Festival

Expose yourself to art

Michael Redmond
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Expose yourself to art

arts@sfbg.com

THEATER It takes a playwright of particular boldness to forgo text entirely in deference to movement and music. But in addition to the formal choices made in her Untitled Feminist Show, eminent New York downtown theater maker Young Jean Lee also pursues a theme (flagged by her “un-title”) that stubbornly remains as controversial as ever: the politics and pleasures of female empowerment. This theme plays out starkly, without clothes and without shame, over the course of an hour-long romp that will make its Bay Area premiere this weekend at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.

Conceived and directed by Lee, with choreography by Faye Driscoll (another prominent New York artist whose You’re Me ran at CounterPULSE last March), Untitled Feminist Show is just one of the latest of Lee’s willfully provocative, consistently witty pieces. She and her Young Jean Lee’s Theater Company have made a national reputation by reaching for the most uncomfortable subjects, producing a set of humorous, audacious, experimental plays about race, sex, family, religion — great taboo regions normally shrouded in prickly mythology, limited by official debate, or otherwise smothered by good intentions.

Her works include Straight White Men, an exploration of success in contemporary American society; The Shipment, her “black-identity politics show”; Church, investigating American-brand Christianity through the structure of a church service; and the fierce, zany, and dis-Orienting Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven (produced locally by Crowded Fire in 2011) in which, drawing on her own Korean American roots, the fractured perspectives and sacrosanct traditions of an American minority serve a master narrative about a young white couple’s banal relationship.

YBCA’s presentation of Untitled Feminist Show comes, not coincidentally, as the organization transitions under its new leadership. Deborah Cullinan, who succeeded Ken Foster as YBCA’s executive director in September, was the longtime executive director of Intersection for the Arts. She has a well-deserved reputation for turning that esteemed arts organization around from hard times after she took over in 1996. YBCA’s director of performing arts, Marc Bamuthi Joseph, was a successful Oakland-based artist and activist when he took over from Angela Mattox (now running PICA in Portland) in 2012.

As longtime associates in the local arts scene, both of whom have been exceptionally community-oriented advocates for the arts, Cullinan and Joseph together promise a bold redrawing of the lines at YBCA. They recently sat down to speak with me about the vision they share for a 21st century arts organization — including the development of something they call the creative ecosystem — and where the work of an artist like Young Jean Lee fits into it.

 

SF Bay Guardian How are you settling in, after a couple of months and a couple of years now, respectively? And what are these creative ecosystems?

Deborah Cullinan Where I’m at: I’m still listening, learning—frankly a little astonished. I was, what, three blocks away? And my predecessor Ken Foster was one of my closest work friends; Bamuthi another one. I had no idea how much goes on here. It’s just abundant. The creative ecosystem is something Marc dreamed up, and certainly wooed me with. It’s something the two of us, and everybody here, considers to be a way we can think about a contemporary arts center in this century.

Marc Bamuthi Joseph The day that this feature runs will be my second anniversary. My last work [red, black & GREEN: a blues] was commissioned here, and premiered here. I interviewed for this position three days after the premiere. That last work was built around an integrated, documentary process of asking public intellectuals, doers, activists of all stripes—and by activists I don’t mean by vocation but in the purest sense of the word—to contemplate a question and create a physical response. The result, in terms of making art but also in terms of my personal relationships (the way that community might interact with an artistic process), was something that I essentially adapted and created here.

Our community engagement program is a curatorial department. It doesn’t function as a traditional department in that it’s not supplementary. They are agitators; they are intentional. They make space, as opposed to supplementing work. Their gig is not to cue up the Q&A after a play. [It’s] ultimately about the cultivation of relationships.

So that’s what the creative ecosystem is. It’s an adjunct to my own artistic process; it’s a scheme and structure that works within the infrastructure that we have at Yerba Buena Center. What we do is we curate small groups, somewhere between 30 and 50, around key questions that artists are driving. We bring these folks together in salon spaces to watch work together. So, for Young Jean Lee, the questions are: “What is on the other side of your body’s joy?” and “What is on the other side of your body’s shame?” The group has been together for about a year. And when we present the work, they’ll create in our theater lobby physical responses — performative, immersive, antagonistic, and also very vulnerable responses to those questions of joy and shame in the body.

Having piloted a group already (which was contemplating futurity and soul), and now working with body politics, we’re going to add a layer of the onion every year, so that in the coming years we’ll have hundreds if not thousands of folks operating on our campus not just as audience members but as agents within artistic inquiry, so that while we’re here it’s a place of thinking and doing and not just watching.

SFBG Who makes up this group?

MBJ They come from all over the educational spectrum, and all over the vocational spectrum. That too is by design. We wanted at least 10 different practices in each of these groups. These groups aren’t made up of artists exclusively, and ideally artists are in the minority. What we’re creating is a platform by which an arts space might be a hub for diverse intellectual activity. It’s art-framed, but it’s not necessarily art-centered.

DC I’m excited to see us pursue not an either/or definition of what an arts center is — or what art is — but a both/and. What we’re trying to suggest here is that the more we consider what the art is doing, who’s gathering around it or who’s making it, the more valuable that art itself is. The community engagement structure Marc talked about suggests that if you don’t have an active curatorial arm asking, “Who’s not here still?” and “What don’t we know yet?” then the curatorial structure is static. I think putting things together in this way means it’s much more of a circle, and it’s much more inclusive.

SFBG Where does Young Jean Lee’s Untitled Feminist Show come in?

MBJ There’s an arc around relationship to the body—in a way that’s not so much about identity; I think it’s more about empathy and vulnerability. These broad themes of joy and shame are more visceral than intellectual. The alchemy of transformation, the movement of molecules in a room, that’s currency to me. An artistic experience is more valuable if I feel my chemistry changing. So I look for art and artists that demonstrate a similar value system. Myra Melford’s work; Dohee Lee’s work; all of the artists in our New Frequencies music festival — these are artists who demonstrate that same sensibility: the attack of inquiry with brilliant intellectual design, but also a fierceness and unflinching-ness around personal transformation.

The work I subscribe to is work where I feel an artist being transformed, with a magic or sorcery around the ability to have personal transformation be a conduit for collective transformation. I think that’s at work [in Untitled Feminist Show]. And in terms of an intentional community design, this is what we foreground. *

“UNTITLED FEMINIST SHOW”

Thu/30-Sat/1, 8pm, $30-$35

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

Lam Research Theater

700 Howard, SF

www.ybca.org

Theater Listings: January 29 – February 4, 2014

Michael Redmond
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0

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

Hir Magic Theatre, Fort Mason Center, Bldg D, Third Flr, SF; www.magictheatre.org. $20-60. Previews Wed/29-Sat/1, 8pm; Sun/2, 2:30pm; Mon/3, 7pm. Opens Tue/4, 8pm. Runs Wed-Sat, 8pm (no show Feb 5; additional show Feb 19, 2:30pm); Sun, 2:30pm (also Feb 9, 7pm); Feb 11, 7pm. Through Feb 23. Magic Theatre presents the world premiere of Taylor Mac’s comedic drama about a woman determined to help her two wayward children succeed, while stretching the boundaries of her own gender identity

The Scion Marsh San Francisco, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. $15-60. Previews Thu/30-Fri/31, 8pm. Opens Sat/1, 5pm. Runs Thu-Fri, 8pm; Sat, 5pm. Through March 1. Brian Copeland’s fourth solo show takes on “privilege, murder, and sausage.”

BAY AREA

Gideon’s Knot Aurora Theatre, 2081 Addison, Berk; www.auroratheatre.org. $32-60. Previews Fri/31-Sat/1 and Feb 5, 8pm; Sun/2, 2pm; Tue/4, 7pm. Opens Feb 6, 8pm. Runs Tue, 7pm; Wed-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2 and 7pm. Through March 2. Aurora Theatre Company performs Johnna Adams’ drama set within the tense atmosphere of a parent-teacher conference.

The House That Will Not Stand Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison, Berk; www.berkeleyrep.org. $29-59. Previews Fri/31-Sat/1 and Tue/4, 8pm; Sun/2, 7pm. Opens Feb 5, 8pm. Runs Tue and Thu-Sat, 8pm (also Sat, Feb 13, and March 13, 2pm; no Sat matinee Feb 15); Wed, 7pm; Sun, 2 and 7pm. Through March 16. Berkeley Rep performs the world premiere of Marcus Gardley’s tale of free women of color in 1936 New Orleans.

ONGOING

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.

Hemorrhage: An Ablution of Hope and Despair Dance Mission Theater, 3316 24th St, SF; www.dancemission.com. $20-25. Thu-Sat, 8pm (Feb 8, shows at 4 and 7pm); Sun, 6pm. Through Feb 8. Dance Brigade presents this “dance installation at the intersection of the new San Francisco and world politics.”

Jerusalem San Francisco Playhouse, 450 Post, SF; www.sfplayhouse.org. $20-100. Tue-Thu, 7pm; Fri-Sat, 8pm (also Sat, 3pm); Sun/2, Feb 9, and 16, 2pm. Through March 8. SF Playhouse performs the West Coast premiere of Jez Butterworth’s Tony- and Olivier-wining epic.

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

Major Barbara ACT’s Geary Theater, 415 Geary, SF; www.act-sf.org. $20-140. Wed/29-Sat/1, 8pm (also Wed/29, 2pm); Sun/2, 2pm. American Conservatory Theater performs a new production of George Bernard Shaw’s political comedy.

Noises Off Shelton Theater, 533 Sutter, SF; www.sheltontheater.org. $38. Thu-Sat, 8pm. Through Feb 8. Shelton Theater presents Michael Frayn’s outrageous backstage comedy.

The Oy of Sex Marsh San Francisco, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. $20-100. Sat, 5pm. Extended through Feb 22. Comedian Alicia Dattner performs her solo show, based on her stories from her own life and love addiction.

Pardon My Invasion Phoenix Theatre, 414 Mason, SF; pardonmyinvasion.brownpapertickets.com. $15-30. Thu-Sat, 8pm; Sun/2, 2pm. Through Feb 8. A pulp fiction writer’s characters come to life in this dark comedy by Joy Cutler.

The Paris Letter New Conservatory Theater Center, 25 Van Ness, SF; www.nctcsf.org. $25-45. Wed-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. Through Feb 23. New Conservatory Theatre Center performs Jon Robin Baitz’s tale of a Wall Street powerhouse desperately trying to keep his sexual identity a secret.

The Pornographer’s Daughter Z Below, 470 Florida, SF; www.zspace.org. $32. Thu-Sat, 8pm (also Sat, 10:30pm); Sun, 5pm. Through Feb 16. Liberty Bradford Mitchell was a good kid growing up, and a pretty innocent one — probably more than you would expect given her proximity to the family business, the veritable empire of porn founded and run by her father and uncle, San Francisco legends Artie and Jim Mitchell. Now in her 40s and a mother of her own, Mitchell proves a likeably earthy presence if a less-then-compelling actor-playwright in her new one-woman show, directed by Michael T. Weiss, a firsthand account of growing up in San Francisco’s first family of raunch. Inseparable brothers Artie and Jim were the 1970s porn pioneers who founded the O’Farrell Theatre and road high in the industry, weathering court battles and substance abuse and divorce, but succumbing ultimately to their own lethal fallout — Jim Mitchell shot and killed Liberty’s father Artie in 1991. The material here is rich to say the least, and together with generous and explicit excerpts from archival footage and classic porn (including the Mitchells’ own era-defining Behind the Green Door, from 1972), it makes a fascinating bed for Liberty Mitchell’s reminiscences. Musical accompaniment by three-person SF band the Fluffers, meanwhile, punctuates the chronology with blasts of period rock, though often just a few bars worth, and backs up Liberty on the a single, rather awkward musical number. Moreover, despite the keen interest the basic historical facts and family anecdotes can generate, Mitchell’s filial narrative lens is only intermittently effective, being finally too pat, poorly drawn, and predictably sentimentalized to fully reverberate with the larger, almost archetypical or classical themes hovering nearby. (Avila)

“SF Sketchfest: The San Francisco Sketch Comedy Festival” Various venues, SF; www.sfsketchfest.com. Prices vary. Through Feb 9. This year’s 13th Sketchfest features over 200 shows in more than 20 venues, featuring both big-name talents (Alan Arkin, Tenacious D, Laura Dern and the cast of Enlightened, Maya Rudolph, etc.) and up-and-comers, plus tributes to films, theatrical and musical events, improv showcases, and more. Much, much, much more.

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

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

Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind Boxcar Playhouse, 505 Natoma, SF; www.sfneofuturists.com. $11-16. Fri/31, 9pm. Thirty plays in 60 minutes, with a show that varies each night, as performed by the Neo-Futurists.

Ubu Roi Exit on Taylor, 277 Taylor, SF; www.cuttingball.com. $10-50. Opens Thu/30, 7:30pm (gala opening Fri/31, 8pm). Runs Thu, 7:30pm; Fri-Sat, 8pm (also Sat, 2pm); Sun, 5pm. Through Feb 23. Cutting Ball Theater performs Alfred Jarry’s avant-garde parody of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, presented in a new translation by Cutting Ball artistic director Rob Melrose.

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

BAY AREA

Can You Dig It? Back Down East 14th — the 60s and Beyond Marsh Berkeley, 2120 Allston, Berk; www.themarsh.org. $20-35. Sat/1, 8:30pm; Sun/2, 7pm. Don Reed’s new show offers more stories from his colorful upbringing in East Oakland in the 1960s and ’70s. More hilarious and heartfelt depictions of his exceptional parents, independent siblings, and his mostly African American but ethnically mixed working-class community — punctuated with period pop, Motown, and funk classics, to which Reed shimmies and spins with effortless grace. And of course there’s more too of the expert physical comedy and charm that made long-running hits of Reed’s last two solo shows, East 14th and The Kipling Hotel (both launched, like this newest, at the Marsh). Can You Dig It? reaches, for the most part, into the “early” early years, Reed’s grammar-school days, before the events depicted in East 14th or Kipling Hotel came to pass. But in nearly two hours of material, not all of it of equal value or impact, there’s inevitably some overlap and indeed some recycling. Note: review from an earlier run of the show. (Avila)

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

The Grapes of Wrath Hillbarn Theatre, 1285 E. Hillsdale, Foster City; www.hillbartheatre.org. $23-38. Fri-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. Through Feb 9. Hillbarn Theatre continues its 73rd season with Frank Galati’s adaptation of John Steinbeck’s classic American novel.

Man in a Case Berkeley Repertory Theatre, 2015 Addison, Berk; www.berkeleyrep.org. $45-125. Tue and Thu-Sat, 8pm; Wed, 7pm; Sun, 2pm. Through Feb 16. Mikhail Baryshnikov returns to Berkeley Rep to star in a play based on a pair of Anton Chekhov’s short stories, “Man in a Case” and “About Love.” Obie-winning Big Dance Theater stages the high-tech adaptation.

Silent Sky TheatreWorks, Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro, Mtn View; www.theatreworks.org. $19-73. Tue-Wed, 7:30pm; Thu-Sat, 8pm (also Sat, 2pm); Sun 2 and 7pm. Through Feb 9. Lauren Gunderson’s drama explores the life of groundbreaking early 20th century astronomer Henrietta Leavitt.

PERFORMANCE/DANCE

Caroline Lugo and Carolé Acuña’s Ballet Flamenco Peña Pachamama, 1630 Powell, SF; www.carolinalugo.com. Sat/1, Feb 8, 14, 16, 22, 6:15pm. $15-19. Flamenco performance by the mother-daughter dance company, featuring live musicians.

“Dance and Diaspora” ODC Theater, 3153 17th St, SF; www.odcdance.org. Sat/1-Sun/2, 8pm. $25-35. Works by Persian artists Farima Berenji and Shahrzad Khorsandi.

“Does This Joke Make Me Look Fat?” Mutiny Radio, 2781 21st St, SF; www.mutinyradio.org. Fri/31, 8pm. $10. Also Sat/1, 5pm, $10, Purple Onion at Kells, 530 Jackson, SF; www.purpleonionatkells.com. Pam Benjamin performs her solo comedy show at two different venues. Aaron Barrett and Christopher Conatser open.

Feinstein’s at the Nikko Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason, SF; www.feinsteinssf.com. This week: Anita Gillette in “After All,” Thu/30, 8pm, $30-40; Leslie Jordan in “Fruit Fly,” Fri/31, 8pm, $25-35; Terry White, Sat/1, 7pm, $25-30.

“Gang Bang Comedy Show” Playland, 1351 Polk, SF; www.playlandbar.com. Wed/29, 8pm. $10. Hella gay Comedy presents queer and queer-friendly stand-up with Charlie Ballard, Carrie Avritt, Jesus Fuentes, Yuri Kagen, and Sampson McCormick.

Jess Curtis/Gravity Joe Goode Annex, 401 Alabama, SF; www.joegoode.org. Thu/30-Sat/1, 8pm. $15-20. The company performs Performance Research Experiment #2.2.

“Live Yiddish Radio Show” Contemporary Jewish Museum, 736 Mission, SF; www.thecjm.org. Sun/2, 1-3pm. $20 (includes museum admission). Musicians, comedians, and actors combine their talents to re-create a Yiddish radio show as it might have sounded in the 1930s.

“Magic at the Rex” Hotel Rex, 562 Sutter, SF; www.magicattherex.com. Sat, 8pm. Ongoing. $30. Magic and mystery with Adam Sachs and mentalist Sebastian Boswell III.

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

“The Romane Event Comedy Show” Make-Out Room, 3225 22nd St, SF; www.pacoromane.com. Wed/29, 8pm. $10. With Paco Romane, Jules Posner, Matt Gubser, Rajeev Dhar, Cameron Vaninni, Joey Devine, and host Nicole Calasich.

“This Boy is Just So Strange” Eric Quezada Center, 518 Valencia, SF; www.518valencia.org. Sat/1, 8pm; Sun/2, 3pm. Free. Original songs and monologues with Tommi Avicolli Mecca, Joel Mark, and Diana Hartman.

“Untitled Feminist Show” Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Lam Research Theater, 700 Howard, SF; www.ybca.org. Thu/30-Sat/1, 8pm. $30-35. Playwright and director Young Jean Lee’s latest work “shakes up gender norms through movement and music.”

BAY AREA

Company C Contemporary Ballet Lesher Center for the Arts, 1601 Civic, Walnut Creek; www.companycballet.org. Thu/30-Sat/1, 8pm (also Sat/1, 3pm). Also Feb 13-14, 8pm; Feb 15, 6pm (benefit gala); Feb 16, 3pm. $25-48. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Lam Research Theater, 701 Mission, SF; www.companycballet.org. The company’s winter program includes premieres by Susan Jaffe and Charles Anderson.

Diablo Ballet Shadelands Arts Center, 111 N. Wiget Lane, Walnut Creek; www.diabloballet.org. Fri/31-Sat/1, 8pm (also Sat/1, 2pm). $29-34. The company’s 20th anniversary season continues with its Emotions Into Movement program.

“Die Fledermaus” Napa Valley Performing Arts Center, Yountville; www.lincolntheater.com. Sat/1, 8pm; Sun/2, 2pm. $15-59. Lamplighters Music Theatre (noted for its Gilbert and Sullivan productions) performs Johann Strauss’ “bubbly tale of revenge and temptation.” Continues at Bay Area theaters through Feb 23; visit www.lamplighters.org for future dates.

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

Martha Graham Dance Company Zellerbach Hall, Bancroft at Telegraph, UC Berkeley, Berk; www.calperformances.org. Fri/31-Sat/1, 8pm. $30-92. Performing Appalachian Spring (1944), Cave of the Heart (1946), and Maple Leaf Rag (1990). *

 

Events: January 29 – February 4, 2014

Michael Redmond
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0

Listings are compiled by Guardian staff. Submit items for the listings at listings@sfbg.com. For further information on how to submit items for the listings, see Selector.

WEDNESDAY 29

Sean Strub Books Inc., 2275 Market, SF; www.booksinc.net. 7:30pm, free. The author discusses Body Counts: A Memoir of Politics, Sex, AIDS, and Survival.

THURSDAY 30

“Playland After Dark” Playland-Not-at-the-Beach, 10979 San Pablo, El Cerrito; www.playland-not-at-the-beach.org. 6-10pm, $10. Adults (18 and up) get full run of Playland’s pinball and carnival games, plus board games galore and unique exhibits.

SATURDAY 1

Lunar Chinese New Year Festival on Fourth Street Near 1780 Fourth St, Berk; www.teance.com, www.fourthstreet.com. Noon-4pm, free. Welcome the Year of the Horse with Chinese Opera vignettes by Kei Lun Martial Arts, traditional lion dancing, drummers, and more.

“Sam & Max: A Look Back with Steve Purcell” Cartoon Art Museum, 655 Mission, SF; www.cartoonart.org. 4-5pm, free (reception, 7-9pm, $5). Booksigning celebrating The Collected Sam & Max: Surfin’ the Highway. The later reception also includes Purcell in person and a chance to check out the Cartoon Art Museum’s Sam & Max exhibit, as well as the concurrent exhibits “Grains of Sand: 25 Years of the Sandman” and “Searle in America.”

“Peralta Hacienda Saturday Kids Club” Peralta Hacienda Historical Park, 2465 34th Ave, Oakl; www.peraltahacienda.org. 2:30-5pm, free. Ongoing through May 31. Outdoorsy games, sports, and team-building fun for kids, who can learn about Ohlone Native American life, make crafts using dyes drawn from local plants, and go birdwatching, to name just a few of the offered activities.

Art Peterson Emerald Tablet, 80 Fresno, SF; www.emtab.org. 2-5pm, free. The author reads from Why Is That Bridge Orange? San Francisco for the Curious.

“Sick Plant Clinic” UC Botanical Garden, 200 Centennial, Berk; events.berkeley.edu. 9am-noon, free. Feeling like a green-thumb failure? Bring your ailing plants (covered or in a container) for diagnosis by volunteer plant pathologists and entomologists at this long-standing monthly event.

Gene Luen Yang SF Public Library, Latino/Hispanic Community Meeting Room, 100 Larkin, SF; www.sfpl.org. 2-3:30pm, free. The two-time National Book Award finalist discusses and signs his latest work, graphic novel Boxers & Saints: A Historical Duology of the Boxer Rebellion.

SUNDAY 2

Exploratorium free day Exploratorium, Pier 15, SF; www.exploratorium.edu. 10am-5pm, free. Regular adult admission is $25, so here’s your chance to check out (for free!) the science museum’s six exhibit galleries, including a Bay Observatory, and other attractions.

“Poetry Unbound #9” Art House Gallery, 2905 Shattuck, Berk; berkeleyarthouse.wordpress.com. 5:15pm, $5 donation (no one turned away for lack of funds). With Paradise, Jan Steckel, and Martin Heimstra, followed by a brief open mic. Hosts are Clive Matson and Richard Loranger.

MONDAY 3

Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis Booksmith, 1644 Haight, SF; www.booksmith.com. 7pm, $5 (advance tickets at www.brownpapertickets.com). Portland, Ore.-based author Meloy (also known at the lead singer and songwriter of the Decemberists) and illustrator Ellis — real-life partners and parents to two sons — share their latest literary collaboration, fantasy epic Wildwood Imperium: The Wildwood Chronicles, Part III. *

 

Mumble, mumble, murder

Michael Redmond
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1
Mumble, mumble, murder

cheryl@sfbg.com

FILM Joe Swanberg’s latest film to play the Roxie, 24 Exposures, isn’t actually his newest. That’d be family drama Happy Christmas, which just premiered at Sundance. Going by festival reviews, Christmas sounds like it’s in the vein of Swanberg’s Drinking Buddies — last year’s Olivia Wilde-starring tiptoe into the mainstream, a departure for the indie writer-director-actor — with a marquee cast that includes Buddies‘ Anna Kendrick and hipster queen Lena Dunham.

24 Exposures is the busy artist’s 15th flick to play the Roxie in a year (the list includes Buddies, 2012’s acclaimed All the Light in the Sky, 2007 breakout Hannah Takes the Stairs, and the only public screening to date of short Privacy Settings). In some ways, 24 Exposures marks another departure, being an “erotic thriller” (scare quotes needed, because it’s highly aware of its genre) — though it also incorporates Swanberg’s affection for relationships that aren’t working out, no matter how much the principals talk about their problems. His interest in horror (see: his participation in 2012 anthology film V/H/S and 2011 cult hit You’re Next, etc.) flavors 24 Exposures‘ plot: Parallel lives collide when photographer Billy (Adam Wingard), who snaps cute, topless women posed in gruesome death scenes, meets depressed cop Michael (Simon Barrett), who happens to be investigating the actual murder of a cute, topless woman.

Yep, this film stars director Wingard and writer Barrett of You’re Next and V/H/S fame. That slurping sound you hear is the mumblecore snake eating its tail, and not for the first time. (Is there anyone in that scene who hasn’t appeared in or worked on a peer’s film? The answer is no.) In 24 Exposures, it’s less of an in-joke than expected, since Billy and Michael don’t achieve BFF mode until the film’s coda. The relationships that form the core of the film are between Billy and the various women in his life, including girlfriend Alex (Caroline White), who is totes cool with his artistic pursuits as long as she’s included in the process, and any three-ways that occur after the shoots. Inevitably, there’s tension when she returns from a weekend away and realizes Billy’s been “taking smutty pictures when I’m not here.”

Billy is a sleaze, but otherwise he’s basically a harmless dude in a cardigan. If 24 Exposures had been made in early 1980s Europe, the film would pump out more bloody bodies for Michael to find; there’d be way more POV creeping and probably a chase involving an unseen killer wearing black leather gloves. Despite a sleek credit sequence illustrated with pulpy artwork, this is no lo-fi giallo. A better reference point is one from the script itself: Silk Stalkings, that 1990s epitome of basic-cable sexy thrillerdom. That it’s brought up jokingly (as in, “Do you feel like a character in Silk Stalkings right now?”) only enforces 24 Exposures‘ aspirations toward meta-ness.

The self-consciousness doesn’t end there. The film’s synthy score, which swells knowingly during suspenseful moments, is another obviously obvious choice. But if you’re expecting 24 Exposures to descend into full-on camp, you’ll come away disappointed. Lurid is perhaps a better descriptor, since 24 Exposures is bulging with “boobies” — a word Billy uses moments after explaining to a skeptical model that he practices “dress-up mixed with fine art.” Earlier, he’s described his work as “personal fetish photos,” clarifying that they’re “classy.” (Truly, they’re not.) We never see the results displayed anywhere, yet this is apparently his profession, not a private hobby, since the photo shoots involve makeup artists and assistants.

Clearly, 24 Exposures is poking fun at the erotic-thriller genre, and itself by extension. Any haters who cry “misogyny!” — because Swanberg’s camera ogles just as much as Billy’s does — are answered in a scene that’s been planned with them in mind. Photographing death is “way more interesting than taking a picture of a fuckin’ tree in your front yard,” Billy tells Michael, who counters by asking, “Why is it always dead women? Why not a dead old guy?” It’s not about that, Billy insists. “It’s ridiculous for me to try and explain this, because it’s not something that I even think about. You can’t say, ‘Why am I doing this?’ You just have to say, ‘OK, I’m attracted to this, and that’s what I’m gonna do.'”

That’s vague, and — again — Billy is a sleaze, but Swanberg’s careful to make his underlying point visually. When Michael asks Billy, “Have you ever seen a real dead body?”, it foreshadows the film’s second cute-girl murder. A distinction is made when a character we’ve come to sympathize with is brutally killed, and hers is the only crime scene that doesn’t invite us to leer at the victim.

The film’s last act cuts some months ahead; we see aspiring memoirist Michael receiving feedback from a book agent (played by Swanberg), who advises him to rewrite his manuscript. There are too many loose ends, he says, and not enough strong connections between the cop and the photographer. Oh, and the ending needs work, too. 24 Exposures, you’re talking to yourself — and you know it, and we know it, and you know we know you know.

Up next for the prolific, probably sleep-deprived Swanberg, who’s likely also got a dozen or so new movies in the pipeline: helming an episode of the San Francisco-set HBO series Looking. Wonder if there’ll be a scene set at the Roxie? *

 

24 EXPOSURES opens Fri/31 at the Roxie.

 

META WORLD PIECES: CATCHING UP WITH 24 EXPOSURES DIRECTOR JOE SWANBERG

 

SF Bay Guardian How’s Sundance?

Joe Swanberg It’s been amazing. [Happy Christmas] is a pretty small, personal movie, so it’s nice that people seem to be liking it.

 

SFBG When will it be coming out theatrically?

JS We’re probably gonna follow the Drinking Buddies (2013) release pattern of doing VOD and theatrical sometime around July, and then having it come out on DVD around Thanksgiving.

 

SFBG You’ve had 15 movies screen at the Roxie Theater in the past year, which is a pretty astonishing number.

JS They did a retrospective, which was incredible. Not only was it a great chance to hang out in San Francisco for a week, but it was amazing for me to look back at a lot of movies that I hadn’t seen in a long time. It’s also crazy to think that there’s that much stuff. I sort of forget that I’ve made that many movies.

 

SFBG Do you not consider yourself prolific?

JS Because I don’t write, I can very quickly jump from one project right into the next. The first six years I was making movies, I was making around one a year, because I had a day job and that was all the time I could spend on it. As soon as I was able to support myself as a filmmaker, I really was making a lot of them [laughs] — there was one year where I made six, which was really too many by anyone’s standards. It made the following year really strange, trying to actually get all of those out into the world. And also, while they’ve all had some form of distribution, there’s really only four or five of my movies that people have heard of. There’s all of these others that only the hardcore cinephiles have checked out.

 

SFBG When you say you don’t write, do you mean because your films are improvised?

JS Yeah, exactly. I do write, but it’s just an outlining process. I’m working so collaboratively with the actors that it’s not the sort of difficult screenplay process that a lot of filmmakers go through.

 

SFBG With this long filmography, is it weird for you to be suddenly known as “the director of Drinking Buddies”?

JS It’s totally fine. I tend to like the newest film the best, just because it’s the closest to where my head is at. Drinking Buddies would be the one that I would recommend to people, and talk about as well. And probably Happy Christmas will very quickly become the next center of conversations. I haven’t watched a lot of those early ones in a long time, so I don’t even know if I would like them anymore [laughs]. Hopefully, they’re all leading toward something. Getting better. Let me put it this way: It’s great that people are talking about Drinking Buddies and not some movie I made six years ago.

 

SFBG You mentioned that Happy Christmas is a personal movie, and obviously Drinking Buddies ties into your much-documented love of beer. So what inspired 24 Exposures?

JS I had been acting in genre movies a lot, especially with Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett. I was really interested in what motivated them to make those kinds of movies instead of romantic comedies or something [laughs]. Also, I think a lot of what 24 Exposures is about is the responsibility and ownership of that stuff. I wanted to investigate where the women fit in. Are they passive models who are being exploited, or are they willing participants? Are they co-authors of the art? Is it a little bit of all of those things? It’s something that I’ve made other movies about, too. I’m genuinely interested in the collaborative process. Who ends up taking the credit, and who ends up feeling taken advantage of?  

SFBG The film is very meta.  

JS Definitely. I was reading Richard Brody’s book on Jean-Luc Godard at the time, so meta was very much on my mind. I was interested in the way that Godard played around with genre movies, but very atypical genre movies. They were always much more like Godard movies than they were genre movies. It was fun to sort of dabble in that space. The other thing that was exciting to me was how my generation’s sexuality was informed by late-night Cinemax and very cheesy, soft-focus, heavy-music kind of stuff. (I’m 32.) When all of us were in junior high, that was the most erotic thing we had access to. That aesthetic is such a joke now. It’s so dated. So I wanted to investigate that as well.  

SFBG Do you worry that someone will come across the film and not pick up on that subtext?

JS This is an interesting one for that question. Pretty much all of my movies have existed very squarely in the art-house audience, so I haven’t really thought much beyond that sort of space. But that’s changing these days, especially with Drinking Buddies, and, I’m assuming, with Happy Christmas too. So maybe 24 Exposures will be seen by considerably more people than some of those earlier ones. But I feel like the movie’s sort of subverting the genre at every turn. It never fully gains momentum as a pure exploitation thriller. Every five minutes it reminds you that you’re watching a movie, and puts in some sort of criticism or other unsexy thought into your head.  

SFBG Totally changing gears, but I noticed you directed an episode of HBO’s Looking, which all anyone here can talk about right now.  

JS Yeah! It was one of the most fun things I’ve done as a filmmaker. I really like the show, too, so I’m just happy to have had some little piece of involvement. I live in Chicago, so I have hometown pride, but San Francisco is without a doubt the most beautiful city in America. I spent three weeks trying to find a bad view, and I couldn’t. *

This Week’s Picks: January 22 – 28, 2014

Michael Redmond
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WEDNESDAY 22

JD Wilkes and The Dirt Daubers

As the wild frontman for The Legendary Shack Shakers, Col. J.D. Wilkes brought

together a wide array of blues-infused and swampy sounding rock n’ roll, earning them

the admiration of fans and invitations to tour with noted performers such as Robert Plant.

Wilkes—a bonafide Kentucky colonel, hence his title—formed The Dirt Daubers in

2009 with his wife, Jessica, and added guitarist Rod Hamdallah and drummer Preston

Corn for the band’s most recent album, Wild Moon (Plowboy Records). Produced by

iconic punk rocker Cheetah Chrome (The Dead Boys), the album finds them back in the

vein of mixing traditional sounds with an infectious rock attitude and approach. (Sean McCourt)

8pm, $10-$12

Rickshaw Stop

155 Fell, SF

(415) 861-2011

www.rickshawstop.com

 

Sweat Lodge

Spend a minimal amount of time on the stretch of Mission between El Rio and The Knockout, and you’ll probably hear of these lo-fi punks. Not simply since one member is a fixture at the former bar, cooking up Indian tacos and sweet frybread on the back patio. No, it’s because Sweat Lodge seems to be a favorite of discerning music aficionados and drunkards alike. The last unprompted recommendation came from a guy who had literally just picked himself off the sidewalk (his back hurt) and said, “That dude’s band fucking rocks” as Rocky passed. Perhaps sensing jaded skepticism he added, “and I don’t give praise lightly.” But I’ve checked the tumblr and the tapes, and can’t disagree. (Ryan Prendiville)

With Giggle Party, Nasty Christmas

9pm, $8

Bottom of the Hill

1233 17th, SF

(415) 612-4455

www.bottomofthehill.com

 

THURSDAY 23

Napoleon Dynamite 10th anniversary screening

Flippin’ sweet! It’s time to polish up your dance moves, sketch out some ligers, and get out the vote for Pedro — and if you have no idea what I’m talking about, clearly you’ve never seen the 2004 cult comedy classic Napoleon Dynamite. As part of this year’s SF Sketchfest, join actors Jon Heder, Jon Gries, and Efren Ramirez for a 10th anniversary screening of the film and a live, in-person Q&A session, where you can ask them anything you ever wanted to know about the oddball movie, or perhaps even life in general&ldots;like, “Do the chickens have large talons?” (Sean McCourt)

7pm, $25

Castro Theatre

429 Castro, SF

http://www.sfsketchfest.com/

 

FRIDAY 24

Dave Alvin

First displaying his formidable guitar chops as a member of The Blasters in the early

1980s, singer/songwriter Dave Alvin has also played with X and The Knitters, and has

gone on to a distinguished solo career, with his most recent record, Eleven Eleven (Yep

Roc) coming out in 2011. Hailing from the working class town of Downey, the Grammy Award-winning Alvin absorbed a host of musical influences growing up,and his soulful songwriting exudes the best of that Americana and roots-based music — he comes to the city tonight for a special acoustic show with Nina Gerber and Christy McWilson. (Sean McCourt)

8pm, $25

Great American Music Hall

859 O’Farrell, SF

(415) 885-0750

www.slimspresents.com

 

Dent May

Over three albums, Dent May has been a bit of a indie pop chameleon. Take the fabulous lounge kitsch of The Good Feeling Music Of Dent May & His Magnificent Ukulele. Or the drum machine disco revival on Do Things. And May’s latest, Warm Blanket, is predictably unpredictable: see the Bowie styled “Let’s Dance” intro that quickly upshifts into an afrobeat groove on “Let Them Talk.” Still, one thing May shares with his label bosses Animal Collective is a shared affinity for Brian Wilson, and it’s the biggest referent, with a track like “Corner Piece” sounding like it could have spun off of Pet Sounds, and it’s the perfect opportunity for May to get increasingly open-hearted and romantic. (Ryan Prendiville)

With Chris Cohen, Jack Name

9pm, $12

Slim’s

333 11th St., SF

(415) 255-0333

www.slimspresents.com

 

Francesca Lombardo at Heart Phoenix’s HIGHER

Sometimes it feels like watching reruns. The one where the DJs idle behind the decks, doing their best to seem effortlessly cool, making adjustments with a cigarette in hand (and another drooping from their bottom lip). Worse than than that, the occasional amped up excitement, hiding the fact that the webcast probably won’t translate 100 percent, and in any case, the scenester crowd will look bored. Francesca Lombardo’s recent Boiler Room run avoided both pitfalls. Centered around her vocals, and orchestrated with strings, Lombardo’s music took a middle path through deep house — somewhere between Maya Jane Coles and Nicolas Jaar — confident but with enough of a nervy edge befitting her recent addition to Crosstown Rebels. (Ryan Prendiville)

With Christian Martin, Galen, shOOey, Gravity, Layne Loomis, Ding-Dong, and more

9pm-4am, $15-20

Public Works

161 Erie, SF

(415) 932-0955

www.publicsf.com

 

SATURDAY 25

 

Jessy Lanza

We’ve seen a major resurgence of UK R&B-circa-’89 over the past few years, but while songstresses like Jessie Ware tackle those Lisa Stansfield-ish stylings with showy emotivity, Canada’s Jessy Lanza takes a borderline-shoegazer’s approach to her vocals, filtering ambiguous yearnings and half-confessions through delay and echo until they’re just another instrument in the mix, as stark and percussive as they are ethereal and melodic. Released on the much-fetishized Hyperdub imprint, and produced/co-written by Junior Boys’ Jeremy Greenspan, Lanza’s icy, prickly, spacious debut LP, Pull My Hair Back (2013), updates a flashy throwback genre for introverted, LCD-immersed times, in which the people can’t quite be trusted to say what they mean, or vice versa. This Saturday’s Popscene-curated show marks Lanza’s second-ever West Coast appearance, and might elucidate a persona that, similarly to those of labelmates Hype Williams and Laurel Halo, remains well concealed. (Taylor Kaplan)

With Running in the Fog

9pm, $10

Amnesia

853 Valencia, SF

(415) 970-0012

www.amnesiathebar.com

 

SF Mr. Transman 2014 Competition

Be a part of San Francisco history as the Elbo Room hosts the city’s first ever Mr. Transman Competition! Six local FTM transmen of diverse backgrounds will compete in the categories of platform, swimsuit, interview, talent, and evening wear for a chance to be crowned the first Mr. Transman San Francisco. Hosted by Murray Hill, the creator of the first Mr. Transman competition in New York in 2011, this vibrant showcase will be judged by a panel of stars, including Shawna Virago, Michelle Tea, Ashley Fink, and Brontez Purnell. The contestants are James Darling, Mason J, Lynne Breedlove, Loren Mattia, Andrew Onthago, and Dawson Montoya. One of them will receive a huge trophy, a cash prize, and a spread in Original Plumbing magazine! (21+). (Kirstie Haruta)

8pm, $15-20

Elbo Room

647 Valencia, SF

(415) 552-7788

www.elbo.com

 

Project Agora’s Mother Tongue

When Kara Davis was actively dancing, she seemed to be everywhere, performing (superbly) with choreographers as different as Janice Garret, Margaret Jenkins, Robert Moses, and Kathleen Hermesdorf. Then she started to choreograph not solos and duets like most beginners, but (excellent) company pieces of a dozen dancers more. That’s before she traveled to the Middle East. Now she is working with an international cast of a visual artist, dancers, and musicians to find a common language — both culturally and artistically — with which to create a piece. The largely improvised Mother Tongue was a hit at the Museum of Performance and Design last fall. It’s now back at the same venue on Friday before traveling a couple of blocks South to the Garage for the Saturday performance. (Rita Felciano)

Fri/24: 8pm, $10-15

Museum of Performance and Design

893B, Folsom, SF

(415)255-4800

www.mpdsf.org

Sat/25: 7pm and 8:30pm, $15

The Garage

715 Bryant, SF

http://715bryant.info

 

SUNDAY 26

Wootstock

While nerds have been picked on and made fun of for generations, with the advent of

the 21stcentury computer age and the mainstream success of all manner of tech-related

products (and even the acceptance of watching sci-fi movies and reading comic books!) we can now proudly come together for a celebration of our collective inner geek! Join

special effects guru/TV host Adam Savage from Mythbusters, singers Paul and Storm and author Pat Rothfuss for a night of comedy, music, readings and much more that embrace geek pride. Turn off that re-run of Big Bang Theory, get off the couch, and nerd out! (Sean McCourt)

1pm, $35

Marines Memorial Theatre

609 Sutter, SF

www.sfsketchfest.com

An Evening with Mike Mills

History, says artist Mike Mills, inspired his three-part Project Los Altos. But the past isn’t all that Mills is getting at — our present and future make up history before they happen, and currently, technology is happening. This Sunday at the Roxie, Mills gives a Q&A on the “future” third of his piece, a documentary entitled A Mind Forever Voyaging Through Strange Seas of Thought Alone: Silicon Valley Project (2013). The film interviews children of tech industry workers about their predictions of the future. It’s dark, even spooky, to hear this envisioned world, which has less intelligence and fewer plants and animals, because ultimately, the children’s imaginations reflect a world we don’t realize we might already be living in. (Kaylen Baker)

7pm, $10 

Roxie Theater

3117 16th St, SF

(415) 863-1087

www.roxie.com

 

MONDAY 27

Noir City

Set in a world of murder, mystery and mayhem, the film noir genre of movies blasted their way across theater screens in the 1940 and 50s, often pitting wrongly accused men against femmes fatales, or gangsters against unscrupulous lawmen. Celebrating these often overlooked Hollywood gems for the 12th year in a row is Noir City, a festival that features both those pictures considered to be classics, along with the long lost, nearly forgotten B-movies that rounded out matinees. Look for a variety of foreign films on this year’s program: Jan. 27 brings us to Germany for The Murderers Are Among Us and Berlin Express, known as “the first German film to directly deal with the wounds of WWII” and the first American film shot on location in Allied-occupied Berlin, respectively. (Sean McCourt)

Times vary, $10 per program, $120 for festival pass

Castro Theatre

429 Castro, SF

www.noircity.com

 

TUESDAY 28

Open Mic Night at Bottom of the Hill

Open mic nights at cafes can be great, but if you’re a musician craving more of a real show experience, don’t miss Bottom of the Hill’s open mic night. For one night only, the popular venue will open its stage to musicians of all genres to play one song – originals and covers both welcome! Worried your setup is too complicated? Fear not! Bottom of the Hill will set you up for a beautiful performance, with the help of sound engineer Dan Foldes and House Drummer Trent. Drum kits are not allowed, but light percussion is fine, and the venue can provide mics, cables, and a keyboard. Sign-ups are first come, first serve, starting at 7pm. Don’t miss out! (21+). (Kirstie Haruta)

7pm, Free

Bottom of the Hill

1233 17th St, SF

(415) 626-4455

www.bottomofthehill.com

 

Robert DeLong

How do you gauge the frequently overreaching world of one-man bands, when pushing multitasking to its limit is part of the draw? Seemingly taking compulsive loopster Merrill Garbus’ cue (and facepaint), Robert DeLong is a live-sampling and track-layering singer with an alternative pop bent, as likely to switch over to drums as he is to a modified Wii-mote or Sidewinder joystick in his performances. It’s an approach that puts him at least in distinctive territory: Neither the minimalist and, despite all the effort, not quite a maximalist, DeLong is more likely to get featured in Wired than written up on Pitchfork, and doesn’t quite fit into the EDM arena, where going alone is more ordinary. At the moment he seems to be orbiting in a little world of his own. (Ryan Prendiville) With Mystery Skulls, DJ Aaron Axelsen

8pm, $15

The Independent

628 Divisadero, SF

(415) 771-1421

www.theindependentsf.com

Rep Clock: January 22 – 28, 2014

Michael Redmond
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Schedules are for Wed/22-Tue/28 except where noted. Director and year are given when available. Double and triple features marked with a •. All times pm unless otherwise specified.

ARTISTS’ TELEVISION ACCESS 992 Valencia, SF; www.atasite.org. $7-10. Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton’s Cafeteria (Stryker and Silverman, 2005), Sat, 8. With filmmaker Susan Stryker in person.

BALBOA THEATRE 3630 Balboa, SF; cinemasf.com/balboa. $10. “Popcorn Palace:” Kung Fu Panda (Osborne and Stevenson, 2008), Sat, 10am. Matinee for kids.

CASTRO 429 Castro, SF; (415) 621-6120, www.castrotheatre.com. $8.50-12. •Chinatown (Polanski, 1974), Wed, 7, and The Fortune (Nichols, 1975), Wed, 5:10, 9:25. SF Sketchfest: Napoleon Dynamite (Hess, 2004), 10-year anniversary celebration with Jon Heder and other stars in person, Thu, 7; “Tribute to Tenacious D: An Evening of Conversation, Clips, and Songs with Jack Black and Kyle Gass,” Thu, 9:30. Tickets ($25) and more program details at www.sfsketchfest.com. “Noir City:” •Journey Into Fear (Foster and Welles, 1943), Fri, 7:30, and The Third Man (Reed, 1949), Fri, 9; •Border Incident (Mann, 1949) Sat, noon, In the Palm of Your Hand (Gavaldón, 1951), Sat, 2, and Victims of Sin (Fernandez, 1951), Sat, 4; •Too Late for Tears (Haskin, 1949), Sat, 7:30, and The Hitch-Hiker (Lupino, 1953), Sat, 9:30; •Drunken Angel (Kurosawa, 1948), Sun, 1:15, 6, and Stray Dog (Kurosawa, 1949), Sun, 3:30, 8:15; •The Murderers Are Among Us (Staudte, 1946), Mon, 7:15, and Berlin Express (Tourneur, 1948), Mon, 9; •Death of a Cyclist (Bardem, 1955), Tue, 7:15, and Death is a Caress (Carlmar, 1949), Tue, 9. Advance tickets ($10) and more program details at www.noircity.com.

CHRISTOPHER B. SMITH RAFAEL FILM CENTER 1118 Fourth St, San Rafael; (415) 454-1222, www.cafilm.org. $6.50-$10.75. The Girls in the Band (Chaikin, 2011), call for dates and times. The Past (Farhadi, 2013), call for dates and times. A Touch of Sin (Jia, 2013), call for dates and times.

CLAY 2261 Fillmore, SF; www.landmarktheatres.com. $10. “Midnight Movies:” The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Sharman, 1975), Sat, midnight. With the Bawdy Caste performing live.

COBB’S COMEDY CLUB 915 Columbus, SF; www.sfsketchfest.com. $15. “Say Hello To My Little Funny: A Night of Short Films Made By Stand-Up Comedians,” Tue, 8. Part of SF Sketchfest.

EXPLORATORIUM Pier 15, SF; www.exploratorium.edu. Free with museum admission ($19-25). “Saturday Cinema: Experimental Films for Kids,” Sat, 1, 2, and 3.

KAISER CENTER 300 Lakeside #206, Oakl; documented.eventbrite.com. $15-20. Documented (Vargas, 2013), with filmmaker and Pulitzer-winner journalist Jose Antonio Vargas in person, Tue, 7:30.

KANBAR HALL JCCSF, 3200 California, SF; www.jccsf.org. $25. “Mark Cantor’s Giants of Jazz: Treasures from the Archives,” Sat, 8.

MECHANICS’ INSTITUTE 57 Post, SF; milibrary.org/events. $10. “CinemaLit Film Series: Over the Top: Precode Hollywood:” Skyscraper Souls (Selwyn, 1932), Fri, 6.

PACIFIC FILM ARCHIVE 2575 Bancroft, Berk; (510) 642-5249, bampfa.berkeley.edu. $5.50-9.50. “Film 50: History of Cinema:” “Introduction to Film Language plus Avant-Garde Shorts,” Wed, 3:10. “Funny Ha-Ha: The Genius of American Comedy, 1930-1959:” It Happened One Night (Capra, 1934), Wed, 7; The Bank Dick (Cline, 1940), Fri, 7; His Girl Friday (Hawks, 1940), Fri, 8:40. “The Brilliance of Satyajit Ray:” The Bicycle Thief (De Sica, 1948), Thu, 7; The Music Room (Ray, 1958), Sat, 6:30; Ray: Life and Work of Satyajit (Ghose, 1999), Sun, 3; The River (Renoir, 1950), Sun, 5:10. “African Film Festival 2014:” Mother of George (Dosunmu, 2012), Sat, 8:30; Le Président (Bekolo, 2013), Tue, 7.

ROXIE 3117 and 3125 16th St, SF; (415) 863-1087, www.roxie.com. $6.50-11. The Square (Noujaim, 2013), Wed-Thu, 6:45, 8:45. “Sundance Short Films,” Wed, 7. A Touch of Sin (Jia, 2013), Wed, 9. “Ruth’s Table Benefit:” Ruth Asawa, Roots of an Artist (Toy), with “Hearing Voices: The Ruth’s Table Story” (Butnaru), Thu, 7. This event, $30. “Roxie’s Future Filmmakers Program: SFFS Youth Filmmaker Showcase,” Sat, noon. SF Sketchfest film screenings with artists in person, Sat-Sun and Feb 1. Visit www.sfsketchfest.com for program details. “SFMOMA on the Go: An Evening with Mike Mills,” Sun, 7.

TANNERY 708 Gilman, Berk; berkeleyundergroundfilms.blogspot.com. Donations accepted. “Berkeley Underground Film Society:” “LOOP Presents: Cartoon Carnival #3,” short films, Sat, 7:30; Breathless (Godard, 1960), Sun, 7:30.

YERBA BUENA CENTER FOR THE ARTS 701 Mission, SF; www.ybca.org. $8-10. “Ravishing, Radical, and Restored: The Films of Jack Smith:” No President (1967-70) with “I Was a Male Yvonne DeCarlo” (1967-70), Thu, 7:30; •Ray Cohn/Jack Smith (Godmilow, 1995), Sun, 2, and “Shorts and Ephemera,” Sun, 3:45. *

 

Theater Listings: January 22 – 28, 2014

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

THEATER

OPENING

Hemorrhage: An Ablution of Hope and Despair Dance Mission Theater, 3316 24th St, SF; www.dancemission.com. $20-25. Opens Fri/24, 8pm. Runs Thu-Sat, 8pm (Feb 8, shows at 4 and 7pm); Sun, 6pm. Through Feb 8. Dance Brigade presents this “dance installation at the intersection of the new San Francisco and world politics.”

Lovebirds Marsh San Francisco Studio, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. $15-50. Previews Thu/23-Fri/24, 8pm. Opens Sat/25, 8:30pm. Runs Thu-Fri, 8pm; Sat, 8:30pm. Through March 15. Theater artist and comedian Marga Gomez presents the world premiere of her 10th solo show, described as “a rollicking tale of incurable romantics.”

“SF Sketchfest: The San Francisco Sketch Comedy Festival” Various venues, SF; www.sfsketchfest.com. Prices vary. Jan 23-Feb 9. This year’s 13th Sketchfest features over 200 shows in more than 20 venues, featuring both big-name talents (Alan Arkin, Tenacious D, Laura Dern and the cast of Enlightened, Maya Rudolph, etc.) and up-and-comers, plus tributes to films, theatrical and musical events, improv showcases, and more. Much, much, much more.

Ubu Roi Exit on Taylor, 277 Taylor, SF; www.cuttingball.com. $10-50. Previews Fri/24-Sat/25, 8pm; Sun/26, 5pm. Opens Jan 30, 7:30pm (gala opening Jan 31, 8pm). Runs Thu, 7:30pm; Fri-Sat, 8pm (also Sat, 2pm); Sun, 5pm. Through Feb 23. Cutting Ball Theater performs Alfred Jarry’s avant-garde parody of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, presented in a new translation by Cutting Ball artistic director Rob Melrose.

BAY AREA

Geezer Marsh Berkeley, 2120 Allston, Berk; www.themarsh.org. $25-50. Opens Thu/23, 8pm. Runs Thu, 8pm; Sat, 5pm. Through March 1. Geoff Hoyle moves his hit comedy about aging to the East Bay.

The Grapes of Wrath Hillbarn Theatre, 1285 E. Hillsdale, Foster City; www.hillbartheatre.org. $23-38. Opens Fri/24, 8pm. Runs Fri-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. Through Feb 9. Hillbarn Theatre continues its 73rd season with Frank Galati’s adaptation of John Steinbeck’s classic American novel.

Man in a Case Berkeley Repertory Theatre, 2015 Addison, Berk; www.berkeleyrep.org. $45-125. Previews Sat/25, 8pm. Opens Sun/26, 7pm. Runs Tue and Thu-Sat, 8pm; Wed, 7pm; Sun, 2pm. Through Feb 16. Mikhail Baryshnikov returns to Berkeley Rep to star in a play based on a pair of Anton Chekhov’s short stories, “Man in a Case” and “About Love.” Obie-winning Big Dance Theater stages the high-tech adaptation.

ONGOING

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.

Jerusalem San Francisco Playhouse, 450 Post, SF; www.sfplayhouse.org. $20-100. Previews Wed/22/-Thu/23, 7pm; Fri/24, 8pm. Opens Sat/25, 8pm. Runs Tue-Thu, 7pm; Fri-Sat, 8pm (also Sat, 3pm); Feb 2, 9, 16, 2pm. Through March 8. SF Playhouse performs the West Coast premiere of Jez Butterworth’s Tony- and Olivier-wining epic.

Major Barbara ACT’s Geary Theater, 415 Geary, SF; www.act-sf.org. $20-140. Tue-Sat, 8pm (also Wed/22 and Jan 29, 2pm); Sun, 2pm. Through Feb 2. American Conservatory Theater performs a new production of George Bernard Shaw’s political comedy.

Noises Off Shelton Theater, 533 Sutter, SF; www.sheltontheater.org. $38. Thu-Sat, 8pm. Through Feb 8. Shelton Theater presents Michael Frayn’s outrageous backstage comedy.

Pardon My Invasion Phoenix Theatre, 414 Mason, SF; pardonmyinvasion.brownpapertickets.com. $15-30. Thu-Sat, 8pm; Sun/26 and Feb 2, 2pm. Through Feb 8. A pulp fiction writer’s characters come to life in this dark comedy by Joy Cutler.

The Paris Letter New Conservatory Theater Center, 25 Van Ness, SF; www.nctcsf.org. $25-45. Wed-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. Through Feb 23. New Conservatory Theatre Center performs Jon Robin Baitz’s tale of a Wall Street powerhouse desperately trying to keep his sexual identity a secret.

The Pornographer’s Daughter Z Below, 470 Florida, SF; www.zspace.org. $32. Opens Wed/22, 8pm. Runs Thu-Sat, 8pm (also Sat, 10:30pm); Sun, 5pm. Through Feb 16. Liberty Bradford Mitchell, daughter of Artie Mitchell (half of porn’s infamous Mitchell Brothers, he was shot and killed by brother Jim in 1991), performs her solo show about “growing up on the fringes of an X-rated world.”

Shit & Champagne Rebel, 1772 Market, SF; shitandchampagne.eventbrite.com. $25. Fri-Sat, 8pm. Through Feb 8. D’Arcy Drollinger (Sex and the City Live) performs “a whitesploitation comedy with dance.”

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

Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind Boxcar Playhouse, 505 Natoma, SF; www.sfneofuturists.com. $11-16. Fri-Sat, 9pm. Through Jan 31. Thirty plays in 60 minutes, with a show that varies each night, as performed by the Neo-Futurists.

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

BAY AREA

Can You Dig It? Back Down East 14th — the 60s and Beyond Marsh Berkeley, 2120 Allston, Berk; www.themarsh.org. $20-35. Sat, 8:30pm; Sun, 7pm. Through Feb 2. Don Reed’s new show offers more stories from his colorful upbringing in East Oakland in the 1960s and ’70s. More hilarious and heartfelt depictions of his exceptional parents, independent siblings, and his mostly African American but ethnically mixed working-class community — punctuated with period pop, Motown, and funk classics, to which Reed shimmies and spins with effortless grace. And of course there’s more too of the expert physical comedy and charm that made long-running hits of Reed’s last two solo shows, East 14th and The Kipling Hotel (both launched, like this newest, at the Marsh). Can You Dig It? reaches, for the most part, into the “early” early years, Reed’s grammar-school days, before the events depicted in East 14th or Kipling Hotel came to pass. But in nearly two hours of material, not all of it of equal value or impact, there’s inevitably some overlap and indeed some recycling. Note: review from an earlier run of the show. (Avila)

Sherlock Holmes: The Broken Mirror Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant, Berk; www.brownpapertickets.com. $20-28. Thu-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 3pm. Through Jan 26. Jeff Garrett portrays all the characters (Sherlock, Watson, Mrs. Hudson, Moriarty…) in this adaptation of William Gillette’s Holmes play.

Silent Sky TheatreWorks, Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro, Mtn View; www.theatreworks.org. $19-73. Tue-Wed, 7:30pm; Thu-Sat, 8pm (also Sat, 2pm); Sun 2 and 7pm. Through Feb 9. Lauren Gunderson’s drama explores the life of groundbreaking early 20th century astronomer Henrietta Leavitt.

Tristan & Yseult Berkeley Rep’s Roda Theatre, 2025 Addison, Berk; www.berkeleyrep.org. $17.50-81. Wed/15, 7pm; Thu/16-Sat/18, 8pm (also Thu/16, 2pm). Kneehigh presents an innovative take on the ancient love-triangle tale.

PERFORMANCE/DANCE

BATS Improv Bayfront Theater, B350 Fort Mason Center, SF; www.improv.org. $20. “Theatresports,” Fri, 8pm; “Improvised Downton Abbey,” Sat, 8pm.

“The Buddy Club Children’s Shows” Randall Museum Theater, 199 Museum Way, SF; www.thebuddyclub.com. Sun/26, 11am-noon. $8. With comedy magician Robert Strong.

Caroline Lugo and Carolé Acuña’s Ballet Flamenco Peña Pachamama, 1630 Powell, SF; www.carolinalugo.com. Sat/25, Feb 1, 8, 14, 16, 22, 6:15pm. $15-19. Flamenco performance by the mother-daughter dance company, featuring live musicians.

“The Day of the Locust Revisited” Mechanics’ Institute, 57 Post, SF; www.milibrary.org. Wed/22, 6pm. $20. Dramatic reading (with accompanying photography) by filmmaker Lucy Gray, putting a new spin on Nathanael West’s Depression-era Hollywood tale.

“Dream Queens Revue” Aunt Charlie’s Lounge, 133 Turk, SF; www.dreamqueensrevue.com. Wed/22, 9:30-11:30pm. Free. Drag spectacular with Colette LeGrande, Ruby Slippers, Sophilya Leggz, and more.

Feinstein’s at the Nikko Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason, SF; www.feinsteinssf.com. This week: “An Evening With Joan Ryan,” Thu, 8pm, $30-40; “Sam Harris: Ham: Slices of a Life,” Fri/24, 8pm; Sat/25, 7pm, $25-35.

“KaMau: Traveling in Black Colors” Red Poppy Art House, 2698 Folsom, SF; www.redpoppyarthouse.org. Thu/23, 7:30pm. $10-15. The multidisciplinary artist (also known as Pitch Black Gold) performs.

“Magic at the Rex” Hotel Rex, 562 Sutter, SF; www.magicattherex.com. Sat, 8pm. Ongoing. $30. Magic and mystery with Adam Sachs and mentalist Sebastian Boswell III.

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

“Rise” Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Lam Research Theater, 701 Howard, SF; ybca.org/robert-moses-kin. Thu/23-Sun/26, 8pm. $24-45. Robert Moses’ Kin Dance Company presents an evening of choreography by Robert Moses, including two world premieres.

“Word Performances” Lost Church, 65 Capp, SF; www.wordperformances.com. Wed/22, 8pm. $15. Poetry, prose, fiction, memoir, comedy, and more all pop up in this reading series; featured performers include Nato Green, Sylvie Simmons, Zahra Noorbakhsh, Tim Toaster Henderson, and others.

BAY AREA

“Egghead Comedy Showcase” Pacific Pinball Museum, 1510 Webster, Alameda; www.pacificpinball.org. Sat/25, 8pm-midnight. $15 (adults only). Comedy to support the Pacific Pinball Museum with Natasha Muse, Jonathan Ott, Duat Mai, and Ethan Orloff.

“Die Fledermaus” Lesher Center for the Arts, Hoffmann Theatre, 1601 Civic, Walnut Creek; www.lesherartscenter.org. Fri/24-Sat/25, 8pm (also Sat/25, 2pm); Sun/26, 2pm. $15-59. Lamplighters Music Theatre (noted for its Gilbert and Sullivan productions) performs Johann Strauss’ “bubbly tale of revenge and temptation.” Continues at Bay Area theaters through Feb 23; visit www.lamplighters.org for future dates.

“Hand to Mouth/Words Spoken Out #63” Rebound Bookstore, 1611 Fourth St, San Rafael; reboundbookstore@aol.com. Sat/25, 4-6pm. Free (donations requested). With Roy Marsh (launching his new book, Buyer’s Remorse), Connie Post, and Susan Zerner.

“Julius Caesar” Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge, Berk; www.berkeleylibraryfriends.org. Sun/26, 2pm. Free. San Francisco Shakespeare Company presents its touring company’s presentation of the Bard’s ancient-Rome drama.

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

“reveries and elegies” Milkbar, Sunshine Biscuit Factory, 851 81st St, Oakl; www.maryarmentroutdancetheater.com. Sat/25-Sun/26, 4:45pm. $20. Mary Armentrout’s new site-specific project is timed to coincide with sundown on each performance day.

“Winter Concert 2014: Shall We Dance?” Lesher Center for the Arts, Margaret Lesher Theatre, 1601 Civic, Walnut Creek; www.lesherartscenter.org. Sat/25, 7:30pm. $12. Winds Across the Bay presents “music written with feet in mind,” including works by Benny Goodman and from Fiddler on the Roof. *

 

Global tension

Michael Redmond
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0
Global tension

arts@sfbg.com

FILM Though its definition has been stretched hither and yon to accommodate films that might appeal to the same retro-minded audience, film noir is a well you can go to only so many times before risking excess repetition or bottom-scraping. So it’s good news that the latest annual edition of SF-bred Noir City at the Castro Theatre — kicking off Fri/24 — expands its programming to the separate-but-equal terrain of 1940s and ’50s crime melodramas made outside the genre’s traditional home. Dubbed “It’s a Bitter Little World,” Noir City 12 has a smattering of Hollywood titles, but otherwise for the first time ranges far afield, hauling in tough dramas from places like England, Argentina, Germany, and Japan.

The somber post-war mood that spurred noir cinema was, in the US, fomented largely by the trauma and disillusionment suffered by both returning vets and those they came back to. But in many other nations, the damage was more than personal and psychological — people returned to cities reduced to rubble after years of fighting, surviving residents already accustomed to extreme deprivation. Plus, former allies and enemy combatants alike were now regarded with suspicion as they lingered at the war’s end to oversee “reconstruction,” the language and cultural gaps and unfamiliar new lines of authority in turn breeding new avenues of corruption and resistance.

Two films most directly dealing with that atmosphere are double-billed Mon/27. Made in 1946 (though it wasn’t released in some parts of divided, occupied Germany until some time later), The Murderers Are Among Us was the first of the “trümmerfilm,” literally “rubble film” — movies portraying Germans’ struggles with recuperation and loss in the wake of humiliating defeat, not to mention the revelations of heinous Nazi war crimes. Returning home from a concentration camp, Susanne (Hildegard Knef) finds her Berlin apartment already occupied by Hans (Wilhelm Borchert), an embittered, alcoholic physician who no longer practices.

Forced to uneasily cohabit, they try to re-establish some semblance of ordinary life, though that effort is imperiled when former military doctor Hans discovers the superior officer he’d thought dead is in fact alive, well, and prospering — suffering no consequences at all for ordering the massacre of a hundred Polish civilians, including women and children. (Purportedly, occupying Soviet authorities insisted on changing the film’s intended ending, fearing that if Hans actually assassinated the officer, viewers would be tempted toward vigilante justice themselves.)

Duly shot amid a city in ruins, Murderers remains potent stuff, even if it soft-pedals certain aspects: For instance, concentration camp survivor Susanne is as Aryan as can be, the subject of a Jewish Holocaust apparently still being too touchy to mention. Knef (who actually had spent time in a prison camp) became an immediate star, a refreshingly unconventional one who spurned Hollywood offers and shrugged off outrage over a nude sequence (in 1950’s The Sinner) with the memorable observation that such “tumult” was ridiculous coming “five years after Auschwitz!”

Its 1948 co-feature Berlin Express, directed by Jacques Tourneur (of 1942’s Cat People and other horror classics) was a Hollywood production shot on location in Europe, with a multinational cast playing various figures traveling on a train from Paris to the German capital. When one who’d been an important German anti-Nazi resistance figure is killed en route, lingering wartime animosities are overcome to solve the crime — the tentative friendships among them a simple metaphor for the cooperation required among nations to rebuild after catastrophic conflict.

Less politically tilted, but also dealing with a devastated, immediately-postwar landscape, are Akira Kurosawa’s first two collaborations with dynamic star Toshiro Mifune, screening Sun/26. Mifune plays a seriously ill crook in 1948’s Drunken Angel, then crosses over to play a no-less-edgy junior member of the police force in the following year’s Stray Dog. His protagonist in that film is mortified when the revolver he’s issued is stolen on a tram, then used to commit a series of crimes. His obsessive pursuit of the weapon takes him deep into a remarkably seedy makeshift Tokyo of shanty towns, prostitution, and black markets, everyone flop-sweating amid oppressive summer heat.

Other films examine more ordinary, already-entrenched corruption in post-war power structures: Spanish Death of a Cyclist (1955) and Norwegian Death is a Caress (1949) find members of the social elite going to murderous lengths to hide their infidelities; two excellent British dramas from 1947, It Always Rains on Sunday and the Graham Greene-derived Brighton Rock, are bleak slices of lower-class lives driven to crime and desperation; florid Mexican melodrama Victims of Sin (1951) puts its glamorous heroine (blond Cuban Ninon Sevilla) through a mill of sexual hypocrisies and hot “African” dance numbers.

Noir City 12’s US titles, aptly, focus mostly on international criminal and romantic intrigue: Anthony Mann’s 1949 Border Incident involves Mexican immigrant-worker exploitation; the “exotic” settings are billed up front in 1947’s Singapore (Fred MacMurray, Ava Gardner), 1952’s Macao (Robert Mitchum, Jane Russell), and 1942’s The Shanghai Gesture (Gene Tierney, Victor Mature). The latter two films were both directed by Josef von Sternberg, though only willfully camp Gesture fully recaptured the sensuous aesthetic excesses of his 1930s Dietrich vehicles.

Just one title here is strictly all-American, but it’s an important one: Too Late for Tears is an independently produced 1949 “B” potboiler that fell into the public domain and has only been seen for years in inferior prints. The festival’s Film Noir Foundation is premiering its own painstaking 35mm restoration of this little gem by subsequent sci-fi specialist Byron Haskin (1953’s The War of the Worlds, 1964’s Robinson Crusoe on Mars), wherein velvet voiced LA housewife Lizabeth Scott discovers a mighty capacity for greed, deception, and even murder once a bag full of stolen cash accidentally falls into her hands. *

NOIR CITY 12

Jan 24-Feb 2, $10 (“Passport” pass, $120)

Castro Theatre

429 Castro, SF

www.noircity.com

 

Death and life

Michael Redmond
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0
Death and life

cheryl@sfbg.com

FILM This week, the African Film Festival National Traveling Series touches down at the Pacific Film Archive, bearing seven features and a number of shorts. The only film to have previous local distribution is Andrew Dosunmu’s Mother of George, about a Nigerian couple living in Brooklyn whose marriage is tested when the wife — played by Walking Dead badass Danai Gurira; her husband is Jim Jarmusch muse Isaach De Bankolé — fails to become pregnant with the son her in-laws demand. The gorgeous photography earned Bradford Young (who also lensed Ain’t Them Bodies Saints) a cinematography prize at last year’s Sundance Film Festival, and, appealing cast aside, his work is the main reason to catch George on the big screen.

The strongest film in the festival is the one that closes it: David Tosh Gitonga’s crime drama Nairobi Half Life, submitted by Kenya as its first Best Foreign Language Film contender last year. Though it didn’t make the Oscar shortlist (frankly, it was a tough year for foreign films, with Amour claiming all major accolades), it’s easy to see why it made the cut. It’s the not-unfamiliar tale of a rural dreamer named Mwas (the charismatic Joseph Wairimu) who sets out to pursue an acting career in the big city (“where the devil lives,” according to his mother). His improv skills are on point, but he is completely gullible, which makes him a prime target as soon as he arrives in “Nairobbery.”

Urban life offers many hard lessons, whether it’s Mwas finding his place in the gang he joins as a means of survival, or overcoming the snooty dismissals of the professional actors he enounters at theatrical auditions. In both realms, he gets in over his head, but he’s a quick thinker and a talented hustler, which gives him an edge his opponents tend to underestimate. If Nairobi Half Life‘s script leans a little heavily on Mwas being caught between two worlds (alternate title suggestion: Nairobi Double Life), its energy is infectious and its presentation is polished — props to producer Tom Twyker (1998’s Run Lola Run, 2012’s Cloud Atlas), whose One Fine Day Film Workshop guided its making.

Director Lonesome Solo’s more rough-hewn and downbeat Burn It Up Djassa also weaves a tale of desperation that culminates in violence, this time in Abidjan, the Ivory Coast’s largest metropolis. Again, there’s a conflicted young man at its center: Tony, or “Dabagaou” (as he’s known in the ‘hood), whose rise from cigarette seller to killer on the run is shared via a streetwise narrator who lays down story beats like a hip-hop version of Shakespeare; his scenes are the most cinematic amid what feels like an otherwise largely improvised effort. And indeed, Burn It Up Djassa builds to a tragedy of Bardian proportions. You’ll see it coming, but it’s wrenching nonetheless.

Death is the main character in Alain Gomis’ Dakar-set Tey, or “today,” which takes place in a world that resembles ours but with one key supernatural difference: Those who are about to die are given 24-hour advance notice. One morning, seemingly healthy fortysomething Satché wakes up with the grim knowledge that this is his last day. By the same mysterious power, those closest to him — his family, friends, a bitter former lover, and his wife (though not, it seems, his young children) — are also made aware. Though there’s a certain amount of wailing from his older relatives, Satché accepts his fate, drifting through a day that begins with a sort of living funeral, in which both praise and criticism are lobbed at him, and leads into a raucous street parade and hang time with friends.

As the day grows longer, it turns more melancholy; he visits the man who’ll be preparing his corpse for burial, who reminds Satché he’s lucky to know when his time is up so he has a chance to say his good-byes. But Tey isn’t a total bummer of a movie — it has a dreamy quality and moments of humor, as when Satché shows up late to a ceremony held in his honor, but can’t find anything to eat or drink at the completely pillaged catering table. That this dead man walking is played by American slam poet Saul Williams (though Satché is Senegalese) adds to his inherent outsider vibe. The ticking clock breaks down any forced politeness in his encounters, particularly with his wife, which gives us an idea of what he like was before he knew he was about to die.

End-of-life issues also dominate Akosua Adoma Owusu’s Kwaku Ananse, one of three films composing “Between Cultures: Recent African Shorts” (the other two, Faisal Goes West and the Quvenzhané Wallis-starring Boneshaker, were not available for preview; among the features, Damien Ounouri’s documentary Fidaï, a portrait of his Algerian freedom-fighting great uncle, was also unfortunately unavailable). Kwaku Ananse casts the West African trickster character, Anansi (Americans know him from classic children’s book Anansi the Spider: A Tale from the Ashanti), as its main character’s recently-deceased father. The young woman has come to his Ghanan village for his funeral, and to confront the second family he was keeping on the side. The 25-minute work slowly becomes more fairy tale-like as it progresses, anchored by a solemn but fiery performance by lovely star Jojo Abot.

Elsewhere in the fest, a mockumentary from Cameroon (banned in Cameroon, not coincidentally) about what would happen if the president suddenly disappeared (Le Président) is paired with short Nigerian doc Fuelling Poverty; both examine deep-seated corruption in troubled, post-colonial economies. And for a completely different audience (ages seven and up) is Rémi Bezançon and Jean-Christophe Lie’s Zarafa, the animated story of a young boy who escapes slavery in Africa and becomes enmeshed in the remarkable, mostly true story of the first giraffe to take up residence in France. *

AFRICAN FILM FESTIVAL 2014

Jan. 25-Feb. 26, $5.50-$9.50

Pacific Film Archive

2575 Bancroft, Berk.

bampfa.berkeley.edu

 

Rep Clock: January 15 – 21, 2014

Michael Redmond
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0

Frederick Wiseman’s four-hour 2013 doc At Berkeley returns by popular demand to UC Berkeley’s Pacific Film Archive.

Schedules are for Wed/15-Tue/21 except where noted. Director and year are given when available. Double and triple features marked with a •. All times pm unless otherwise specified.

BALBOA THEATRE 3630 Balboa, SF; cinemasf.com/balboa. $10. “Popcorn Palace:” The Princess Bride (Reiner, 1987), Sat, 10am. Matinee for kids.

BERKELEY FELLOWSHIP OF UNITARIAN UNIVERSALISTS 1924 Cedar, Berk; www.bfuu.org. $5-10. Memory of Forgotten War (Liem and Liem, 2012), Thu, 7.

CASTRO 429 Castro, SF; (415) 621-6120, www.castrotheatre.com. $8.50-12. “Berlin and Beyond Film Festival,” new cinema from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, Wed-Sun. Complete schedule and ticket info at www.berlinbeyond.com. •Wattstax (Stuart, 1973), Mon, 7, and Richard Pryor Live on the Sunset Strip (Layton, 1982), Mon, 5:15, 8:55. •Captain Phillips (Greengrass, 2013), Tue, 2:30, 7, and Dirty Wars (Rowley, 2013), Tue, 5:05, 9:30.

CHRISTOPHER B. SMITH RAFAEL FILM CENTER 1118 Fourth St, San Rafael; (415) 454-1222, www.cafilm.org. $6.50-$10.75. The Past (Farhadi, 2013), call for dates and times. A Touch of Sin (Jia, 2013), call for dates and times. “For Your Consideration: A Selection of Oscar Submissions from Around the World,” Wed-Thu. The Girls in the Band (Chaikin, 2011), Jan 17-23, call for times.

CLAY 2261 Fillmore, SF; www.landmarktheatres.com. $10. “Midnight Movies:” Big Trouble in Little China (Carpenter, 1986), Fri-Sun, midnight.

EXPLORATORIUM Pier 15, SF; www.exploratorium.edu. Free with museum admission ($19-25). “Off the Screen: Chip Lord City Films,” Thu, 7. With Chip Lord in person. “Saturday Cinema: Space,” short films, Sat, 1, 2, and 3pm.

MECHANICS’ INSTITUTE 57 Post, SF; milibrary.org/events. $10. “CinemaLit Film Series: Over the Top: Precode Hollywood:” Female (Curtiz, 1933), Fri, 6.

NEW PARKWAY 474 24th St, Oakl; www.thenewparkway.com. $8. “Thrillville Theater:” Rainbow Black: Poet Sarah Webster Fabio, Sun, 12:30.

PACIFIC FILM ARCHIVE 2575 Bancroft, Berk; (510) 642-5249, bampfa.berkeley.edu. $5.50-9.50. “Funny Ha-Ha: The Genius of American Comedy, 1930-1959:” My Man Godfrey (La Cava, 1936), Thu, 7; Duck Soup (McCarey, 1933), Sun, 3. “The Brilliance of Satyajit Ray:” Pather Panchali (1955), Fri, 7:30; Aparajito (1956), Sat, 7:30; The World of Apu (1958), Sun, 4:45. At Berkeley (Wiseman, 2013), Sat, 3.

PARAMOUNT THEATRE 2025 Broadway, Oakl; www.ticketmaster.com. $5. To Catch a Thief (Hitchcock, 1955), Fri, 8.

RED POPPY ART HOUSE 2698 Folsom, SF; www.redpoppyarthouse.org. $10-15. Blood Brother (Hoover, 2013), Thu, 7:30. With an installation of “Florecer, Blossoming and Living With HIV: Overcoming Stigma Through Art.”

ROXIE 3117 and 3125 16th St, SF; (415) 863-1087, www.roxie.com. $6.50-11. It’s Not You, It’s Me (2013), Wed, 7. The Punk Singer (Anderson, 2013), Wed, 9. A Touch of Sin (Jia, 2013), Wed, 6:45, 9:30; Thu, 9:15. Cupid’s Conundrum (Adams, 2014), Thu, 7. I Am Divine (Schwarz, 2013), Thu, 9:30. “On the Other Side of You: New Korean Films,” short films, Thu, 7. The Square (Noujaim, 2013), Jan 17-23, 6:45, 8:45 (also Sat-Sun, 2, 4).

TANNERY 708 Gilman, Berk; berkeleyundergroundfilms.blogspot.com. Donations accepted. “Berkeley Underground Film Society:” “LOOP Presents: Old School, New Light,” short films, Sat, 7:30; Monsieur Verdoux (Chaplin, 1947), Sun, 7:30.

UNITARIAN UNIVERSALISTS OF SAN MATEO 300 E. Santa Inez, San Mateo; www.uusanmateo.org. Free. Dirty Wars (Rowley, 2013), Sun, 7.

YERBA BUENA CENTER FOR THE ARTS 701 Mission, SF; www.ybca.org. $8-10. “Ravishing, Radical, and Restored: The Films of Jack Smith:” Flaming Creatures (1962-63) with “Yellow Submarine” (1963-65), Thu, 7:30; Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis (Jordan, 2006), Sun, 2, free with RSVP. *

 

Bee true

Michael Redmond
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8
Bee true

arts@sfbg.com

FILM It’s January, and our premiere German language film festival, Berlin and Beyond, is back to its rightful place on the cinematic calendar after a year off for regrouping, kicking off the neues Jahr with films from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland — as well as Turkey and France.

It’s not a bad way to begin 2014, unless your resolutions happen to be cutting back on bier and weltschmertz. Even though the B&B selections feel a bit dated — thanks, perhaps, to that one-year hiatus — there are still a few solid picks, including the Oscar-shortlisted Two Lives (2012). The documentary slate also holds plenty of appeal, with films that explore the globally human instincts to interfere, to intervene, and to seek atonement.

Swiss-German-Austrian documentary More Than Honey (2012) offers an alarmingly frank exposé of the ongoing demise of the domesticated honeybee from California to China, and the implications that this population implosion holds for the future of food production. Honey bumbles onscreen like a bee in flight, seemingly directionless yet always with purpose. Director Markus Imhoof weaves his family’s own history of beekeeping with that of modern-day bee husbandry, comparing the techniques of his ancestors with the equally old-school methods employed by elderly Swiss beekeep Fred Jaggi; the industrial-scale beekeeping of “nomadic” John Miller, who transports his bees cross-country each year to pollinate crops from Northern California to North Dakota; and the renegade experimentation with fearsome “killer bees” employed by Arizona-based Fred Terry, who equates Americans’ fear of Africanized bees to our more generalized fear of invasion.

Squeamish masses beware, you will be subjected to extreme close-ups of larval chambers, mid-air bee sex, and ruthless varroa mite infestations, while getting more information about queening, foulbrood, hand pollination, and bee-whispering than you probably realized existed. Like raw honey, the film is both sweet and murky, and the prospects for peaceful cohabitation with a creature driven to possible extinction thanks to our careless treatment of its preferred habitats, which also happen to be where all of our food is grown, don’t appear to be weighted on the side of good news.

One documentary with no less a fascinating premise, albeit a less polished presentation, is Miles and War (2013), which highlights the working life of professional conflict mediators. A side project filmed and directed by Anna Thoma — who has worked as a videographer for the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, and therefore had privileged access to three of the Centre’s top mediators — Miles dives into conflict regions, where mediators arrange meetings between warlords or rebel factions and hammer out agreements between them in painstakingly slow increments. Or, as Centre co-founder and former Executive Director Martin Griffiths observes halfway through a negotiation so secret even Anna is not allowed to be in the room, “You need to be a lot more patient than you want to be, because everything is going to take so much longer than it needs to.”

In truth, because mediation is a confidential process, Thoma’s film winds up on the sidelines more often than not, a so-close-yet-so-far teaser of the tense, often solitary downtime between mediations, seemingly composed of endless one-sided phone calls, plane flights, and scheduling blips.

“It’s a life controlled by others,” Griffiths tells Thoma almost ruefully, before slipping away to his secret meeting. “[Waiting] for someone to say yes.”

Another love letter to an institution is Redemption Impossible, aka Unter Menschen (2012), a layered portrait of a group of “retired” lab chimps at Gut Aiderbichl, an Austrian animal sanctuary. After being infected with HIV and hepatitis, the chimps were isolated and experimented on by pharmaceutical company Immuno-AG, for several years, in a bid to discover an AIDS vaccine. When Immuno was taken over by Baxter in 2002, the vaccination trials ended, but the issue of where to send the infected, unsocialized lab chimps became an open controversy. After the chimps were shuffled around in various states of limbo, championed by their self-effacing caretaker Renate Foidl and her small staff of bright-eyed, ponytailed assistants, their care was taken on by GA in 2009, and their conditions increasingly improved upon.

Though the first half-hour of the film is a bit slow going — with real-time footage of the laborious, day-to-day care of the chimps, some of whom still live in isolation, too traumatized to be in the same room with their peers — the tale of the cloak-and-dagger intrigue surrounding their illegal importation into Europe adds a crime thriller dimension to the primates’ unfortunate plight. Money and influence, of course, is the root of this evil, and the implicated players represent a broad spectrum of political figures, big pharma, game poachers, and even wildlife conservation organizations.

But ultimately it’s the gradual rehabilitation of the chimps themselves that provides the documentary’s real human interest, and watching them step into the sunlight for the first time in 30 years is a triumphal catharsis.

“To me this does not really ‘make up for things’,” Foidl explains emotionally as she watches the outdoor play space being built after years in the planning stages. “It’s awful what was done to them. It can’t be undone … I don’t think there can be any talk of ‘redemption’.” Perhaps not, but compassion, it would appear, can still command a central role. *

18TH BERLIN AND BEYOND FILM FESTIVAL

Wed/15-Sun/19, $7-$20

Castro Theatre

429 Castro, SF

Mon/20-Tue/21, $10

Goethe-Institut

530 Bush, SF

www.berlinbeyond.com

 

The good foot

Michael Redmond
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The good foot

arts@sfbg.com

DANCE The fourth FRESH Festival sounds like something that might attract foodies. In fact you do need an appetite — for thinking way outside of the box. The participating dancers, musicians, designers, and writers feed on each other’s disciplines to stretch their own thinking about who they are and what they want to do. If sometimes the “how” intrigues more than the “what,” so be it. Watching new modes emerging can be such an upper.

The opening weekend (Jan. 3-4 at Kunst-Stoff Arts) presented three dancer-choreographers who took the audience into what was, for me, terra incognita. The trip was more than worth it. What impressed in Christine Bonansea’s Floaters #1, Sara Shelton Mann’s Hybrid 3, and ALTERNATIVA’s apparition was the clarity of purpose, and how — though by no means “choreographed” — these experiments were steeped in a dancer’s awareness of the body.

Bonansea structured her site-specific film noir Floaters #1 into four loosely connected sections that opened with a murky image of herself that fused with the dancer slithering down a fire escape. Thrown into pitch-black darkness, she trotted around the audience seated center stage. The dancer could have been a speed skater except that her feet hammered out percussive patterns (perhaps done in point shoes). Here Bonansea was present as sound — just like those ominous steps in the night we know from crime flicks. In the most dancerly part of the piece, she put her exceptionally lithe and pliable body into black tights, aviator glasses, and a sequined helmet to metamorphosize into scintillating, indefinable creatures — animals, plants, humans, and robots. And then she simply slipped away.

Mann, with her calm demeanor and smoky voice, sat herself center stage and read a manuscript — a script for a show she is planning — that roamed around a universe of autobiography, natural history, and feelings personal and social. All you could do was follow her along on the ride. And what a pleasure it was, to enter a mind like hers.

For apparition, ALTERNATIVA — Kathleen Hermesdorf, a brilliant performer, and longtime collaborator Albert Mathias — used video technology to play with concepts of reality. Almost like a shaman, Hermesdorf both fought and collaborated with those fragile images. Effects “sliced” her torso into layers, so that her shadow looked more reflective of her humanity than her bodily presence. With a flick of her wrist, she also turned a sewing machine, that ultimate tool of domestication, into a sputtering machine gun. If that was not turning reality inside out, and upside down, I don’t know what is.

 

LIGHTS UP

Across the city at Z Space, scenic and lighting designer Matthew Antaky once more worked his magic with Liss Fain Dance for Fain’s new, intensely private After the Light, inspired by fragments of Virginia Woolf’s writing. Antaky surrounded a square stage space with a series of arbors through which the audience watched the dancers — who, in contrast to the elegant set, wore undershirts, pants, and suspenders (by Mary Domenico). Again we were invited to walk around with the promise of multiple perspectives. Most of us stayed stationary and become visual elements within the set’s graceful arches. The coexistence of an easy formality with casualness, however, set a welcoming tone for another of Fain’s intelligent rethinkings of literary sources.

Excerpts from The Waves (read by Marty Pistone and Val Sinckler) interwove with Dan Wool’s original score; together they generated and commented on the choreography. A few tiny narratives emerged. The heat rose momentarily to party level to the strains of Mendelssohn as the dancers (in their suspenders) remembered ballet phrases. It was a charmingly telling moment, because in the back of Fain’s mind ballet is ever present, though she rarely uses its vocabulary. Hers is a deep but not literal kinship to the tradition.

Once, all six dancers broke into a series of side hops as if engaged in a game. At another spot two people “died” and were mourned with an encircling dance by sister team Shannon Kurashige and Megan Kurashige. But these moments evaporated, leaving no traces — perhaps like memories, perhaps like passing thoughts. My sense, however, is that better familiarity on my part with the text might have yielded more insights on just how Fain used her literary sources.

Her dancers are individualists — wonderful to watch in unisons when circling the stage or hanging on to each other in a chain or a follow-the-leader section. In repeated duets the lanky Jeremiah Crank partnered a short and fierce Carson Stein, while tall Katharine Hawthorne paired with compact Alec Lytton (who promptly flipped her). One of After’s particularly intriguing traits was a plethora of unexpected stops and broken connections, with dancers waiting and watching from the sidelines much like we did. At times you felt that these people knew each other, but their encounters also seemed controlled by serendipity, as if they just happened to bump into each other. *

FRESH FESTIVAL 2014

Through Sun/19

CounterPULSE UnderGround

80 Turk, SF

Kunst-Stoff Arts

1 Grove, SF

www.artsbuildingconsortium.org

 

Berlin and Beyond Film Festival begins January 15!

Maria Poblet
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Welcome to the 18th season of the Berlin & Beyond Film Festival in San Francisco! Attend the festival at the legendary Castro Theatre from January 15–19 and at the Goethe-Institut from January 20–21 to celebrate America’s leading annual showcase of recent film productions from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

Since 1996, Berlin & Beyond has been a gateway for the American public to experience the universal spirit and vision of filmmakers from this global region. Dotted with red carpet premieres, the festival welcomes top films and talents of the year, from major hits, to award winners, to noteworthy discoveries of world cinema’s independent film scenes.

Courage in Motion is this year’s theme, with cinematic stories of overcoming life’s obstacles, moving bravely, embracing hope, connecting minds, finding solutions, and bonding through common humanity. Find out more here.

Music Listings: January 8-15, 2014

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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0

WEDNESDAY 8
ROCK
Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. A Lot Like Birds, Sianvar, Stolas, The Venetia Fair, 8:30 p.m., $12.
El Rio: 3158 Mission, San Francisco. Apogee Sound Club, Grandma’s Boyfriend, UFOFBI, 8 p.m., $1.
Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. Augurs, North, Bloodmoon, 8:30 p.m., $7.
Milk Bar: 1840 Haight, San Francisco. Bonnie & The Bang Bang, Strange Vine, Down & Outlaws, Wag, 8:30 p.m., $5.
Rickshaw Stop: 155 Fell, San Francisco. Rickshaw Stop 10th Anniversary: Mikal Cronin, Cool Ghouls, Cocktails, 8 p.m., $15.
Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. The Young Dubliners, 8 p.m., $19-$23.
DANCE
111 Minna Gallery: 111 Minna St., San Francisco. “Qoöl,” w/ D.F. Tram, Marshall Watson, Dulce, Will Spencer, Dan Sherman, Spesh, 5-10 p.m., free.
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,” 18+ dance night with Tittsworth, Jays One, DJ Dials, Cocaine at the Disco (SwitchBlade & Mr. Brandon), Jazz-E, Shane Fontane, Dmitri Reign, Cosmo Koyote, 9 p.m., $15-$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. “Commune,” w/ Pixel Memory, Niteppl, Alien Angel Brigade, Popgang DJs, 9 p.m., free.
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.
Infusion Lounge: 124 Ellis, San Francisco. “Indulgence,” 10 p.m.
The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. “Disorder,” w/ The Victoriana, PSSNGRS, DJ Nickie, 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
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. The Verms, Sister Exister, Octomutt, 8 p.m., $7.
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.
SFJAZZ Center: 205 Franklin St., San Francisco. John Santos Listening Party, 7:30 p.m., $5-$10.
Top of the Mark: One Nob Hill, 999 California, San Francisco. Ricardo Scales, Wednesdays, 6:30-11:30 p.m., $5.
Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. 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.
Pachamama Restaurant: 1630 Powell, San Francisco. Cafe Latino Americano, 8 p.m., $12.
EXPERIMENTAL
Meridian Gallery: 535 Powell, San Francisco. Composers in Performance: Todd Lerew, 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.

THURSDAY 9
ROCK
Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. Koobi Fora, Jay Trainer Band, 9:30 p.m., $5-$8.
Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. Maus Haus, Tiaras, Memory Motel, 9 p.m., $10.
The Chapel: 777 Valencia St., San Francisco. Pickwick, Elliott Brood, Fine Points, 9 p.m., $15-$17.
Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. Brookhaven, Commissure, The Silhouette Era, 8:30 p.m., $5.
Make-Out Room: 3225 22nd St., San Francisco. Chain & The Gang, The Shivas, Skate Laws, 7 p.m., $8.
Milk Bar: 1840 Haight, San Francisco. Turn Me On Dead, Cash for Gold, The Gold Medalists, The Sweet Bones, 8 p.m., $8.
Monarch: 101 6th St., San Francisco. Dangermaker, Odd Owl, Margaret the King, 9 p.m., $5-$10.
Rickshaw Stop: 155 Fell, San Francisco. Rickshaw Stop 10th Anniversary: Geographer, Trails & Ways, DJ Aaron Axelsen, 8 p.m., sold out.
S.F. Eagle: 398 12th St., San Francisco. La Plebe, The Meat Sluts, The Bloody Hells, 9 p.m., $10.
Tupelo: 1337 Green St., San Francisco. Hot Einstein, 9 p.m.
DANCE
1015 Folsom: 1015 Folsom St., San Francisco. “Gem & Jam: A Light in the Attic S.F. Preparty,” w/ Govinda, Love & Light, Nico Luminous, Insightful, The Flying Skulls, Matt Haze, 10 p.m., $10 advance.
Abbey Tavern: 4100 Geary, San Francisco. DJ Schrobi-Girl, 10 p.m., free.
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+.
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.
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/ Lisa Rose, Jaime James, OneMoHit, Monchis the DJ, 10 p.m., free.
HIP-HOP
Eastside West: 3154 Fillmore, San Francisco. “Throwback Thursdays,” w/ DJ Madison, 9 p.m., free.
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.
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 Dull Richards, Dinner with the Kids, Demimonde, Old Belle, 9 p.m., $7-$10.
Atlas Cafe: 3049 20th St., San Francisco. Mountain Dojo, 8 p.m., free.
Bazaar Cafe: 5927 California, San Francisco. Acoustic Open Mic, 7 p.m.
Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. Minor Birds, Robert Deeble, Caitlin Eadie, 9 p.m., $8-$10.
The Lost Church: 65 Capp St., San Francisco. Andrew St. James & Scott Mickelson, 8 p.m., $10.
Plough & Stars: 116 Clement, San Francisco. John Caulfield & Friends, 9 p.m.
Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Andy McKee, Janet Noguera, 8 p.m., $31.
JAZZ
Blush! Wine Bar: 476 Castro, San Francisco. Doug Martin’s Avatar Ensemble, 7:30 p.m., free.
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.
Le Colonial: 20 Cosmo, San Francisco. Steve Lucky & The Rhumba Bums, 7:30 p.m.
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/ Le Jazz Hot (playing Django Reinhardt), 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.
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.
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. Toronzo Cannon, 7:30 & 9:30 p.m., $20.
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. “Trance Mutations,” w/ I.C.P.C.P., Demon Sleeper, Loachfillet, 8 p.m., $6-$10.
SOUL
Cigar Bar & Grill: 850 Montgomery, San Francisco. Big Blu Soul Revue, Second Thursday of every month, 7:30 p.m., free.
Lookout: 3600 16th St., San Francisco. Queen B, Beyoncé tribute night with the Rice Rockettes and DJ Brenda Dong., 9 p.m., $5.

FRIDAY 10
ROCK
Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. Tennis, Kyle M. Terrizzi, 9:30 p.m., sold out.
Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. Death Valley High, Flexx Bronco, Happy Fangs, 9 p.m., $5-$8.
DNA Lounge: 375 11th St., San Francisco. Girls Rock!, Fundraiser for victims of drunk drivers with music by Punk Funk Mob, MoonFox, Victoria & The Vaudevillains, and Coffee Shop Dropout., 9 p.m., $10-$12.
Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. Eyes on the Shore, Spidermeow, The Midnight Snackers, 9:30 p.m., $6.
Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. Panic Is Perfect, My Stupid Brother, Salty De Vito, 9 p.m., $10.
Make-Out Room: 3225 22nd St., San Francisco. The Minks, Matthew Edwards & The Unfortunates, 7:30 p.m., $8.
Milk Bar: 1840 Haight, San Francisco. Fritz Montana, The Meat Packers, Peachelope, 9 p.m., $7-$10.
Rickshaw Stop: 155 Fell, San Francisco. Rickshaw Stop 10th Anniversary: YACHT, Shock, plus Three Kinds of Stupid DJs Brother Grimm, Chris Baty, and BAS, 9 p.m., $20.
Slim’s: 333 11th St., San Francisco. Battlehooch, Sun Hop Fat, Hungry Skinny, The Rotten Kids, Jazzy Fox, 8 p.m., $15.
DANCE
1015 Folsom: 1015 Folsom St., San Francisco. “Trap City,” w/ Ookay, Caked Up, Sasha Go Hard, UltraViolet, VNDMG, Napsty, Jocelyn, 10 p.m., $15 advance.
Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. “Indie Slash,” w/ resident DJs Danny White, Rance, and Sweethearts, Second Friday of every month, 10 p.m., $5.
Audio Discotech: 316 11th St., San Francisco. Hot Since 82, Pheeko Dubfunk, 9:30 p.m., $15 advance.
BeatBox: 314 11th St., San Francisco. “Bears in the Dark,” w/ DJ Del Stamp, 10 p.m., $5-$10.
Cafe Flore: 2298 Market, San Francisco. “Kinky Beats,” w/ DJ Sergio, 10 p.m., free.
The Cafe: 2369 Market, San Francisco. “Boy Bar,” w/ DJ Matt Consola, 9 p.m., $5.
Cat Club: 1190 Folsom, San Francisco. “Dark Shadows,” w/ DJs Daniel Skellington, Joe Radio, Melting Girl, and Mz. Samantha, 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.
Harlot: 46 Minna, San Francisco. “The Animal Party: Snowy Playground,” w/ Traviswild & Wallace, 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.
Monarch: 101 6th St., San Francisco. “Direct to Earth,” w/ Ambivalent, Mossmoss, Brian Knarfield, Bob Five, Dao & Pwny, 9 p.m., $15 advance.
OMG: 43 6th St., San Francisco. “Release,” 9 p.m., free before 11 p.m.
Public Works: 161 Erie, San Francisco. “The Music of Radiohead vs. The Music of Daft Punk,” w/ DJs Motion Potion & Matt Haze (in the OddJob Loft), 9 p.m., $5-$10; Wait What, in the main room, 9 p.m., $8-$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. BT, 9 p.m., $25.
S.F. Eagle: 398 12th St., San Francisco. “Cub Trap,” 8 p.m.
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.
Temple: 540 Howard, San Francisco. DJ Enfo, E-20, Reflecta, Mikey Tan, Ayla Simone, DJ Midnight, 10 p.m., $15.
Underground SF: 424 Haight, San Francisco. “Bionic,” 10 p.m., $5.
Vessel: 85 Campton, San Francisco. “Sound Addiction,” w/ Konman, Adam Cova, Halloran, DJ Nile, 10 p.m., $10-$30.
Wish: 1539 Folsom, San Francisco. “Bridge the Gap,” w/ resident DJ Don Kainoa, Fridays, 6-10 p.m., free.
Women’s Building: 3543 18th St., San Francisco. Prom Night: Redux, SF IndieFest launch party and benefit dance with DJs Shindog and Junkyard., 8 p.m., $5-$10.
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).
Mighty: 119 Utah, San Francisco. DJ Jazzy Jeff, DJ Shortkut, DJ Proof, 9 p.m., $15-$25 advance.
Slate Bar: 2925 16th St., San Francisco. “The Hustle,” w/ DJs Sake One & Sean G, Second Friday of every month, 9 p.m.
ACOUSTIC
Bazaar Cafe: 5927 California, San Francisco. Acoustic Guitar Showcase, hosted by Teja Gerken, 7 p.m.
The Chapel: 777 Valencia St., San Francisco. Lia Rose, Misisipi Mike Wolf, 9 p.m., $12-$15.
Dolores Park Cafe: 501 Dolores, San Francisco. Jeff Desira, 7:30 p.m.
The Independent: 628 Divisadero, San Francisco. Dead Winter Carpenters, American Nomad, Sleeping Giants, 9 p.m., $15.
The Lost Church: 65 Capp St., San Francisco. “Brian Belknap’s Front Porch Friday Night,” w/ The Parmesans & Field Medic, 8 p.m., $10.
Plough & Stars: 116 Clement, San Francisco. Anju’s Pale Blue Eyes, Hardly Strictly Trad., 9 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. Jazz at the Atlas, 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.
Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. Grant Green Jr. with Bernard Purdie, Eamonn Flynn, and Daniel Casares, 9 p.m., $15 advance.
The Emerald Tablet: 80 Fresno St., San Francisco. Vince Lateano Quartet, 8 p.m., $15 suggested donation.
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. 29th Street Swingtet, 8 p.m., free.
Red Poppy Art House: 2698 Folsom, San Francisco. Beth Custer Ensemble, 7:30 p.m., $15-$20.
Savanna Jazz Club: 2937 Mission, San Francisco. Savanna Jazz Trio, 7 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.
Pachamama Restaurant: 1630 Powell, San Francisco. Cuban Night with Fito Reinoso, 7:30 & 9:15 p.m., $15-$18.
REGGAE
Gestalt Haus: 3159 16th St., San Francisco. “Music Like Dirt,” 7:30 p.m., free.
BLUES
Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. Toronzo Cannon, 7:30 & 10 p.m., $22.
Lou’s Fish Shack: 300 Jefferson St., San Francisco. Eldon Brown, 6 p.m.
The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. Jinx Jones & The KingTones, Second Friday of every month, 4 p.m.
Tupelo: 1337 Green St., San Francisco. Marshall Law Band, 9 p.m.
FUNK
Make-Out Room: 3225 22nd St., San Francisco. “Loose Joints,” w/ DJs Centipede, Damon Bell, and Tom Thump, 10 p.m., $5-$10.
ROCKABILLY
Elbo Room: 647 Valencia, San Francisco. The Chop Tops, Hayride to Hell, Hard Fall Hearts, Blacktop Tragedy, 9 p.m., $12.
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.).
Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Amel Larrieux, 8 & 10 p.m., $30-$40.

SATURDAY 11
ROCK
Bender’s: 806 S. Van Ness, San Francisco. Alabaster & The Original Bastards, Colonel Jimmy & The Blackfish, 10 p.m., $5.
Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. I the Mighty, Fighting the Villain, Rin Tin Tiger, Mr. Kind, 8:30 p.m., $10.
Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. Odawas, Jon Bernson, Paint the Trees White, 9:30 p.m., $7.
Neck of the Woods: 406 Clement St., San Francisco. The Shape, Style Like Revelators, The Saint Ides, on the downstairs stage, 9 p.m., $6-$8.
The Riptide: 3639 Taraval, San Francisco. The Copper Tones, 9:30 p.m., free.
Slim’s: 333 11th St., San Francisco. Astronauts, etc.; Waterstrider; There’s Talk, show moved from Cafe Du Nord, 9 p.m., $7-$10.
Thee Parkside: 1600 17th St., San Francisco. StaG, Tidelands, Dinners, 9 p.m., $8.
Tupelo: 1337 Green St., San Francisco. The Bonedrivers, 9:30 p.m.
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. Adrenalin Room Label Showcase, w/ SNR, Jacob Henry, David Gropper, Zulu Company, 9 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. “Club Gossip,” w/ DJ Damon & guests, Second Saturday of every month, 9 p.m., $5-$8 (free before 9:30 p.m.).
DNA Lounge: 375 11th St., San Francisco. “Bootie S.F.,” w/ Earworm, Smash-Up Derby, A+D, DJ Dada, DJ Dcnstrct, Meikee Magnetic, Mixtress Shizaam, more, 9 p.m., $10-$15.
Edinburgh Castle: 950 Geary, San Francisco. Bowie & Elvis Birthday Bash, w/ DJs Shindog, Cammy, Moonshine, and Andy T, 9 p.m., $5.
Elbo Room: 647 Valencia, San Francisco. “Tormenta Tropical,” w/ Poirier, 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 Hot Spot: 1414 Market, San Francisco. “Love Will Fix It,” w/ DJ Bus Station John, Second Saturday of every month, 10 p.m., $5.
Infusion Lounge: 124 Ellis, San Francisco. “One Way Ticket Saturdays,” w/ Eric D-Lux, Second Saturday of every month, 10 p.m., $20.
The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. “Galaxy Radio,” w/ resident DJs Smac, Emils, Holly B, and guests, Second Saturday of every month, 9 p.m., 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.
Mezzanine: 444 Jessie, San Francisco. Benga, Twrk, RyuRy, Tchphnx, 9 p.m., $17-$20.
Mighty: 119 Utah, San Francisco. “Salted,” w/ Miguel Migs, Julius Papp, guests, Second Saturday of every month, 10 p.m., $10 before 11 p.m.
Milk Bar: 1840 Haight, San Francisco. “Week-End: Saturday Edition,” w/ DJ Madison, 9 p.m., free.
Monarch: 101 6th St., San Francisco. “The Super Silly Circus Birthday Bash,” w/ Detroit Swindle, Bells & Whistles, Bo Bo the Clown, B the Bohemian, Machete Master Mitsu, Jonny the Pocket Juggler, 10 p.m., $5-$15.
OMG: 43 6th St., San Francisco. “Fixup,” Second Saturday of every month, 10 p.m., $5 (free before 11 p.m).
Public Works: 161 Erie, San Francisco. “Isis,” w/ Kim Ann Foxman, Avalon Emerson, Mountaincount (in the OddJob Loft), 9:30 p.m., $10-$15.
Q Bar: 456 Castro, San Francisco. “Shoop!,” w/ DJs Tommy T & Bryan B, Second Saturday of every month, 9 p.m.
Rickshaw Stop: 155 Fell, San Francisco. Rickshaw Stop 10th Anniversary: Cockblock, w/ DJs China G & Kidd Sysko, 10 p.m., $10.
Ruby Skye: 420 Mason, San Francisco. Robbie Rivera, 9 p.m., $20.
The Stud: 399 Ninth St., San Francisco. “Frolic,” w/ Cosmo Coyote, Neshamah, Orion Barkley, NeonBunny, 8 p.m., $8 ($4 in costume).
Temple: 540 Howard, San Francisco. AndDrop!, Drezo, Brotherboard, Lukas Felt, Sean B, Roger Moorehouse, Rich Era, 10 p.m., $20.
Vessel: 85 Campton, San Francisco. Scooter & Lavelle, 10 p.m., $10-$30.
Wish: 1539 Folsom, San Francisco. “All Styles & Smiles,” w/ DJ Tom Thump, Second Saturday of every month, 10 p.m., free.
HIP-HOP
111 Minna Gallery: 111 Minna St., San Francisco. “Back to the ‘90s,” Second Saturday of every month, 9:30 p.m., $10.
50 Mason Social House: 50 Mason, San Francisco. Maya Castleman, Mantis One, Yarrow Slaps, DJ Dalej, 7 p.m., free.
Double Dutch: 3192 16th St., San Francisco. “Cash IV Gold,” w/ DJs Kool Karlo, Roost Uno, and Sean G, Second Saturday of every month, 10 p.m., free.
John Colins: 138 Minna, San Francisco. “Second Saturdays,” w/ resident DJ Matt Cali, Second Saturday of every month, 10 p.m., free.
Showdown: 10 Sixth St., San Francisco. “The Shit Show,” w/ resident DJ Taurus Scott, Second Saturday of every month, 10 p.m., two for $5.
ACOUSTIC
Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. The Highway Poets, 7 p.m., $5-$7.
Atlas Cafe: 3049 20th St., San Francisco. Craig Ventresco and/or Meredith Axelrod, Saturdays, 4-6 p.m., free.
Bazaar Cafe: 5927 California, San Francisco. David Whitaker with Gary Adler, Sugar Ponies, Dane Ohri, Mario DiSandro, and David Colón, 7 p.m.
Great American Music Hall: 859 O’Farrell, San Francisco. The Good Luck Thrift Store Outfit, w/ The Human Condition, Three Times Bad, 9 p.m., $13.
Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. Andrew Duhon, Don DiLego, Jeff Conley, Keyan Keihani, 9 p.m., $10.
The Independent: 628 Divisadero, San Francisco. Diego’s Umbrella, Con Brio, 9 p.m., $20-$25.
The Lost Church: 65 Capp St., San Francisco. Dara Ackerman, MacClain & Cole, 8 p.m., $10.
JAZZ
Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. Wil Blades, Skerik, Jeff Parker, and Simon Lott, 9:30 p.m., $15 advance.
The Emerald Tablet: 80 Fresno St., San Francisco. Rebecca Kleinmann, 8 p.m.
Hotel Rex: 562 Sutter, San Francisco. Pamela Joy’s “Strange Bedfellows: The Music and Unlikely Partnership of Cole Porter and Irving Berlin,” 8 p.m., $20.
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.
Sheba Piano Lounge: 1419 Fillmore, San Francisco. The Robert Stewart Experience, 9 p.m.
Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Barbara Ochoa, 8 p.m.
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. Bang Data, El Conjunto Nueva Ola, Deejay Julicio, 9 p.m., $10-$13.
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.
Pachamama Restaurant: 1630 Powell, San Francisco. Eddy Navia & Pachamama Band, 8 p.m., free.
Public Works: 161 Erie, San Francisco. “Non Stop Bhangra,” w/ DJ Jimmy Love, DJ Sep, DJ Nix, Dholrhythms dance troupe, more (in the main room), 9 p.m., $10-$15.
Red Poppy Art House: 2698 Folsom, San Francisco. Guatam Tejas Ganashan, 7:30 p.m., $12-$20.
Space 550: 550 Barneveld, San Francisco. “Club Fuego,” 9:30 p.m.
BLUES
Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. Andy T & Nick Nixon Band with Janiva Magness, 7:30 & 10 p.m., $22.
Lou’s Fish Shack: 300 Jefferson St., San Francisco. Willie G, 6 p.m.
The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. Dave Workman, Second Saturday of every month, 4 p.m.

SUNDAY 12
ROCK
Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. Amoebapalooza S.F., 9 p.m., $5.
Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. Ownership, The Rabbles, Reverse Headache, 8:30 p.m., $5.
The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. Buffalo Tooth, Harsh Toke, Artifact, 3 p.m.
Make-Out Room: 3225 22nd St., San Francisco. Enorchestra, 3 Leafs, Henry Plotnick, 7:30 p.m., $8.
Rickshaw Stop: 155 Fell, San Francisco. Rickshaw Stop 10th Anniversary: Leslie & The LY’s, Double Duchess, DJ Kidd Sysko, 8 p.m., $16.
DANCE
BeatBox: 314 11th St., San Francisco. “Tea-Rex,” w/ DJ Corey Craig, 4-8 p.m., $10.
Beaux: 2344 Market, San Francisco. “Full of Grace: A Weekly House Music Playground,” 9 p.m., free.
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/ DJ Sep, J-Boogie, Matt Haze, 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.; “The Rhythm Room,” Second Sunday of every month, 8 p.m.; “Sunday Sessions,” 8 p.m.
F8: 1192 Folsom St., San Francisco. “Stamina,” 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.
Slate Bar: 2925 16th St., San Francisco. “Vibes,” w/ Druid Cloak, Benito, Josh Mace, more, 10 p.m., free.
Temple: 540 Howard, San Francisco. “Sunset Arcade,” 18+ dance party & game night, 9 p.m., $10.
HIP-HOP
Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. “Return of the Cypher,” 9:30 p.m., free.
ACOUSTIC
Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. The Dustbowl Revival, 9 p.m., $7-$10.
Bazaar Cafe: 5927 California, San Francisco. “Ukuladies & Gentleman,” w/ Allison Craig, Robin Galante, more, 6 p.m.
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.
Plough & Stars: 116 Clement, San Francisco. Seisiún with Marla Fibish, Erin Shrader, and Richard Mandel, 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. Matt Renzi Cello Quartet, 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.
Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Amanda King, 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).
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.
Thirsty Bear Brewing Company: 661 Howard, San Francisco. “The Flamenco Room,” 7:30 & 8:30 p.m.
BLUES
Lou’s Fish Shack: 300 Jefferson St., San Francisco. Little Wolf & The HellCats, 4 p.m.
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. Confluence: Adventurous Music for Building Brain Cells, w/ Thollem McDonas, 7:30 p.m., $8-$10.
SOUL
Delirium Cocktails: 3139 16th St., San Francisco. “Heart & Soul,” w/ DJ Lovely Lesage, 10 p.m., free.
Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Amel Larrieux, 7 & 9 p.m., $30-$40.

MONDAY 13
ROCK
Elbo Room: 647 Valencia, San Francisco. “Americalia,” w/ Mark Matos & guests, 9 p.m. continues through Jan. 27, $7.
DANCE
DNA Lounge: 375 11th St., San Francisco. “Death Guild,” 18+ dance party with DJs Decay, Joe Radio, Melting Girl, & guests, 9:30 p.m., $3-$5.
Q Bar: 456 Castro, San Francisco. “Wanted,” w/ DJs Key&Kite and Richie Panic, 9 p.m., free.
Underground SF: 424 Haight, San Francisco. “Vienetta Discotheque,” w/ DJs Stanley Frank and Robert Jeffrey, 10 p.m., free.
ACOUSTIC
Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. The Pick Bluegrass Jam, Second Monday of every month, 6 p.m., free; Toshio Hirano, Second Monday of every month, 9 p.m., free.
The Chieftain: 198 Fifth St., San Francisco. The Wrenboys, 7 p.m., free.
Fiddler’s Green: 1333 Columbus, San Francisco. Terry Savastano, 9:30 p.m., free/donation.
Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. Open Mic with Brendan Getzell, 8 p.m., free.
Osteria: 3277 Sacramento, San Francisco. “Acoustic Bistro,” 7 p.m., free.
The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. Peter Lindman, 4 p.m.
JAZZ
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.
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 14
ROCK
Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. PSSNGRS, Face Tat, Casey Chisholm, Kid in the Attic, 9 p.m., $8.
The Chapel: 777 Valencia St., San Francisco. Black Cobra Vipers, 8 p.m., $12.
The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. The Custom Kicks, Pogo Ono, Adderall Lavigne, DJ Lightnin’ Jeff G, 9:30 p.m.
Rickshaw Stop: 155 Fell, San Francisco. Maria Taylor, PJ Bond, The Ian Fays, 8 p.m., $12-$14.
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
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
Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. Farallons, Indianna Hale, Jeffrey Manson, 9:15 p.m., $7.
Bazaar Cafe: 5927 California, San Francisco. Songwriter in Residence: Tom Rhodes, 7 p.m. continues through Jan. 28.
Plough & Stars: 116 Clement, San Francisco. Seisiún with Vinnie Cronin, 9 p.m.
Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Shawn Colvin, Jan. 14-16, 8 p.m., $45.
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.
Tupelo: 1337 Green St., San Francisco. Mal Sharpe’s Big Money in Jazz Band, 6 p.m.
Verdi Club: 2424 Mariposa, San Francisco. “Tuesday Night Jump,” w/ Stompy Jones, 9 p.m., $10-$12.
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.
BLUES
Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. Fat Tuesday Band, 7:30 & 9:30 p.m., $15.
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

This Week’s Picks: January 8 – 14, 2014

Michael Redmond
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WEDNESDAY 8

Major Barbara

Should a charity that relies on donations to fund its good works be picky about the source of its cash flow? It’s a conundrum as relevant today as it was in 1905, when George Bernard Shaw first scripted it into Major Barbara, about a Salvation Army officer who happens to be the estranged daughter of a wealthy munitions magnate. When Pops puts up the dough to fund her church — matching donations already given by a booze manufacturer — Barbara is beyond flummoxed. What’s a morally upstanding woman, deeply devoted to her cause, to do? Described as “a devilishly funny satire exploring themes of business, faith, family, and philanthropy,” this production teams American Conservatory Theater with Theatre Calgary, and features a cast of both Canadian and American actors. (Cheryl Eddy)

Through Feb. 2

Previews tonight through Sat/11, 8pm; Sun/12, 7pm

Opens Jan. 15, 8pm; runs Tue-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm, $20-$140

ACT’s Geary Theater

415 Geary, SF

www.act-sf.org

 

THURSDAY 9

King Creole

If Elvis Presley had survived his doctor-enabled substance abuse problem, he would have turned 79 yesterday (and if he is still alive, as the conspiracy theory suggests, he probably had one hell of a party). Celebrate the rock ‘n’ roll legend in royal style by taking in 1958’s King Creole, often cited by fans and critics as his best big-screen effort. It casts the singer-actor as a New Orleans ne’er-do-well who happens to have the voice of an angel, showcased in tunes like the title track, “Trouble,” and “Hard Headed Woman.” Yeah, the Big E starred in a lot of stinkers, but King Creole isn’t one of them, with a supporting cast that includes Vic Morrow, Walter Matthau, and Carolyn “Morticia Addams” Jones — plus sure-handed, noirish direction by Michael Curtiz (1942’s Casablanca, 1945’s Mildred Pierce). Diehard King devotees Will Viharo and Monica Cortés Viharo TCB as hosts of this birthday-themed “Thrillville Theater” screening. (Eddy)

9:15pm, $8

New Parkway

474 24th St, Oakl.

www.thenewparkway.com

 

After the Light

On a page written long ago by Virginia Woolf lies an abstraction of feelings: passion, defeat, nostalgia, anxiety. Though Woolf chose words to express these emotions, she believed that “love had a thousand shapes.” In After the Light, choreographer Liss Fain uses the human body and Woolf’s words in a dance installation to add to the thousands of shapes of the human heart. Threading together music by Dan Wool, a set by Matthew Antaky, and costumes by Mary Domenico, this performance constantly shifts, ebbing like the ocean tide that once led Woolf to the lighthouse. After the Light gives the public a brief understanding of “miracles, illuminations, matches struck unexpectedly in the dark,” which we continue to carry, even when the darkness closes in again. (Kaylen Baker)

Thu/9-Sat/11, 8pm; Sun/12, 2pm, $15-$35

Z Space

450 Florida, SF

www.lissfaindance.org

 

FRIDAY 10

San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival auditions

It’s that time of the year when cash, even for non-indulging shoppers, seems to have evaporated. There is no better remedy to beat those post-holiday blues than with a great show, at a good price, in a superb location with comfortable seats where you can watch dance for six hours or more — should you be so inclined. The yearly auditions for the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival are a love feast of world dance. What you get is a taste of what these artists are all about: five minutes for soloists and duets; 10 minutes for groups. To see some of them, perhaps for the first time, in a magnificent professional theater is its own reward. You can also engage in a guessing game of who might (and who might not) make it into June’s 36th annual SF Ethnic Dance Festival. (Rita Felciano)

Today, 3:20-9pm; Sat/11, 11am-6:30pm; Sun/12, 11am-7pm, $10 (children under 12, free)

Zellerbach Hall

UC Berkeley, Berk.

www.worldartswest.org

 

Chop Tops

Tearing up stages for nearly two decades now, Santa Cruz rockers the Chop Tops take traditional rockabilly and chuck the owner’s manual, boosting the power, streamlining the chassis, and hot rodding it into something that’s all the band’s own. Perennial favorites at the Viva Las Vegas festival, the trio has toured across the country and performed as far away as Australia — but local fans can check out the action tonight at the Elbo Room, where Sinner, Shelby, and Brett are guaranteed to blow the roof off the joint with their always incendiary set of what they call “revved-up rockabilly.” With South Bay psychobilly icons Hayride To Hell. (Sean McCourt)

With Hard Fall Hearts, Blacktop Tragedy

9pm, $12

Elbo Room

647 Valencia, SF

www.elbo.com

 

“For Your Consideration: A Selection of Oscar Submissions from Around the World”

So you spent your entire holiday posted up in a movie theater, consuming America’s potential Oscar fodder (American Hustle, The Wolf of Wall Street, etc.) Time to cross some cinematic borders, film fans, and sample contenders in the Foreign Language Film category. Sure, the shortlist has already been announced, but the Smith Rafael Film Center is screening a wide swath of submissions; even if they didn’t all make the Academy’s final cut (one that did: World War II spy tale Two Lives, from Germany), they’re all worthy of attention. Others in the series include In Bloom, about two teen girls in post-Soviet Georgia; Swiss bee documentary More Than Honey; New Zealand’s White Lies, about three generations of Maori women; Argentina’s The German Doctor, about Nazi Josef Mengele’s post-war life in South America; and Polish director Andrzej Wajda’s biopic Walesa, Man of Hope. And that ain’t even all of it: there are also films from Canada, Czech Republic, Sweden, Afghanistan, Australia, Japan, Austria, and Romania — no passport required. (Eddy)

Through Jan. 16, $6.50-$10.75

Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center

1118 Fourth St, San Rafael

www.cafilm.org

 

“Prom Night: Redux”

I skipped my prom. There, I said it. I failed at being a teenager and I’m not ashamed to admit it. But I really don’t think I missed out, since I “went to the prom” about 10,000 times by watching just about every high school movie ever made. There’s no guarantee of pig’s blood or a muttered apology from Blane or a Mean Girls-style symbolically broken crown, but there will be slow dancing, strapless gowns, corsages, terrible suits, and probably some crimped hair at “Prom Night: Redux,” a benefit for SF IndieFest, which turns Sweet 16 this year. By the time you read this, the full schedule for this year’s fest (coming up in early February) will be posted on www.sfindie.com, but no need to wait for juicy moviegoing, since the Roxie is also kicking off the brilliantly-titled “I Was a Teenage Teenager” series (all teen flicks, all the time), tonight through Jan. 14. DJs Shindog (New Wave City) and Junkyard (Litterbox) rock the tunes, and yes, a king and queen will be crowned. They’re all gonna laugh at you! (Eddy)

8pm, $5-$10

Women’s Building

3543 18th St, SF

http://tinyurl.com/lmrczfy

 

SATURDAY 11

“Bowie and Elvis Birthday Bash”

For those keeping score at home, that makes two Elvis birthday events (and two DJ Shindog events) in a single Selector spread. But while the King’s b-day is indeed an occasion worthy of multiple peanut butter and banana (and bacon) sandwiches, we cannot forget that Mr. Presley shares a birthday with David Bowie. And when the music, videos, and film performances of these legends collide, it’ll be a magic night of sequins, scarves, and platforms in the Tenderloin. For the fourth year, the “Bowie and Elvis Birthday Bash,” with DJs Shindog, Cammy, Moonshine, and Andy T, promises jams “from ‘Hound Dog’ to ‘Diamond Dogs'” — and don’t be cruel, Ziggy, do your part by outfitting yourself in homage to one (or both at once!) of these well-dressed twin stars. (Eddy)

9pm-2am, $5

Edinburgh Castle

950 Geary, SF

www.castlenews.com

 

SUNDAY 12

Shapeshifters Cinema

Last April, the San Francisco Cinematheque devoted one of its “Crossroads 2013” programs to local experimental filmmaker Scott Stark and his dazzling, haunting mannequin epic The Realist. Stark returns with brand-new work in Shapeshifters Cinema’s first program of 2014, both collaborations with Allison Leigh Holt: dual projector performance Nocturnal Symmetries, which delves into “dreamlike urban and natural landscapes;” and Treasures of the Big House, “a playful, yet manic interaction between two performers using toys, household objects, and toiletries out of control.” Watch where you’re aiming those golf tees! Also on the bill are a pair of older Stark works, Right (2008), a 13-minute exploration of right-wing ideology in the context of the 2003 Iraq invasion; and the 20-minute More Than Meets the Eye: Remaking Jane Fonda (2001/2006), an homage to the actor and cultural icon via a re-creation of one of her workout videos. (Eddy)

8pm, free

Temescal Art Center

511 48th St, Oakl.

www.shapeshifterscinema.com

Rep Clock: January 8 – 14, 2014

Michael Redmond
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0

Schedules are for Wed/8-Tue/14 except where noted. Director and year are given when available. Double and triple features marked with a •. All times pm unless otherwise specified.

BERKELEY FELLOWSHIP OF UNITARIAN UNIVERSALISTS 1924 Cedar, Berk; www.bfuu.org. $5-10. The Ghosts of Jeju (Tremblay, 2013), Thu, 7.

CASTRO 429 Castro, SF; (415) 621-6120, www.castrotheatre.com. $8.50-12. The Little Mermaid (Clements and Musker, 1989), presented sing-along style, Wed-Fri, 7. San Francisco Silent Film Festival: “The Little Tramp at 100: A Charlie Chaplin Centennial Celebration:” “Our Mutual Friend: Three Chaplin Shorts,” Sat, 1; The Kid (Chaplin, 1921), Sat, 4; The Gold Rush (Chaplin, 1925), Sat, 7:30. Tickets ($10-22) and more info at www.silentfilm.org. Gravity (Cuarón, 2013), Sun, 2:30, 4:45, 7, 9. All is Lost (Chandor, 2013), Mon, 3:45, 6, 8:15.

CHRISTOPHER B. SMITH RAFAEL FILM CENTER 1118 Fourth St, San Rafael; (415) 454-1222, www.cafilm.org. $6.50-$10.75. A Touch of Sin (Jia, 2013), call for times. “Sundance Film Festival Shorts,” eight selections (comedy, drama, animated) from the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, Wed-Thu, call for times. “Croatian Children’s Animation,” Wed, 6:30. “For Your Consideration: A Selection of Oscar Submissions from Around the World,” Jan 10-16. The Past (Farhadi, 2013), Jan 10-16, call for times.

EXPLORATORIUM Pier 15, SF; www.exploratorium.edu. Free with museum admission ($19-25). “Saturday Cinema: Geometry in Motion,” short films, Sat, 1, 2, 3.

MECHANICS’ INSTITUTE 57 Post, SF; milibrary.org/events. $10. “CinemaLit Film Series: Over the Top: Precode Hollywood:” Hell’s Angels (Hughes, 1930), Fri, 6.

METREON 101 Fourth St, SF; www.mcsmsscalifornia.org. $100-250. Trailblazers in Habits (Tong, 2013), Sat, 2:30. Benefit screening; additional info at www.trailblazersinhabits.com.

NEW PARKWAY 474 24th St, Oakl; www.thenewparkway.com. $8. “Thrillville Theater:” King Creole (Curtiz, 1958), Thu, 9:15.

ODDBALL FILM + VIDEO 275 Capp, SF; www.brownpapertickets.com. $10. Southeast Asian Film Society presents: Flooding in the Time of Drought (Kemarau, 2009), Tue, 7.

PACIFIC FILM ARCHIVE 2575 Bancroft, Berk; (510) 642-5249, bampfa.berkeley.edu. $5.50-9.50. PFA closed until Jan 16.

ROXIE 3117 and 3125 16th St, SF; (415) 863-1087, www.roxie.com. $6.50-11. I Am Divine (Schwarz, 2013), Wed, 7, 9:15. A Touch of Sin (Jia, 2013), Wed-Thu, 6:45, 9:30. “Frameline Encore:” •The Infamous T (Koch, 2012), and A Self-Made Man (Petchers, 2013), Thu, 7. Free screening. “I Was a Teenage Teenager,” docs, exploitation films, TV shows, and more, Fri-Tue. Visit website for complete schedule.

SF PUBLIC LIBRARY Main Branch, 100 Larkin, SF; www.merola.org. Free. “Merola Goes to the Movies:” A Night at the Opera (Wood and Goulding, 1935), Sat, 1.

TANNERY 708 Gilman, Berk; berkeleyundergroundfilms.blogspot.com. Donations accepted. “Berkeley Underground Film Society:” “LOOP Presents: Soundies!”, rare musical films, Sat, 7:30; The Jazz Singer (Crosland, 1927), Sun, 7:30.

TEMESCAL ART CENTER 511 48th St, Oakl; www.shapeshifterscinema.com. Free. “Shapeshifters Cinema,” films by Scott Stark and Allison Leigh Holt, Sun, 8. *

 

Super Tramp

Michael Redmond
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0
Super Tramp

cheryl@sfbg.com

FILM Was ever an actor so closely associated with his signature character than Charlie Chaplin and his Little Tramp? (The best second-place I could come up with: Paul Reubens, aka Pee-wee Herman.) The San Francisco Silent Film Festival honors the 100th anniversary of Chaplin’s creation with “The Little Tramp at 100: A Charlie Chaplin Centennial Celebration.” Naturally, the 11-minute Kid Auto Races at Venice, which introduced the character to audiences Feb. 7, 1914, is on the bill. (For sticklers: Mabel’s Strange Predicament, the actual debut of the Tramp, was filmed prior to Venice, but released a few days later.)

In Chaplin’s 1964 autobiography, he wrote about assembling the character in the wardrobe room. “I wanted everything to be a contradiction: the pants baggy, the coat tight, the hat small, and the shoes large. I was undecided whether to look old or young, but remembering [producer Mack] Sennett had expected me to be a much older man [Chaplin was around 25 at the time of filming], I added a small mustache, which I reasoned, would add age without hiding my expression. I had no idea of the character. But the moment I was dressed, the clothes and the makeup made me feel the person he was. By the time I walked on stage he was fully born.”

You know the rest: Moviegoers couldn’t get enough, and — apologies to Team Buster Keaton — the Tramp became the silent era’s most popular figure, and remains its most iconic symbol. This tribute screens Venice with 1921’s The Kid, which begins as a destitute young mother (Chaplin’s frequent co-star and sometimes girlfriend Edna Purviance) tearfully places her newborn in the back seat of a fancy car with a note: “Please love and care for this orphan child.” Her desperate scheme is foiled when the auto is stolen by a pair of heavies; fortunately, the baby is soon scooped up by the Tramp, whose initial reluctance to play Daddy melts away with reassuring speed.

The action jumps ahead five years, with Jackie Coogan — one of the first child stars, and the reason there’s a California law protecting the earnings of underage performers from their greedy guardians — playing the ovary-rattlingly adorable title character. He and his adoptive father may live in squalor, and earn their dough a few shades on the wrong side of the law, but they make a surprisingly tight family unit, sharing comically huge stacks of pancakes, battling the local bullies, etc. Meanwhile, the tyke’s mother has become wealthy, and there’s a happy ending in store — but not before a rooftop chase, a trippy dream sequence, and deliverance on the film’s opening promise to supply “a picture with a smile, and perhaps a tear.” This screening features accompaniment by the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra (with Timothy Brock conducting Chaplin’s score), plus a Chaplin look-alike contest before the show — so get that mustache correct!

The Kid was Chaplin’s first full-length after nearly a decade of shorts, a trio of which are grouped together in a program dubbed “Our Mutual Friend.” The title references the Mutual Film Corporation, which signed Chaplin to a $670,000-per-year contract in 1916. (Not too shabby a figure today, it was a mind-blowing amount at the time.) He immediately got to work justifying his huge salary, cranking out hit after hit. These three share similar casts, with Purviance playing “the girl” and favorite Chaplin foil Eric Campbell (who stood a foot taller, and from some angles a foot wider, than the diminutive Chaplin) playing “the baddie.”

The Vagabond (1916) is the most melodramatic of the bunch; it follows a violin-playing hobo who encounters a waif being held captive by what the glossary of unfortunate movie stereotypes would call “gypsies.” (Campbell plays a whip-cracking patriarch.) The Tramp rescues her, but not before a passing artist paints her portrait and helps her reunite with her (rich) family — like The Kid, The Vagabond contains themes of economic disparity, a favorite Chaplin topic. Far more lighthearted are Easy Street (1917), in which the Tramp finds religion (thanks to an angelic church worker) and a backbone, after becoming a cop and defeating the local heavy (Campbell, adorned with spectacularly “evil” eyebrows); and The Cure (1917), in which an wobbly “inebriate” checks into a health spa, toting a huge suitcase full of booze. His fellow patients include a comely lass and an angry, towering brute.

The simple stories of all three shorts are elevated by flamboyant comedy set pieces, so effortless-seeming they mask what had to have been elaborate preparations and choreography. Any time there’s a bucket of water, or a hole in the ground, Chaplin is bound to fall in eventually — but there’s great delight in watching him teeter around and prolong disaster as long as possible. He also never met a revolving door he could pass through just once. And there’s never a stretch without some little moment of subtle hilarity, to counteract all the broad slapstick: Watch as Chaplin pretends to share his hymnal with an infant in Easy Street, then shrugs when he’s ignored. (That film also contains one of the oddest moments in Chaplin’s filmography, when the tramp accidentally sits on a heroin addict’s needle and leaps up, infused with drug-fueled super strength — pre-Production Code sordid humor at its finest.) All three films feature accompaniment by Jon Mirsalis on piano.

The final program is 1925’s The Gold Rush — like The Kid, an essential feature that no Chaplin fan minds revisiting, and an ideal vehicle for newbies to make his acquaintance. As a prospector seeking his fortune in the frozen Yukon, the Tramp fights a hungry bully and falls in love with a pretty girl (of course), but he also performs the oft-imitated tableside “roll dance” — and gnaws on his own boot. Priceless. And since lively music is a huge part of the experience: Timothy Brock once again conducts the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, playing Chaplin’s own score. *

“THE LITTLE TRAMP AT 100: A CHAPLIN CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION”

Sat/11, “Our Mutual Friend,” 1pm; The Kid, 4pm; The Gold Rush, 7:30pm, $10-$22

Castro Theatre

429 Castro, SF

www.silentfilm.org

 

Beathoven

Michael Redmond
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0
Beathoven

marke@sfbg.com

SUPER EGO A couple of years ago, Muni put out a public safety campaign that showed this gorgeous woman in giant silver headphones texting ferociously right before she stepped into the path of an oncoming train. Tagline: “Do you want Beethoven to be the last thing you hear?“

Which was a bit unintentionally hilarious because, yes, I do want Beethoven to be the last thing I hear, specifically the insanely great, otherworldly “late string quartets,” which would be a fine soundtrack with which to finally divest myself from this gorgeous, all-natural, all-me, not-silicone-at-all, nope-definitely-not, personal body.

But I’ll take any Beethoven at all, really — and local contemporary “laptop classical” composer Mason Bates is teaming up with the SF Symphony for a special treat: two nights of great Beethoven works paired with Bates’ electronica-obsessed orchestral pieces (Symphony No. 7 and The B-Sides Jan. 8-11, and Mass in C Major and Liquid Interface Jan. 15-18, www.sfsymphony.org).

If you’re unfamiliar with Bates, he uses digital and electronic instruments to bring lush, eerie dancefloor atmospherics and a leftfield backbeat to a full symphony and chorus setting. Adding Beethoven’s existential and ecstatic works to the mix might start some kind of weird fire.

 

AMBIVALENT

The Berlin-via-NYC favorite, a.k.a. Kevin McHugh, takes a heady, design-oriented approach to techno, reaching back into minimal to tease skeins of pulsing sonic ideas into a more visceral present. And you can dance to it. With Mossmoss, Brian Knarfield, Bob Five, and more.

Fri/10, 9pm-4am, $15. Monarch, 101 Sixth St., SF. www.monarchsf.com

 

HOT SINCE ’82

And he is hot! Out of the current crop of tech house pretty boys, Daley Padley of Leeds is also one of the sharpest, with a thoughtful sound that isn’t afraid to recall your champagne hangovers and long-lost puppy love dreams.

Fri/10, 9:30pm, $15-20. Audio Discotech, 316 11th St., SF. www.audiosf.com

 

MR. TIES

Have you heard this Berlin bearded queer techno wonder’s killer, slow-burn three-hour Boiler Room DJ set? Kind of all you need to hear. He’s coming in from his beloved Homopatik club to play Honey Soundsystem’s “Midi Slave” party, and it will get steamy.

Fri/10, 9pm-4am, $10–$15. F8, 1192 Folsom, SF. mrtieshoneysoundsystem.eventbrite.com

 

CIRCUIT SLAVE

Experimental psychedelic electronic music brings all the kids to the yard for a mini-festival of sorts. Headliners Circuit Slave slice punk angst through the wiring; duo Cry gets emotive with some 4AD-influenced eeriness, Bezier’s loops and arpeggios drive us back to analog days. With Redredred, PSSNGRS, and PowWow.

Sat/11, 9pm, $5, The Holdout, 2313 San Pablo Ave., Oakl. www.tinyurl.com/circuitslaveOAK

 

DJ DEEON

“Let me bang!” The legend of booty bass comes to the jackin’ Two Men Will Move You party for a night of low-low-low.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMtBpGqA1mU

Sat/11, 9pm, $8. Amnesia, 853 Valencia, SF.

 

KIM ANN FOXMAN

The NYC superfox of house grooves somes to the monthly Isis party, bringing with her a dose of classics with a devilishly danceable helping of transcendent 1980s and early ’90s sound-a-likes. Nice and funky, with a slow-motion vogue-ready twist. With Avalon Emerson, Hi Today, and Brittany B.

Sat/11, 9:30pm-3:30am, $10 advance. Public Works, 161 Erie, SF. www.publicsf.com

 

LESLIE AND THE LYS

Rickshaw Stop celebrates 10 years of rolling us out — wow, remember the insanely fun hipster-glitzy hardcore electro scene there? — with this appearance by the Iowan queen of hyper-ironic dance rap (she made it into art). Grab your gem sweater and let’s reach for the gold!

Sun/12, 8pm, $16, all ages. Rickshaw Stop, 155 Fell, SF. www.rickshawstop.com

 

Bits and bots

Michael Redmond
-
0
Bits and bots

marke@sfbg.com

CAREERS AND ED “When it comes to robots, there’s usually a kneejerk reaction about job loss. But the robotics field is also creating jobs. We haven’t had stagecoach drivers for a hundred years, but still the world has moved forward.” That’s Tim Smith, a robotics public relations expert — talk about robots creating new jobs — speaking to me over the phone from his Element PR home office in Bernal Heights, where he’s busy representing some of the most innovative robotics projects coming out of the Bay Area.

Smith has a gentle way (he’s no robot?) of putting the recent quantum-like advances in the robotics field into perspective — while also noting the limitations of the field. “One of the biggest challenges I face is overcoming the ‘creep factor’ that most people have when it comes to robots. There are different kinds of robots, different niches: industrial, military, personal. Most people, however, jump to a kind of malevolent science fiction combination of all three. And that’s understandable, considering how robots have been presented in the past.

“But really, personal robots are all around us. Thermostats are robots. Smoke alarms are robots,” Smith continues. “And despite people’s misgivings, they really do want the future, they do want science fiction. They want Rosie the Robot to do their laundry, clean the house. But right now, most personal robots do one thing extremely well. It’s when they’re asked to do two things that chaos breaks out. They need controlled environments. For instance, we have robots to clean your floors, but not one to clean your floors and wash your windows. Even Google’s driverless car needs to be in a certain kind of environment to function.

“So that’s what’s really held the industry from advancing. Meanwhile, though, on this side of that wall, there are some spectacular things being done to fine-tune and develop not just robots but the robotics field, including efforts to integrate robotics into daily life. You can see how far intelligent technology has come just by looking in your pocket.”

Smith took me on a tour of some of the Bay Area-based organizations and companies pushing those advances, including direct descendents of Willow Garage, the legendary Menlo Park robotics incubator started by Google developer Scott Hassan in 2006.

 

ROBOTSLAB BOX

Sure, math in high school was kind of a snoozefest. But what if your geometry class was taught by a box of robots? Yep, that might have you reaching for the protractor a bit more often.

RobotsLAB (www.robotslab.com) has created that box of robots, which is now in use in several schools. “The idea to create RobotsLAB BOX was born after spending hundreds of hours with educators, teachers, and administrators,” founder Elad Inbar told me by email. “The need for a population with basic STEM skills (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) is imperative, yet we’ve heard over and over again that students don’t understand why they need to learn math, or where math’s core concepts such as linear and quadratic equations are applicable to their lives.

“As a result, they underperform in evaluations and can give up on meaningful careers. But the RobotsLAB BOX robots are serving in the classroom as a bridge between the concrete world we live in and and abstract math concepts.

“There are four robots in the RobotsLAB BOX: a quadcopter, a robotic arm, a rover with a mustache, and a robotic ball. The students love them all. They help teach everything from the law of cosines to the sum of vectors.”

RobotsLAB BOX even offers a STEM kit that guides you through the basics of robotics. Wait, does that mean a robot will actually teach you to build itself?

 

OPEN SOURCE ROBOTICS FOUNDATION

The Bay Area-based ROS (Robotics Operating System, www.ros.org) organization is a collection of programmers dedicated to advancing robotics development and application through collaborative coding and invention.

The Open Source Robotics Foundation (www.osrf.org) is the nonprofit in charge of overseeing the development of ROS. Basically this means that it helps make robotics coding something shareable and open to all who are interested (and who can gain the technical chops). OSRF also does things like participate in last year’s headline making DARPA Challenge, the awesome-looking, government-sponsored festival and competition aiming to push robotics to the next level, where it completed a challenge to build an open-source robot simulation environment.

“If you want to enter the world of robotics software coding,” advises Brian Gerkey, OSRF CEO, “some familiarity with Linux is helpful. But the best advice is to just dive in. There are tons of resources at ROS for all levels of expertise and a vibrant community ready to help.

“One of the challenges facing robotics is the multi-disciplinary nature of the field — hardware, software, vision, navigation, manipulation — and lots of math. But there are lots of ways for a young person to get started — things like the FIRST Robotics competition and the growing Maker community come to mind.”

To advance the cause of personal robotics containing open-source software, Gerkey is participating in a panel at the Commonwealth Club on Feb. 26 called “Robots in Unconventional Workplaces” (www.commonwealthclub.org).

“Everyone has their own idea of what a robot looks like and what it does, but in many cases those expectations derive from movies, books, and television shows. One of my goals is to help people picture robots in scenarios they never dreamed possible.”

 

UNBOUNDED ROBOTICS

“The simplest way to describe our UBR-1 robot is that it’s akin to an iPhone without any third party apps,” says Unbounded Robotics (www.unboundedrobotics.org) CEO Melonee Wise of the one-year-old company’s latest protoype.

“The robot, like the phone, is incredibly capable and sophisticated, but the real value comes from what developers are able to add to the platform. For that reason, the practical applications are limited only by the imagination of the ROS developer community.”

Another way to describe the UBR-1 is: squeee.

The little shiny orange robot is so cute I want to have one just to look at when I get tired of Lil Bub pics. The introductory video, in which an “emergency stop” switch is activated to “prevent robot apocalypse” (“not guaranteed to prevent robot apocalypse”) is enough for me to welcome the coming robot apocalypse.

Now I just have to learn to program the darn thing.

 

Rep Clock: Jan. 1-6, 2014

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
-
0

Schedules are for Wed/8-Tue/14 except where noted. Director and year are given when available. Double and triple features marked with a •. All times pm unless otherwise specified.

BERKELEY FELLOWSHIP OF UNITARIAN UNIVERSALISTS 1924 Cedar, Berk; www.bfuu.org. $5-10. The Ghosts of Jeju (Tremblay, 2013), Thu, 7.

CASTRO 429 Castro, SF; (415) 621-6120, www.castrotheatre.com. $8.50-12. The Little Mermaid (Clements and Musker, 1989), presented sing-along style, Wed-Fri, 7. San Francisco Silent Film Festival: “The Little Tramp at 100: A Charlie Chaplin Centennial Celebration:” “Our Mutual Friend: Three Chaplin Shorts,” Sat, 1; The Kid (Chaplin, 1921), Sat, 4; The Gold Rush (Chaplin, 1925), Sat, 7:30. Tickets ($10-22) and more info at www.silentfilm.org. Gravity (Cuarón, 2013), Sun, 2:30, 4:45, 7, 9. All is Lost (Chandor, 2013), Mon, 3:45, 6, 8:15.

CHRISTOPHER B. SMITH RAFAEL FILM CENTER 1118 Fourth St, San Rafael; (415) 454-1222, www.cafilm.org. $6.50-$10.75. A Touch of Sin (Jia, 2013), call for times. “Sundance Film Festival Shorts,” eight selections (comedy, drama, animated) from the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, Wed-Thu, call for times. “Croatian Children’s Animation,” Wed, 6:30. “For Your Consideration: A Selection of Oscar Submissions from Around the World,” Jan 10-16. The Past (Farhadi, 2013), Jan 10-16, call for times.

EXPLORATORIUM Pier 15, SF; www.exploratorium.edu. Free with museum admission ($19-25). “Saturday Cinema: Geometry in Motion,” short films, Sat, 1, 2, 3.

MECHANICS’ INSTITUTE 57 Post, SF; milibrary.org/events. $10. “CinemaLit Film Series: Over the Top: Precode Hollywood:” Hell’s Angels (Hughes, 1930), Fri, 6.

METREON 101 Fourth St, SF; www.mcsmsscalifornia.org. $100-250. Trailblazers in Habits (Tong, 2013), Sat, 2:30. Benefit screening; additional info at www.trailblazersinhabits.com.

NEW PARKWAY 474 24th St, Oakl; www.thenewparkway.com. $8. “Thrillville Theater:” King Creole (Curtiz, 1958), Thu, 9:15.

ODDBALL FILM + VIDEO 275 Capp, SF; www.brownpapertickets.com. $10. Southeast Asian Film Society presents: Flooding in the Time of Drought (Kemarau, 2009), Tue, 7.

PACIFIC FILM ARCHIVE 2575 Bancroft, Berk; (510) 642-5249, bampfa.berkeley.edu. $5.50-9.50. PFA closed until Jan 16.

ROXIE 3117 and 3125 16th St, SF; (415) 863-1087, www.roxie.com. $6.50-11. I Am Divine (Schwarz, 2013), Wed, 7, 9:15. A Touch of Sin (Jia, 2013), Wed-Thu, 6:45, 9:30. “Frameline Encore:” •The Infamous T (Koch, 2012), and A Self-Made Man (Petchers, 2013), Thu, 7. Free screening. “I Was a Teenage Teenager,” docs, exploitation films, TV shows, and more, Fri-Tue. Visit website for complete schedule.

SF PUBLIC LIBRARY Main Branch, 100 Larkin, SF; www.merola.org. Free. “Merola Goes to the Movies:” A Night at the Opera (Wood and Goulding, 1935), Sat, 1.

TANNERY 708 Gilman, Berk; berkeleyundergroundfilms.blogspot.com. Donations accepted. “Berkeley Underground Film Society:” “LOOP Presents: Soundies!”, rare musical films, Sat, 7:30; The Jazz Singer (Crosland, 1927), Sun, 7:30.

TEMESCAL ART CENTER 511 48th St, Oakl; www.shapeshifterscinema.com. Free. “Shapeshifters Cinema,” films by Scott Stark and Allison Leigh Holt, Sun, 8. *

 

Music Listings Jan 1-6, 2014

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
-
0

WEDNESDAY 1
DANCE
1015 Folsom: 1015 Folsom St., San Francisco. “First Light,” w/ Odesza, Rising Appalachia, Russ Liquid, The Human Experience, jPod, Balance, more, 10 p.m., $15-$20.
BeatBox: 314 11th St., San Francisco. “Morning Glory,” w/ Steve Fabus, Sergio Fedasz, Taco Tuesday, Doc Sleep, Trevor Sigler, Robert Jeffrey, Robin Simmons, M*J*R (starts 4 a.m. Wednesday morning).
Cafe Cocomo: 650 Indiana, San Francisco. “Stompy + Sunset: New Year’s Day 2014,” w/ Solar, J-Bird, Galen, Deron, Tasho, Sweet P, more, 2 p.m., $10-$20.
Cat Club: 1190 Folsom, San Francisco. “Bondage A Go Go,” w/ DJs Damon, Tomas Diablo, & guests, 9:30 p.m., $5-$10.
F8: 1192 Folsom St., San Francisco. “Housepitality: New Year’s Day,” w/ Doc Martin, Heartthrob, Nikita, Atish, Brian Bejarano, Mossmoss, Benjamin Vallery, Ivan Ruiz, Dao & Pwny, Tyrel Williams, Sharon Buck, Fil Latorre, more, 6 a.m., $10-$25.
Mighty: 119 Utah, San Francisco. “Breakfast of Champions 2014,” New Year’s Day block party with Space Cowboys and guests, 6 a.m.-6 p.m., $25-$30.
Monarch: 101 6th St., San Francisco. “Honey Soundsystem + No Way Back New Year’s Day Disco,” w/ Hunee, Josh Cheon, Conor, P-Play, Robot Hustle, Solar, Jason Kendig, more, 6 a.m., $10-$20 advance.
Public Works: 161 Erie, San Francisco. “S.O.S.: Brass Tax Supper of Survivors V,” w/ JoeJoe, Ding Dong, Mace, Ernie Trevino, Haute Mess, Ethan Miller, Dao & Pwny, Dr. Whiskers, Marky Ray, 3 p.m., $5-$20.
Ruby Skye: 420 Mason, San Francisco. “Day 1,” w/ Carnage, Trevor Simpson, 9 p.m., $35-$40 advance.
Supperclub San Francisco: 657 Harrison, San Francisco. “Breakfast in Bed,” w/ DJs Dutch, Rooz, Didje Kelli, Alain Octavo, P-Dub, Cosmic Selector, UltraViolet, Jocelyn, WolfBitch, and Napsty (starts 4 a.m. Wednesday morning), $15 advance.
ACOUSTIC
Fiddler’s Green: 1333 Columbus, San Francisco. Terry Savastano, Every other Wednesday, 9:30 p.m., free/donation.
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.
Chez Hanny: 1300 Silver, San Francisco. Dan Pratt Quartet, 4 p.m., $20 suggested donation.
Jazz Bistro at Les Joulins: 44 Ellis, San Francisco. Charles Unger Experience, 7:30 p.m., free.
Red Poppy Art House: 2698 Folsom, San Francisco. Adam Shulman Quintet, 7:30 p.m., $10-$15.
Revolution Cafe: 3248 22nd St., San Francisco. Michael Parsons Trio, Every other Wednesday, 8:30 p.m., free/donation.
Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Anne O’Brien, First Wednesday of every month, 7:30 p.m., free.
BLUES
Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. Alvon Johnson, 7:30 & 9:30 p.m., $15.
FUNK
Tupelo: 1337 Green St., San Francisco. The Love Gangsters, 9 p.m.
SOUL
Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. Down North, 9:30 p.m., free.

THURSDAY 2
ROCK
Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. Brother Grand, Pizza Friday, Avery Burke, 9 p.m., $10.
The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. Terry Malts, Audacity, White Night, 10 p.m., $8.
Milk Bar: 1840 Haight, San Francisco. OnOff, Till I Fall, The Subtle Tease, Vvomen, 8:30 p.m., $6.
DANCE
Abbey Tavern: 4100 Geary, San Francisco. DJ Schrobi-Girl, 10 p.m., free.
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/ Son of Kick, Djunya, Bogl, Octopod, Indaskyes, Diamond Crates, 10 p.m., $10.
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.
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.
HIP-HOP
Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. “Vibes,” w/ DJ Kevvy Kev, 9 p.m., $5.
Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. Young Remedy, City P, hosted by Roach Gigz, 9 p.m., $10-$15.
Eastside West: 3154 Fillmore, San Francisco. “Throwback Thursdays,” w/ DJ Madison, 9 p.m., free.
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.
ACOUSTIC
Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. Misisipi Mike & The Midnight Gamblers, First Thursday of every month, 9 p.m.
Bazaar Cafe: 5927 California, San Francisco. Acoustic Open Mic, 7 p.m.
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.
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.
Le Colonial: 20 Cosmo, San Francisco. Steve Lucky & The Rhumba Bums, 7:30 p.m.
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.
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.
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.
BLUES
50 Mason Social House: 50 Mason, San Francisco. Bill Phillippe, 5:30 p.m., free.
Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. Lance Canales & The Flood, 7:30 & 9:30 p.m., $15.
The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. Chris Ford, First Thursday of every month, 4 p.m.
COUNTRY
Atlas Cafe: 3049 20th St., San Francisco. The Country Casanovas, 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
The Luggage Store: 1007 Market, San Francisco. The Ruminations, Matt Davignon & Dave Douglas Duo, 8 p.m., $6-$10.
SOUL
Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Brian McKnight, 8 & 10 p.m., $50-$55.

FRIDAY 3
ROCK
50 Mason Social House: 50 Mason, San Francisco. Death Cheetah, 3 Leafs, Crash & Burn, Fever Witch, 8 p.m., $8.
Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. Naive Melodies, 9:30 p.m., $10-$15.
Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. Sunrunners, The Bye Bye Blackbirds, The Real Numbers, 9:30 p.m., $10.
Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. Beast Fiend, Sorrow Church, Neurotrash, 9 p.m., $6.
Neck of the Woods: 406 Clement St., San Francisco. Wes Fox & The Loons, Karl?, 1989, The Mighty Russian Winter, 8 p.m., $5-$8.
Rickshaw Stop: 155 Fell, San Francisco. Felsen, Brad Brooks, We Became Owls, 8 p.m., $10.
Slim’s: 333 11th St., San Francisco. Dedvolt, Secrets of the Sky, G2K, Almost Dead, 9 p.m., $14.
DANCE
1015 Folsom: 1015 Folsom St., San Francisco. Cut Chemist, Them Jeans, Birdee, DJ Alarm, DJ Platurn, Motion Potion, Matt Haze, DJ Dials, King Most, 9 p.m., free with RSVP.
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.
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: Vampire Ball,” w/ DJs Tomas Diablo, Melting Girl, Sage, and Fact.50, 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.
Elbo Room: 647 Valencia, San Francisco. “Last Nite: A 2000s Indie Dance Party,” w/ DJs EmDee & Jamie Jams, 10 p.m., $5-$10.
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.
Mezzanine: 444 Jessie, San Francisco. “Future Fridays: 2014 Kickoff,” w/ Alex Sibley, Manics, Eelrack, MPHD, 9 p.m., $15.
Mighty: 119 Utah, San Francisco. Steve Lawler, Ben Seagren, Dean Samaras, 10 p.m., $10-$15.
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.
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. Ben Gold, 9 p.m., $20 advance.
Slate Bar: 2925 16th St., San Francisco. “Haçeteria,” w/ resident DJs Jason P, Smac, Tristes Tropiques, and Nihar, First Friday of every month, 10 p.m., $5.
Underground SF: 424 Haight, San Francisco. “Bionic,” 10 p.m., $5.
Vessel: 85 Campton, San Francisco. Wild Boyz, David Paul, 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, First Friday of every month, 10 p.m., free.
HIP-HOP
Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. “The 45 Sessions,” w/ DJs Platurn, Enki, Delgado, and Mr. E, 10 p.m., free.
EZ5: 682 Commercial, San Francisco. “Decompression,” Fridays, 5-9 p.m.
Nickies: 466 Haight, San Francisco. “First Fridays,” w/ The Whooligan & Dion Decibels, First Friday of every month, 11 p.m., free.
ACOUSTIC
Cafe Du Nord: 2170 Market, San Francisco. Goh Nakamura, Sea of Bees, Trevor Garrod, 9:30 p.m., $10.
Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. Delta City Ramblers, The Golden Cadillacs, Royal Jelly, 9 p.m., $8.
Plough & Stars: 116 Clement, San Francisco. Benjamin Brown, 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.
JAZZ
Atlas Cafe: 3049 20th St., San Francisco. Jazz at the Atlas, 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. Don Prell’s SeaBop Ensemble, First Friday of every month, 5:30 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.
Savanna Jazz Club: 2937 Mission, San Francisco. Savanna Jazz Trio, 7 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).
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. Avotcja & Modúpue, 7:30 p.m., $10-$15.
REGGAE
Gestalt Haus: 3159 16th St., San Francisco. “Music Like Dirt,” 7:30 p.m., free.
The Independent: 628 Divisadero, San Francisco. Anthony B, Rian Basillio & The Roosters, DJ Stepwise, 9 p.m., $25.
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. Chris Cain, 7:30 & 10 p.m., $20.
Tupelo: 1337 Green St., San Francisco. Jinx Jones & The KingTones, First Friday of every month, 9 p.m.
EXPERIMENTAL
Z Below: 470 Florida St., San Francisco. San Francisco Tape Music Festival 2014, featuring works by Alexander Graham Bell, Steve Reich, Willem de Ridder and the Hafler Trio, the Voyager Golden Record, and more, 8 p.m., $8-$15 (or $35 for a festival pass).
FUNK
Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. Swoop Unit, First Friday of every month, 6 p.m., $3-$5.
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. “Oldies Night,” w/ DJs Primo, Daniel, Lost Cat, friends, First Friday of every month, 10 p.m., $5.
Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Brian McKnight, 8 & 10 p.m., $60-$65.

SATURDAY 4
ROCK
Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. Benefit for Alan Forbes with Black Cobra, Lecherous Gaze, Pins of Light, Kicker, 9 p.m., $12+.
El Rio: 3158 Mission, San Francisco. OnOff, Cables & Arms, Till I Fall, 9 p.m., $8.
Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. Fronds, Dim Peaks, Vestals, 9:30 p.m., $6.
The Lost Church: 65 Capp St., San Francisco. Be Brave Bold Robot, Pomegranate, 8 p.m., $10.
Neck of the Woods: 406 Clement St., San Francisco. Dogpatch, 1955, The Bat Rays, 8 p.m., $5-$8.
Rickshaw Stop: 155 Fell, San Francisco. The Yellow Dress, Quite Polite, Basement, Watercolor Paintings, 8 p.m., $10.
Slim’s: 333 11th St., San Francisco. This Charming Band, Zoo Station, Killer Queens, 9 p.m., $15-$20.
Sub-Mission Art Space (Balazo 18 Gallery): 2183 Mission, San Francisco. The Guverment, Another Tangent, The Shams Eire, The Butlers, 9 p.m., $10.
Thee Parkside: 1600 17th St., San Francisco. Great Apes, Void Boys, Travesura, Five Eyes, 9 p.m., $8.
DANCE
Audio Discotech: 316 11th St., San Francisco. Doorly, 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.,” w/ DJs Tripp, Entyme, Fox, Kool Karlo, Medic, Tannhäuser Gate, Starr, and more, 9 p.m., $10-$15.
The EndUp: 401 Sixth St., San Francisco. “Play: The Locals Edition,” w/ Bai-ee, Craig Kuna, Dan Sherman, Jackie House, Jason Kendig, Mossmoss, Mozaic, Nikita, Tyrel Williams, more, 10 p.m., $15-$20 (free before 11 p.m.).
The Independent: 628 Divisadero, San Francisco. NVO, Materialized, Zebuel, 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.
Mighty: 119 Utah, San Francisco. “Deep Blue: 12th Annual Capricorn Party,” w/ Mark Farina, David Harness, DJ Rooz, Dax Lee, Buckner, Ken Minn, Josh Vincent, 9 p.m., $12-$15 advance.
Monarch: 101 6th St., San Francisco. “Lights Down Low,” w/ Brenmar, 10 p.m., $10-$15.
Public Works: 161 Erie, San Francisco. “Odyssey,” w/ DJ Severino, Robert Jeffrey, Robin Simmons (in the OddJob loft), 9:30 p.m., $10.
The Stud: 399 Ninth St., San Francisco. “Go Bang!,” w/ DJs Michael Serafini, Jeremy Rosebrook, Steve Fabus, and Sergio Fedasz, 9 p.m., $7 (free before 10 p.m.).
Vessel: 85 Campton, San Francisco. “Swank,” w/ Pheeko Dubfunk, Nile, Reggie Soares, Lorentzo, 10 p.m., $10-$30.
HIP-HOP
Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. SolGanix, Aisha Fukushima & Raptivism, Power Struggle, DJ Gordo Cabeza, 9 p.m., $7-$10.
Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. Telli Prego, Peter Feliciano, Onewerd, BP & Praduh, Sean Dick, 9 p.m., $8.
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.
Milk Bar: 1840 Haight, San Francisco. No Bird Sing, Eliquate, Louder Space, Rebel Allianz, 9 p.m., $10.
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
Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. The Gilded Rooks, Pony Hunt, Sam Doores, 9 p.m., $7-$10.
Atlas Cafe: 3049 20th St., San Francisco. Craig Ventresco and/or Meredith Axelrod, Saturdays, 4-6 p.m., free.
Bazaar Cafe: 5927 California, San Francisco. Mark Comstock, Wesley Woo, Chinese Melodrama, 7 p.m.
Cafe Du Nord: 2170 Market, San Francisco. Fleeting Trance, Erin Brazill & The Brazillionaires, Miss Erma, 9:30 p.m., $8.
The Chapel: 777 Valencia St., San Francisco. Vaud & The Villains, 9 p.m., $20-$22.
Revolution Cafe: 3248 22nd St., San Francisco. Seth Augustus, First Saturday of every month, 9 p.m., free/donation.
St. Cyprian’s Episcopal Church: 2097 Turk, San Francisco. Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Vikki Lee, 8 p.m., $22-$25.
Tupelo: 1337 Green St., San Francisco. Shantytown, 9:30 p.m.
JAZZ
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.
Sheba Piano Lounge: 1419 Fillmore, San Francisco. The Robert Stewart Experience, 9 p.m.
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.
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.
Pachamama Restaurant: 1630 Powell, San Francisco. Eddy Navia & Pachamama Band, 8 p.m., free.
Space 550: 550 Barneveld, San Francisco. “Club Fuego,” 9:30 p.m.
BLUES
Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. Paula Harris, 7:30 & 10 p.m., $20.
The Riptide: 3639 Taraval, San Francisco. Face the Giant, 9:30 p.m., free.
The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. Daniel Castro, First Saturday of every month, 9:30 p.m.
AMERICANA
Plough & Stars: 116 Clement, San Francisco. “Americana Jukebox,” First Saturday of every month, 9 p.m., $6-$10.
EXPERIMENTAL
Center for New Music: 55 Taylor St., San Francisco. duo B, 7:30 p.m., $8-$10.
Z Below: 470 Florida St., San Francisco. San Francisco Tape Music Festival 2014, featuring works by Thomas Edison, Iannis Xenakis, Kotoka Suzuki, Peter Batchelor, Matt Ingalls, Jacob Felix Heule, and more, 7 & 9:30 p.m., $8-$15 (or $35 for a festival pass).
FUNK
Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. Kuckaw!, Cliff Hines & G. Maxwell Zemanovic Duo, DJ K-Os, 9:30 p.m., $10 advance.
SOUL
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).
Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Brian McKnight, 8 & 10 p.m., $60-$65.

SUNDAY 5
ROCK
Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. OnOff, The Subtle Tease, Build the Empire, 8 p.m., $7.
DANCE
Beaux: 2344 Market, San Francisco. “Full of Grace: A Weekly House Music Playground,” 9 p.m., free.
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/ Jah Yzer, 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.; “BoomBox,” First Sunday of every month, 8 p.m.
F8: 1192 Folsom St., San Francisco. “Stamina,” 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., $5 (free before 11 p.m.).
The Parlor: 2801 Leavenworth, San Francisco. DJ Marc deVasconcelos, 10 p.m., free.
Q Bar: 456 Castro, San Francisco. “Gigante,” 8 p.m., free.
HIP-HOP
Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. “Return of the Cypher,” 9:30 p.m., free.
Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. NhT Boyz, C-Plus, Street Knowledge, ST Spittin, Nick Jame$, F.L.I.P, City Shawn, Spittin Image, DJ Cos the Kid, 9 p.m., $7-$10.
El Rio: 3158 Mission, San Francisco. “Swagger Like Us,” First Sunday of every month, 3 p.m.
Skylark Bar: 3089 16th St., San Francisco. “Shooz,” w/ DJ Raymundo & guests, First Sunday of every month, 10 p.m., free.
ACOUSTIC
The Lost Church: 65 Capp St., San Francisco. Peter Chung, Adventure Book, 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.
Plough & Stars: 116 Clement, San Francisco. Seisiún with Ciersdan Marsden, 9 p.m.
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church: 1755 Clay, San Francisco. “Sunday Night Mic,” w/ Roem Baur, 5 p.m., free.
JAZZ
Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. Kally Price Old Blues & Jazz Band, First Sunday of every month, 9 p.m., $7-$10.
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.
Tupelo: 1337 Green St., San Francisco. The Joe Cohen Show, 9 p.m.
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.
BLUES
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. “The Hootenanny West Side Revue,” First Sunday of every month, 7:30 p.m., free.
EXPERIMENTAL
Z Below: 470 Florida St., San Francisco. San Francisco Tape Music Festival 2014, featuring works by Alexander Graham Bell, François Bayle, Jonty Harrison, Elanie Lillios, Stijn Govaere, and more, 7 p.m., $8-$15 (or $35 for a festival pass).
SOUL
Delirium Cocktails: 3139 16th St., San Francisco. “Heart & Soul,” w/ DJ Lovely Lesage, 10 p.m., free.
Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Brian McKnight, 7 & 9 p.m., $50-$55.

MONDAY 6
ROCK
Elbo Room: 647 Valencia, San Francisco. “Americalia,” w/ Mark Matos & guests, 9 p.m. Starts . continues through Jan. 27, $7.
DANCE
DNA Lounge: 375 11th St., San Francisco. “Death Guild,” 18+ dance party with DJs Decay, Joe Radio, Melting Girl, & guests, 9:30 p.m., $3-$5.
Q Bar: 456 Castro, San Francisco. “Wanted,” w/ DJs Key&Kite and Richie Panic, 9 p.m., free.
Underground SF: 424 Haight, San Francisco. “Vienetta Discotheque,” w/ DJs Stanley Frank and Robert Jeffrey, 10 p.m., free.
ACOUSTIC
Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. Front Country, First Monday of every month, 9 p.m., free.
The Chieftain: 198 Fifth St., San Francisco. The Wrenboys, 7 p.m., free.
Fiddler’s Green: 1333 Columbus, San Francisco. Terry Savastano, 9:30 p.m., free/donation.
Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. Open Mic with Brendan Getzell, 8 p.m., free.
Osteria: 3277 Sacramento, San Francisco. “Acoustic Bistro,” 7 p.m., free.
The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. Peter Lindman, 4 p.m.
JAZZ
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.
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.
EXPERIMENTAL
Make-Out Room: 3225 22nd St., San Francisco. “The Monday Makeout,” w/ Denny Denny Breakfast, duo B vs. Noah Phillips, Eric Glick Rieman, 8 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 7
ROCK
Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. Wander, Balms, Airs, 9 p.m., $8.
The Chapel: 777 Valencia St., San Francisco. Califone, The Luyas, 8 p.m., $16.
Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. Scraper, Mane, Warm White, Tears Club, 8:30 p.m., $6.
Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. Steff & The Articles, Linus of Hollywood, Kelly Jones, 8 p.m., $10.
The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. Mad Mama & The Bona Fide Few, Swamp Angel, Lester T. Raww’s Graveside Quartet, DJ Ryan Smith, 9:30 p.m., $7.
Rickshaw Stop: 155 Fell, San Francisco. Rickshaw Stop 10th Anniversary: The Spits, Violent Change, Crez DeeDee, 8 p.m., $15.
DANCE
Aunt Charlie’s Lounge: 133 Turk, San Francisco. “High Fantasy,” w/ DJ Viv, Myles Cooper, & guests, 10 p.m., $2.
Laszlo: 2532 Mission, San Francisco. “Beards of a Feather,” Enjoy classy house records, obscuro disco, and laid-back late-’80s jams with DJ Ash Williams and guests, First Tuesday of every month, 9 p.m., free.
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.
ACOUSTIC
Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. Farallons, Mariee Sioux, Soft Shells, 9:15 p.m., $7.
Bazaar Cafe: 5927 California, San Francisco. Songwriter in Residence: Tom Rhodes, 7 p.m. Starts . continues through Jan. 28.
Plough & Stars: 116 Clement, San Francisco. Seisiún with Suzanne 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; Conscious Contact, First Tuesday of every month, 8 p.m., free.
Tupelo: 1337 Green St., San Francisco. Mal Sharpe’s Big Money in Jazz Band, 6 p.m.
Verdi Club: 2424 Mariposa, San Francisco. “Tuesday Night Jump,” w/ Stompy Jones, 9 p.m., $10-$12.
Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Tommy Igoe Big Band, 8 p.m., $22.
INTERNATIONAL
Cafe Cocomo: 650 Indiana, San Francisco. “Descarga S.F.,” w/ DJs Hong & Good Sho, 8 p.m., $12.
The Cosmo Bar & Lounge: 440 Broadway, San Francisco. “Conga Tuesdays,” 8 p.m., $7-$10.
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. Ron Thompson & The Resistors, 7:30 & 9:30 p.m., $15.
The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. Lisa Kindred, First Tuesday of every month, 9:30 p.m., free.
EXPERIMENTAL
Center for New Music: 55 Taylor St., San Francisco. sfSoundSalonSeries, w/ Chris Newman, 7:49 p.m., $7-$10.
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.

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