAZZ
Beach Chalet Brewery & Restaurant: 1000 Great Highway, San Francisco. Gerry Grosz Jazz Jam, 7 p.m.
Blush! Wine Bar: 476 Castro, San Francisco. Kally Price & Rob Reich, 7 p.m., free.
Burritt Room: 417 Stockton St., San Francisco. Terry Disley’s Rocking Jazz Trio, 6 p.m., free.
Cafe Divine: 1600 Stockton, San Francisco. Chris Amberger, 7 p.m.
Jazz Bistro at Les Joulins: 44 Ellis, San Francisco. Clifford Lamb, Mel Butts, and Friends, 7:30 p.m., free.
Le Colonial: 20 Cosmo, San Francisco. Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers, 7 p.m.
Revolution Cafe: 3248 22nd St., San Francisco. West Side Jazz Club, 5 p.m., free.
Verdi Club: 2424 Mariposa, San Francisco. “Tuesday Night Jump,” w/ Stompy Jones, 9 p.m., $10-$12; “Tuesday Night Jump,” w/ Johnny Boyd, Stompy Jones, Victor & Penny, 9 p.m., $15.
Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Tommy Igoe Big Band, 8 p.m., $22.
Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Amanda King, 7:30 p.m., free.
INTERNATIONAL
Cafe Cocomo: 650 Indiana, San Francisco. “Descarga S.F.,” w/ DJs Hong & Good Sho, 8 p.m., $12.
The Cosmo Bar & Lounge: 440 Broadway, San Francisco. “Conga Tuesdays,” 8 p.m., $7-$10.
F8: 1192 Folsom St., San Francisco. “Underground Nomads,” w/ rotating resident DJs Amar, Sep, and Dulce Vita, plus guests, 9 p.m., $5 (free before 9:30 p.m.).
REGGAE
Milk Bar: 1840 Haight, San Francisco. “Bless Up,” w/ Jah Warrior Shelter Hi-Fi, 10 p.m.
FUNK
Madrone Art Bar: 500 Divisadero, San Francisco. “Boogaloo Tuesday,” w/ Oscar Myers & Steppin’, 9:30 p.m., free.
SOUL
Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. Soul Mechanix, 9:30 p.m., free.
Make-Out Room: 3225 22nd St., San Francisco. “Lost & Found,” w/ DJs Primo, Lucky, and guests, 9:30 p.m., free. 2

This Week’s Picks: December 4 – 10, 2013

Michael Redmond
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0

THURSDAY 12/5

 

Gaby Moreno

This year, when Guatemalan-born Los Angeles transplant Gaby Moreno won Best New Artist at the Latin Grammys, she had already earned nods from the same voting body, in the form of nominations in 2012 for Song and Record of the Year. The tune was “Fuiste Tú,” the video for which is in the hundred million view club on YouTube. Her voice is a close cousin to that of Norah Jones, and her bilingual blend of jazz, soul, and blues has won effusive praise from NPR and the New York Times. And she’s got pop-culture cred, too: Fans of TV’s Parks and Recreation will note that she earned an Emmy nom in 2010 for co-writing its theme song. (Nathan Baker)

With David Garza, Cazadero, Irene Diaz

8pm, $15

Slim’s

333 11th St, SF

www.slimspresents.com

 

 

Scott Wells and Dancers

Fatherhood as a topic for dance? Never heard of it. But here come Scott Wells and Sheldon B. Smith, two very smart, highly experienced choreographers, with a dance about dads. With one exception, all the performers in Father On actually are fathers. We all know that today’s fathers are neither like our own, nor like the comic versions that still percolate through TV shows. But what are they? I look forward to witnessing what these men have to say. (Rita Felciano)

Thu/5-Sat/7, 8pm; Sun/8, 7pm, $25

ODC Theater

3153 17th St, SF

www.odcdance.org

 

 

A Chorus Line

In classic musical A Chorus Line, based on the book by James Kirkwood Jr. and Nicholas Dante, 17 Broadway dancers audition for a spot in the chorus line — the gig of a lifetime for any of them. It’s a story that resonated with audiences and awards-givers (it won Tonys and a Pulitzer), and continues to be popular today nearly 40 years after its debut. San Francisco State associate professor Barbara Damashek (a Tony nominee herself, for her musical Quilters) directs San Francisco State University’s Creative State’s take on the backstage tale, featuring toe-tapping music and lyrics by Marvin Hamlisch and Edward Kleban. (Kirstie Haruta)

Through Dec 15, $5-$15

Thu-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm

Little Theatre

San Francisco State University

1600 Holloway, SF

creativestate.sfsu.edu

 

 

“Paisley Underground Redux”

Amid the synth pop, power ballads, and schlock metal dominating airwaves in 1983, a small nucleus of Los Angeles musicians looked backward to revive the purer pleasures of 1960s jangly power pop, garage rock, and psychedelia. Dubbed the “Paisley Underground,” this beloved if short-lived scene inspired other bands around the globe. The four “founding father” (and mother) outfits are back in this one-night only reunion bill: mysterioso tripsters the Rain Parade, rootsy rockers the Dream Syndicate, twee yet punchy pure-poppers the Three O’Clock, and all-female the Bangles — who started out as early Beatles idolaters before (alone among this lot) scoring mainstream hits with a more commercial sound. (Dennis Harvey)

8pm, $36.50

Fillmore

1805 Geary, SF

www.thefillmore.com

 

 

The Golden Girls: The Christmas Episodes

One thing you can always count on with San Francisco traditions is that they’ll be anything but traditional. One example: the drag legends of Trannyshack (Heklina, Cookie Dough, Matthew Martin, and Pollo Del Mar) starring as Miami’s famously sassy seniors in The Golden Girls: The Christmas Episodes. For 2013’s version of the sitcom send-up — these shows sell out, so pounce on tickets ASAP — audiences can watch as Rose gets scared of going all the way, Blanche goes cougar for a day, and she, Dorothy, and Rose are mistaken for prostitutes and taken to jail. Thank you for being a holiday tradition, ladies. (Janina Glasov)

Through Dec 22, $30

Thu-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 7pm

Victoria Theatre

2961 16th St, SF

www.trannyshack.com

 

 

“Open Mic Glam Drive”

What’s better than a night of music for a good cause? A night of music for two good causes! Local boutique 31 RAX and nightlife crew SheWolves present an open mic and glam drive that benefits not only the Asian Women’s Shelter, but also Typhoon Haiyan relief efforts. All proceeds from the event’s $5 cover will go to NAFCON to aid those affected by the devastating storm. And while you’re getting gussied up for the night, round up some extra toiletries, makeup, hairbrushes, bras, and other beauty staples to bring and donate to the Asian Women’s Shelter — an organization that since 1988 has worked to serve the needs of women, transpeople, and children who are survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking. Aspiring performers can email openmic@31rax.com to reserve a spot. (Kirstie Haruta)

7pm, $5

Pa’ina Lounge & Restaurant

1865 Post, SF

facebook.com/31RAX

FRIDAY 12/6

 

“Hand to Mouth Comedy: Fantasy”

There is a place, as far away as the outer reaches of this galaxy, yet as close as the molecules of air between your cotton pillowcase and the cartilage of your ear. It resembles the grounds of Hogwarts under constantly overcast purple-veined skies, and it holds the fortress of Isengard, which you reach by traveling along a chocolate river in a tollbooth. To avoid the dungeons and dragons of this land — a land accessed through a wardrobe only once every wrinkle in time, you may be asked to sling a gun or wield a wand. Upon their return, survivors Kellen Erskine, Kelly Anneken, Jules Posner, Kevin O’Shea, Gary Anderson, and Jaime Fernandez make light of this dark realm at this month’s Hand To Mouth comedy show, piquing your fantasy and questioning your sanity. (Kaylen Baker)

10pm, $8

Dark Room

2263 Mission, SF

www.handtomouthcomedy.com

SATURDAY 12/7

 

Swiftumz

Whoever said too much fuzz was a bad thing? Tonight, Swiftumz and Tony Molina will set out to prove that statement wrong. Headliner Swiftumz sounds like Sour Patch Kids taste: saccharine sweet with an unexpected bite. The project’s vocalist and mastermind, Christopher McVicker — who has written songs for Hunx and his Punx — blends power pop and punk with a little ’60s flair. Also on the bill is Tony Molina, who will be taking the stage solo, then playing lead guitar in post-punk band Violent Change. As a solo artist, Molina takes cues from lo-fi standard Guided By Voices, adding a fuzzy coating to the Metallica cover that appears on his recent Six Tracks EP. (Erin Dage)

10pm, $5

Bender’s Bar and Grill

806 S. Van Ness, SF

www.bendersbar.com

 

 

32nd Annual Encuentro del Canto Popular

The loss of three prodigious artists this year has prompted Acción Latina to dedicate this year’s Encuentro del Canto Popular — a San Francisco tradition highlighting the status of the nueva canción movement locally and internationally — to their memories and their work. Jon Fromer (Jan. 2), Rafael Manriquez (June 25), and Jose Montoya (Sept. 25) were superlative cultural workers, musicians, originators, and opinion leaders with a bulk of work that transcends California. Without a doubt, their presence in this world will be sorely missed. The show kicks off with the winners of “Encuentritos,” a series of musical contests for emerging local artists. (Fernando Andres)

7pm, $19

Brava Theater Center

2781 24th St., SF

accionlatina.org/Encuentro2013

 

 

2manydjs

Once, at a packed Soulwax show, I witnessed a woman’s reverent excitement achieve levels usually reserved for Michael Jackson concert videos. Then she fainted. On their end of things, Belgium’s Dewaele brothers remain thoroughly irreverent, particularly in DJ form as 2manydjs. Recent projects include building 50,000-watt vinyl-only sound systems with James Murphy, recording tributes to David Bowie as part of their 24-hour online A/V site Radio Soulwax (not to be confused with Soulwax FM in Grand Theft Auto V), and slowing down old gabber tracks for kicks. Part of Mighty’s 10-year anniversary celebration, this will be a spatial turn from 2manydj’s hit-mashing festival ragers. Take care of the people up front. (Ryan Prendiville)

With EUG, Ron (Cosmic Kids), Derek Opperman, J. Montag

9pm, $25

Mighty

119 Utah, SF

www.mighty119.com

TUESDAY 12/10

 

Modern Art Desserts

Typically, the labyrinthine galleries and glut of provocative visuals in modern art museums have visitors turning towards sugar and fat in a nearby café to refuel. Yet Caitlin Freeman, pastry chef of Blue Bottle Coffee in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (currently closed for construction), has reversed this pattern. The mimicry of modern art in her masterful pastries gives visitors a hunger to trail back through the exhibits for second look — the honey pistachio frozen mousse encased in a white chocolate cube and dotted with honeybees echoes Richard Avedon’s photograph of a bee-swarmed man; the salted chocolate and cream layered cake mirrors Rineke Dijkstra’s striped beach bather. Tonight, check out the photos and the recipes in Freeman’s new Modern Art Desserts, and taste the Mondrian Cake, a multi-blocked cake resembling Piet’s primary grid. (Baker)

7pm, free (RSVP to aberry@art.com)

Art.com Pop-Up in Union Square

117 Post, SF

(415) 956-2571

www.modernartdesserts.com “Food-For-All” ‘Tis the season for techies to spread the wealth at the Tech Gives Back charity drive. The multi-week campaign concludes with “Food-for-All,” a party hosted by ZeroCater, where guests are invited to eat as much as they want for free from the variety of foods provided by the corporate catering company’s top vendors. If they choose to put down their plates, they can hit the dance floor, the bar, or the free photo booth. But this party isn’t just fun, games, and Instagram fodder; there’ll also be barrels for food donations, and all proceeds from ticket sales will go to the San Francisco and Marin food banks. (Glasov) 6-9pm, $15 Public Works 161 Erie, SF blog.zerocater.com

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