Jazz Archives — Page 18 of 59 — San Francisco Bay Guardian Archive 1966

SF Stories: Jessica C.Kraft

Andrew Lam

October 16, 2012

46TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL Everyone sees the neon signs on street posts over the weekend, but only a few types of people actually stop at estate sales. Early on Friday come the re-sellers—professionals intent on securing cheap, high quality goods that can be resold at pricey consignment shops and on eBay. On Saturdays come the casual shoppers, drawn by the novelty of IKEA prices on antique store treasures. And on Sundays, the hard-core hagglers and bargain hunters arrive, ready to seize upon whatever’s left for a few small bills.

My husband and I have gone “estate saling” all over the city for the past five years. While we’ve found plenty of cheap treasures, our real attraction to these final close-outs is their view into a hidden and historic San Francisco.

Walking into these properties, we marvel at the lush backyard gardens never visible from the street, and the secret views never seen from hilltop public parks. As in any scenic city, San Francisco builders smartly sited properties to maximize views, adding up to tens of thousands of private vistas that each offer a unique glimpse of the lambent sunsets, the columns of fog, or the itinerant Telegraph Hill parrots on parade.

We note how interior design styles have changed through the decades, and wonder how the elderly residents of these homes were able to put up with railroad hallways, stairways both too steep and too narrow, and the classic Doelger home’s miniature bathrooms.

There are always hordes of tchotchkes, outdated kitchenware, and piles of VHS tapes. But curious, bizarre objects also abound, mostly in mildewed basements where World War II veterans kept elaborate workbenches and harbored unconventional passions. An orthopedist in Forest Hill spent his free time jerry-rigging prosthetic devices in his basement, which, by the time of his sale, resembled a museum for medical patents. One dusty workbench was covered with scale models of world-famous buildings; the architect-collector had traveled to each of the sites and brought home a replica. Now his Hagia Sophia and Taj Mahal perch above our bathroom sink. My favorite find from one of these sub-floor collections was a drink stirrer with a pink, cheeky plastic butt affixed to the top. “Bottom’s Up!” the caption read.

Frequenting these sales allows visitors to paint a cultural map of the city that’s more nuanced than what you might learn on a City Guides walking tour. Headed out to the Sunset? You’ll likely find lacquered furniture, multiple tea sets and jade buddhas — but these might be surrounded by Guatemalan embroidery, Irish beer towels or French literature.

Who knew that Cow Hollow’s Union Street used to be a bohemian enclave? Amidst the posh wine bars and jewelry stores, we visited the apartment of a Life photographer and his oil painter wife who collected esoteric religious books, set their table with African textiles and, we imagined, spent evenings seated on the floor listening to sitar ragas. (We now use their Japanese gong to call our family to dinner.)

Stopping in at a sale in Noe Valley with other baby-clad parents, we’re delighted to discover a closet full of Carmen Miranda costumes, sequined carnival masks, fishnet tights and feather boas. A gay couple had lived there together since the ’50s, each year outdoing one another at Halloween. Thanks to them, our New Year’s party last year was extra sparkly.

At a sale just down the street from our house, at the foot of Grandview Heights in the inner Sunset, we inquired about an upright piano. We learned that its owner — a surgeon and well-known jazz photographer — had shot Duke Ellington and other jazz greats playing that very instrument. We never would have imagined that in our quiet hood of dog walkers and weekend gardeners, music history was made.

When we see these homes and prized collections being dismantled and dispersed, we become the last witnesses to episodes in San Francisco history. We get an intimate glimpse of the personalities that used to fill pockets of San Francisco real estate, before many of these neighborhoods became too costly for more than one privileged demographic.

Ultimately, though, we reckon with loss. Someone has died. Their family heirlooms are deracinated; a resale company makes some dough. A family grieves, and is compensated. The perpetual question that these sales seem to ask is: can we, should we, know a life by the objects left behind? When we bring an item home, we feel enriched, as if some facet of our inner world has been represented in solid substance. Yet we can’t help seeing these objects as memento mori. As my husband wistfully observed: when we’re gone, and after our kids have rifled through our dusty, obsolete books and tchotchkes, we’ll likely have one hell of an estate sale ourselves.

Jessica C. Kraft is a San Francisco writer.

Raise your skinny fists

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks

October 16, 2012

emilysavage@sfbg.com

TOFU AND WHISKEY Sitting on a pilled blanket out in Golden Gate Park, watching Australia’s folk-noise instrumental outfit Dirty Three tear shit up on violin, petting my SPCA-adopted chug and sipping my homemade beer, I thought, “this is magic.” And then, “I’m pretty drunk.” And finally, out loud, “I’m a cliché right now.”

No mind. This is San Francisco. We all fall prey to a rainbow of snarky categories. And this was the breezy, free Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. Gooey, grey-streaked hippies were dancing all around me. So I’m a cliché and late feminist punk icon Poly Styrene’s magnificent screeching vocals ring through my ears every time the thought returns: “I’m a cliché/I’m a cliche,” (off Germ-Free Adolescents).

Just a few ticks after the 1977 punk era that spawned Styrene, an LA doom metal band called Saint Vitus arose in ’78. Last Tuesday, a configuration of that heavy, Black Sabbath-loving, long-haired freak band played the Independent, much to my delight.

It was a new experience, seeing a true metal show at the Independent; it seems like those bands are usually saved for the Elbo Room, Sub-Mission, Slim’s, DNA Lounge, or the like.

There’s another venue in San Francisco we need to talk about now that’s entirely non death-metal affiliated but incredibly deserving of attention and unfortunately, concern. The Mission’s educator-run jazz outlet, Savanna Jazz (www.savannajazz.com) is in dire straits right about now.

Club co-owner Pascal Bokar Thiam — jazz guitarist, professor, Mission resident — and his two fellow co-owners are in danger of losing their building.

The picturesque jazz venue on Mission Street near 24th Street hosts live music six nights a week, and is one of just three true, full-time jazz clubs left in the city. It opened in 2003, and the educators purchased the building, including the four apartments upstairs (one of which belongs to Thiam) in 2005.

“It is so important to have jazz venues for the heart and soul of this nation, so that the younger generations can actually walk into a venue and see and learn about Duke Ellington, Nat King Cole, Benny Goodman,” says Thiam. “You have to have a place to incubate this process, and give the younger generation a chance to learn about what made this music an art form.”

Thiam and the two other owners were in the midst of a loan modification with their bank, Sonoma National, when Sterling Bank of Spokane, Wash. acquired Sonoma’s assets. Sterling refused the modification. Then, “Sterling forced a strategic default by refusing to take our mortgage payments unless we paid the totality of our property tax due to the City and County of San Francisco,” says Thiam, adding, “We have substantial equity in the building and the bank refuses to let us access it and it is now trying to take the property.”

By rejecting their mortgages, and putting them in strategic default, the bank was also able to claim a notice of sale after 90 days. They filed a notice of default in mid-August. So, as Thiam notes, the clock is now ticking. Sterling Bank of Spokane had no comment.

Supervisor David Campos and organizer Buck Bagot of ACCE (Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment) and Occupy Bernal have been working with Thiam to spotlight Sterling Bank’s tactics and work as a third party between the bank and the venue. “If Sterling doesn’t agree to speak with him, and to give him a fair and affordable loan modification, then we’ll kick their ass,” says Bagot, sitting in Thiam’s office. “We’ll call them, email, and visit them in large numbers. People’s homes and businesses are at risk. It takes that kind of concerted action to get their attention.”

It’s a complex issue, but for Thiam, who has always paid his mortgages on time and maintained the facility, it’s all about the music, some of which comes piping in via bellowing horns from the main room while we discuss the venue in his cluttered office. “We’ve been trying to promote the aesthetics of the American art form, jazz,” he says simply. “We have students who come here from the community, from other states, from across the globe, to perform here at Savanna.”

“We talk about jazz, but we often forget that jazz gave America its identity markers away from the cannons of Europe in the beginning of the 20th century. Jazz elevated it to the level of a cultural superpower. It reflected a new consciousness.”

For more on the ongoing struggle between the jazz club and the bank, visit SFBG.com/Noise.

ANTENNAS TO HEAVEN

Picture an orchestra tuning, beginning, then wholly dropping to the center of the earth, while playing all the way down. Godspeed You! Black Emperor‘s first album in a decade, Alleluja! Don’t Bend! Ascend! (Constellation Records, Oct. 16) doesn’t stray too far from the Canadian collective’s proven track record: forceful plucks of orchestral strings (cello, violin, hurdy gurdy), swelling guitar riffs, crashing mid-tempo percussion, gloomy, dystopic atmospheres that feel like they’re swallowing you up whole, reaching a climax (err, crescendo) then tumbling back down to earth and respawning anew. It’s a tiring, beautiful, and emotional journey. Having spent a year falling asleep nightly to 2000’s Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven so as to create my own powerful dreamscapes, I’m ready to return to my nightmares with Alleluja!.

CLARION ALLEY BLOCK PARTY

If you’ve never been to the Clarion Alley Block Party, then you’re not yet a true San Franciscan. That’s an exaggeration, but it seems like a true rite of passage for SF folk. The ever-evolving walls will boast new, brightly saturated murals, and in between them, a robust showcase of local musical talent on two stages: Future Twin, Moira Scar, Apogee Sound Club, Brass Liberation Orchestra, Afrolicious, Grandma’s Boyfriend, and more. Who doesn’t love an alley party?

Sat/20, parade at noon (led by Brass Liberation Orchestra), noon-8:30pm, free. Clarion Alley Mural Project, between 17th and 18th Streets, Mission and Valencia, SF. Facebook: Clarion Alley Block Party.

Das Racist’s Kool A.D. on hip-hop, baseball, and losing his virginity

Tony Robles

October 11, 2012

Das Racist’s Kool A.D. on hip-hop, baseball, and losing his virginity

Self-proclaimed, “second best rapper with glasses after E-40” and Bay Area native by way of Brooklyn Victor Vazquez aka KOOL A.D. of rap group Das Racist has had quite the prolific past year in the hip-hop industrial complex.

He and his group Das Racist — featuring rapper Heems and hypeman Dapwell (Dap for short) — released their debut LP and critic darling Relax. Soon after that he released not one but two positively received mixtapes in the span of three months, The Palm Wine Drinkard and the Bay Area homage 51. Das Racist plays DNA Lounge this Fri/12.

KOOL A.D. took time off from his 10-city tour with Das Racist, Leif, Safe, and Lakutis to rhapsodize with the Guardian about playing for the A’s, his punk band, and getting free weed.

San Francisco Bay Guardian Are you for the Giants/ 49ers or A’s/Raiders?

KOOL A.D. I don’t really care. But A’s.

SFBG If you played for the A’s what would be your stepping up to the plate song?

KAD [Long laugh] “Le Freak” by Chic.

SFBG Where in the Bay Area did you live when you were growing up?

KAD Potrero Hill, Hunter’s Point, Alameda, West Oakland.

SFBG I heard a rumor that you lost your virginity in the back of a fruit truck in Alameda? Can you confirm or deny this?

KAD I lost my virginity in the cab of the produce truck at Paul’s Produce (now called Dan’s Produce I think) where I used to work.

SFBG What are your favorite spots in the Bay to kick it at? What places do you take Heems and Dap?

KAD As a youngster, I went to punk shows in warehouses and houses, kicked it at Donut Shops, burger spots, and Mexican restaurants, dollar ten Chinese, drank and smoked weed in parks. Not particularly good at “recommending cool shit” to people.

SFBG The Guardian had a recent cover story entitled “Is Oakland Cooler Than San Francisco” What’s your take on that? As a Brooklyn resident do you think Oakland could be SF’s Brooklyn?

KAD I lived in both and love both and it always bugged me that SF fools don’t want to come to the East Bay and East Bay fools don’t want to go to SF. I think a large part is because BART closes too early. Never understood why BART couldn’t get it together to be 24 hours.

SFBG Who are some Bay Area rappers you’ve been into lately?

KAD Favorite people making music in the Bay are Amaze 88, Trackademicks, 1-O.A.K., The Coup, Main Attrakionz, Davinci, Young L, Lil B, Kreayshawn, Beed Weeda, Too Short, E-40, Droop-E, Issue, YG, Cuzzo Fly, Stone Vengeance, Las Malas Pulgas, Under 15 Seconds, Fracas, Fucktard, Reivers, @AAANTWON, Nacho Picasso, Mike Baker, Safe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUxLlXikwZU

SFBG Finish this phrase: “Rap Game [blank].”

KAD Keith Morris.

SFBG Das Racist frequently asks fans to throw various objects on stage. What’s the most outlandish or weirdest thing any fan has ever thrown on stage?

KAD Hundreds of Soy Joy snack bars at a festival in Washington was pretty weird. Also hellof weed, cigarettes. One time in Oakland I asked for money and got like 30 bucks in small bills.

SFBG If presented with the opportunity to join the Illuminati, would you accept?

KAD Depends on what’s in it for me.

SFBG What are you currently working on?

KAD I got a lot of tracks recorded, want do a mixtape or two, maybe an album. I got a punk band called Party Animal putting out a record in December. Got rap mixtape called Peaceful Solutions with Seattle jazz man Kassa Overall. Co-writing for a project called Cult Days.

SFBG I see you’ve been tweeting a lot about Bud Light Platinum, are you fan? Would you and the crew let them use a DR song in a commercial?

KAD Never drank it. But yeah, it’s hard to turn down large sums of money.

SFBG What’s your take on the current state of the hyphy movement? Some say it’s peaked, do you agree or disagree?

KAD Hyphy is a feeling.

Das Racist With Le1f, Safe, and Lakutis

Fri/12, 10pm, $25

DNA Lounge

375 11 St., SF

www.dnalounge.com

Our Weekly Picks: October 10-16

October 9, 2012

WEDNESDAY 10

Happy Hour at 251 Post

Stumbling on 251 Post Street feels a lot like clicking on a square in Minesweeper that opens up an awesome chunk of mine-free space. The entrance is nudged between a designer sunglass shop and high-end French clothing store, but it leads to six floors full of innovate artwork. Granted, the art might be in the same price range as the surrounding stores, but hey, admission is a lot cheaper than a museum. The happy hour will feature artist talks at four of the six galleries, including the Bay Area painter Brett Amory, whose simple but beautiful paintings are evocative of my lonelier dream visions. His work, focused on figures and buildings he encounters in Oakland and San Francisco, reduces everything down to the essence, creating empty spaces where buildings and figures seem to recede and appear before your eyes. (Molly Champlin)

5pm, free

251 Post Street Art Galleries, SF

(415) 291-8000

www.artgalleryweek.com

Dinosaur Jr.

We don’t need to tell you that Dinosaur Jr was one of the most influential alternative rock bands of the 1990s or that these dudes can really shred. We’ll just let their 28-year career attest to that. What we will tell you is that their new album is not to be overlooked or underestimated. These Dinosaurs have aged well. I Bet on Sky, their 10th full-length, is a loudmouthed snarl of a record. It features all the best quirks of Dinosaur Jr’s extensive catalogue: frightening amounts of fuzz, weirdly engaging hooks, and deep dark lyrics in J Mascis’ disengaged nasal yowls. Don’t forget to bring earplugs. (Haley Zaremba)

8pm, $32.50

Fillmore

1805 Geary, SF

(415) 346-3000

www.thefillmore.com

FRIDAY 12

Lenora Lee Dance

The history of Chinese Americans in the Bay Area is not exactly a closed book. Over the years many artists — including dancers — have opened a few of its pages, but I can’t think of any choreographer who has taken an approach as simultaneously intimate and large scale as Lenora Lee. In her work, the personal and the political intertwine inextricably. As part of her fifth anniversary celebration she, and some very fine visual, musical and text collaborators, are presenting a triptych that is still in the making. “Passages: For Lee Ping To” is the most personal — based on Lee’s grandmother’s story; “Reflections” looks at conflicting ideas of maleness; and “The Escape”, a work on immigrant women. (Rita Felciano)

Fri/12-Sat/13, 8pm, $15–$25

Sun/14, 3:30pm

Dance Mission Theater

3316, 24th St., SF

www.dancemission.com

The Raveonettes

The collaboration of Sune Rose Wagner and Sharin Foo feels like 1950s and ’60s rock’n’roll overlaid with electric noise and coupled with darker, more introspective lyrics. Their sound recalls grunge and captures a shoegazy moodiness that’s both mysterious and lyrical. The Danish duo has been making music together as the Raveonettes since 2001, has developed a cult following along the way, and has been credited with spawning somewhat of an American indie rock renaissance. Wagner relates Observator, the group’s recently released sixth album, to “a heavenly dream that you slowly realize is actually taking place in hell.” (Mia Sullivan)

With Melody’s Echo Chamber

9pm, $25

Bimbo’s

1025 Columbus, SF?

(415) 474-0365

www.bimbos365club.com

Morbid Angel

Time was that Morbid Angel could do no wrong. Tampa was bursting with bands in the later Reagan years, but few combined brutality with complexity as well as guitarist Trey Azagthoth, drummer Pete Sandoval, and bassist-vocalist David Vincent. With the release of 2011’s Illud Divinum Insanus, however, that time officially ended. Industrial and electronic textures alienated fans, leaving them uncertain about the band’s new direction. Thankfully, having missed the Illud… sessions while recovering from back surgery, Sandoval is now back in the fold, which bodes well for a return to death metal roots on the band’s current tour. (Ben Richardson)

With Dark Funeral, Grave

9pm, $31

Slim’s

333 11th St., SF

(415)-255-0333

www.slimspresents.com

SATURDAY 13

Life is Living Festival

Even in the season of street fair, Marc Bamuthi Joseph’s Life is Living Festival stands out. The overarching theme for the fests — they take place in ‘hoods across the country, from Houston’s Emancipation Park to Chicago’s South Side to the Bronx — is bringing green to the black community, uniting the sustainability movement with a hip-hop sensibility. The fest overflows with hip-happenings: Oakland’s first youth poet laureate Stephanie Yun will take the stage, there’ll be a street art contest, a show by a local team of dunk artists, vegan Filipino food, free breakfast (a park tradition started by the Black Panthers), youth science exhibition, dancing, hip-hop cipher — oh, and Talib Kweli will DJ. The fest prides itself on being an uber-positive, multi-generational show of strength. You won’t go home frowning. (Caitlin Donohue)

10am-6pm, free Defremery Park 1651 Adeline, Oakl. www.lifeisliving.org

Alternative Press Expo

Besides, of course, the sweetly self-conscious parade of Optimus Prime, Misty from Pokemon, and Clockwork Android costumes, my favorite part of the dearly-departed Wonder Con was the sociology nerd comics panels. “Women in Comics,” “Social Justice in Comics,” the list goes on. Graphic novels present the perfect, neurosis-friendly media in which to delve into alternative culture, which is why the Alternative Press Expo will make you forget all those Hollywood blockbuster star panels. Go this year to delve into the best scribblers of alt culture, like the Hernandez brothers of Love and Rockets Latino punk fame, a queer cartoonist panel moderated by Glamazonia’s Justin Hall, and the chance to connect with a gajillion like-minded indie comic freaks. (Donohue)

11am-7pm; also Sun/14, 11am-6pm; $10 one day, $15 two day pass Concourse Exhibition Center 635 Eighth St., SF www.comic-con.org/ape

Yerba Buena Night

Art allies in the Yerba Buena district are rallying together for another installment of Yerba Buena Night. The neighborhood will be full of people getting their musing-spectator on during the gallery walk, rocking out at the three main performance stages, and chatting with class at the champagne reception hosted by Visual Aid. Be sure to stop by 111 Minna to see surreal graffiti and pen artist Lennie Mace, who operates in both America and Japan, as well as some of Mike Shine’s paintings and props from Outside Lands (minus the live carny folk, unfortunately). Or visit Wendi Norris Gallery for beautifully bright but often gruesome narrative paintings by artist Howie Tsui: think pop-surrealist Mark Ryden with a Chinese influence. (Champlin)

3pm, free

Yerba Buena District

701 Mission

(415) 541-0312

www.yerbabuena.org

MONDAY 15

David Byrne and St. Vincent

Old and young, man and woman, beauty and beast (albeit a hip beast with now slick, silver hair), David Byrne and St. Vincent make quite the unlikely pair. Despite, or maybe in light of these differences, their respective talents fit together like puzzle pieces in their joyously poppy and horn-laden collaboration, Love This Giant. The album, released in September, rings in like a call to action and touches on issues of wealth, prescribed and individual culture, love, and forgiveness. Aside from the fact that everyone loves a rock show backed with an eight-piece brass band, this is set to be a memorable night.(Champlin)

8pm, $63.50–$129

Orpheum Theater

1192 Market, SF

(888) 746-1799

www.shnsf.com

The Sheepdogs

If you’re itching for some classic rock nostalgia but aren’t in the mood for the full-on experience (i.e. Dark Star Orchestra), check out The Sheepdogs. This Canadian quartet looks like they were pulled straight out of the ’70s and has been sonically influenced by rock icons like The Grateful Dead, Credence Clearwater Revival, and Steely Dan. These guys released a self-titled, debut album with Atlantic Records last month. (They released their first three albums independently.) The Sheepdogs thrive on three-part harmonies, produce extremely catchy tracks, and have been rumored to put on fun, blissful shows. (Sullivan)

With Black Box Revelation

7:30pm, $15

Rickshaw Stop

155 Fell, SF

(415) 861-2011

www.rickshawstop.com

TUESDAY 16

Nik Bärtsch’s Ronin

Not quite nu-jazz, math-rock, or classical minimalism, Nik Bärtsch’s Ronin attacks Reichian time signatures with the borderline robotic technical skill of a group of Juilliard grads, the undeniable groove of an airtight funk band, and the Steely Dan-worthy production values inherent to ECM, the venerable European jazz label to which they’re signed. Bärtsch’s piano playing is remarkably dynamic, flowing between resonant, open tones and muffled, percussive hammering, while generously layered drums, agile bass-plucking, and exotic woodwinds (contrabass clarinet, anyone?) create a dark, steely backdrop. Considering the Swiss ensemble’s masterful ability to anchor soulful acoustic instrumentation with a relentlessly electronic pulse, Nik Bärtsch’s Ronin is as compelling, and unmissable, as any live ensemble currently working. (Taylor Kaplan)

8pm, $20

Yoshi’s Oakland

510 Embarcadero West, Oakl.

(510) 238-9200

www.yoshis.com/oakland

Vampyr with live score by Steven Severin

Get your Halloween on a little early this year with Steven Severin, founding member and bassist of Siouxie and the Banshees, who comes to haunt the city tonight with two special live performances of his new score to the classic 1932 horror film Vampyr. The third installment in Severin’s ongoing film accompaniment series “Music For Silents,” the darkly moody synthesizer score perfectly matches the surreal scenes on the silver screen, working in conjunction with the somewhat unorthodox style of filmmaker Carl Theodor Dreyer, who continued to use elements of the silent era, including dialogue title cards, even though the film was made at the advent of the talkies. (Sean McCourt)

7 and 9:30pm, $15

Roxie Theater

3117 16th St., SF

www.roxie.com

The Guardian listings deadline is two weeks prior to our Wednesday publication date. To submit an item for consideration, please include the title of the event, a brief description of the event, date and time, venue name, street address (listing cross streets only isn’t sufficient), city, telephone number readers can call for more information, telephone number for media, and admission costs. Send information to Listings, the Guardian, 225 Bush, 17th Flr., SF, CA 94105; or e-mail (paste press release into e-mail body — no attachments, please) to listings@sfbg.com. Digital photos may be submitted in jpeg format; the image must be at least 240 dpi and four inches by six inches in size. We regret we cannot accept listings over the phone.

Music Listings

October 9, 2012

Music listings are compiled by Emily Savage. Since club life is unpredictable, it’s a good idea to call ahead or check the venue’s website to confirm bookings and hours. Prices are listed when provided to us. Visit www.sfbg.com/venue-guide for venue information. Submit items for the listings at listings@sfbg.com. For further information on how to submit items for the listings, see Picks.

WEDNESDAY 10

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Anthony B, Baijie, Jah Warrior and the Crew Slim’s. 9pm, $25.

Battlehooch, Mwahaha, UpstairsDownstairs Knockout. 7pm.

Charles vs Jason Marion Johnny Foley’s Dueling Pianos. 9:30pm.

Commissure, Adventure Playground, froadZ Sub-Mission. 7:30pm, $6.

Corin Tucker Band, Mecca Normal Cafe Du Nord. 9:30pm, $15.

Deftones, Scars on Broadway Warfield. 8pm, $38-$42.50.

Dinosaur Jr. Fillmore. 8pm, $32.50.

Tav Falco and the Unapproachable Panther Burns, Switchbacks, Musk Thee Parkside. 8pm, $12.

Felsen 50 Mason Social House, SF; www.50masonsocialhouse.com. 8pm.

Il Gato, Immanu El, Wolf and Crow Rickshaw Stop. 8pm, $10.

John Lawton Trio Johnny Foley’s. 9pm, free.

Kiwi Time, Coo Coo Bird, Death Medicine Band Brick and Mortar Music Hall. 9pm, $5-$8.

Lydia Loveless, Lonely Wild, Mick Leonardi Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $10.

One Way Station Boom Boom Room. 8pm, $5.

Sudden Weather Change, Big Scary Hotel Utah. 8pm, $8.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

Cat’s Corner with Nathan Dias Savanna Jazz. 9pm, $10.

Dink Dink Dink, Gaucho, Eric Garland’s Jazz Session Amnesia. 7pm, free.

Pleasure Palace Rite Spot. 9pm, free.

Martha Reeves Rrazz Room. 8pm, $40-$45.

Ricardo Scales Top of the Mark, 999 California, SF; www.topofthemark.com. 6:30pm, $5.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

Ziva 50 Mason Social House, SF; www.zivamusic.com. 8pm, $5.

DANCE CLUBS

Aisle 45 Elbo Room. 9pm, $5. Soul, funk, boogie with DJs Mauby, Mo-Luxx, Rev Shines.

Booty Call Q-Bar, 456 Castro, SF; www.bootycallwednesdays.com. 9pm. Juanita MORE! and Joshua J host this dance party.

Coo-Yah! Som., 2925 16th St, SF; (415) 558-8521. 10pm, free. DJs Daneekah and Green B spin reggae and dancehall with weekly guests.

Obey the Kitten: Miss Kitten Vessel, 85 Campton Place, SF; www.vesselsf.com.10pm, $7-$15.

Poolside, Com Truise, Bonde Do Role, DJ Jeffrey Paradise Mezzanine. 9pm, $15.

THURSDAY 11

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP.

Afton presents Bay Area Hip Hop feat. Clique, Fitted Cap Gang 50 Mason Social House, SF; www.50masonsocialhouse.com. 8pm, $13.

Circa Survive, Touche Amore, Balance and Compsure, O’Brother Regency Ballroom. 7:30pm, $22.

Guido vs Charles Johnny Foley’s Dueling Pianos. 9:30pm.

Gunshy Johnny Foley’s. 9pm, free.

Hayehudim Slim’s. 9pm, $50-$60.

JEFF the Brotherhood, Diarrhea Planet, Colleen Green Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $12.

Hundred Waters, Penny Hewson Cafe Du Nord. 9pm, $10.

Katdelic Boom Boom Room. 10pm, $10.

Anders Osborne, Robert Walter’s 20th Congress Independent. 9pm, $25.

Pop Etc, Violens, Strange Talk Rickshaw Stop. 9pm, $13-$15.

Random, Doctor Popular, Xombie Hemlock Tavern. 8:30pm, $8.

“Rock’n’Roll Carnival: Party on Three Wheels” Public Works. 8pm, $5-$10. With Birdmonster, Le Vice, and more.

Spectre, Drunk Dad, Bogbody, Unifried Thee Parkside. 9pm, $6.

2:54, Grave Babies Brick and Mortar Music Hall. 9pm, $10-$13.

Yelawolf, Ritzz, Trouble Andrew Fillmore. 8pm, $32.50.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

Stompy Jones Top of the Mark, 999 California, SF; www.topofthemark.com. 7:30pm, $10.

Martha Reeves Rrazz Room. 8pm, $40-$45.

SF Jazz Hotplate Series Amnesia. 9pm.

Tin Can Serenade Rite Spot. 9pm, free.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

Twang! Honky Tonk Fiddler’s Green, 1330 Columbus, SF; www.twanghonkytonk.com. 5pm. Live country music.

DANCE CLUBS

Afrolicious Elbo Room. 9:30pm, $8-$10. Felabration with Soji and the Afrobeat band, DJ Said, Pleasuremaker, and Senor Oz.

All 80s Thursday Cat Club. 9pm, $6 (free before 9:30pm). The best of ’80s mainstream and underground.

Base: TBC Vessel, 85 Campton Place, SF; www.vesselsf.com.10pm, $5-$10.

First Base Rebel, 1760 Market, SF; Facebook: Rebel. 10pm, $3. Old school breaks, disco house, and electro breaks.

Lions, Tigers, and Queers Underground SF. 10pm-2am, $3. Indie, Electro, and house dance party.

Tropicana Madrone Art Bar. 9pm, free. Salsa, cumbia, reggaeton, and more with DJs Don Bustamante, Apocolypto, Sr. Saen, Santero, and Mr. E.

FRIDAY 12

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Base Nine 50 Mason Social House, SF; www.50masonsocialhouse.com. 8pm.

Blisses B, Tyler Matthew Smith, Dad’s LP Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $10.

Body and Soul Johnny Foley’s. 9pm, free.

Catbone Blues Band Plough and Stars. 9:30pm, $5-$10.

Charles, Rome Balestrieri, Nathan Temby Johnny Foley’s Dueling Pianos. 9pm.

Dark Star Orchestra Fillmore. 9pm, $30.

Das Racist DNA Lounge. 10pm, $25.

Fink, Yonat and Her Muse Brick and Mortar Music Hall. 9pm, $12-$15.

Fuxa, Bloom, Disappearing People Hemlock Tavern. 9:30pm, $8.

Jesus and the Rabbis Boom Boom Room. 8pm, $10.

Kung Fu Acupuncture Dell’uva, 3235 Mission, SF; www,kungfuacupuncture.com. 8:30pm, free.

Moira Scar as Vex and Duchess Hotplate, Nite Jewel Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission, SF; www,ybca.org. 8pm, $12.

Morbid Angel, Dark Funeral, Grave Slim’s. 9pm, $31.

Petty Theft Red Devil Lounge. 9pm, $12.

Presets, K. Flay Independent. 9pm, $35.

Joshua Radin/A Fine Frenzy, Lucy Schwartz Warfield. 8pm, $27-$37.

Raveonettes, Melody’s Echo Chamber Bimbo’s. 9pm, $25.

Smashing Pumpkins Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, 99 Grove, SF. 8pm, $52.50.

Thee Oh Sees, Sic Alps, Mallard Great American Music Hall. 8:30pm, $15.

Tomorrow’s World, Housse de Racket, Citizens!, Lescop Rickshaw Stop. 9pm, $15.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

Audium 1616 Bush, SF; www.audium.org. 8:30pm, $20. Theater of sound-sculptured space.

Bad Plus Herbst Theatre, 401 Van Ness, SF; www.sfperformances.org. 8pm, $25-$55.

Black Jazz Orchestra Top of the Mark, 999 California, SF; www.topofthemark.com. 9pm, $10.

Cabaret D’Amour with Mademoiselle Kiki Biscuits and Blues. 8:30pm, $20.

Doppler Trio Rite Spot. 9pm, free.

Martha Reeves Rrazz Room. 8pm, $40-$45.

“SF Pinoy Jazz Festival” Yoshi’s Oakland. 8 and 10pm. With Archie Shepp.

DANCE CLUBS

Indie Slash Amnesia. 10pm.

Joe Lookout, 3600 16th St.,SF; www.lookoutsf.com. 9pm. Eight rotating DJs.

Old School JAMZ El Rio. 9pm. Fruit Stand DJs spinning old school funk, hip-hop, and R&B.

Paris to Dakar Little Baobab, 3388 19th St, SF; (415) 643-3558. 10pm, $5. Afro and world music with rotating DJs including Stepwise, Steve, Claude, Santero, and Elembe.

Shit Robot, Jacques Renault Public Works. 9:30pm, $15-$20.

SATURDAY 13

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Araabmuzik, Five Knives Independent. 10pm, $20.

Back Pages Johnny Foley’s. 9pm, free.

Bell XI, Duke Special Cafe Du Nord. 7:30pm, $20.

Books of Fate, City of Women, Tomihira Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $10.

Broken Anchor Hotel Utah. 9pm, $10.

David Choi, Clara C Great American Music Hall. 8pm, $16-$21.

Dark Star Orchestra Fillmore. 9pm, $30.

Dreamdate, Sort of Invisible, Dreamsalon, Hoxton Mob Hemlock Tavern. 9pm, $7.

Gareth Emery Warfield. 9pm, $40-$50.

Face the Giant Riptide. 9pm, free.

Fuxa 50 Mason Social House, SF; www.50masonsocialhouse.com. 8pm.

Gaelic Storm Slim’s. 9pm, $17-$20.

Koffin Kats, Silver Shine, Rocketship Rocketship Thee Parkside. 9pm, $10.

La Plebe, Hooks, PROBLEMS El Rio. 9pm, $8.

Sleepy Sun, Glitter Wizard, Juju, Al Lover and the Haters Brick and Mortar Music Hall. 9pm, $13-$15.

Sweet Chariot, Pins of Light, Ironwitch Thee Parkside. 4pm, free.

Nathan Temby, Charles, Rome Balestrieri Johnny Foley’s Dueling Pianos. 9pm.

“Treasure Island Music Festival” Treasure Island, SF; www.treasureislandfestival.com. Noon. With Girl Talk, Presets, Porter Robinson, Public Enemy, and more.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

Audium 1616 Bush, SF; www.audium.org. 8:30pm, $20. Theater of sound-sculptured space.

Martha Reeves Rrazz Room. 8pm, $40-$45.

“SF Pinoy Jazz Festival” Yoshi’s Oakland. 8 and 10pm. With Joe Bataan.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

Roem Baur Yerba Buena Gardens, Mission Street between Third and Fourth, SF; www.visityerbabuena.org. 7pm, free.

Henhouse Prowlers, Belle Monroe and Her Brewglass Boys Plough and Stars. 9pm, $8-$10.

70s Mission All-Stars Brava for Women in the Arts, 2781 24th St, SF; www.brava.org. 10pm.

Whitewater Ramble Connecticut Yankee. 8pm.

DANCE CLUBS

Bootie SF: Hubba Hubba Revue DNA Lounge. 9pm, $15.

Club Gossip Cat Club. 9pm, free before 9:30pm, $5-$8 after. With VJs Shon, Low Life, Damon, and more.

Cockblock Rickshaw Stop. 8pm, $10.

Juno What?! Boom Boom Room. 10pm, $5-$10.

Kinky Disco Rebel, 1760 Market, SF; www.kinkydisko.com 9pm, free-$5.

Nonstop Bhangra Public Works. 9pm, $15. With Dholrhythms, DJ Jimmy Love, Rav-E, and more.

Paris to Dakar Little Baobab, 3388 19th St, SF; (415) 643-3558. 10pm, $5. Afro and world music with rotating DJs.

Pumpkin, Sex Pixels, Blick Public Works OddJob Loft .10pm, $5-$10.

Tormenta Tropical Elbo Room. 10pm, $5-$10. Vs Peligrosa, with Shawn Reynaldo and Oro11.

2 Men Will Move You Amnesia. 9pm.

SUNDAY 14

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Big Kids, Hop Along, Wild Moth, Yulia Thee Parkside. 8pm, $6.

Gunshy Johnny Foley’s. 9pm, free.

Nouvelle Vague Bimbo’s. 8pm, $28.

Xavier Rudd Fillmore. 8pm, $25.

Elliot Schneider, Just Cream, Rock Soup Ramblers Cafe Du Nord. 7:30pm, $12.

Billy Joe Shaver, David Jacobs-Strain Great American Music Hall. 8pm, $21.

“Treasure Island Music Festival” Treasure Island, SF; www.treasureislandfestival.com. Noon. With xx, M83, Gossip, Best Coast.

Two Tone Steiny Biscuits and Blues. 7 and 9pm, $15.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

Karina Denike and Friends Rite Spot. 8:30pm, free.

Josh Klipp Bliss Bar, 4026 24 St, SF; www.blissbarsf.com. 4:30pm, $10.

Martha Reeves Rrazz Room. 7pm, $40-$45.

“SF Pinoy Jazz Festival” Yoshi’s SF. 7pm. With Mon David.

Talking Frog, Space Junk Musicians’ Union Hall, 116 Ninth St, SF; www.noertker.com. 7:30pm, $10.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

Slim Jenkines, Woody Pines Amnesia. 9pm. $7-$10.

Twang Sunday Thee Parkside. 4pm, free. With Silver Threads.

DANCE CLUBS

Dub Mission Elbo Room. 9pm, free before 9pm; $6 after 9:30pm, free before. With DJ Sep, Maneesh the Twister, Wisdom.

Jamie XX, John Talabot, Ghosts on Tape Public Works. 9pm, $19,

Jock Lookout, 3600 16th St, SF; www.lookoutsf.com. 3pm, $2.

MONDAY 15

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

David Byrne and St. Vincent SHN Orpheum Theatre, 1192 Market, SF; www.shnsf.com. 8pm, $63.50-$129.

Damir Johnny Foley’s. 9pm, free.

Eric Hutchinson, Jessie Payo Great American Music Hall. 8pm, $25.

Molly Nilsson, Lost Lockets, TEEN Brick and Mortar Music Hall. 9pm, $5-$8.

Sheepdogs, Black Box Revelation Rickshaw Stop. 7:30pm, $15.

Sketch Tha Cataclysm, Megabusive, Kirby Dominant, Mo Niklz, Bottled Water Elbo Room. 9pm, $5.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

Bossa Nova Tunnel Top, 601 Bush, SF; (415) 722-6620. 8-11:30pm, free. Live acoustic Bossa Nova.

Richard Rite Spot. 8:30pm, free.

DANCE CLUBS

Death Guild DNA Lounge. 9:30pm, $3-5. Gothic, industrial, and synthpop with Joe Radio, Decay, and Melting Girl.

Crazy Mondays Beauty Bar, 2299 Mission, SF; www.thebeautybar.com. 10pm, free. Hip-hop and other stuff.

M.O.M. Madrone Art Bar. 6pm, free. DJs Timoteo Gigante, Gordo Cabeza, and Chris Phlek playing all Motown every Monday.

Soul Cafe John Colins Lounge, 138 Minna, SF; www.johncolins.com. 9pm. R&B, hip-hop, neosoul, reggae, and dancehall.

Vibes’N’Stuff El Amigo Bar, 3355 Mission, SF; (415) 852-0092. 10pm, free. Conscious jazz and hip-hop from 1960s-early ’90s.

TUESDAY 16

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Aloha Screwdriver Knockout. 9pm, $6.

Tim Cohen, T.I.T.S, 3 Leafs, Dominique Leone Amnesia. 9:15pm.

Exitmusic, Sun Airway, Pure Bathing Culture Rickshaw Stop. 8pm, $10-$12.

Hellbeard, Old Iron, Burning Monk Hemlock Tavern. 8:30pm, $7.

Kendrick Lamar, Ab-Soul, Jay Rock, Stalley, Fly Union Regency Ballroom. 8pm, $32.50.

Lucid Lion, Garden Band 50 Mason Social House, SF; www.50masonsocialhouse.com. 8pm.

Mouse on Mars Independent. 9pm, $20.

Savoy Brown Biscuits and Blues. 8pm, $35.

Will Sprott, Ugly Winner, Li Xi, Dinners Bottom of the Hill. 8:30pm, $8.

Stan Erhart Band Johnny Foley’s. 9pm, free.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

Brazilian Wax Elbo Room. 9pm, $7.

Reborn on the Bayou

October 3, 2012

Tofu and whiskey is music editor Emily Savage’s new weekly music column.

emilysavage@sfbg.com

Tofu and Whiskey There are loud grinding noises and those cinematic electric sparks shooting from a machine below a church pew-like balcony. It’s musky and filled with dark bordello wood. The arched main room, the one you see when you walk in the front door of 777 Valencia Street and turn a quick corner, is outlined in bright, bloody red, and there’s a stage.

Despite this transitional state a few weeks back, this stage at brand new Mission venue, Preservation Hall West at the Chapel — named after the jazzy New Orleans venue that inspired it — will hold star-powered spillover from Hardly Strictly Bluegrass (www.hardlystrictlybluegrass.com) this week, beginning Thu/4; the fest itself is Fri/5 through Sun/7. The Preservation Hall Jazz Band of New Orleans will perform each night of the long weekend with double-dipping special guests including Elvis Costello, Robert Earl Keen, Justin Townes Earl, and Steve Earle. Maybe this means we’ll see a bespectacled Costello riding a bicycle from Golden Gate Park to the Mission, with a guitar slung on his back? One can dream.

Back to reality: “There’s no shame in construction,” said Tracey Buck of Slim’s, who, along with Britt Govea of (((folkYEAH!))) and certainly others in the future, will be doing consulting and programming at the new all-ages venue. The building, now owned by Jack Knowles, was built in 1914, formerly housed the New College, and before that was a mortuary — which gives it a sort of macabre back story. The idea for the Chapel came from Knowles’ friend Ben Jaffe, creative director for the beloved New Orleans venue, Preservation Hall, and leader of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.

In early 2013, the West Coast sister venue will have a full restaurant attached serving fare with elements of New Orleans cuisine. But for now, there will just be concerts, including the aforementioned HSB-linked shows and upcoming visits from the likes of Woods, White Fence, and Here We Go Magic — but not to worry, the Chapel does have its liquor license now, and the bar should be ready to serve.

I pushed for fears about the venuenot being ready in time for its rapidly approaching opening date, anxiety about the relatively short distance between that morning two weeks back and the first show this week, but got back little more than nervous laughter. “It’s crunch time, but everyone knows what needs to be done,” said Buck, diplomatically.

It’s no surprise. First of all, if you live in the neighborhood, or have been near it recently, you’ve undoubtedly poked your head in and have seen what I saw — constant work. Secondly, as rabid HGTVers know, programs like Love It Or List It and their ilk show designers and construction workers whipping out brand new pads in a matter of weeks. Buck even referenced the show Restaurant: Impossible, where they quickly turn around a doomed eatery. So, it can be done.

There was also some less literal rebuilding at the actual Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival in 2012. After the death late last year of the fest’s founder, head cheerleader, and billionaire backer, Warren Hellman, the crew had some personal reconstruction to work on.

Buck has been working the festival since it began 12 years back, and felt the loss personally. “It’s been tough, and I realize it more and more every day. But his spirit is there.”

Sheri Sternberg, technical director for the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival, also ruminated on Hellman’s passing, “There was something really great about having our first meeting with Warren each year…how excited he got about all the bands. If it was up to him, we would keep adding stages and days.”

The lineup this year is interesting, it’s a bit smaller — no more Thursday shows — but heavy on seriously disparate musicians such as Dwight Yoakam and Jenny Lewis and actor-bluegrass enthusiast John Reilly, and Cowboy Junkies, along with Giant Giant Sand (Howe Gelb’s hour-long opera) and a handful of younger acts such as Beachwood Sparks, the Civil Wars, and the Head and the Heart, along with the fest pillars like Emmylou Harris, Guy Clark, and Steve Earle. Sternberg says Gary West is gathering a “greatest hits” of the festival to pay tribute to Hellman, Earl Scruggs, and Doc Watson, all of whom died last year, in a set called “The Founding Fathers.” It’s kind of the theme of this year as well. That tribute will likely be kicked off with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band doing a second line.

I asked Buck if it was hard to nab artists from Hardly Strictly to play an unknown, nearly unfinished venue like the Chapel and she claims it was the opposite: “They were really eager. I think it’s just exciting to finally have a venue opening — rather than closing.”

LAURA MARLING

While bone-rattling noise has its very important place in my heart, there’s something to be said for warm cooing and surreal lyrics. For that, you can crawl up the grand staircase of the Swedish American and opera clap for English folk plucker Laura Marling. Her honest lilt and fluttering riffs have gained her comparisons to Joni Mitchell, but she has a distinctly British affect to these American ears. She played Grace Cathedral earlier this year and returns this week on her “Working Holiday Tour” to play from her most recent album A Creature I Don’t Know (Ribbon Music, 2011) at this far more intimate venue.

Wed/3, 8pm, $25. Swedish American Hall, 2174 Market, SF; www.cafedunord.com.

NOM DE GUERRE

Best band name of the week goes to members of San Francisco’s Butt Problems: Fuck You Cop, You Fucking Cop opens for Street Justice at the Knockout.

Thu/4, 10pm, $7. 3223 Mission, SF. www.theknockoutsf.com.

TOYS THAT KILL

Here’s to Recess Records — the independent punk label formed in 1989 and thriving in the current web-and-micro record shop musical landscape — and its friendly kingpin, Todd Congelliere. The snot-nosed singer-guitarist-label owner, who also fronted F.Y.P. and Underground Railroad to Candyland, returned this year to his early Aughts punk outfit, Toys That Kill. Todd and the Toys That Kill gang released its first new album in six years — the energetic and well-received Fambly 42 (Recess Records, 2012) — earlier this summer and have sparingly journeyed up the coast from their mythic Sunken City homebase of San Pedro, Calif. to play it live. Fambly 42 might have taken so long to get here because Todd (jokingly?) told me that good bands only put out three albums then quit to form new ones. With Pins of Light, Elephant Rifle.

Fri/5, 9:30pm, $10. Hemlock Tavern, 1131 Polk, SF; www.hemlocktavern.com.

Music Listings

Andrew Lam

October 2, 2012

Since club life is unpredictable, it’s a good idea to call ahead or check the venue’s website to confirm bookings and hours. Prices are listed when provided to us. Visit www.sfbg.com/venue-guide for venue information. Submit items for the listings at listings@sfbg.com. For further information on how to submit items for the listings, see Picks.

WEDNESDAY 3

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Assemblage 23, Espermachine, Demodulate DNA Lounge. 9pm, $18.

Battlehooch, Paranoids, Chaka Knockout. 9pm, $5.

“Communion in San Francisco” Brick and Mortar Music Hall. 8pm, $8-$10. With Tarnation, Prairiedog, Quinn DeVeaux.

Guido vs Jason Marion Johnny Foley’s Dueling Pianos. 9:30pm, free.

Jezabels, Yukon Blinde Independent. 8pm, $16.

Keith Crossan Blues Showcase: Big Jo Manfra Biscuits and Blues. 8 and 10pm, $15.

Laura Marling Swedish American Hall. 8pm, $25.

Nightwish, Kamelot Warfield. 8pm, $40-$65.

Helen Reddy Yoshi’s SF. 8pm, $45.

Terry Savastano Johnny Foley’s. 9pm, free.

“SF Acoustic Collective” Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $7. With Laura Weinbach, Ben Flanagan, Adam Dishart, and more.

Spring Standards Hotel Utah. 8pm, $8.

Strung Out, Swellers, Such Gold, Sheds Slim’s. 7:30pm, $18-$20.

Tokyo Raid, Spiral Electric, Elektrik Sunset Hemlock Tavern. 8:30pm, $6.

Wax Tailor, Shana Halligan, DJ Tom Thump Rickshaw Stop. 8pm, $15.

Z-Man, Dregs One, Toast, Rey Resurrection Elbo Room. 9pm, $10.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

Cat’s Corner with Nathan Dias Savanna Jazz. 9pm, $10.

Dink Dink Dink, Gaucho, Eric Garland’s Jazz Session Amnesia. 7pm, free.

Ricardo Scales Top of the Mark, 999 California, SF; www.topofthemark.com. 6:30pm, $5.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

Cha-Ching Boom Boom Room. 8pm, $5.

DANCE CLUBS

Booty Call Q-Bar, 456 Castro, SF; www.bootycallwednesdays.com. 9pm.

Coo-Yah! Som., 2925 16th St, SF; (415) 558-8521. 10pm, free. DJs Daneekah and Green B spin reggae and dancehall.

Obey the Kitty: Justin Milla Vessel, 85 Campton Place, SF; www.vesselsf.com. 10pm, $5.

THURSDAY 4

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP.

Alma Desnuda, Achii Boom Boom Room. 8pm, $15.

Big Tree, DRMS, Guy Fox Brick and Mortar Music Hall. 7:30pm, $5-$8.

Bisi and the Moonwalker, Black Dream, Greater Sirens 50 Mason Social House. 8pm, $13.

Dead Western, Exquisite Corpse, Blue Oaks Hemlock Tavern. 8:30pm, $6.

Helio Sequence, Slowdance Independent. 8pm, $18.

John Lawton Trio Johnny Foley’s. 9pm, free.

Stephen Marley Fillmore. 8pm, $29.50.

Mount Eerie, Bouquet, Tortured Genius Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $12.

Niki and the Dove, Wolf Gang, popscene DJs Rickshaw Stop. 9:30pm, $13-$15.

Sheri Puorto Biscuits and Blues. 8 and 10pm, $15.

Helen Reddy Yoshi’s SF. 8pm, $45.

Sleeping Giants Brick and Mortar Music Hall. 10pm, $5-$8.

Street Justice, Lord Nasty and the Seekers of Perversion, Fuck You Cop, You Fucking Cop Knockout. 10pm, $7.

Rags Tuttle vs Guido Johnny Foley’s Dueling Pianos. 9:30pm, free.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

Home of Easy Credit Luggage Store Gallery, 1007 Market, SF; www.luggagestoregallery.org. 8pm, $5.

“Jazz Beyond Genre” Red Poppy Art House. 7pm, $12-$15. With Andrea Wolper, Hafez Modirzadeh, and more.

Stompy Jones Top of the Mark, 999 California, SF; www.topofthemark.com. 7:30pm, $10.

Ned Boyton Trio Bottle Cap, 1707 Powell, SF; www.bottlecapsf.com. 7-10pm.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

Delhi 2 Dublin, Non Stop Bhangra Slim’s. 9pm, $17

Septeto Nacional JCCSF, 3200 California, SF; www.jccsf.org. 7:30pm, $27-$45.

Twang! Honky Tonk Fiddler’s Green, 1330 Columbus, SF; www.twanghonkytonk.com. 5pm. Live country music.

DANCE CLUBS

Afrolicious Elbo Room. 9:30pm, $5-$7. With DJ-host Pleasuremaker.

All 80s Thursday Cat Club. 9pm, $6 (free before 9:30pm). The best of ’80s mainstream and underground.

Base: Tim Green Vessel, 85 Campton Place, SF; www.vesselsf.com. 10pm, $5-$10.

Supersonic Lookout, 3600 16th St., SF; www.lookoutsf.com. 9pm. Global beats paired with food from around the world.

Tropicana Madrone Art Bar. 9pm, free. Salsa, cumbia, reggaeton, and more.

FRIDAY 5

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Adios Amigo, Solwave, Dogcatcher Elbo Room. 9:30pm, $8.

Adoration 50 Mason Social House. 8pm, $5.

Bernadette, Shawn Virago, Castles in Spain, Lydia Popovich, DJ Salex Thee Parkside. 9pm, $10.

Brother Tyrone Biscuits and Blues. 8 and 10pm, $20.

ConFunkShun Yoshi’s SF. 8 and 10pm, $30.

Dead Kennedys, Fang, Guantanamo Dogpile, 13 Scars Regency Ballroom. 9pm, $27.

Dead Winter Carpenters, Hackensaw Boys Brick and Mortar Music Hall. 9pm, $15-$20.

Dry the River, Ferocious Few, Houndmouth Independent. 9pm, $15.

Roger Knox, Jon Langford and Sally Timms, Walter Salas-Humara Swedish American Hall. 7:30pm, $16.

Nick Lowe, Jesse Winchester Great American Music Hall. 9pm, $30.

Mono, Chris Brokaw, Jon Porras Rickshaw Stop. 9pm, $12-14.

Reckless Kelly, Chuck Mead and His Grassy Knoll Boys, Trishas, Tiny Television Slim’s. 9pm, $17

Rebel Ship Boom Boom Room. 8pm, $15.

Laetitia Sadier, Orca Team, Pageants, DJ Dominique Leone Bottom of the Hill. 9:30pm, $14.

Sadies, John Langford and His Sadies, Misisipi Rider Cafe Du Nord. 7:30pm, $16.

Shpongle, Phutureprimitive Warfield. 10pm, $35-$40.

Sole Johnny Foley’s. 9pm, free.

Tell River, Gunsafe, Clay Hawkins Plough and the Stars. 9pm, $6.

Nathan Temby, Greg Zema, Jason Marion Johnny Foley’s Dueling Pianos. 9pm, free.

Toys That Kill, Pins of Light, Elephant Rifle Hemlock Tavern. 9:30pm, $10.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

Audium 1616 Bush, SF; www.audium.org. 8:30pm, $20. Theater of sound-sculptured space.

Black Jazz Orchestra Top of the Mark, 999 California, SF; www.topofthemark.com. 9pm, $10.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

Janam, Lila Sklar Red Poppy Art House. 8pm, $12-$15.

DANCE CLUBS

Braza! Som., 2925 16th St, SF; (415) 558-8521. 10pm, $5-$10. DJs Sabo, Kento, Elan spin Brazilian, and samba.

Joe Lookout, 3600 16th St.,SF; www.lookoutsf.com. 9pm.

Kenny Loi, Steele vs Whitlock Vessel, 85 Campton Place, SF; www.vesselsf.com. 10pm, $20-$30.

Old School JAMZ El Rio. 9pm. Old school funk, hip-hop, and R&B.

Paris to Dakar Little Baobab, 3388 19th St, SF; (415) 643-3558. 10pm, $5. Afro and world music.

Strangelove: Undead Wedding Cat Club. 9:30pm, $3-$10. With DJs Tomas Diablo, Joe Radio, Daniel Skellington, and Donimo.

Womp SF DNA Lounge. 9pm, $10. With Dyloot, Liam Shy, and more.

SATURDAY 6

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Apogee Sound Club, Generacion Suicida, Permanent Ruin, Die Time, Cold Circuits Knockout. 4pm, $6.

Rome Balestrieri, Nathan Temby, Randy Johnny Foley’s Dueling Pianos. 9pm, free.

Michael Beach, Native Cats, Buttons Hemlock Tavern. 9:30pm, $7.

Big Gigantic, GriZ Regency Ballroom. 9pm, $20.

Burning Monk, Die! Thee Parkside. 3pm, free.

ConFunkShun Yoshi’s SF. 8 and 10pm, $30.

Dead Winter Carpenters, Hackensaw Boys Brick and Mortar Music Hall. 9pm, $12-$15.

Glen Hansard Fillmore. 9pm, $30.

Paula Harris and the Beasts of Blues, Big Ass Brass Biscuits and Blues. 8 and 10:30pm, $20.

Inciters, Impalers, Wicked Mercies Cafe Du Nord. 9:30pm, $10.

John Wayne Bro Band Riptide. 9:30pm, free.

Jenny Lewis Great American Music Hall. 9pm, $21.

Maccabees, Mwahaha Independent. 9pm, $20.

Mantles, Swiftumz, Cocktails El Rio. 10pm, $8.

Soul Rebels, Rebel Ship Boom Boom Room. 8pm, $20.

Tall Shadows Johnny Foley’s. 9pm, free.

Wave Array, She Beards, Warbler Bottom of the Hill. 9:30pm, $10.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

Audium 1616 Bush, SF; www.audium.org. 8:30pm, $20. Theater of sound-sculptured space.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

BronwChicken BrownChicken, Renegade Stringband, Mountain Men, Dull Richards Plough and Stars. 9pm, $10-$15.

Kafana Balkan, Brass Menazeri, Jill Parker and Foglove Sweethearts, DJ Zeljko Rickshaw Stop. 9pm, $13.

DANCE CLUBS

“Beats for Boobs” Mezzanine. 7pm, $25-$40. With shOOey, Carol C, Emily Fox, and more.

Bootie SF DNA Lounge. 9pm, $10-$15.

Martin Buttrich Public Works. 9:30pm, $20.

Cockfight Underground SF, 424 Haight, SF; (415) 864-7386. 9pm, $7. Dance night for gay boys.

Foundation Som., 2925 16th St, SF; (415) 558-8521. 10pm, $5-$10. Hip-hop, dancehall,funk, and salsa.

Haceteria Deco Lounge, 510 Larkin, SF; www.decosf.com. 9pm, free before 11pm, $3 after.

Paris to Dakar Little Baobab, 3388 19th St, SF; (415) 643-3558. 10pm, $5. Afro and world music.

Pheeko Dubfunk, Vahid, Frenchy Le Freak, G StavVessel, 85 Campton Place, SF; www.vesselsf.com. 10pm, $20-$30.

Saturday Night Soul Party Elbo Room. 10pm, $5-$10. DJs Lucky, Paul Paul, and Phengren Oswald spinning 60s soul 45s.

SUNDAY 7

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Admiral Fallow, Young Buffalo Cafe Du Nord. 8:30pm, $12-$14.

Gregors, Piranha Party, Crazy Eyes Sub-Mission. 8pm.

Ewert and the Two Dragons, Lighthouse and the Whaler, Family Crest Bottom of the Hill. 8pm, $10.

Jason King Band Biscuits and Blues. 7 and 9pm, $15.

Michael Kiwanaka, Nathaniel Rateliff, Foy Vance Independent. 8pm, $20.

Wayne Krantz Yoshi’s SF. 7pm, $20.

Aaron Leese and the Panhandlers, Jenny and the Jerks Boom Boom Room. 8pm, $5.

Li XI, Rubedo, Mosshead, Oiler Hemlock Tavern. 8:30pm, $7.

Terry Savastano Johnny Foley’s. 9pm, free.

She Wants Revenge, Pyyramids Great American Music Hall. 8pm, $25.

Soulit 50 Mason Social House. 8pm.

Stepdad, Rich Aucoin, Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt Rickshaw Stop. 8pm, $10.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

Jazzkwest Trio Bliss Bar, 4026 24th St, SF; www.blissbarsf.com. 4:30pm, $10.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

Twang Sunday Thee Parkside. 4pm, free. With Jinx Jones and the King Tones.

DANCE CLUBS

Dub Mission Elbo Room. 9pm, $13. With Brother Culture, DJ Sep, and Dubsmashers.

Jock Lookout, 3600 16th St, SF; www.lookoutsf.com. 3pm, $2.

Love and Light Public Works. 9pm, $15.

Remember the Party: We Are Family City Nights, 715 Harrison, SF; www.remembertheparty.com. 6pm-3am, $30. Disco with DJ Jerry Bonham.

MONDAY 8

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Star Anna and Kasey Anderson Brick and Mortar Music Hall. 9pm, free.

Blank Tapes, Lawlands, Cafe Cabana Cafe Du Nord. 8pm, $10.

Damir Johnny Foley’s. 9pm, free.

Gangstagrass, BPos Elbo Room. 9pm, $7.

Patti Smith Fillmore. 8pm, $39.50.

Richie Spice Independent. 9pm, $25.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

Bossa Nova Tunnel Top, 601 Bush, SF; (415) 722-6620. 8-11:30pm, free. Live acoustic Bossa Nova.

DANCE CLUBS

Death Guild DNA Lounge. 9:30pm, $3-$5. Gothic, industrial, and synthpop with Joe Radio, Decay, and Melting Girl.

Crazy Mondays Beauty Bar, 2299 Mission, SF; www.thebeautybar.com. 10pm, free. Hip-hop and other stuff.

M.O.M. Madrone Art Bar. 6pm, free. DJs Timoteo Gigante, Gordo Cabeza, and Chris Phlek playing all Motown every Monday.

Soul Cafe John Colins Lounge, 138 Minna, SF; www.johncolins.com. 9pm.

Vibes’N’Stuff El Amigo Bar, 3355 Mission, SF; (415) 852-0092. 10pm, free. Conscious jazz and hip-hop from the ’60s-’90s.

TUESDAY 9

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Bad Books, Drowning Men, Harrison Hudson Bottom of the Hill. 8pm, $19.

“Benefit Show for Subversion Vol. 1” Knockout. 9:30pm, $6. With Secret People, No Mistake, Stares, Total Fucker.

Ben Howard Fillmore. 8pm, $25.

IO Echo, Gliss, Cruel Summer Rickshaw Stop. 8pm, $10-$12.

Saint Vitus, Weedeater, Sourvein Independent. 8pm, $22.

Stan Erhart Band Johnny Foley’s. 9pm, free.

Steve Vai, Beverly McClellan Regency Ballroom. 7:30pm, $40-$49.50.

Wreckless Eric and Amy Rigby, John Murry Hemlock Tavern. 8:30pm, $10.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

Bombshell Betty and Her Burlesqueteers, Fromagique Elbo Room. 9pm, $10.

Northern promises

October 2, 2012

On the Road (Walter Salles, US/France/UK/Brazil, 2012) Walter Salles (2004’s The Motorcycle Diaries) engages Diaries screenwriter Jose Rivera to adapt Jack Kerouac’s Beat classic; it’s translated to the screen in a streamlined version, albeit one rife with parties, drugs, jazz, danger, reckless driving, sex, philosophical conversations, soul-searching, and “kicks” galore. Brit Sam Riley (2007’s Control) plays Kerouac stand-in Sal Paradise, observing (and scribbling down) his gritty adventures as they unfold. Most of those adventures come courtesy of charismatic, freewheeling Dean Moriarty (Garrett Hedlund of 2010’s Tron: Legacy), who blows in and out of Sal’s life (and a lot of other people’s lives, too, including wives played by Kristen Stewart and Kirsten Dunst). Beautifully shot, with careful attention to period detail and reverential treatment of the Beat ethos, the film is an admirable effort but a little too shapeless, maybe simply due to the peripatetic nature of its iconic source material, to be completely satisfying. Among the performances, erstwhile teen dream Stewart is an uninhibited standout. Thu/4, 6:30 and 6:45pm, Smith Rafael. (Cheryl Eddy)

Road North (Mika Kaurismäki, Finland) Mika Kaurismäki’s films are generally much more broadly accessible than the dryly minimalist ones of his brother Aki, yet the latter has by far the larger international audience. That might change a bit with this likable seriocomic road trip. Emotionally recessive concert pianist Timo (Samuli Edelmann) is less than delighted one day to find an uninvited guest slumped outside his apartment: the father who abandoned him 30-odd years earlier. Far from having improved himself in the interim, Leo (Vesa-Matti Loiri) is a corpulent slob, convenience store robber, and car thief. But he is insistent in dragging his son on a journey whose full purpose he won’t reveal until its end. Actually, you can guess where it’s headed — but getting there is full of surprises, some touching and some very funny. Fri/5, 9pm, Smith Rafael; Sun/7, 6pm, Sequoia. (Dennis Harvey)

Fat Kid Rules the World (Matthew Lillard, US) It really does suck to be Troy (Jacob Wysocki from 2011’s Terri). An XXL-sized high schooler, he’s invisible to his peers, derided by his little brother (Dylan Arnold), and has lived in general domestic misery since the death of his beloved mother under the heavy-handed rule of his well-meaning but humorless ex-military dad (Billy Campbell). His only friends are online gamers, his only girlfriends the imaginary kind. But all that begins to change when chance throws him across the path of notorious local hell raiser Marcus (Matt O’Leary), who’s been expelled from school, has left the band he fronts, and is equal parts rebel hero to druggy, lyin’ mess. But he randomly decrees Troy is cool, and his new drummer. Even if he’s just being used, Troy’s world is headed for some big changes. Actor Matthew Lillard’s feature directorial debut, based on K.L. Going’s graphic novel, is familiar stuff in outline but a delight in execution, as it trades the usual teen-comedy crudities (a few gratuitous joke fantasy sequences aside) for something more heartfelt and restrained, while still funny. O’Leary from last year’s overlooked Natural Selection is flamboyantly terrific, while on the opposite end of the acting scale Campbell makes repressed emotion count for a lot — he has one wordless moment at a hospital that just might bring you to the tears his character refuses to spill. Sat/6, 3pm, Sequoia; Oct. 11, 7pm, Smith Rafael. (Harvey)

The Central Park Five (Ken Burns, US) Acclaimed documentarian Ken Burns takes on the 1989 rape case that shocked and divided a New York City already overwhelmed by racially-charged violence. The initial crime was horrible enough — a female jogger was brutally assaulted in Central Park — but what happened after was also awful: cops and prosecutors, none of whom agreed to appear in the film, swooped in on a group of African American and Latino teenagers who had been making mischief in the vicinity (NYC’s hysterical media dubbed the acts “wilding,” a term that became forever associated with the event). Just 14 to 16 years old, the boys were questioned for hours and intimidated into giving false, damning confessions. Already guilty in the court of public opinion, the accused were convicted in trials — only to see their convictions vacated years after they’d served their time, when the real assailant was finally identified. Using archival news footage (in one clip, Gov. Mario Cuomo calls the crime “the ultimate shriek of alarm that says none of us are safe”) and contemporary, emotional interviews with the Five, Burns crafts a fascinating study of a crime that ran away with itself, in an environment that encouraged it, leaving lives beyond just the jogger’s devastated in the process. Sat/6, 3:30pm, Smith Rafael; Mon/8, 3:15pm, Smith Rafael. (Eddy)

Rebels with a Cause (Nancy Kelly, US) The huge string of parklands that have made Marin County a jewel of preserved California coastline might easily have become wall-to-wall development — just like the Peninsula — if not for the stubborn conservationists whose efforts are profiled in Nancy Kelly’s documentary. From Congressman Clem Miller — who died in a plane crash just after his Point Reyes National Seashore bill became a reality — to housewife Amy Meyer, who began championing the Golden Gate National Recreation Area because she “needed a project” to keep busy once her kids entered school, they’re testaments to the ability of citizen activism to arrest the seemingly unstoppable forces of money, power and political influence. Theirs is a hidden history of the Bay Area, and of what didn’t come to pass — numerous marinas, subdivisions, and other developments that would have made San Francisco and its surrounds into another Los Angeles. Sat/6, 6:15pm, Sequoia; Tue/9, 4pm, Smith Rafael. (Harvey)

The Sessions (Ben Lewin, US) Polio has long since paralyzed the body of Berkeley poet Mark O’Brien (John Hawkes) from the neck down. Of course his mind is free to roam — but it often roams south of the personal equator, where he hasn’t had the same opportunities as able-bodied people. Thus he enlists the services of Cheryl (Helen Hunt), a professional sex surrogate, to lose his virginity at last. Based on the real-life figures’ experiences, this drama by Australian polio survivor Ben Lewin was a big hit at Sundance this year (then titled The Surrogate), and it’s not hard to see why: this is one of those rare inspirational feel-good stories that doesn’t pander and earns its tears with honest emotional toil. Hawkes is always arresting, but Hunt hasn’t been this good in a long time, and William H. Macy is pure pleasure as a sympathetic priest put in numerous awkward positions with the Lord by Mark’s very down-to-Earth questions and confessions. Sat/6, 7pm, Smith Rafael; Sun/7, noon, Sequoia. (Harvey)

Flicker (Patrik Eklund, Sweden) The provincial HQ of behind-the-times, inept telecommunications company Unicom is locus to a whole bunch of weirdness during the eventful work week chronicled by Swedish writer-director Patrik Eklund’s first feature. To wit: sterility by electrocution, tarantula therapy, grade-school performances of Frankenstein, Ted Danson fixations, workplace application of dunce caps, blind dates, domestic terrorism cults, and scented candle making. If you only see one Scandinavian comedy this year, make it Klown. If you only see two, however, this is definitely the other one. It’s a goofy, lightly surreal delight. Sat/6, 9pm, Smith Rafael; Mon/8, 3:15pm, Smith Rafael. (Harvey)

Jayne Mansfield’s Car (Billy Bob Thornton, US) Billy Bob Thornton’s first directing gig in over a decade is an ensemble piece set in small-town 1969 Alabama — like every U.S. town at the time, a hotbed of generational conflict over the Vietnam War and the generally changin’ times. Particularly defining that gap is the squabbling relationship between hawkish patriarch Jim Caldwell (Robert Duvall) and youngest son Carroll (Kevin Bacon), who — though a World War II veteran, like brother Skip (Thornton) — has appointed himself a sort of elder to the local hippie population. That alone is enough to set Jim’s teeth on edge; he’s put in an even crustier mood upon hearing that his ex-wife has died, and her corpse is being brought back from England by the new family (John Hurt, Ray Stevenson, Frances O’Connor) she’d acquired after leaving him. The awkward meeting between two very different clans quickly thaws in various ways, however, some sexual, some comradely. Dismissed as a garrulous mess in its other festival showings to date, this Car is indeed one rusty, leaky, wayward vehicle at times, with some forced situations and way too much speechifying in the director’s script (co-written with Tom Epperson). But the thematically over ambitious, structurally clumsy movie is watchable nonetheless, with some real strengths: most notably strong performances (especially Thornton’s own) and a real feel for a particular high-Southern Brahmin milieu that hasn’t changed much more in the last 40 years than it did in the prior 40. Thornton will receive the MVFF Award and be interviewed onstage at the film’s screening. Sun/7, 6:30pm, Smith Rafael; Oct. 14, 5pm, Smith Rafael. (Harvey)

Ricky on Leacock (Jane Weiner, France/US) Shot over the last 40 years, since she was her subject’s student, Jane Weiner’s film about globe trotting director-cinematographer Richard Leacock is a fond tribute that pays due respect to the latter’s innovations in the documentary form. Dismayed by the lack of spontaneity that cumbersome equipment forced on the genre, he began devising a series of lightweight, synch-sound cameras that could unobtrusively travel with and capture events as they occurred. While his own mostly TV-targeted fruits of that labor are relatively little-known today, their impact on nonfiction cinema was enormous — and Leacock, who died last year at 89, was clearly charming company. Sun/7, 7pm, Smith Rafael; Mon/8, 9:15pm, 142 Throckmorton. (Harvey)

In Another Country (Hong Sang-soo, Korea) This latest bit of gamesmanship from South Korea’s Hong Sang-soo (2000’s Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors) has Isabelle Huppert playing three Frenchwomen named Anne visiting the same Korean beachside community under different circumstances in three separate but wryly overlapping stories. In the first, she’s a film director whose presence induces inapt overtures from both her married colleague-host and a strapping young lifeguard. In the more farcical second, she’s a horny spouse herself, married to an absent Korean man; in the third, a woman whose husband has run away with a Korean woman. The same actors as well as variations on the same characters and situations appear in each section, their rejiggered intersections poking fun at Koreans’ attitudes toward foreigners, among other topics. Airy and amusing, In Another Country is a playful divertissement that’s shiny as a bubble, and leaves about as much of a permanent impression. Tue/9, 4:15pm, Sequoia; Oct. 12, 9:45pm, Smith Rafael. (Harvey)

To Kill A Beaver (Jan Jakub Kolski, Poland) Furtive, paranoid, solitary Eryk (Eryk Lubos) returns from places unknown to prepare his dilapidated farmhouse for a mission that, for a long time, remains equally unclear. Veteran Polish director Jan Jakub Kolski’s enigmatic drama takes its time unfolding the mysteries of Eryk’s traumatic past, unstable present, and future purpose. He’s all suspicion when he finds local teen Bezi (Agnieszka Pawelkiewicz) trespassing on his property, but her brazen come-on and hidden vulnerabilities chip away at his ample defenses. This intricate character study in the guise of a thriller puzzle is offbeat and absorbing, thanks in large part to Lubos’ prickly performance as a man as damaged as he is dangerous. Oct. 10, 6:30pm, Smith Rafael; Oct. 11, 9:30pm, Sequoia. (Harvey)

Holy Motors (Leos Carax, France) Holy moly. Offbeat auteur Leos Carax (1999’s Pola X) and frequent star Denis Lavant (1991’s Lovers on the Bridge) collaborate on one of the most bizarrely wonderful films of the year, or any year. Oscar (Lavant) spends every day riding around Paris in a white limo driven by Céline (Edith Scob, whose eerie role in 1960’s Eyes Without a Face is freely referenced here). After making use of the car’s full complement of wigs, theatrical make-up, and costumes, he emerges for “appointments” with unseen “clients,” who apparently observe each vignette as it happens. And don’t even try to predict what’s coming next, or decipher what it all means: this wickedly humorous trip through motion-capture suits, graveyard photo shoots, teen angst, back-alley gangsters, old age, and more (yep, that’s the theme from 1954’s Godzilla you hear; oh, and yep, that’s pop star Kylie Minogue) is equal parts disturbing and delightful. Movies don’t get more original or memorable than this. Oct. 11, 6pm, Sequoia; Oct. 12, 3:15pm, Smith Rafael. (Eddy)

The 35th Mill Valley Film Festival runs Oct. 4-14 at the Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center, 1118 Fourth St, San Rafael; Cinéarts@Sequoia, 25 Throckmorton, Mill Valley; and 142 Throckmorton Theatre, Mill Valley. For additional venues, full schedule, and tickets (most shows $13.50), visit www.mvff.com. Additional short reviews at www.sfbg.com.

Heads Up: 6 must-see concerts this week

Tony Robles

October 1, 2012

So much to talk about this week, but the biggest news of course is both Hardly Strictly Bluegrass’ return – for the first time since the death of founder Warren Hellman – and new venue Preservation Hall West at the Chapel.

Below, you’ll get the basic need-to-know info on the shows you must see; but check Tofu and Whiskey, my music column in this week’s paper, for the details behind it all. A sort of Behind the Music on the newly constructed Mission venue and the cherished Golden Gate Park fest, if you will.

Here are your must-see Bay Area concerts this week/end:

Patrick Wolf (acoustic)
The glitzy British multi-instrumentalist returns, this time repping hefty sixth record, Sundark and Riverlight. The double album is a career retrospective – marking 10 years since debut studio album, Lycanthropy – that will include rejiggered acoustic versions of his favorite songs. It sees release Oct. 15 on Bloody Chamber Music/Essential Music.
With Woodpigeon
Tue/2, 8pm, $21
Great American Music Hall
859 O’Farrell, SF
(415) 885-0750
www.slimspresents.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCoJXqGn_kg

Laura Marling
While bone-rattling noise has its very important place in my heart, there’s something to be said for warm cooing and surreal lyrics. For that, you can crawl up the grand staircase of the Swedish American and quietly opera clap for English folk plucker Laura Marling. Her honest lilt and fluttering riffs have gained her comparisons to Joni Mitchell, but she has a distinctly British affect to these American ears. She played Grace Cathedral earlier this year and returns on her “Working Holiday Tour” to play from her most recent album A Creature I Don’t Know (Ribbon Music, 2011) at this more intimate venue.
Wed/3, 8pm, $25
Swedish American Hall
2174 Market, SF
www.cafedunord.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zR-AOZfLh7w

Niki and the Dove
“Sweden is exporting a lot more than bedframes and meatballs. Stockholm’s Niki and the Dove is an electro duo giving a dark depth to pop music. Vocalist Malin Dahlström and keyboardist Magnus Böqvist met when writing music for the theater, giving their recorded music and their live shows a dynamic, dramatic quality that pop so often lacks. Dahlström’s sugary voice soars above the churn and chime of Böqvist’s catchy and sometimes unsettling beats.” — Haley Zaremba
With WOLF GANG, Popscene DJs
Thu/4, 9:30pm, $15
Rickshaw Stop
155 Fell, SF
(415)861-2011
www.rickshawstop.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2f6UbMnlq4

Preservation Hall Jazz Band with Robert Earl Keen
The new, all-ages Mission venue kicks its doors wide open for the first time this Thursday with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band – of the much-loved New Orleans venue that inspired the West Coast version. The swinging Pres Hall Jazz Band will play with various Hardly Strictly Bluegrass acts throughout the weekend, but the first show goes to country-folk singer-songwriter Robert Earl Keen.
Preservation Hall West at the Chapel
777 Valencia, SF
Ticketfly: Preservation Hall West
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7M8ZkQma3I

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass
It’s free; it’s the best swarming, long-running outdoor bluegrass-folk-rock’n’roll fest in San Francisco. Do you need more? Well there’s Elvis Costello, Chuck Ragan, Jenny Lewis, Lumineers, Robert Earl Keen, the Chieftains, Steve Earle, Red Baraat, the Head and the Heart, Cowboy Junkies, Chris Robinson Brotherhood, Emmylou Harris, Ralph Stanley, Dwight Yoakam, Patti Smith, and more. You get it.
Fri/5, 10am-7pm; Sat/6-Sun/7, 11am-7pm
Golden Gate Park, SF
www.hardlystrictlybluegrass.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eciObRuQZk

Conor Oberst
For those who just can’t get enough Conor Oberst: Oberst will also be playing Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, and will likely bring some of his friends from the fest to this show. (Thinking Jenny Lewis, perhaps? That’s my best guess.) Here’s hoping he plays a broad spectrum of trembling, angsty folk, from Bright Eyes to the Mystic Valley Band.
Sun/7, 8pm
Fillmore
1805 Geary, SF
(415) 346-3000
www.thefillmore.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfW5cYIIqHc

Localized Appreesh: Kacey Johansing

Tony Robles

September 27, 2012

Localized Appreesh is our thank-you column to the musicians that make the Bay. To be considered, contact emilysavage@sfbg.com.

I first learned of Oakland’s Kacey Johansing through another post here at Noise headquarters. The singer-songwriter – who also has played with Geographer and Yesway – played a private mini concert for SFBG videographer Ariel Soto-Suver’s occasional feature, Telegenic Band Check.

Johansing’s sweet, jazz-inflected vocals are what drew me in, they give the folk-pop singer an edge that makes you picture her in a dark nightclub, sidled up next to glossy baby grand, one arm dangling carelessly over the edge of the piano, while a crowd full of admirers sets down dry martinis on cocktail napkins to clap after each dazzling performance. But back to reality; in the Telegenic Band Check video she’s merely strumming quietly in sunny Douglass Park, accompanied by actual chirping birdies, and still manages to make an impact.

Now that she’s about to release her second LP – the moving, piano-tickled Grand Ghosts – it seemed like the perfect time to give her the Localized Appreesh quiz.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQDXaAFyiKQ

Year and location of origin: 1984 Kalamazoo, Michigan.

Personal motto: You don’t need to take those drugs to enjoy the concert.

Description of sound in 10 words or less: Underwater Dance Party.

Instrumentation: Kacey Johansing-Guitar/Voice, Jeremy Harris-Guitar, Rob Shelton/Keys, Ezra Lipp/Drums, Jamie Riotto/Bass, Andrew Maguire/Vibraphone.

Most recent release: Grand Ghosts LP

Best part about life as a Bay Area musician: Three Guitar Centers! No, just kidding, I love it here so much and am incredibly grateful to be a part of such insanely talented, creative and supportive musical community.

Worst part about life as a Bay Area musician: It’s easy to feel stuck inside of the “bubble”..not that it is a bad thing to feel content where you are, but I think it is difficult for great local bands to think outside of The Bay and venture outward.

First album ever purchased: Queen, Best Of.

Most recent album purchased/downloaded: Moody Blues To our Children’s Children’s Childrens on cassette. My dad’s favorite band of all time..listened to this tape more than just about anything growing up.

Favorite local eatery and dish: Pizzaiolo in the East Bay, best best best housemade gin and tonics.

Kacey Johansing
With Bart Davenport, Anna Ash
Fri/28, 9pm, $9-$12
Brick and Mortar Music Hall
1710 Mission, SF
www.brickandmortarmusic.com

Our Weekly Picks: September 26-October 2

Andrew Lam

September 25, 2012

WEDNESDAY 26

Amanda Palmer and the Grand Theft Orchestra

Massachusetts singer-songwriter Amanda Palmer has had a busy year. Well, actually she’s had a busy career. Palmer is a previous high school thespian, street performer, co-founder of the Dresden Dolls, subject of a coffee table book, half of musical duo Evelyn Evelyn, and a prolific blogger — and she’s just getting started. This year alone she’s written a song and produced a music video in defense of pubic hair, starred in a Flaming Lips video, released a new solo album, and now she’s back on the road. When Palmer decided to fund her second solo album Theater is Evil on Kickstarter earlier this year, few would have guessed over $1 million would pour in, shattering the site’s record with more than 24,000 individual donations. It looks like she won’t be slowing down any time soon. (Haley Zaremba)

With The Simple Pleasure, Jherek Bischoff, Ronald Reagan

8pm, $25

Fillmore

1805 Geary, SF

(415) 346-3000

www.thefillmore.com

Ghost Parade

Over the past six months, San Francisco-based progressive rock band Ghost Parade has steadily revealed its inaugural tracks, including the particularly catchy “Reach,” whose chorus features the group’s tagline: “we are fast and real.” Intense at times and always poetic, Ghost Parade encourages you to get lost in its hard and fast wall of sound while, simultaneously, inviting you into its stories. These musicians are no strangers to Bottom of the Hill, but this time around they’re headlining. Come for the energy, come for the nascent artistic merriment and, if that’s not enough, come for vocalist-guitarist Justin Bonifacio’s hair. It ranks among the best in San Francisco. Hands down. (Mia Sullivan)

With Stomacher, Soonest

9pm, $10

Bottom of the Hill

1233 17th St., SF

(415) 626-4455

www.bottomofthehill.com

Obituary

It may be hard to believe, but pioneering death metal titan Obituary has been grinding out tracks such as “Chopped In Half” and “Turned Inside Out” for more than 25 years now. The Florida based quartet just wrapped up a series of festival shows in Europe, and is now back for its first tour of the US in several years, part of the epic Carnival of Death tour, slaying stages alongside Broken Hope, Decrepit Birth, Jungle Rot, Encrust, and Feast. The band is promising a fan-favorite set, comprised largely of songs off of its first three classic albums, Slowly We Rot, Cause of Death, and The End Complete. (Sean McCourt)

With DJ Rob Metal

6:30pm, $14–$18

DNA Lounge, 375 11th St., SF.

(415) 626-1409

www.dnalounge.com

THURSDAY 27

“Shocktoberfest 13: The Bride of Death”

The Thrillpeddlers have been killing it lately, with endlessly extended runs of Cockettes revivals and a recent hit production of Marat/Sade. Now the company is poised to kill it again — live! Onstage! With gruesome gore! — in its annual “Shocktoberfest” production. This year’s lucky 13th incarnation includes a classic Grand Guignol one-act (Coals of Fire by Fredrick Whitney, which caused a scandal in 1922 Britain); two contemporary world premieres about mad scientists (The Bride of Death by Michael Phillis and The Twisted Pair by Rob Keefe); and Scrumbly Koldewyn’s “musical spectacle” Those Beautiful Ghouls. And if you think you’re safe just sitting in the audience, wait until the uniquely terrifying spook-show finale — if you’re not afraid of the dark, you will be! (Cheryl Eddy)

Through Nov. 17

Opens Thu/27, 8pm; runs Thu-Sat, 8pm, $25-35

Hypnodrome

575 10th St., SF

www.thrillpeddlers.com

FRIDAY 28

“Animate Your Night: Where It’s AT-AT”

As part of the Walt Disney Family Museum’s new “Animate Your Night” series of after-hours events, tonight’s “Where It’s AT-AT” party celebrates the opening of a new exhibit, Between Frames: The Magic Behind Stop Motion Animation, which looks at the innovative ideas and technical wizardry of the art form that has brought life to a host of magical characters and creations. Among the items party-goers will be able to get a first look at is a classic Gumby figure, the armature of the “Robot Chicken” mascot, and a model of the awesome AT-AT Imperial Walker made by Phil Tippett, as seen in The Empire Strikes Back. (McCourt)

7-10pm, $5–$10

Walt Disney Family Museum

104 Montgomery, SF

(415) 345-6800

www.waltdisney.org

Vir

While “on” Vir, I can’t decide if I’d rather take mass quantities of psychedelics and, well, gaze at my shoes, or embark on an epic, intergalactic quest with a few of my closest tribesmen. Luckily, these options aren’t mutually exclusive. This Oakland-based experimental noise pop trio originally hails from New Zealand and cites Kiwi post-punk groups Gordons, Bailter Space, and HDU as chief influences. Characterized by driving, tribal beats, sardonic, echoing lyrics, and ample fuzz pedal, Vir’s music is, at times, like marching through a lush jungle-like space field and, at other times, like My Bloody Valentine. Could it get much better? (Sullivan)

With Here Come the Saviours, Erik Blood

9:30pm, $7

Hemlock

1131 Polk, SF

(415) 923-0923

www.hemlocktavern.com

SATURDAY 29

Balboa Skatepark opening ceremony

Shredding (on a skateboard) and shredding (with a guitar) go together like pizza and hot dogs — which, incidentally, there will be a whole lot of at the Balboa skateboard park opening this week. While skaters grind their newly opened park behind, local thrasher act Haunted By Heroes — a.k.a. the world’s youngest rock band — along with the Nerv, and Big Shadows will perform out front. Plus, the free event includes the aforementioned ultimate snack foods, skateboard accessory giveaways, and the Youth DJ Collective with DJ/MC Ace, of Reality Check TV. Make like the ramp locals of Thrashin’ (1986) and bring your board, check out frenetic live music, munch cheesy pizza, and relive youth, glorious youth. (Emily Savage)

Noon-5pm, free

Balboa Skatepark

San Jose Avenue and Ocean Avenue, SF

Facebook: BalboaSkateparkOpening2012

Vintage Couture Ball

Let’s hear it for the grown and sexy. While the rest of us drink beer and chug from flasks in the bathroom, they drink Manhattans (up) and sip from nicer flasks, out in the open because unlike some, the motion only serves to make their surroundings more G&S. Class it up and join their ranks for this weekend’s openair fashion gala in the Fillmore — the Vintage Couture Ball (once called the Black Couture Ball) brings Chicago step dancing, a vintage car show, burlesque and swing dancing to SF’s jazz district. Most importantly, heed the dress code — everyone’s fancy black gowns and suits should make the evening pop. (Caitlin Donohue)

7pm-1am, $20

Fillmore between Eddy and Geary, SF

(800) 352-4315

www.vintagecoutureball.com

SUNDAY 30

Hot Water Music

It’s been an exciting year for post-hardcore. It marks the release of industry pioneer Hot Water Music’s first album in nearly a decade and the 19th anniversary since the band’s foundation in 1993. In these two decades, the band has broken up and reunited three different times, taking years off to explore side projects and family life. Though it has been touring sporadically since 2008, the Gainseville band’s eighth album Exister truly marks its triumphant return to the rock scene. The first single off the album, “State of Grace,” tackles the issue of the additives that we ingest every day in our over-processed foods. Whether you care about GMOs or not, you’ll want to catch this tour before Hot Water Music disbands again. (Zaremba)

With Dead To Me, Heartsounds

8pm, $21

Slim’s

333 11th St., SF

(415) 255-0333

www.slimspresents.com

Bebel Gilberto

New York City and Rio de Janeiro are a potent combination. As proof, we offer you Bebel Gilberto, daughter of famed bossanova boss João Gilberto and international star in her own right. Bebel’s 2009 release All in One relies less heavily on the electronic bends and flourishes of her past, its mainly acoustic, gentle guitar strums and chimes behind Brazilian coos. In other words, go to this concert to lower your blood pressure, it will smooth you out. In fact, we’d be hard pressed a better soundtrack to your weekend comedown, or swayfest with that new boo you picked up on last night’s dancefloor. (Donohue)

7pm, $35-70

Herbst Theater

401 Van Ness, SF

www.cityboxoffice.com

Maria Minerva

Like a ’90s TRL countdown as envisioned by Peaking Lights, Maria Minerva’s fuzzed-out hypnagogia is the stuff of bygone pop anthems, filtered experimentally and relentlessly through Macbooks, cheap software, and a boatload of filters and effects. Commended by The Wire for her contribution to the blossoming meta-pop movement, the elusive Estonian producer strikes a captivating balance between high art and radio trash, traditional top-40 conventions and anarchic nonconformity. Minerva’s newly released Will Happiness Find Me? might be her most accessibly structured statement yet, but that doesn’t stop her dubby sonic fog from enshrouding everything in its path. Fans of electronic hooliganism everywhere: meet your new pop diva. (Taylor Kaplan)

With Father Finger, Bobby Browser, EpicSauce DJs

8pm, $12

Rickshaw Stop

155 Fell, SF

(415) 861-2011

www.rickshawstop.com

MONDAY 1

Garbage

When it first arrived on the alternative rock scene back in the mid ’90s, Garbage could have been some sort of pre-fabricated hit machine, considering its members consisted of some of the biggest producers of the time — Butch Vig, Steve Marker, and Duke Erikson — with ex-Angelfish singer Shirley Manson joining the fold. As fans know, however, it quickly became evident that they were much more than that, a band that coalesced as one and produced some of the most memorable tunes of the era. After a series of hiatuses, the quartet is back with an excellent new album, Not Your Kind of People, and a welcome return to the live stage. (McCourt)

With Screaming Females

8pm, $38–$48

Warfield

982 Market, SF

(415) 345-0900

www.thewarfieldtheater.com

Music Listings

Andrew Lam

September 25, 2012

WEDNESDAY 26

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Ryan Bingham, La Santa Cecilia Slim’s. 8pm, $26.

Claybourne, Kate Brown 50 Mason Social House. 7pm.

False, Blown to Bits, Lycus Elbo Room. 9pm, $7.

Felsen 50 Mason Social House. 9pm.

Ghost Parade, Stomacher, Soonest Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $10.

Local H, Ambassadors Brick and Mortar Music Hall. 9pm, $12-$15.

Lonesome Heroes, Mariee Sioux, Jeffrey Manson Cafe Du Nord. 9pm, $10.

Menomena, PVY Bimbo’s. 8pm, $20.

Nathan and Rachel Johnny Foley’s. 9pm, free.

Obituary, Broken Hope, Decrepit Birth, Jungle Rot, Encrust, Feast DNA Lounge. 6:30pm, $18.

Owl City, Matthew Koma Regency Ballroom. 7:30pm, $25.

Amanda Palmer and the Grand Theft Orchestra Fillmore. 8pm, $25.

Papa Bear and the Easy Love, Kelly McFarling, DonCat Great American Music Hall. 8pm, $14-$16.

Steakhouse, Wounded Men, El Cajon Hemlock Tavern. 8:30pm, $6.

Soul Train Revival with Ziek McCarter Boom Boom Room. 8pm, $5.

Todd vs Guido Johnny Foley’s Dueling Pianos. 9:30pm.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

Cat’s Corner with Nathan Dias Savanna Jazz. 9pm, $10.

Cosmo AlleyCats Le Colonial, 20 Cosmo Place, SF; www.lecolonialsf.com. 7-10pm.

Dink Dink Dink, Gaucho, Eric Garland’s Jazz Session Amnesia. 7pm, free.

Ricardo Scales Top of the Mark, 999 California, SF; www.topofthemark.com. 6:30pm, $5.

“SF Underground Music Fest” 50 Mason Social House, SF; www.50masonsocialhouse.com. 8pm, $5. With Felsen, MK4, Real Numbers.

Paula West Yoshi’s SF. 8pm, $30.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

Bebel Gilberto Herbst Theater, 401 Van Ness, SF; www.cityboxoffice.com. 7pm.

DANCE CLUBS

Booty Call Q-Bar, 456 Castro, SF; www.bootycallwednesdays.com. 9pm. Juanita MORE! and Joshua J host this dance party.

Coo-Yah! Som., 2925 16th St, SF; (415) 558-8521. 10pm, free. DJs Daneekah and Green B spin reggae and dancehall with weekly guests.

Full-Step! Tunnel Top. 10pm, free. Hip-hop, reggae, soul, and funk with DJs Kung Fu Chris and Bizzi Wonda.

Hardcore Humpday Happy Hour RKRL, 52 Sixth St, SF; (415) 658-5506. 6pm, $3.

Obey the Kitty: Justin Milla Vessel, 85 Campton Place, SF; www.vesselsf.com. 1pm, $5.

THURSDAY 27

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Marina Caviglia 50 Mason Social House. 7pm.

Dreamdate, Parlour Suite, She’s, Ian Fays, DJ Neil Martinson Brick and Mortar Music Hall. 10pm, $7-$10.

Grannies, Jetsinns, Psychology of Genocide Thee Parkside. 9pm, $7-$100. Blixafest/Bloomfest 2012.

Grass Widow, Rabbles, Apogee Sound Club, Future Twin Cell Space, 2050 Bryant, SF; www.sfcriticalmass.org. 7pm, $10-$20. SF Critical Mass 20th Birthday Party Bash.

Hey Champ, Frank and Derol, popscene DJs Rickshaw Stop. 9:30pm, $12-$14.

Hydrophonic: Scochella with Electric Shepherd, Rawdad, Vinyl Intermissions by Children of the Funk Slim’s. 8:30pm, $12.

John Lawton Trio Johnny Foley’s. 9pm, free.

Mark Sexton Band, Illusion of Self, Lemay Boom Boom Room. 8pm, $7.

Meiko Independent. 8pm, $15.

Moggs, Keiki, Goldring/Tompson Hemlock Tavern. 8:30pm, $7.

Panic is Perfect, Oceanography, DJ Blondie K Amnesia. 9pm, $7-$10.

Rare Animals, Ancient Mariner, Year of the Fist Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $10.

“Stephan Jenkins Birthday Party and Concert: A Benefit for Classical Revolution” Great American Music Hall. 8pm, $20. With Classical Revolution Orchestra.

Rags Tuttle vs Todd Johnny Foley’s Dueling Pianos. 9:30pm.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

“Jazz Beyond Genre” Red Poppy Art House. 7pm, $12-$15. With Andrea Wolper, Hafez Modirzadeh, and more.

Stompy Jones Top of the Mark, 999 California, SF; www.topofthemark.com. 7:30pm, $10.

Ned Boyton Trio Bottle Cap, 1707 Powell, SF; www.bottlecapsf.com. 7-10pm.

Paula West Yoshi’s SF. 8pm, $30; 10pm, $20.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

Twang! Honky Tonk Fiddler’s Green, 1330 Columbus, SF; www.twanghonkytonk.com. 5pm. Live country music, dancing, and giveaways.

DANCE CLUBS

Afrolicious Elbo Room. 9:30pm, $5-$7. With DJ-host Pleasuremaker spinning Afrobeat, Tropicália, electro, samba, and funk

All 80s Thursday Cat Club. 9pm, $6 (free before 9:30pm). The best of 80s mainstream and underground.

Base: Roman Flugel, Galen Vessel, 85 Campton Place, SF; www.vesselsf.com. 10pm, $5-$10.

Dixon, Solar Public Works. 9pm, $15.

Tropicana Madrone Art Bar. 9pm, free. Salsa, cumbia, reggaeton, and more.

FRIDAY 28

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Afromassive Boom Boom Room. 8pm, $15.

Father John Misty, Jenny O. Independent. 9pm, $15.

Colleen Green, Plateaus, Courtney and the Crushers, Memories, Pamela Thee Parkside. 9pm, $8.

Hatebreed, Whitechapel, All Shall Perish, Deeznuts Regency Ballroom. 7:30pm, $23.

Institution, Ray Frankly, Cheating Daylight, Wesley Project Slim’s. 7pm, $15.

Kasey Johansing, Bart Davenport, Anna Ash Brick and Mortar Music Hall. 9pm, $9-$12.

Jonah’s onelinedrawing, Iamani, Ben Flanagan, Safiya Martinez, MacClain and Cole Bottom of the Hill. 8:30pm, $10.

Kim Lenz and Her Jaguars, B-Stars, Rocketship Rocketship Verdi Club, 2424 Mariposa Ave., SF; www.verdiclub.net. 8pm, $10.

Pine Box Boys, King City, Trainwreck Riders Elbo Room. 9pm, $10.

Starbaby 50 Mason Social House. 10pm.

This Charming Band, For the Masses Cafe Du Nord. 9pm, $12.

Todd, Rome Balestrieri, Jason Marion Johnny Foley’s Dueling Pianos. 9pm.

Top Secret Band Johnny Foley’s. 9pm, free.

Vir, Here Come the Saviours, Erik Blood Hemlock Tavern. 9:30pm, $7.

Zodiac Death Valley, Finsh Ticket, Dandelion War, Chaw Rickshaw Stop. 8pm, $12.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

Audium 1616 Bush, SF; www.audium.org. 8:30pm, $20. Theater of sound-sculptured space.

Black Jazz Orchestra Top of the Mark, 999 California, SF; www.topofthemark.com. 9pm, $10.

“Bunker A/V Sessions Pt. 3” Monarch, 101 Sixth, SF; gafftabunker3.eventbrite.com. 9pm, $10-$20. With Peter Van Hoesen, Derek Plaslaiko.

Terry Disely Bottle Cap, 1707 Powell, SF; www.bottlecapsf.com. 5:30-8:30pm.

Peter White Yoshi’s SF. 8pm, $26; 10pm, $22.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

Baxtolo Drom Amnesia. 9pm, $7-$10. Live music, gypsy punk, belly dance.

Kato-vento Brazilian Ensemble Community Music Center, 544 Capp, SF; www.kato-vento.com. 8pm, $10-$15.

Taste Fridays 650 Indiana, SF; www.tastefridays.com. 8pm, $18. Salsa and bachata dance lessons, live music.

DANCE CLUBS

Direct to Earth 222 Hyde, SF; www.residentadvisor.net. 10pm, $20. Creator Series event with Truncate.

Joe Lookout, 3600 16th St.,SF; www.lookoutsf.com. 9pm. Eight rotating DJs, shirt-off drink specials.

Deniz Koyu, Ron Reeser Vessel, 85 Campton Place, SF; www.vesselsf.com. 10pm, $10-$30.

Old School JAMZ El Rio. 9pm. Fruit Stand DJs spinning old school funk, hip-hop, and R&B.

Paris to Dakar Little Baobab, 3388 19th St, SF; (415) 643-3558. 10pm, $5. Afro and world music with rotating DJs.

Project Mayhem DNA Lounge. 9pm, $10-$15. With Flinch, Bassex, Liam Shy, Atom One, Harris Pilton.

Public Access 2: Andy Stott, Demdike Stare, Balam Acab, oOoOO Public Works. 10pm, $10-$12.

SATURDAY 29

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Back Pages Johnny Foley’s. 9pm, free.

Beat Junkies Mighty. 10pm, $20.

Daniel Bedingfield, DJ Haute Toddy Cafe Du Nord. 9pm, $15.

Erin Brazil and the Brazillionaires, Hang Jones Amnesia. 9pm, $7-$10.

Carlton Melton, Phil Manley Life Coach, White Manna El Rio. 10pm, $8.

Firewater, Damon and the Heathens Independent. 8pm, $15.

Scott Kelley and the Road Home, Mike Scheidt Hemlock Tavern. 9:30pm, $12.

Aimee Mann Fillmore. 9pm, $35.

Melvins Seals Birthday Celebration Great American Music Hall. 9pm, $30. JGB with Melvin Seals, Dave Ellis.

“Polk Street Blues Festival” Polk Street from Jackson to California, SF; www.polkstreetbluesfestival.com. 11am-6pm. With Buckaroo Bonet, Bobbie Webb and Smooth Blues Band, Andre Theirry, SF Rock Project, and more.

“Ripstar Musicfest” Sub-Mission. 8pm, $7-$10. With Oddville, Straight Ups, Chunky Turtlenecks, Elegant Trash, and benefiting the Red Cross.

Rock on Broadway 50 Mason Social House. 8pm.

Rodriguez Bimbo’s. 9pm, $20.

Rustangs Riptide. 9:30pm, free.

SafetySuit, Go Radio, James Leste Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $15.

Scooter and Lavelle, Ross FM Vessel, 85 Campton Place, SF; www.vesselsf.com. 10pm, $10-$30.

Spotted Botanists Sub-Mission. 4pm, $5.

Todd, Jason Marion, Rome Balestrieri Johnny Foley’s Dueling Pianos. 9pm.

Trainwreck Riders, Saything, Slow Trucks, Ugly Winner, Speak Friend, Quiet Americans Thee Parkside. 2pm, $10.

“UnderCover Presents: Joni Mitchell’s Blue” Brava Theater, 2781 Mission, SF; www.undercoverpresents.com. 7:30pm, $12-$35. With KillBossa, Kelly McFarling, Amy X Neuberg, Seshen, and more.

Welcome Matt Exit Theater, 56 Eddy, SF; Facebook: Song Writer Saturdays. 9:30pm, free.

William Elliot Whitmore, Samantha Crain Slim’s. 9pm, $16.

Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Boom Boom Room. 8pm, $15.

Youngblood Hawke, Young Digerati, Young Science, DJ Aaron Axelson Brick and Mortar Music Hall. 9pm, $10.53.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

Audium 1616 Bush, SF; www.audium.org. 8:30pm, $20. Theater of sound-sculptured space.

Peter White Yoshi’s SF. 8pm, $30; 10pm, $22.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

Shook Twins, Country Mourns, Dirt Floor Band SF Live Arts Music Series at Cyperian’s, 2097 Turk, SF; www.noevallleymusicseries.com. 7:30pm, $12.

Craig Ventresco and Meredith Axelrod Atlas Cafe, 3049 20th St, SF; www.atlascafe.net. 4-6pm.

DANCE CLUBS

“A Night of Local House Music from Mother Records” Raven Bar and Lounge, 1151 Folsom, SF; www.ravenbarsf.com. 10pm, free.

Bootie SF: Bootie Hoedown DNA Lounge. 9pm, $10-$15. Bootie DJs spin country-western roadhouse mashups.

Paris to Dakar Little Baobab, 3388 19th St, SF; (415) 643-3558. 10pm, $5. Afro and world music with rotating DJs including Stepwise, Steve, Claude, Santero, and Elembe.

Sweater Funk Elbo Room. 9pm, $10. Four-year anniversary with all members including Mamabear and Shred One.

SUNDAY 30

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Album Leaf, Blackbird Blackbird, Drew Andrews Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $15.

Coyote Grace, Mamuse Great American Music Hall. 8pm, $12-$15.

Rick Estrin and the Nightcats Biscuits and Blues. 7 and 9pm, $20.

Hot Water Music, Dead to Me, Heartsands Slim’s. 8pm, $21.

Inner Ear Brigade, Marco Eneidi’s Shattered, Mutual Aid Project Hemlock Tavern. 8:30pm, $7.

John Lawton Trio Johnny Foley’s. 9pm, free.

Canyon Johnson 50 Mason Social House. 8pm.

Jason Marion vs Nathan Temby Johnny Foley’s Dueling Pianos. 9pm.

Maria Minerva, Father Finger, Bobby Browser, Epicsauce DJs Rickshaw Stop. 8pm, $10-$12.

Mission Bells, Bear Crossing, Torches Cafe Du Nord. 8:30pm, $8.

“Polk Street Blues Festival” Polk Street from Jackson to California, SF; www.polkstreetbluesfestival.com. 11am-6pm. With Ed Earley Band and Jay Bonet, BABS Caravan of All-Stars, James Moseley Band, Juce Garcia Band, and more.

Tomten, Flying Childers Brick and Mortar Music Hall. 9pm, $5-$8.

“UnderCover Presents: Joni Mitchell’s Blue” Brava Theater, 2781 Mission, SF; www.undercoverpresents.com. 6pm, $12-$35.With Beth Custer Ensemble, Kitka, Adam Theis of Jazz Mafia, Bhrathi Palivela and Daniel Fabricant, and more.

“Under the Central Freeway” Public Works. 2-9pm, $15. With Kelley Stoltz, Religious Girls, Sweet Chariot, Will Sprott.

Vows, Blank Tapes, Ash Reiter, Li Xi, Cannons and Clouds, Fpod Bpod, Upstairs Downstairs Thee Parkside. 2pm, $10.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

Slippery Slope, Daisy Spot Yoshi’s SF. 7pm, $14.

Snarky Puppy Boom Boom Room. 8pm, $12.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

Twang Sunday Thee Parkside. 4pm, free. With Jinx Jones and the King Tones.

DANCE CLUBS

Dub Mission Elbo Room. 9pm, $6. Dub, roots, and classic dancehall with DJ Sep, Vinnie Esparza, Lud Dub.

Jock Lookout, 3600 16th St, SF; www.lookoutsf.com. 3pm, $2.

Sunday Soiree Phoenix Hotel, 601 Eddy, SF; sundayphoenix.eventbrite.com. 1-8pm. With DJ Shorkut, Jeremy Sole, Vinroc and King Most.

MONDAY 1

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Blood Red Shoes, Happy Fangs, Starskate Rickshaw Stop. 8pm, $10-$12.

Damir Johnny Foley’s. 9pm, free.

Former Babies, Koko Beware Hemlock Tavern. 6pm, $5.

Garbage, Screaming Females Warfield. 8pm, $38-$48.

Grouplove, Alt-J Fillmore. 8pm, $25.

Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, Dam Funk, Bodyguard Bimbo’s. 8pm, $20.

JC Rockit vs Guido Johnny Foley’s Dueling Pianos. 9:30pm.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

Bossa Nova Tunnel Top, 601 Bush, SF; (415) 722-6620. 8-11:30pm, free. Live acoustic Bossa Nova.

DANCE CLUBS

Crazy Mondays Beauty Bar, 2299 Mission, SF; www.thebeautybar.com. 10pm, free. Hip-hop and other stuff.

Death Guild DNA Lounge. 9:30pm, $3-$5. Goth-industrial dance night with Decay, Joe Radio, Melting Girl.

M.O.M. Madrone Art Bar. 6pm, free. DJs Timoteo Gigante, Gordo Cabeza, and Chris Phlek playing all Motown every Monday.

Soul Cafe John Colins Lounge, 138 Minna, SF; www.johncolins.com. 9pm. R&B, Hip-Hop, NeoSoul, Reggae, Dancehall, Reggaeton, Salsa and more with DJ Jerry Ross. Happy hour all night.

Vibes’N’Stuff El Amigo Bar, 3355 Mission, SF; (415) 852-0092. 10pm, free. Conscious jazz and hip-hop from 1960s-early ’90s with DJs Luce Lucy, Vinnie Esparza, and more.

TUESDAY 2

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Communist Daughter, Sporting Life Elbo Room. 9pm, $7.

Colin Ludlow and the Folks, General 50 Mason Social House. 8pm.

Ron Pope, Jerad Finck, Anjus Pale Blue Eyes Cafe Du Nord. 7:30pm, $15.

Port-Royal, Dryft, Another Electronic Musician DNA Lounge. 8pm, $12.

Psychedelic Furs, Chevin Bimbo’s. 8pm, $30.

Sidekicks, John Moremen’s Flotation Device Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $8.

Space Vacation, Ironwitch Hemlock Tavern. 8:30pm, $7.

Stan Erhart Band Johnny Foley’s. 9pm, free.

Rags Tuttle vs Randy Johnny Foley’s Dueling Pianos. 9:30pm.

Patrick Wolf Great American Music Hall. 8pm, $21.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

Clarice Assad Yoshi’s SF. 8pm, $22.

Gaucho Bottle Cap, 1707 Powell, SF; www.bottlecapsf.com. 7-10pm.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

Belle Monroe and Her Brewglass Boys Amnesia. 9pm.

DANCE CLUBS

Eclectic Company Skylark, 9pm, free. DJs Tones and Jaybee spin old school hip hop, bass, dub, glitch, and electro.

Snap Sounds: Bibi Tanga and the Selenites

Tony Robles

September 19, 2012

BIBI TANGA AND THE SELENITES
40 DEGREES OF SUNSHINE
(NAT GEO MUSIC)

From the bright electro-funk pulse of the opening track, “Poet of the Soul,” sunlight infuses Bibi Tanga and the Selenites’ latest album, 40 Degrees of Sunshine. An upbeat melange of esoteric samples, funky bass lines, polyrhythmic percussion, soulful, multi-lingual crooning, and Walt Whitman poetry, the twelve tracks distill the best of an array of influences into a potent brew.

Neither the vibrant Afrobeat-ish “Band a Gui Koua,” sung in Sango, the nouveau jazz inflections of “Attraction,” nor even the unsettling tone poem “Happy Dust Man,” would be out of place on dance floors from Bangui or Boston, despite their refusal to be neatly categorized. To this refusal, Bibi Tanga and crew offer a preemptive explanation, perhaps apology, on “Dark Funk”. “If you find a name for the music we’re doing…just call us.”

Getting into it: ‘Vagina’ is still a book about vagina

Andrew Lam

September 19, 2012

If there is one thing that some feminists like to do, it is tell each other that they are not really feminist — or, judging from the Internet over the past weeks, that’s what newsmedia enjoys paying them to write about. Imagine that two competing “waves” at an NFL game crash into each other and their wavers begin hurling epithets involving biological primacy (“the wave’s appeal lies in the rolling motion of the womb experience!”) and unacknowledged privilege (“our wave does not rely on fancy running shoes for buoyancy, or expensive snack bar items for flourish!”)

Naomi Wolf wrote a book called Vagina: A Biography, and is now being torn apart, bit by bit, by representatives of various feminist waves in nearly every vaunted publication in the land. I’m saying: she did write a book called Vagina, though.

Bongwater: Power of Pussy from DANGEROUS MINDS on Vimeo.

Recently, I did an email interview with Wolf about the merits of her book. I sent her the questions before most of the more scathing reviews of Vagina hit the Internet presses, so most of them revolved around which pieces of her research she found the most compelling. When asked to summarize the shortcomings of research publicized heretofore on vags, she wrote to me:

It is stuck in the 1970s, when Masters and Johnson concluded that men’s and women’s sexual responses were basically the same proces (arousal, plateaue, climax, resolution) and when Shere Hite (admirably for the time) concluded that the vagina and clitoris were unrelated, and everyone thought the vagina has little innervation.

New data show that women and men are very different in what arouses them and brings them to orgasm and that even their pelvic wiring is very different.

Men’s nerves in the pelvis and penis and fairly simple and regular — but women’s ‘pelvis innervations’ is like lace, compared to the male “grid.” There are neural terminio [sic] for women in the clitoris, as we know, but also in the walls of the vagina, the mouth of the cervix, the G-spot, the anus, the perineum — and every woman’s wiring is different! So the takeaway is that if you want to make a woman happy, whether you are male or female, you need to learn each woman’s patterns and responses anew and pay careful attention and engage is very attentive exploration. And listen to what she likes.

Read Wolf’s book and you’ll get an amazing lesson on female biology, and perhaps even more interestingly, the social history of the pussy. From ancient worship of goddess-whores up to references to the cunt in 20th century jazz in the US, this is stuff that really helps to contextualize our current struggles with those who would penalize us for having anatomy.

Wolf visits 1900s dance routines choreographed by Lois Fuller in her exploration of the history of vaginal representation

But, as other reviewers have mentioned, she does founder a little when she starts hypothesizing.

From a passage asserting that eye contact is important for sexual satisfaction:

Page 299: “Might it be that some new mothers – starved of deep gazing from their husbands – are more at risk of being drawn into a charmed circle of mutual gazing with their babies, which leaves out the man?”

And on the loss of self-awareness during climax:

Page 284: “The findings could be read as hinting – not by any means confirming – that the ages-old fear that sex makes women into something like witches, or into maenads who have no moral boundaries at the moment of orgasm, may have a bit of truth to it.”

No snap moral judgments made at the height of your climax, witches! You can imagine now, why people have been reacting poorly to some of Wolf’s “findings.” (I would love to see the owner of a penis make any kind of decision at all while climaxing. No really, send videos.)

Other charges leveled at Vagina have involved heterocentricity, although Wolf admittedly trys to explain why the book is focused on penis-loving women in her introduction. She says she thinks women of all sexualities deserve books focused on their vaginas. And next time she’ll do more, she said in the email: “in the next edition I will expand the info that there is for lesbian, bisexual, and transwomen, even given its scarcity, because of the extreme interest from my readers across the spectrum.”

I’m not denying the book’s got issues. But then, this weekend, as I lolled on Dolo’s Gay Beach shelf above that brave new Disneyland of a playground, I read my copy of Vagina. Muttering middle-aged men shot death glares at the spliff dangling from my fingers (I moved downwind as requested.)

And all of a sudden, I got weirded out. I think it had something to do with the big red “vagina” written in red cursive letters on the book I was reading. In Dolores Park, really! It felt like I was engaged in something untoward, and not to be dramatic but in that moment I realized that no matter the woman-stealing babies and witch-producing orgasms contained in the pages of Vagina, it is still: a feminist book. And a heavily-researched book about vagina, with history lessons on vagina, and a frank discussion of the importance of the female genitals.

Perhaps sadly, that’s still a big something. Not to get all maenad, but at Wolf’s upcoming SF dates I’d like to shake her hand and say thanks for putting it out there.

Naomi Wolf

Wed/19, 7pm, free

51 Tamal Vista Blvd, Corte Madera

www.bookpassage.com

Thu/20, 7pm, $25-30

Jewish Community Center

3200 California, SF

www.jccsf.org

Our Weekly Picks: September 19-25

Andrew Lam

September 18, 2012

WEDNESDAY 9/19

The Birds

As part of a series of ongoing celebrations marking the 100th anniversary of Universal Pictures, Fathom Events and Turner Classic Movies are presenting a special one day only screening of The Birds, Alfred Hitchcock’s classic 1963 horror flick about rampaging flocks of fearsome feathered fiends that invade a sleepy coastal community and wreak havoc on its citizens. Filmed in San Francisco and just to the north in Bodega Bay, the film has been newly restored, and will be preceded by an introduction from TCM host Robert Osborne, along with revealing interviews that he conducted with star Tippi Hedren earlier this year. See website for participating theaters. (Sean McCourt)

2 and 7pm, $10.50–$12.50

Various Bay Area Theaters

www.fathomevents.com

THURSDAY 9/20

Azure Ray

Orenda Fink and Maria Taylor are Alabama natives, childhood friends, and progenitors of dream pop duo Azure Ray. Throughout most of their Azure work, the pair grounded their tracks in vocal harmonization and added in some folksy acoustic guitar and/or piano melodies, such as in 2010’s Drawing Down the Moon. But in the latest LP released this month, As Above So Below, Fink and Taylor immerse their warm vocals in electronic atmospherics, vocal delay effects, and a smattering of bass. Azure have said for As Above that they drew on the minimalist and electronic aspects of artists such as James Blake, Nicholas Jaar and Apparat. As Above’s tight and intricate feel can be partially credited to co-producer and Orenda’s husband, Todd Fink of The Faint. (Kevin Lee)

With Soko, Haroula Rose 8pm, $15 Swedish American Music Hall 2174 Market, SF (415) 431-7578 www.cafedunord.com

FRIDAY 9/21

Eat Real Festival

Sure, the snacks and sips for sale at Eat Real are superlative, but not all of Oakland’s three-day fest dedicated to fresh, local edibles revolves around pure functionality. Take for example, the Thai fruit carving demonstration manned by staff from mobile Bay Area catering outfit House of Siam. You can learn how to turn a watermelon into a rose, petals fading from pink meat to white rind. It’s just one of a passel of tutorials that will be taking place throughout the fest, which will also feature a beer garden of local brews curated by Eat Real neighbor, Linden Street Brewery, live music, and vendors hawking treats, all for under $5. (Caitlin Donohue) Fri/21 1-9pm; Sat/22 10:30am-9pm; 10:30am-5pm Jack London Square, Oakl. www.eatrealfest.com

FRIDAY 9/21

Pacific Pinball Expo

"Free play!" For lifelong pinball wizards in training — and those, like me, who just enjoy playing Addams Family for hours at the local gay bar — there are few better phrases in the English language. To show off its extensive (and quite historically fascinating) collection of games with balls, and to help promote its intended move to the Palace of Fine Arts from Alameda, the great Pacific Pinball Museum is hosting the supposedly largest pinball expo in the world at the Marin Civic Center. 400 games set on free play! X-Men! Ms. Pacman! Vintage Bally games like Starjet! "Woodrails" from the 1950s! Sorry, there will be no splints provided for those who, in their excitement of such flashing and dinging riches, suffer a case of "flipper wrist." (Marke B.)

Through Sun/16, 10am-midnight, $15–$60

Marin Civic Center Exhibition Hall

10 Avenue of the Flags, San Rafael

(510) 205-6959

www.pacificpinball.org

FRIDAY 9/21

Wilco

As recent sold-out performances at the Fox attest, Chicago’s Wilco is an easy sell. Eight albums in with 2011’s The Whole Love, Jeff Tweedy continues to catalog tender hearts at the edge of maddening fights, backgrounded arguably the most expansive band in rock. (While other groups may struggle to create a sound big enough for the Greek, drummer Glenn Kotche could do it on his own.) But the added draw this time are the openers; Friday is a second chance for anyone who missed Cibo Matto’s reunion show at Bimbo’s last year, while Saturday features beloved raconteur Jonathan Richman, with extra of room for him to let loose his signature dance moves. (Ryan Prendiville)

Fri/21 with Cibo Matto; Sat/22 with Jonathan Richman 7:30pm, $49.50 Greek Theatre 2001 Gayley Road, Berk. (510) 548-3010 www.apeconcerts.com

FRIDAY 9/21

Yob

Eugene, Oreg.’s Yob has been producing sprawling doom metal landscapes since 1996, but it’s taken until 2012 for it to get noticed. Though the mainstream press has finally picked up on the band — Spin Magazine placed its sixth album, Atma, in its top 50 records of 2011 — Yob’s masterful songwriting and awesomely sinister energy hasn’t lost any of its edge. Atma is a megalith of slow, chugging riffs and discordant melodies, the shortest song clocking in at seven minutes and 33 seconds. Vocalist (and Krav Maga instructor) Mike Scheidt shrieks and growls over the sludge like a demon that has finally been unleashed. (Haley Zaremba)

With Acid King, Norska

9pm, $12

Brick and Mortar Music Hall

1710 Mission, SF

(415) 800-8782

www.brickandmortarmusic.com

SATURDAY 9/22

California Wines Road Trip

Love a variety of California wines, but don’t have the time to travel all over the state to visit all the wineries? Then head over the "California Wines Road Trip" event, where more than 90 wines from 14 different regions of the state will be available to sample, along with artisanal cheeses and other scrumptious food offerings. The party is part of California Wine Month, which will be hosting other events all throughout the state, so drink up for a good cause — part of the proceeds from the event will go to the Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture and the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance. (McCourt)

2-5pm, $35.

Ferry Building, Grand Hall

One Ferry Building, SF

discovercaliforniawines.com/roadtrip

SATURDAY 9/22

7 Seconds

They say that Reno is so close to hell you can see sparks. It makes sense that this environment would create one of the most enduring hardcore punk bands in music history. 7 Seconds have been active for three decades. In this time span they’ve gone through lineup changes, genre changes, into the straight edge movement and back out of it. Since its inception in 1980, the Marvelli brothers Kevin Seconds and Steve Youth have remained the backbone of the band, tirelessly touring and releasing 15 albums and numerous EPs and compilations. You’ve seen the logo for years, on T-shirts and patched onto jean jackets, but 7 Seconds have endured based on a lot more than great branding. They’re living, breathing, shredding pioneers of American punk. (Zaremba)

With Heartsounds, Bastards of Young, City of Vain

7pm, $12

924 Gilman, Berkeley

(510) 524-8180

www.924gilman.org

SATURDAY 9/22

Cut Hands

Like an enrapturing free-jazz gig, or a moshtastic punk show, Cut Hands’ brand of crushing experimentalism must be seen live to be fully appreciated. The one-man project, commanded by British fringe-artist and Whitehouse bandleader William Bennett, fuses traditional Central African percussion with synthetic drums, laying them atop ambient drones and shrill electronics, with an industrial production sound worthy of Throbbing Gristle at their most unforgiving. Pushing his singular vision to new extremes, Bennett’s forthcoming LP, Black Mamba (the follow-up to his Wire-approved Afro Noise series) is the project’s most relentlessly pulverizing statement to date. Gluttons for avant-punishment shouldn’t pass up the opportunity to experience Bennett’s viscerally draining, yet transcendent, explorations in sound. (Taylor Kaplan)

With Burmese, Bestial Mouths, DJ Crackwhore 9:30pm, $12

Elbo Room 647 Valencia, SF (415) 552-7788 www.elbo.com

MONDAY 9/24

Wyclef Jean

Member of a supernatural hip-hop crew, singer of "Gone ‘Til November" — maybe you even got a bead on his brief, but glorious run at being the president of Haiti, in the face of Sean Penn’s wet-blanket naysaying. But unless you have read his new book Purpose: An Immigrant’s Story (if you have, back pat, the thing was released on Tuesday) you probably did not know that Jean’s pastor father relocated his family into a fire-damaged funeral home in Newark when the sensitive rapper was wee. Face it, many things about this ex-Fugee remain a mystery. Attend tonight’s event and let them be revealed, with insightful prodding by MTV2’s Hip Hop Squares host Peter Rosenberg. (Donohue)

7:30, $25–$30 Palace of Fine Arts 3301 Lyon, SF

(415) 567-6642 www.palaceoffinearts.org

MONDAY 9/24

Serj Tankian

Serj Tankian started writing his third solo album when he read about the mass disappearance of different species of animals around the world. The result is Harakiri, a self-produced record named for the Japanese idea of ritual suicide. As the frontman for System of a Down, Armenian-born Tankian has a long history of activism and influence in the music community, and now he’s taking on the uncomfortable future of environmental (un)sustainability. In response, Tankian has kicked into overdrive, touring with System, publishing his third book of poetry, collaborating with nonprofits, collaborating with other musicians, and releasing a rock opera all within the last year. With this momentum, Tankian may just take over the world. I don’t know about you, but I trust him with it. (Zaremba)

With Viza

8pm, $35

Fillmore

1805 Geary, SF

(415) 346-3000

www.thefillmore.com

TUESDAY 9/25

Django Django

"Spins the phrases together ’til something starts to make sense" is generally a pretty apt description of what frequently parades as "psychedelic" songwriting, a veil of random weirdness that often obscures an underlying mediocrity and lack of musical talent. On its self-titled, Mercury Prize-nominated debut — which includes those lyrics on the track "Hail Bop" — Britain’s Django Django takes a different approach, combining the the straightforward structure of ’60s vocal pop with a nearly cribbed catalog of inward looking psych imagery, layered over surprisingly shiny production that includes influences from tribal rhythms and metronomic, driving electronica. The result is an album that’s paradoxically bold as it is bare. (Prendiville)

With Vinyl Williams 8pm, $15 Independent 628 Divisadero, SF (415) 771-1421 www.theindependentsf.com

Stage Listings

Andrew Lam

September 18, 2012

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. For further information on how to submit items for the listings, see Picks.

THEATER

OPENING

Family Programming: An Evening of Short Comedic Plays Shelton Theater, 533 Sutter, SF; www.brownpapertickets.com. $20. Opens Fri/21, 8pm. Runs Thu-Sat, 8pm. Through Oct 13. Left Coast Theatre Company performs short plays about gay and alternative families.

ONGOING

Asteroids: Live! Dark Room Theater, 2263 Mission, SF; (415) 401-7987. $20. Fri-Sat, 8pm. Through Sept 29. Interstellar comedy “based very, very loosely on the arcade game.”

Henry V Presidio of San Francisco, Main Post Parade Ground Lawn, SF; www.sfshakes.org. Free. Sat/22-Sun/23, 2pm. The San Francisco Shakespeare Festival celebrates the 30th anniversary of Free Shakespeare in the Park with this history play.

Invasion! Boxcar Playhouse, 505 Natoma, SF; crowdedfire.dreamhosters.com. $20-35. Wed-Sat, 8pm. Through Sept 29. Crowded Fire mounts the West Coast premiere of Swedish-born playwright Jonas Hassen Khemiri’s postmodern dark comedy, a deconstruction of language and power in an American culture of perpetual war, which made a well-received New York debut last year. Translated from the Swedish by Rachel Willson-Broyles, and directed by Evren Odcikin, the play immediately subverts the usual multi-culti narrative of otherness and tolerance with a po-faced feint (featuring ensemble members Lawrence Radecker and Olivia Rosaldo-Pratt) that ends with a boisterous disruption of the proceedings from unexpected quarters (courtesy of ensemble members George Psarras and Wiley Naman Strasser). From there, we get a series of interrelated largely comical scenes, wherein — in shades of Martin Crimp’s Attempts on Her Life — a certain figure by the name of Abulkasem dissolves into the ultimate cipher, tied to everything from terror to pick-up lines in bars, and meaning absolutely anything and nothing. Nevertheless, in the interstices of language lurks real power — as the play implies most overly in a scene of intentional mistranslation, which twists a hapless and bemused immigrant’s tale into line with the war-on-terror mythos. In the end, the complexity the play adds does not completely dissolve that liberal narrative skewered at the outset, and its efforts remain only half-convincing. The problem may lie partly in the production’s inconsistent, often sluggish pace, as well as a tendency toward didacticism in director Odcikin’s staging. The material of this sardonic play doesn’t support too literal or even empathetic a reading, but rather seems best translated as a raucous premonition, dream, or intimation of our own guilty seduction by the sadistic, totalizing power of such stories. (Avila)

Kiss of the Spider Woman Phoenix Theatre, 414 Mason, SF; secondwind.8m.com. $15-35. Thu-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. Through Sept 29. Second Wind presents Manuel Puig’s acclaimed drama about cellmates in a Buenos Aires jail.

My Fair Lady SF Playhouse, 533 Sutter, SF; www.sfplayhouse.org. $30-70. Tue-Thu, 7pm; Fri-Sat, 8pm (also Sat, 3pm). Through Sept 29. SF Playhouse and artistic director Bill English (who helms) offer a swift, agreeable production of the Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe musical, based on George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion. The iconic class-conscious storyline revolves around a cocky linguist named Higgins (Johnny Moreno) who bets colleague Colonel Pickering (Richard Frederick) he can transform an irritable flower girl, Eliza Doolittle (Monique Hafen), into a “lady” and pass her off in high society. A battle of wills and wits ensues — interlarded with the “tragedy” of Alfred Doolittle (a shrewd and gleaming Charles Dean) and his reluctant upward fall into respectability — and love (at least in the musical version) triumphs. The songs (“Wouldn’t It Be Loverly,” “I Could Have Danced All Night,” “Get Me to the Church on Time,” and the rest) remain evergreen in the cast’s spirited performances, supported by two offstage pianos (brought to life by David Dobrusky and musical director Greg Mason) and nimble choreography from Kimberly Richards. Hafen’s Eliza is especially admirable, projecting in dialogue and song a winning combination of childlike innocence and feminine potency. Moreno’s Higgins is also good, unusually virile yet heady too, a convincingly flawed if charming egotist. And Frederick, who adds a passing hint of homoerotic energy to his portrayal of the devoted Pickering, is gently funny and wholly sympathetic. (Avila)

The Normal Heart American Conservatory Theater, 415 Geary, SF; www.act-sf.org. $25-95. Tue, 7pm; Wed-Sun, 8pm (also Sat, 2pm); Sun, 2pm (also Sept 23, 8pm). Through Oct 7. Larry Kramer’s groundbreaking 1985 drama about the AIDS epidemic — winner of a 2011 Tony for Best Revival of a Play — has a limited run at ACT.

The Other Place Magic Theatre, Fort Mason Center, Bldg D, Third Flr, SF; www.magictheatre.org. $22-62. Previews Wed/19, 8pm. Opens Thu/20, 8pm. Runs Tue, 7pm; Wed-Sat, 8pm (also Sat/22 and Oct 3, 2:30pm); Sun, 2:30 (Oct 7 show at 7pm instead). Through Oct 7. Sharr White’s plot-twisty thriller has its West Coast premiere at Magic Theatre.

Port Out, Starboard Home Z Space, 450 Florida, SF; www.foolsfury.org. $12-35. Wed/19-Sat/22, 8pm; Sun/23, 2pm. foolsFURY performs the world premiere of Sheila Callaghan’s black comedy.

The Real Americans Marsh Studio Theater, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. $25-50. Fri, 8pm; Sat, 8:30pm. Through Sept 29. Dan Hoyle’s hit show about his trip across America returns.

Rigoletto War Memorial Opera House, 301 Van Ness, SF; www.sfopera.com. $10-340. Wed/19 and Sept 25, 7:30; Fri/21, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. Through Sept 30. “Fidelity is for weaklings!” Despite this rousing cry from its philandering villain, SF Opera opens its 90th season with a faithful and winsome double-cast production of Giuseppe Verdi’s immortal Rigoletto. Based on a play by Victor Hugo, the story concerns the titular court jester and hunchback (played opening night by the imposing Serbian baritone Zeljko Lucic, who alternates nights with Italian Marco Vratogna) whose attempt to revenge himself on the goatish Duke of Mantua (Sardinian tenor Francesco Demuro, alternating with Mexican tenor Arturo Chacón-Cruz) for seducing his beautiful daughter, Gilda (the thoroughly enchanting Polish soprano Aleksandra Kurzak, alternating with Russian coloratura soprano Albina Shagimuratova), backfires with tragic consequences. The production includes free simulcast presentations at AT&T Ballpark on consecutive weekends for those more inclined to recline, especially in the fresh free air, but either way the show’s a little staid but charming and the music, under SF Opera’s Nicola Luisotti, utterly transporting. (Avila)

Strange Travel Suggestions MainStage, Marsh San Francisco, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. $20-50. Sat, 8:30pm. Through Sept 29. Author and Ethical Traveler founder Jeff Greenwald (Shopping for Buddhas, Snake Lake) has done his solo show Strange Travel Suggestions dozens if not hundreds of times and still has no idea where it’s going. No wonder he and his audience keep coming back for more. The unknown, an aphrodisiac to the traveler, also makes great catnip for the storyteller. Still, there are consistent elements. There is no need to reinvent the wheel — or the impressive Wheel of Fortune that sits just off center stage, painted with a map of the globe and ringed with symbols abstract and evocative enough to conjure up myriad adventures, peak experiences, and humbling encounters from the vivid grab-bag memory of an accomplished travel writer and inveterate globetrotter. There’s also a real grab bag, just in case, and an oversize tarot card, a sort of visual aid cum talisman sporting a classic image of the Fool, patron saint of the traveler’s heedless leaps of faith. Greenwald’s stories possess a fine sense of humor and a knack for the shrewd detail and telling observation. They also contain a Zen-inflected homespun wisdom no doubt born of leaving home on a regular basis. If slightly self-conscious at times, these tales are always genuine and appealing. In the end, Greenwald’s show, as reliable as it is unpredictable, mimics a genie-from-a-bottle experience: What you get is three spins, three stories, and a lot of unexpected truth. Note: capsule condensed from 2008 feature review of this production. (Avila)

Tripping on the Tipping Point Stagewerx, 446 Valencia, SF; (707) 322-5731. $15-20. Thu-Sat, 8pm. Through Sept 29. Human Nature performs a new comedy about global warming.

Twelfth Night San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park, Hyde Street Pier, 2905 Hyde, SF; www.weplayers.org. $30-80. Fri-Sun, 5:30pm (also Sat-Sun, noon; matinee only Sat/22; no performances Sept 29; evening performances only Oct 6-7). Through Oct 7. We Players board the Balclutha and the Eureka for this jazzy take on Shakespeare’s romance.

The Waiting Period MainStage, Marsh San Francisco, 1062 Valencia, SF; (415) 282-3055, www.themarsh.org. $15-50. Thu-Fri, 8pm; Sat, 5pm. Extended through Sept 29. Brian Copeland (comedian, TV and radio personality, and creator-performer of the long-running solo play Not a Genuine Black Man) returns to the Marsh with a new solo, this one based on more recent and messier events` in Copeland’s life. The play concerns an episode of severe depression in which he considered suicide, going so far as to purchase a handgun — the title coming from the legally mandatory 10-day period between purchasing and picking up the weapon, which leaves time for reflections and circumstances that ultimately prevent Copeland from pulling the trigger. A grim subject, but Copeland (with co-developer and director David Ford) ensures there’s plenty of humor as well as frank sentiment along the way. The actor peoples the opening scene in the gun store with a comically if somewhat stereotypically rugged representative of the Second Amendment, for instance, as well as an equally familiar “doood” dude at the service counter. Afterward, we follow Copeland, a just barely coping dad, home to the house recently abandoned by his wife, and through the ordinary routines that become unbearable to the clinically depressed. Copeland also recreates interviews he’s made with other survivors of suicidal depression. Telling someone about such things is vital to preventing their worst outcomes, says Copeland, and telling his own story is meant to encourage others. It’s a worthy aim but only a fitfully engaging piece, since as drama it remains thin, standing at perhaps too respectful a distance from the convoluted torment and alienation at its center. (Avila)

BAY AREA

Chinglish Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Roda Theatre, 2015 Addison, Berk; www.berkeleyrep.org. $14.50-99. Tue and Thu-Sat, 8pm (also Sat, 2pm; no show Oct 5; additional 2pm show Oct 4); Wed and Sun, 7pm (also Sun, 2pm). Through Oct 7. Tony Award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly) delivers this inconsistent but generally lively and fascinatingly au courant comedy about a down-on-his-luck American businessman (Alex Moggridge) who visits China hoping to win a contract for English-language signage. Hiring a British expat (Brian Nishii) to smooth the way for him, he enters negotiations with a local official (Larry Lei Zhang). Although things seem to be going well (across some hilarious scenes of half-assed simultaneous translation), he finds the deal running inexplicably aground, then finds unexpected help from a hard-nosed, initially hostile, and beautiful Party official (a standout Michelle Krusiec), with whom he soon begins an extramarital affair. But the American (who has a past of his own that eventually comes to light with surprising consequences) has no idea of the machinations taking place behind the formal business meetings and other confused cross-cultural encounters. What unfolds is a sometimes stretched but generally shrewd and laugh-out-loud funny assessment of has-been American delusions through the prism of rising Chinese ambitions and clout, cultural and otherwise. If the central dynamic between the lovers is not always convincing on the individual or metaphorical level, Leigh Silverman directs for Berkeley Rep a super slick production, complete with rotating sets and precisely timed entrances, featuring an enjoyable cast rounded out by Vivian Chiu, Celeste Den, and Austin Ku. (Avila)

The Death of the Novel San Jose Rep, 101 Paseo de San Antonio, San Jose; www.sjrep.com. $23-69. Wed/19, 7:30pm; Thu/20-Sat/22, 8pm (also Sat/22, 3pm). Vincent Kartheiser (a.k.a. Pete Campbell from Mad Men) stars in Jonathan Marc Feldman’s drama about creativity in post-9/11 America at San Jose Rep.

The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity Aurora Theatre, 2081 Addison, Berk; (510) 843-4822, www.auroratheatre.org. $32-60. Tue and Sun, 7pm (also Sun, 2pm); Wed-Sat, 8pm. Through Sept 30. Playwright Kristoffer Diaz, a self-professed fan of the aggressively-theatrical spectacle that is professional wrestling, delivers much more than a “wrestling 101” primer for the uninitiated with The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity. Beneath the razzle-dazzle of the arena lighting (Kurt Landisman), the gaudy costuming (Maggie Whitaker) and the giant televised image of a hot bikini babe (Elizabeth Cadd, video by Jim Gross) lies the trampled luster of an American Dream. The dreamer, Macedonio “The Mace” Guerra (Tony Sancho), a wiry fall guy for THE Wrestling, wrestles not for money or glory (he is rarely privy to either), but for his love of the strange ballet that occurs in the ring. Guerra’s job is to make his opponents look good, including the pec-flexing, bling-booted Chad Deity (Beethovan Oden), leaving him to wrestle alone with the identity politics of being a marginalized but fully capable warrior battling perennially stacked odds. Willing suspension of disbelief does get stretched pretty thin when the character Vigneshwar Paduar, a smooth-talking hustler chance-met on the basketball courts of Brooklyn, rises to championship levels in record-breaking time as the truly cringe-worthy persona known as “The Fundamentalist,” but Nasser Khan’s skillfully self-possessed performance as Paduar makes it impossible not to root for him all the way. Rod Gnapp as foul-mouthed bossman “EKO” and fight director Dave Maier as a whole squadron of hapless B-list wrestlers round out the excellent cast. (Gluckstern)

The Fisherman’s Wife La Val’s Subterranean, 1834 Euclid, Berk; www.impacttheatre.com. $10-20. Thu-Sat, 8pm. Through Sept 29. The latest from playwright Steve Yockey (Bellwether, Skin) is an exercise in pure pleasure, not least for the devious sea creatures preying lustily and unashamedly on the hapless human flesh of a small coastal town. There, in cracked fairytale fashion, an unsuccessful fisherman named Cooper Minnow (an endearingly nerdy but passionate Maro Guevara) is preparing to set out to sea, leaving at home frustrated wife Vanessa (a wonderfully, volcanically bitchy yet complex Eliza Leoni) and their sinking marriage, when he meets an oddly brazen pair of sexy, sassy bathers in old-fashioned beach attire (the swimmingly synchronized duo of Sarah Coykendall and Roy Landaverde). At more or less the same moment, a devilishly dashing yet prim traveling salesman (poised, nicely offbeat Adrian Anchondo) is offering a clearly aroused Vanessa an erotic woodcut featuring monstrous tentacles groping human victims at a very familiar-looking dock. Will she take the woodcut? Will she ever! And later she’ll defend her husband’s honor and swap places with him too, much to the commercial advantage of the ever-accommodating salesman who — like Yockey’s smart and sure sex farce — has a little something for everyone. Directed with smooth precision by Ben Randle for Berkeley’s Impact Theatre, The Fisherman’s Wife again finds Yockey playing productively with the fine fuzzy line separating human nature from nature at large (as in Large Animal Games, the winning 2009 co-production from Impact and Dad’s Garage). The animals come through for playwright and company once more, with a thoroughly enjoyable comedy whose borrowed maritime mythos has just enough metaphorical pull to lead those so inclined out beyond the shallow waters. (Avila)

Keith Moon/The Real Me TheaterStage at the March Berkeley, 2120 Allston, Berk; www.themarsh.org. $15-50. Thu, 8pm. Through Sept 27. Mike Berry workshops his new musical, featuring ten classic Who songs performed with a live band.

The Kipling Hotel: True Misadventures of the Electric Pink ’80s Marsh Berkeley, 2120 Allston, Berk; (415) 282-3055, www.themarsh.org. $20-50. Sat, 8:30pm; Sun, 7pm. Extended through Oct 14. This new autobiographical solo show by Don Reed, writer-performer of the fine and long-running East 14th, is another slice of the artist’s journey from 1970s Oakland ghetto to comedy-circuit respectability — here via a partial debate-scholarship to UCLA. The titular Los Angeles residency hotel was where Reed lived and worked for a time in the 1980s while attending university. It’s also a rich mine of memory and material for this physically protean and charismatic comic actor, who sails through two acts of often hilarious, sometimes touching vignettes loosely structured around his time on the hotel’s young wait staff, which catered to the needs of elderly patrons who might need conversation as much as breakfast. On opening night, the episodic narrative seemed to pass through several endings before settling on one whose tidy moral was delivered with too heavy a hand, but if the piece runs a little long, it’s only the last 20 minutes that noticeably meanders. And even with some awkward bumps along the way, it’s never a dull thing watching Reed work. (Avila)

A Midsummer Night’s Dream Forest Meadows Amphitheater, 890 Belle, Dominican University of California, San Rafael; www.marinshakespeare.org. $20-35. Check website for schedule. Through Sept 30. Marin Shakespeare Company performs the Bard’s classic, transported to the shores of Hawaii.

PERFORMANCE/DANCE

“Comikaze Lounge” Café Royale, 800 Post, SF; www.comikazelounge.com. Wed/19, 8pm. Free. Comedy with Kevin Camia, Mike Drucker, Paco Romane, Lydia Papovich, and more.

“Dogsbody” Intersection for the Arts, 925 Mission, SF; dogsbody.eventbrite.com. Fri/21-Sun/23, 8pm. $10. Erik Ehn’s play about child soldiers features choreography by Erika Chong Shuch.

“Elect to Laugh” Studio Theater, Marsh San Francisco, 1062 Valencia, SF; (415) 282-3055, www.themarsh.org. Tue, 8pm. Through Nov 6. $15-50. Veteran political comedian Will Durst emphasizes he’s watching the news and keeping track of the presidential race “so you don’t have to.” No kidding, it sounds like brutal work for anyone other than a professional comedian — for whom alone it must be Willy Wonka’s edible Eden of delicious material. Durst deserves thanks for ingesting this material and converting it into funny, but between the ingesting and out-jesting there’s the risk of turning too palatable what amounts to a deeply offensive excuse for a democratic process, as we once again hurtle and are herded toward another election-year November, with its attendant massive anticlimax and hangover already so close you can touch them. Durst knows his politics and comedy backwards and forwards, and the evolving show, which pops up at the Marsh every Tuesday in the run-up to election night, offers consistent laughs born on his breezy, infectious delivery. One just wishes there were some alternative political universe that also made itself known alongside the deft two-party sportscasting. (Avila)

“The Ella Effect” Shotwell Studios, 3252-A 19th St, SF; www.ftloose.org. Fri/21, 8 and 9:30pm. $15. Josh Klipp and the Klipptones join with a crew of local dancers to honor the music of Ella Fitzgerald.

“Fauxgirls! San Francisco’s Favorite Drag Revue” Infusion Lounge, 124 Ellis, SF; www.fauxgirls.com. Thu/20, 8pm. Free. With Victoria Secret, Alexandria, Chanel, Maria Garza, and more.

“Hella Gay Comedy Show: Bear Comedy Night” Deco Lounge, 510 Larkin, SF; www.decosf.com. Sun/23, 8pm. $10. Comedy with host Charlie Ballard and performers Kurt Weitzmann, David Gborie, Nick Leonard, Antwan Johnson, and more.

Kathy Mata Ballet San Francisco Conservatory of Music, 50 Oak, SF; www.kathymataballet.com. Fri/21, 8pm. Free-$30. The company performs a variety of dance styles, including ballet, jazz, modern, and belly dance, plus guest performers the Gnosis Dance Collective and live musical accompaniment.

Napoles Ballet Cowell Theater, Fort Mason Center, Marina at Buchanan, SF; www.napolesballet.org. Sat/22, 8pm; Sun/23, 7pm. $18-25. The new company presents Carlos Molina in the world premiere of Fausto.

“Open” Garage, 715 Bryant, SF; www.brownpapertickets.com. Fri/21-Mon/24, 8pm. $20. When a couple decides to try an open marriage, hilarity (and jealousy) ensues in Jeff Bedillion’s play, performed by Back Alley Theater Productions.

“Second City for President” Palace of Fine Arts Theatre, 3301 Lyon, SF; www.captivatearts.com. Sun/23, 3pm. $30-55. Political comedy revue by the renowned Second City troupe.

Gina Yashere Brava Theater Center, 2781 24th St, SF; www.brownpapertickets.com. Sat/22, 8pm. $18-20. The British Nigerian comedian performs.

BAY AREA

“Freedom House” Eastside Cultural Center, 2277 International, Oakl; (510) 420-0920. Fri/21-Sat/22, 8pm; Sun/23, 2pm. $10-25. dNaga, Eastside Arts Alliance, and the Asian Pacific Islander Center present this “dance art experience” inspired by the experiences of people of color who live in Oakland.

“Risk for Deep Love” Temescal Art Center, 511 48th St, Oakl; www.eroplay.com. Fri/21, 8pm. Free. Frank Moore leads this “ritual audience participation experience experiment.”

Music Listings

Andrew Lam

September 18, 2012

WEDNESDAY 19

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Breton, Michna, Kyle Hunt and the King Gypsy Brick and Mortar Music Hall. 9pm, $9-$12.

Bright Light Social Hour, French Cassettes, Guy Fox Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $10.

C-Money and the Players Boom Boom Room. 8pm, $5.

Crosby, Stills, Nash Fillmore. 8pm, $61.

Foxfield Four 50 Mason Social House, SF; www,50masonsocialhouse.com. 9pm, free.

Hides, Bad Liar El Rio. 10pm.

Lee Huff vs Jc Rockit Johnny Foley’s Dueling Pianos. 9:30pm..

Mad Planet Grant and Green Saloon. 9pm.

Mournful Congregation, Velnias, Lux Interna, Wreck and Reference Elbo Room. 9pm, $10.

Ringo Deathstarr, Permanent Collection Milk Bar. 9pm, $7.

Terry Savastano Johnny Foley’s. 9pm, free.

Slug Guts, Neon Piss, Little Queenie Hemlock Tavern. 8:30pm, $7.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

Cat’s Corner with Nathan Dias Savanna Jazz. 9pm, $10.

Cello Madness Congress 50 Mason Social House, SF; www.classicalrevolution.org. 9pm.

Mike Chase Rite Spot Cafe, 2099 Folsom, SF; (415) 552-6066. 9pm, free.

Cosmo AlleyCats Le Colonial, 20 Cosmo Place, SF; www.lecolonialsf.com. 7-10pm.

Dink Dink Dink, Gaucho, Eric Garland’s Jazz Session Amnesia. 7pm, free.

"Harold Melvin’s Blue Notes" Rrazz Room, 222 Mason, SF; www.therrazzroom.com. 8pm, $30-$37.

Pat Metheny Unity Band Yoshi’s SF. 8 and 10pm, $55.

Ricardo Scales Top of the Mark, 999 California, SF; www.topofthemark.com. 6:30pm, $5.

DANCE CLUBS

Booty Call Q-Bar, 456 Castro, SF; www.bootycallwednesdays.com. 9pm. Juanita MORE! and Joshua J host this dance party.

Coo-Yah! Som., 2925 16th St, SF; (415) 558-8521. 10pm, free. DJs Daneekah and Green B spin reggae and dancehall with weekly guests.

Hardcore Humpday Happy Hour RKRL, 52 Sixth St, SF; (415) 658-5506. 6pm, $3.

Obey the Kitty: Nadastrom, Justin Mill Vessel, 85 Campton Place, SF; .www.vesselsf.com. 10pm, $5.

"Smack Dab Open Mic" Magnet, 4122 18th St, SF; www.magnetsf.org. 8pm. With MC Crumbsnatcher.

Tree House, HBK Gang, Jay Ant Public Works. 10pm, $5.

THURSDAY 20

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Azure Ray, Soko, Haroula Rose Swedish American Hall. 8pm, $15.

Between the Cities Are Stars, Night Fruit, Seatraffic, Tomihira Thee Parkside. 9pm, $7.

Black Nature Band, City Faire and Ama Revolution Boom Boom Room. 8pm, $10.

Crosby, Stills, Nash Fillmore. 8pm, $61.

DubFx and Flower Fairy, Snarephobe, Starfighterz Regency Ballroom. 8pm, $22.

Mike Gardner 50 Mason Social House, SF; www,50masonsocialhouse.com. 10pm, free.

Gunshy Johnny Foley’s. 9pm, free.

Into Weather, Oceanography, Lessons Brick and Mortar Music Hall. 9pm, $9-$12.

Sondre Lerche Independent. 8pm, $15.

Mansfield Aviator, Astra, Basements Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $10.

Maximo Park, Neighbourhood, Zambri Slim’s. 9pm, $18-$20.

Moving Units, popscene DJs Rickshaw Stop. 10pm, $12-$14.

Casey Neill, Victor Krumenacher, Passenger and Pilot Hemlock Tavern. 8:30pm, $7.

Nathan Temby vs Lee Huff Johnny Foley’s Dueling Pianos. 9:30pm..

These Hills of Gold, Bye Bye Blackbirds, Jake Mann and the Upper Hand, City Deluxe, Grandma Kelsey Amnesia. 9Pm, $7-$10.

Saul Williams Great American Music Hall. 8pm, $21-$31.

Working From Home, Talk Tonight Cafe Du Nord. 8pm, $10.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

Tom Djil’s Space Junk Red Poppy Art House. 6:30pm, $10-$15.

"Harold Melvin’s Blue Notes" Rrazz Room, 222 Mason, SF; www.therrazzroom.com. 8pm, $30-$37.

Stompy Jones Top of the Mark, 999 California, SF; www.topofthemark.com. 7:30pm, $10.

Ned Boyton Trio Bottle Cap, 1707 Powell, SF; www.bottlecapsf.com. 7-10pm.

Pat Metheny Unity Band Yoshi’s SF. 8 and 10pm, $60.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

Emily Anne Rite Spot Cafe, 2099 Folsom, SF; (415) 552-6066. 9pm, free.

Vincent Feliu Brava Theater, 2781 24th St, SF; www.brava.org. 8pm, $25.

Laura Ganci, Zoe Sundra Coffee Adventures, 1331 Columbus, SF; www.coffeeadventurescafe.com. 11am-1pm, free.

Django Mack 50 Mason Social House, SF; www,50masonsocialhouse.com. 8pm, free.

Twang! Honky Tonk Fiddler’s Green, 1330 Columbus, SF; www.twanghonkytonk.com. 5pm. Live country music, dancing, and giveaways.

DANCE CLUBS

Afrolicious Elbo Room. 9:30pm, $5-$7. Afrobeat, Tropicália, electro, samba, and funk with DJ-host Pleasuremaker.

All 80s Thursday Cat Club. 9pm, $6 (free before 9:30pm). Two dance floors bumpin’ with the best of 80s mainstream and underground with DJ’s Damon, Steve Washington, Dangerous Dan, and guests.

Base: Miguel Campbell, Bells and Whistles Vessel, 85 Campton Place, SF; .www.vesselsf.com. 10pm, $5-$10.

Mochipet California Academy of Sciences, 55 Music Concourse, SF; www.calacademy.org. 8pm, $12.

Spilt Milk Milk Bar..10pm, free. With Nick Monaco, Sepehr, resident DJs Taylor Fife, Shaky Premise.

Tropicana Madrone Art Bar. 9pm, free. Salsa, cumbia, reggaeton, and more with DJs Don Bustamante, Apocolypto, Sr. Saen, Santero, and Mr. E.

FRIDAY 21

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

"Bay for the Bayou Benefit" Bimbo’s. 8pm, $75. With Allen Toussaint, California Honeydrop, Shots.

Cut Loose Band Johnny Foley’s. 9pm, free.

Easy Star All-Stars, Passafire Slim’s. 9pm, $20.

Fast Times 80s Dance Party Band Maggie McGarry’s, 1375 Grant, SF; www.maggiemcgarrys.com. 9pm, free.

Gov’t Mule, Revivalists, DJ Harry Duncan Regency Ballroom. 9pm, $37.

Hank IV, Mad Macka, Musk Thee Parkside. 9pm, $7.

Holograms, Maus Haus, Group Rhoda, DJ Omar Rickshaw Stop. 10pm, $12-$14.

Lee Huff, Rome Balestrieri, Nathan Temby Johnny Foley’s Dueling Pianos. 9pm.

Lee Vilensky Trio Rite Spot Cafe, 2099 Folsom, SF; (415) 552-6066. 9pm, free.

Lord Loves A Working Man, Struts, Blammos Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $12.

Bob Mould Fillmore. 9pm, $25.

Outlaw, Shivas, Peachelope Hemlock Tavern. 9:30pm, $7.

Reptar, Icky Blossoms Independent. 9pm, $15.

Urban Mystic with Swaggaboys Yoshi’s SF Lounge. 10pm, $35.

W-Beez, Legacy Pack Boom Boom Room. 8pm, $15.

Yob, Acid King, Norska Brick and Mortar Music Hall. 9pm, $12-$20.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

Audium 1616 Bush, SF; www.audium.org. 8:30pm, $20. Theater of sound-sculptured space.

Black Jazz Orchestra Top of the Mark, 999 California, SF; www.topofthemark.com. 9pm, $10.

Terry Disely Bottle Cap, 1707 Powell, SF; www.bottlecapsf.com. 5:30-8:30pm.

"Harold Melvin’s Blue Notes" Rrazz Room, 222 Mason, SF; www.therrazzroom.com. 8pm, $30-$37.

Mads Tolling Quartet Collins Theater, 1100 Ellis, SF; www.classicalrevolution.org. 8pm.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

"Bluegrass Bonanza" Plough and Stars. 9:30pm, $6-$10. With Beauty Operators, Driftless.

Huun Huur Tu Great American Music Hall. 8pm, $26.

Nessie Expedition Amnesia. 6pm, free.

Amber Stitt, Carol Mitchell, Courtney Nicole 50 Mason Social House, SF; www,50masonsocialhouse.com. 8pm, free.

Taste Fridays 650 Indiana, SF; www.tastefridays.com. 8pm, $18. Salsa and bachata dance lessons, live music.

Team Bahia Elbo Room. 10pm, $10. With DJ Walt Digz.

DANCE CLUBS

DJ What’s His Fuck Riptide Tavern. 9pm, free.

Hella Tight Amnesia.10pm, $5.

Joe Lookout, 3600 16th St.,SF; www.lookoutsf.com. 9pm. Eight rotating DJs, shirt-off drink specials.

Old School JAMZ El Rio. 9pm. Fruit Stand DJs spinning old school funk, hip-hop, and R&B.

Paris to Dakar Little Baobab, 3388 19th St, SF; (415) 643-3558. 10pm, $5. Afro and world music with rotating DJs including Stepwise, Steve, Claude, Santero, and Elembe.

Toolroom Knights: Mark Knight, David Gregory Vessel, 85 Campton Place, SF; .www.vesselsf.com. 10pm, $20-$30.

SATURDAY 22

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Bang Data Independent. 9pm, $12.

Bits of Shit, Yi, Synthetic ID, Man Hands Hemlock Tavern. 9pm, $8.

Blow Off: Hosted and DJd by Bob Mould Slim’s. 10pm, $15.

Chickfactor: For the Love of Pop Rickshaw Stop. 7:30pm, $20-$25. With Stevie Jackson, Softies, Kim Baxter, Allen Clapp.

Cut Hands, Burmese, Bestial Mouths, DJ Crackwhore Elbo Room. 9:30pm, $12.

Flexx Bronco, Rock Bottom, Tiger Honey Pot Knockout. 9pm, $5.

Funk Revival Orchestra, DJ K-Os Boom Boom Room. 8pm, $15.

Fusion Johnny Foley’s. 9pm, free.

He’s My Brother She’s My Sister, Moth, Los Amigos Invisables Golden Gate Park, Lindley Meadow, SF; www.newbelgium.com. Noon-5pm. Tour de Fat Afternoon Ballyhoo.

Hydrophonic, Black Tape Thee Parkside. 4pm, free.

Real Nasty, Jay Trainer Band, Segue, Roem Baur Cafe Du Nord. 9pm, $10-$12.

Royal Deuces Riptide. 9pm, free.

Six Organs of Admittance, Young Moon, Donovon Quinn Bottom of the Hill. 10pm, $12.

Tainted Love, Duran Duran Duran Regency Ballroom. 9pm, $25.

Nathan Temby, Rome Balestrieri, Lee Huff Johnny Foley’s Dueling Pianos. 9pm.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

Audium 1616 Bush, SF; www.audium.org. 8:30pm, $20. Theater of sound-sculptured space.

Bella Trio SF Conservatory of Music, 50 Oak, SF; .(415) 864-7326. 8pm, $10-$25.

"Harold Melvin’s Blue Notes" Rrazz Room, 222 Mason, SF; www.therrazzroom.com. 8pm, $30-$37.

Mr. Lucky Experience Rite Spot Cafe, 2099 Folsom, SF; (415) 552-6066. 9pm, free.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

"Jug Band Music – The Next Generation" Plough and the Stars. 6pm, $7. With Dusty Porch Orchestra, Amazing Dr. Zarcon’s Breathing Machine, Goat Family, Ghost Town Gospel, Bakersfield Dozen.

Craig Ventresco and Meredith Axelrod Atlas Cafe, 3049 20th St, SF; www.atlascafe.net. 4-6pm.

DANCE CLUBS

Behrouz Ruby Skye. 11pm.

Bootie SF: Pre-Folsom Party DNA Lounge. 9pm, $15. With Smash-Up Derby, A Plus D, Dada.

EDX, John Beaver Vessel, 85 Campton Place, SF; .www.vesselsf.com. 10pm, $20-$30.

Go Bang! Folsom Street Weekend Deco Lounge, 510 Larkin, SF; Facebook: Go Bang SF. With Paul Goodyear, Allen Craig, Steve Fabus, and more.

Heart Locker/Barracuda 111 Minna Gallery, SF; www.111.minnagallerycom. 10pm. Benefit for CHOC.

Miracles Club, Kim Ann Foxman, Jozif, MikeQ, Kingdom Public Works. 10pm, $18-$20.

Paris to Dakar Little Baobab, 3388 19th St, SF; (415) 643-3558. 10pm, $5. Afro and world music with rotating DJs including Stepwise, Steve, Claude, Santero, and Elembe.

SUNDAY 23

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

All Bay Area Rock 50 Mason Social House, SF; www,50masonsocialhouse.com. 8pm, $13. With Slanted House, Unbecome, Leviathan.

City Deluxe, Killing Floor Hemlock Tavern. 8:30pm, $6.

Defibulators Amnesia. 9pm, $7-$10.

Hip Bones Boom Boom Room. 8pm, $5.

Ladyhawke, Limousines, Little Boots, Horse Meat Disco Folsom Street Fair, Folsom Street between Seventh and 12th Street, SF; www.folsomstreetevents.org. 11am-6pm.

Sean Paul, DJ Sharp, DJ Slick D Regency Ballroom. 8pm, $32.

Terry Savastano Johnny Foley’s. 9pm, free.

Terraplane Sun, Mowgli’s Bottom of the Hill. 8:30pm, $12.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

"Harold Melvin’s Blue Notes" Rrazz Room, 222 Mason, SF; www.therrazzroom.com. 8pm, $30-$37.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

Twang Sunday Thee Parkside. 4pm, free. With Jinx Jones and the King Tones.

DANCE CLUBS

Dub Mission Elbo Room. 9pm, $6. Dub, roots, and classic dancehall with DJ Sep, J. Boogie, DJ Quest.

Jock Lookout, 3600 16th St, SF; www.lookoutsf.com. 3pm, $2. Raise money for LGBT sports teams while enjoying DJs and drink specials.

MONDAY 24

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Damir Johnny Foley’s. 9pm, free.

Earl Brothers, Pine Leaf Boys Amnesia. 9pm, $10-$15.

Niners, SXO, Surgeon Generals Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $8.

Serj Tankian, Viza Fillmore. 8pm, $35.

Martin Zobel Elbo Room. 9pm.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

Bossa Nova Tunnel Top, 601 Bush, SF; (415) 722-6620. 8-11:30pm, free. Live acoustic Bossa Nova.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

Daryl Shawn with Ziva Hadar Bazaar Cafe, 5927 California, SF; (415) 831-5620. 7pm, free.

DANCE CLUBS

Death Guild DNA Lounge. 9:30pm, $3-5. Gothic, industrial, and synthpop with Joe Radio, Decay, and Melting Girl.

Crazy Mondays Beauty Bar, 2299 Mission, SF; www.thebeautybar.com. 10pm, free. Hip-hop and other stuff.

M.O.M. Madrone Art Bar. 6pm, free. DJs Timoteo Gigante, Gordo Cabeza, and Chris Phlek playing all Motown every Monday.

Soul Cafe John Colins Lounge, 138 Minna, SF; www.johncolins.com. 9pm. R&B, Hip-Hop, NeoSoul, Reggae, Dancehall, Reggaeton, Salsa and more with DJ Jerry Ross. Happy hour all night.

Vibes’N’Stuff El Amigo Bar, 3355 Mission, SF; (415) 852-0092. 10pm, free. Conscious jazz and hip-hop from 1960s-early ’90s with DJs Luce Lucy, Vinnie Esparza, and more.

TUESDAY 25

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Afrofunk Experience, Soulati Elbo Room. 9pm, $7.

Ryan Bingham, La Santa Cecilia Great American Music Hall. 8pm, $26.

City Tribe, Redwood Wires, Windham Flat Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $8.

Django Django Independent. 8pm, $15.

GZA, Sweet Valley, Killer Mike, Bear Hands Fillmore. 8pm, $25.

Toshio Hirano Rite Spot Cafe, 2099 Folsom, SF; (415) 552-6066. 9pm, free.

Killbossa, Foxtails Brigade, Wanted Man Amnesia. 9pm.

Kreator, Accept, Swallow the Sun Regency Ballroom. 7:30pm, $32.

NVO presents Fuck Yeah Boom Boom Room. 8pm, $5.

Stan Erhart Band Johnny Foley’s. 9pm, free.

TeamMate, Bring the Tiger Hotel Utah. 8pm, $8.

VKTMS, Nihilist Cunt, Bad Coyotes, Nanash 774 Knockout. 9:30pm, $6.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

"A Tribute to Cal Tjader" Yoshi’s SF. 8pm, $24. Featuring Pete Escovedo, Michael Wolff, Warren Wolf, John Santos, and more.

Crown Syncopators Embarcadero at Filbert, SF; (415) 362-5125. 5-8pm.

Gaucho Bottle Cap, 1707 Powell, SF; www.bottlecapsf.com. 7-10pm.

DANCE CLUBS

Eclectic Company Skylark, 9pm, free. DJs Tones and Jaybee spin old school hip hop, bass, dub, glitch, and electro.
Stylus John Colins Lounge, 138 Minna, SF; www.johncolins.com. 9pm. Hip-hop, dancehall, and Bay slaps with DJ Left Lane.

On the Cheap Listings

Andrew Lam

September 18, 2012

Submit items for the listings at listings@sfbg.com. For further information on how to submit items for the listings, see Picks.

WEDNESDAY 19

Meet the artist: “Photographs From Lebanon” SF Main Library, 100 Larkin, SF. www.sfpl.org. 6pm, free. Najib Joe Hakim went back to his hometown Beirut to capture the culture that survived after Israel bombed the country. Coffee, candles, fishermen repairing nets — the resulting photo exhibit is a testament to resiliency, check it out today with the artist as your guide.

Elizabeth Rosner reads Grace Paley Pegasus Books, 1885 Solano, Berk. (510) 525-6888, www.pegasusbookstore.com. 7:30pm, free. The award-winning bookstore and Berkeley establishment Pegasus Books is starting up a brand-new reading series showcasing local writers opining on and dissecting the works of other writers. The first writer’s words to be in the spotlight will be activist Grace Paley, whose three feminist short stories will be interpreted by novelist Elizabeth Rosner.

24th Street Listening Project Brava Theater, 2781 24th St., SF. (415) 641-7657, www.brava.org. 5pm-9pm, free. In this project, artists Lynn Marie Kirby and Alexis Petty double as your tour guides as they take you on a vibrant five-block excursion complete with colorful meditation and reverberating echoes and concludes with the creation of a collective pigment poem. After the walk there will be a presentation at the Brava that will include mapping videos, local music, and story-telling.

THURSDAY 20

California history third Thursdays Society of California Pioneers, 300 Fourth St., SF. (415) 957-1849, www.californiapioneers.org. 4-7pm, free. Full of California pride, but uninformed on California history? The Society of California Pioneers will gladly school you on the history of our great state with their “Third Thursday” bargain book sale. Visitors and amateur California historians will also have the chance to check out the current exhibit “Singing the Golden State,” which showcases a collection of late 18th and early 19th century songs that pay homage to our fair state.

“Art Making in the 21st Century: Social and Subversive Practices” Yerba Buena Community Benefit District, UC Berkeley Extension, 95 Third St., (415) 644-0728, www.artsindialogue.org. 7pm, free. Reactionary artists Anthony Discenza, Dawn Weleski, and Ray Beldner will convene to tackle issues surrounding community-based art-making on a panel sponsored by the Yerba Buena Community Benefit District. These artists whose work involves re-appropriating common items of normal will be discussing interactive media, guerrilla interventions, and more.

SATURDAY 22

LOTR roundtable discussion Books Inc., 601 Van Ness, SF. www.booksinc.net. 7pm, free. In honor of the 75th anniversary of The Hobbit, this bookstore hosts an open panel discussion on the books. Guinness for the grown-ups will be provided, plus birthday cake for all ages.

Tour de Fat Lindley Meadow, Golden Gate Park, SF. www.newbelgium.com. 11am-5pm, parade registration 10am, free admission, $5 parade admission. A bike-beer carnival par excellence, featuring live bands, a costumed bike parade, and an elaborate ritual in which a lucky automobilist trades in their car for a fly new cycle.

North Beach Art Walk North Beach neighborhood, SF. www.artwalk.thd.org. Also Sun/23, 11am-6pm, free. The fifth annual NB art walk visits a plethora of cafes, galleries, and studios. Snag a map from Live Worms Gallery (1345 Grant, SF), and discover the northern neighborhood’s founts of creativity.

Roadworks: A Steamroller Printing Festival Rhode Island between 16th and 17th Sts., SF. www.sfcb.org. Noon-5pm, free. San Francisco Center for the Book celebrates the art of printed matter with this street fair, which features a three-ton construction steamroller that will put the finishing touches on 3-foot square linoleum block prints.

Superhero Street Fair Cesar Chavez and Indiana, SF. www.superherosf.com. 2pm-midnight, $10 in costume, $20 otherwise. Flip those undies outside your tights and soar down to Bayview for this open-air weirdo-fest in honor of caped crusaders. Climbing walls, jousts, floating pontoon boats — plenty of trouble to get into, while sound camps like Pink Mammoth, Opel, and Dancetronauts provide beats.

Precita Eyes 35th anniversary gala Meridien Gallery, 535 Powell, SF. www.precitaeyes.org. 5:30pm, VIP cocktail reception; 7pm, gala, $35-100. Is there a single arts organization that has done more to beautify the city of San Francisco? Debatable. Tonight, the transcendent community arts program that sponsors murals by established artists and schoolchildren alike takes a moment to reflect on its achievements. Bay graff cornerstone Estria Miyashiro will be honored for his epic contributions to the culture, and Susan Cervantes gets her due for 45 years of wall painting.

SUNDAY 23

Teacher supplies swap Fontana Room, 1050 North Point, SF. www.educycle.com/party. 3-6pm, free. Maestros, bring your old classroom accoutrements and trade up with your peers. There will be wine, snacks, chances to share back to school war stories.

Yerba Buena family day Yerba Buena Gardens, Mission and Fourth St., SF. www.ybfamilyday.org. 11am-4pm, free. Grab the fam for cost-free entry at the SFMOMA, Children’s Creativity Museum, Contemporary Jewish Museum, and Museum of the African Diaspora. When the troops tire of the museum track, head to the YB Gardens for free performances by Latin jazz great Eddie Palmieri, Red Panda Acrobats, Afro-Puerto Rican group Los Pleneros de la 21, and much more.

MONDAY 24

“20 Years of Critical Mass Art” 518 Valencia, SF. www.sfcriticalmass.org. Opening reception: 6pm, free. The 20th anniversary of SF’s world-famous monthly bike parade-protest kicks off its celebrations with this show of posters, t-shirts, graphics, and more from the last two decades.

Heads Up: 8 must-see concerts this week

Tony Robles

September 17, 2012

Legends of doom, of ska, and of Latin jazz all make SF appearances this week: Yob, the Uptones, and Eddie Palmieri. And then there’s the indie rock wizard crew, Wilco, which is bringing out fellow legends Cibo Matto and the irreverent Jonathan Richman for its one-two punch of Bay Area shows.

Of course, there are other kinds of icons, there are future-greats in the making (Ringo Deathstarr and Holograms) and events bound to create lasting memories (Bay for the Bayou Benefit) glittered up with even more prestige via Allen Toussaint.

Here are your must-see Bay Area concerts this week/end:

Ringo Deathstarr
Ringo Deathstarr has it all: the rampant My Bloody Valentine comparisons, the supercute girl with bangs, the supercute boys in tight pants, the best band name ever (psh, Pitchfork incorrectly dubbed them “absurdly named fuzz-rockers”), and the musical chops to back it all up. The Austin, Texas trio also seems like fun to hang out with; invite them for a beer after the show to celebrate their newest release, Mauve (which drops Sept. 24 on Sonic Unyon Records).
With Permanent Collection, Chasms
Wed/19, 9pm, $7
Milk Bar
1840 Haight, SF
(415) 387-6455
www.milksf.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxyYPlv4RVs

Azure Ray
“Orenda Fink and Maria Taylor are Alabama natives, childhood friends, and progenitors of dream pop duo Azure Ray. Throughout most of their Azure work, the pair grounded their tracks in vocal harmonization and added in some folksy acoustic guitar and/or piano melodies, such as in 2010’s Drawing Down the Moon. But in the latest LP released this month, As Above So Below, Fink and Taylor immerse their warm vocals in electronic atmospherics, vocal delay effects, and a smattering of bass.” — Kevin Lee
With Soko, Haroula Rose
Thu/20, 8pm, $15
Swedish American Music Hall
2174 Market, SF
(415) 431-7578
www.cafedunord.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G939RSPIfIU

Bay for the Bayou Benefit
This event, featuring New Orleans R&B artist/iconic singer-songwriter-pianist Allen Toussaint and his band, and soulful locals the California Honeydrops and the Shots, would be a must-see without the added bonus of it being a fundraiser, though it does get a bit pricey thanks to that important benefit aspect. The concert (and live auction) will raise funds to help save the Louisiana coastal wetlands – which are rapidly disappearing.
Bimbo’s
Fri/21, 8pm, $75-$100
1025 Columbus, SF
(415) 474-0365
www.bimbos365club.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGAFOz5GA8I

Wilco (and Cibo Matto and Jonathan Richman)
“As recent sold-out performances at the Fox attest, Chicago’s Wilco is an easy sell. Eight albums in with 2011’s The Whole Love, Jeff Tweedy continues to catalog tender hearts at the edge of maddening fights, backgrounded arguably the most expansive band in rock. But the added draw this time are the openers; Friday is a second chance for anyone who missed Cibo Matto’s reunion show at Bimbo’s last year, while Saturday features beloved raconteur Jonathan Richman, with extra of room for him to let loose his signature dance moves.” — Ryan Prendiville)
Fri/21 with Cibo Matto; Sat/22 with Jonathan Richman
7:30pm, $49.50
Greek Theatre
2001 Gayley Road, Berk.
(510) 548-3010
www.apeconcerts.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp1AIh2DkI0

Holograms
Stockholm’s Holograms boasts the anxious panic of synthy ’80s new wave backed by hard-hitting punk beats, riffs,and hollers. Something like slapping Sham 69 on an illuminated dancefloor, neon lasers darting over their snarling faces. You’ll pogo if you know what’s good for you.
With Maus Haus, Group Rhoda, DJ Omar
Fri/21, 9pm, $10-$12
Rickshaw Stop
155 Fell, SF
(415) 861-2011
www.rickshawstop.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOrRmH4azlk

Yob
“Eugene, Oreg.’s Yob has been producing sprawling doom metal landscapes since 1996, but it’s taken until 2012 for it to get noticed. Though the mainstream press has finally picked up on the band — Spin Magazine placed its sixth album, Atma, in its top 50 records of 2011 — Yob’s masterful songwriting and awesomely sinister energy hasn’t lost any of its edge. Atma is a megalith of slow, chugging riffs and discordant melodies, the shortest song clocking in at seven minutes and 33 seconds. Vocalist (and Krav Maga instructor) Mike Scheidt shrieks and growls over the sludge like a demon that has finally been unleashed.” — Haley Zaremba
With Acid King, Norska
Fri/21, 9pm, $12
Brick and Mortar Music Hall
1710 Mission, SF
(415) 800-8782
www.brickandmortarmusic.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaSkJMH3-Pw

The Uptones
You know that checkerboard brand of 2tone ska, when it moved from its first wave in Jamaica to its second in the UK and US? Bands like the Toasters, the Specials, the English Beat, and yes, the Uptones, were all a part of that bubbling new scene. In fact, the Uptones have oft been breathlessly noted for having the specific distinction as “one of the first bands devoted to playing ska on the West Coast.” Three decades and some change later, the brass-heavy Berkeley ska band is still doing it, for your reverential skanking pleasure.
With Nino Zombie
Sat/22, 9pm, $10
RKRL
52 Sixth St., SF
www.RKRLsf.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYG-LTM_byU

Eddie Palmieri
Nicknamed the “Latin Thelonious Monk,” Eddie Palmieri has been bringing Latin dance music – with a twist – to the States since ’60s. The colorful jazz pianist and bandleader has inspired generations of performers with unconventional style and an exciting fusion of sounds. This weekend, he plays a free show in the Yerba Buena Gardens.
Sun/23, 1-3pm, free
Yerba Buena Gardens
745 Mission, SF
www.ybgf.org
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftQDhQ2UXo8

Avant-garde chaos to deep musical connections

Tony Robles

September 17, 2012

Avant-garde chaos to deep musical connections

“How the hell did this happen?” asks Anthony (Ant) Anderson, sitting in Willard Park, Berkeley, on a sunny afternoon. Ant lives in a house not far from here known as Church, which is where his story – and his weekly jam sessions – began. The “this” in question is his role in both the evolution of Church, and the weekly People’s Jam night, which pal Dustin Smurthwaite created at a club in Oakland.

Ant was invited to live at Church by his friend Erico Cisneros, who he met at a show in San Francisco. At the house, Ant met Michael Shaun and Emma James – beginning in May 2011, the trio began to celebrate the end of each weekend with Sunday night jam sessions. John Burke moved into the house later and became a central part of the Church house.

A variety of local East Bay musicians began dropping by and providing instruments, expanding the group jams. “We have friends who have given us speakers and a PA system, people donate phones, professional soundproof phone pads to keep the sound in, and people bring food and drinks,” Ant says. “Once, our friend even set up a whole bar. People have just been so giving.”

Well-known musicians began stopping in as well, including David Satori from Beats Antique.

Enter partner in music, Smurthwaite: one night Ant was playing with local folk rock band Whiskerman (led by Graham Patzner, brother of Anton and Lewis, who perform string metal in Judgement Day), and Smurthwaite was in the audience. “Before I knew it he just hopped onstage and grabbed a spare trombone…while I played trumpet,” Ant says with a chuckle, his characteristic grin spreading wide across his face.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHQvIt4kfk0

“I just saw the opportunity,” Smurthwaite says from his practice space in an Oakland warehouse. “Most people didn’t even know I played trombone.” Smurthwaite is a multi-instrumentalist, who was more known for playing bass and keys back then. “All I had time for was basically giving Anthony a pat on the back before I began playing, and then we exchanged phone numbers afterward.”

In addition to the Church jams, Smurthwaite had been playing every Wednesday with Steve Taylor’s band at the Layover in Oakland. At the Layover, Taylor was playing improvised music – not quite a jam session – and when he got too busy, he asked Smurthwaite if he wanted to take over the event.

Smurthwaite ran the club night for a month or so, then called up Ant to join him and come on as the official host. It now takes place weekly in downtown Oakland at the Layover.

So what kind of music should you expect to find on your average night at People’s Jam? “The Jam is centered around funk, neo soul, hip-hop, jazz, and a crew of Balkan musicians who have also started coming through. We have numerous instruments regularly in the horn section, [we] often see a clarinet or two, and string players like cello or violin, when we can amp them. There is a strong Latin sound as well,” adds Ant.

The house band (known collectively as Bay Funk) consists of Ant, Smurthwaite, Cisneros on bass, Jesse Scheehan on tenor sax, Dan Schwartz and Patrick Aguirre on drums, Kevin Rierson on bass, Derek Yellin on piano. Vocalists Sarah Aboulafia, Sally Green and Povi Chidester also frequent the event, as well as Michael Shawn Olivera Cuevas, from the Church house, who is a poet, artist, and MC.

“It is all about communication with the band,” Smurthwaite says. “It’s best to be as direct as possible.”

Smurthwaite points out that People’s Jam has also been a great opportunity for people to express themselves during the Occupy Movement and economic crisis. “Your voice is amplified – people can here you. That’s a powerful thing,” he says.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iM3Z8Or-ACo

“It’s great because both [Church and People’s Jam] are free,” Ant says. “Although Sunday and Wednesday are unconventional nights for such parties, it benefits musicians because they can also play shows on busier concert nights.” He adds, “Also Sundays can be bleak, the end of the weekend, so it works out great because after Church, you have this extremely festive and positive feeling makes you feel stoked going into Monday.”

Both events – Sunday’s Church jam sessions and Wednesday’s People’s Jam at the Layover – maintain a grassroots mentality.

“I used to send out literally 300 texts to everyone I know every Wednesday inviting them to the Layover. It was really slow at first, as we started invited people from Church to come and they became the main core of people who began to attend. Church and the People’s Jam, side by side, began creating a community of people – that is how we came up with a core group of musicians.”

I have never been at an event quite like the People’s Jam. There are open mic nights and there are concerts – but the Jam finds the perfect in-between. The majority of performers are confident and relaxed. You can dance uninhibited and never worry about being judged, but you can just as easily sit at the bar and watch the band.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qB9_bU8qiKg

It’s a safe environment for self-expression, and Ant and Smurthwaite work hard to keep it that way. Smurthwaite explained to me how they make a point to incorporate the diverse array of people that come through the Layover.

“At first we had nights where the music was just unintentional avant-garde chaos, it was like, barely hobbling along on one leg, trying to make it happen with barely any musicians and no audience. The audience has transformed over the past year from no one in the bar to an absolute army of musicians, getting so into it,” Ant says.

“I have heard at least five different people tell me ‘This is the best party I have ever been to in my life’, which I find mind blowing. A lot of people I know have met their significant other at Church or Layover, they have made friends there, formed bands. It is a constant thing I hear of, these new relationships and connections.”

People’s Jam
Every Wed/10pm, free
Layover
1517 Franklin, Oakl.
(510) 834-1517
www.oaklandlayover.com

Music Listings

Andrew Lam

September 11, 2012

WEDNESDAY 12

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Agesandages Brick and Mortar Music Hall. 9pm, $7-$10.

Charles vs Todd Johnny Foley’s Dueling Pianos. 9:30pm.

Eternal Summers, Bleeding Rainbow, Callow Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $12.

Forever Goldrush, Electric Sheep, Female Trouble Hemlock Tavern. 9pm, $6.

Keith Crossan Blues Showcase with Terry Hanck Biscuits and Blues. 8 and 10pm, $15.

Moonface, Foxygen Independent. 8pm, $15.

Nathan and Rachel Johnny Foley’s. 9pm, free.

One Way Station Boom Boom Room. 8pm, $5.

Angus Stone Slim’s. 8pm, $18.

Thrill Kill Kult, Left Spine Down DNA Lounge. 8pm, $20.

Chelsea Wolfe, Crypts, Dia Dear, DJ S4NtA-MU3rTE, DJ Nako Rickshaw Stop. 8pm, $12.

ZOO, High Anxiety, Dark Beach Knockout. 9pm, $5.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

Cat’s Corner with Nathan Dias Savanna Jazz. 9pm, $10.

Cello Madness Congress 50 Mason Social House, SF; www.classicalrevolution.org. 9pm.

Cosmo AlleyCats Le Colonial, 20 Cosmo Place, SF; www.lecolonialsf.com. 7-10pm.

Dink Dink Dink, Gaucho, Eric Garland’s Jazz Session Amnesia. 7pm, free.

Lorenzo Farrell, Rolf Wilkinson Rite Spot Cafe, 2099 Folsom, SF; (415) 552-6066. 9pm, free.

Musical Art Quintet Levi’s Plaza, 1155 Battery, SF; www.classicalrevolution.org. 12pm.

Ricardo Scales Top of the Mark, 999 California, SF; www.topofthemark.com. 6:30pm, $5.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

Pokey LaFarge and the South City Three, Two Man Gentleman Band Cafe Du Nord. 9:30pm, $14.

Raghu Dixit Project Yoshi’s SF. 8pm, $20.

DANCE CLUBS

Aisle 45 Elbo Room. 9pm, $5. With DJs Mauby, Mo-Luxx, and Mike Bee.

Booty Call Q-Bar, 456 Castro, SF; www.bootycallwednesdays.com. 9pm. Juanita MORE! and Joshua J host this dance party.

Coo-Yah! Som., 2925 16th St, SF; (415) 558-8521. 10pm, free. DJs Daneekah and Green B spin reggae and dancehall with weekly guests.

Hardcore Humpday Happy Hour RKRL, 52 Sixth St, SF; (415) 658-5506. 6pm, $3.

Obey the Kitty: Vin Sol, Justin Milla Vessel, 85 Campton Place, SF; www.vesselsf.com. 10pm, $5.

THURSDAY 13

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Badr Vogu, Night Nurse, Gaskill Hemlock Tavern. 9pm, $7.

Ray Bonneville Biscuits and Blues. 8 and 10pm, $15.

Buffalo Tooth, American Sharks, Down and Outlaws, Disappearing People Sub-Mission. 9pm, $5.

Dangermuffin, Wheeler Brothers Brick and Mortar Music Hall. 9pm, $7-$10.

Dillon Francis, Flosstradamus Rickshaw Stop. 9pm, $20-$24.

Huckle, True Spokes, Dad’s LPs Cafe Du Nord. 8pm, $12.

John Lawton Trio Johnny Foley’s. 9pm, free.

Legendary Stardust Cowboy, Rock N Roll Adventure Kids, Atom Age, Cyclops Thee Parkside. 9pm, $8.

Olivia Newton-John SHN Golden Gate Theater, One Taylor, SF; www.shnsf.com. 8pm, $50-$150.

Nommo Ogo, Candle Labra, Secret Sidewalk Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $10.

Todd vs Charles Johnny Foley’s Dueling Pianos. 9:30pm.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

Stompy Jones Top of the Mark, 999 California, SF; www.topofthemark.com. 7:30pm, $10.

Karavika Red Poppy Art House. 8pm.

Larry Carlton Quartet Yoshi’s SF. 8pm, $28; 10pm, $22.

Midtown Social Boom Boom Room. 8pm, $5.

Ned Boyton Trio Bottle Cap, 1707 Powell, SF; www.bottlecapsf.com. 7-10pm.

SF Jazz Hotplate Series Amnesia. 9pm.

Tin Cup Serenade Rite Spot Cafe, 2099 Folsom, SF; (415) 552-6066. 9pm, free.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

Twang! Honky Tonk Fiddler’s Green, 1330 Columbus, SF; www.twanghonkytonk.com. 5pm. Live country music, dancing, and giveaways.

DANCE CLUBS

Afrolicious Elbo Room. 9:30pm, $5-$7. With DJ Pleasuremaker spinning Afrobeat, Tropicália, electro, samba, and funk.

All 80s Thursday Cat Club. 9pm, $6 (free before 9:30pm). Two dance floors bumpin’ with the best of 80s mainstream and underground with DJ’s Damon, Steve Washington, Dangerous Dan, and guests.

Base: LEON, Matt Hubert, Fabian Campos Vessel, 85 Campton Place, SF; www.vesselsf.com. 10pm, $5-$10.

First Base Rebel, 1760 Market, SF; Facebook: Rebel. 10pm, $3. Old school breaks, disco house, and electro breaks with DJ Loryn, Becky Knox, and guests.

Lions, Tigers, and Queers Underground SF. 10pm-2am, $3. Indie, Electro, and House dance party with resident DJ Becky Knox and special guests.

Tropicana Madrone Art Bar. 9pm, free. Salsa, cumbia, reggaeton, and more with DJs Don Bustamante, Apocolypto, Sr. Saen, Santero, and Mr. E.

FRIDAY 14

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

AC/Dshe, Hellfire, Space Vacation Slim’s. 9pm, $15.

Aerosols, Sea Dramas, WetDreamsDryMagic Hemlock Tavern. 9:30pm, $7.

Back Pages Johnny Foley’s. 9pm, free.

Battleme, Tambo Rays, San Francesa Thee Parkside. 9pm, $8.

Bayonics Elbo Room. 10pm.

Charles, Todd, Rome Balestrieri Johnny Foley’s Dueling Pianos. 9pm.

Mac Demarco, Melted Toys, Surf Club, Justin of Craft Spells Rickshaw Stop. 9pm, $10.

Earlimart, Waters Independent. 9pm, $15.

Growlers, Cosmonauts, Guantanamo Baywatch Cesar Chavez Student Center, 1650 Holloway, SF; Facebook: The Depot SF. 8pm, free.

Iration Fillmore. 9pm, $27.50.

Jealous Sound, Daytrader, Taxes Bottom of the Hill. 9:30pm, $12.

Mercy Me, Francis Chan, Rachel Chan, Outcry SF Regency Ballroom. 7pm, $35-$75.

James McMurty, Gourds Great American Music Hall. 9pm, $25.

Melissa Philips, Stephanie Finch Amnesia. 6pm, $8-$10.

Pretty Lights, DJ Shadow, Marty Party, Paul Basic Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, 99 Grove, SF; www.apeconcerts.com. 7:30pm, $39.50.

Pride and Joy Bimbo’s. 9pm, $25.

Eddie Robert’s West Coast Sound with Will Blades, Jermal Watson, Joe Cohen Boom Boom Room. 8pm, $15.

Roxette Masonic Auditorium, 111 California, SF; www.masonicauditorium.com. 7:30pm, $45-$95.

Slowness Strawberrys, Dead Leaf Echo, Moonbeams, Venus Beltran Hotel Utah. 9pm.

Zeros, Wimps, Midnite Snaxxx, DJ Missy Brick and Mortar Music Hall. 9pm, $15

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

Karen Akers: Akers Sings Sondheim Rrazz Room. 7:30pm, $45.

Audium 1616 Bush, SF; www.audium.org. 8:30pm, $20. Theater of sound-sculptured space.

Black Jazz Orchestra Top of the Mark, 999 California, SF; www.topofthemark.com. 9pm, $10.

Terry Disely Bottle Cap, 1707 Powell, SF; www.bottlecapsf.com. 5:30-8:30pm.

Doppler Trio Rite Spot Cafe, 2099 Folsom, SF; (415) 552-6066. 9pm, free.

Mason Jennings Yoshi’s SF. 8pm, $28; 10pm, $24.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

"Crazy in Love wih Patsy Cline" tribute Biscuits and Blues. 8 and 10pm, $20. With Lavay Smith and Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers.

Taste Fridays 650 Indiana, SF; www.tastefridays.com. 8pm, $18. Salsa and bachata dance lessons, live music.

DANCE CLUBS

Face Party with Eric Duncan, Tim Sweeney Public Works. 9:30pm, $10.

Hubba Hubba Revue DNA Lounge. 9:30pm, $15.

Indie Slash Amnesia. 10pm. With DJ Danny White.

Joe Lookout, 3600 16th St.,SF; www.lookoutsf.com. 9pm. Eight rotating DJs, shirt-off drink specials.

Old School JAMZ El Rio. 9pm. Fruit Stand DJs spinning old school funk, hip-hop, and R&B.

Paris to Dakar Little Baobab, 3388 19th St, SF; (415) 643-3558. 10pm, $5. Afro and world music with rotating DJs including Stepwise, Steve, Claude, Santero, and Elembe.

Rustie, Kodes 1015 Folsom, SF; www.1015.com. 10pm, $20.

Tall Sasha, KS Thant, Jason Kwan Vessel, 85 Campton Place, SF; www.vesselsf.com. 10pm, $10-$30.

SATURDAY 15

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Scott Alexander, Thank You Rosekind Lost Church, 65 Capp, SF; www.thelostchurch.com. 8pm, $10.

Anthem Johnny Foley’s. 9pm, free.

Rome Balestrieri, Todd, Charles Johnny Foley’s Dueling Pianos. 9pm.

"Benefit for Blixa" El Rio. 10pm, $8-$100. Grannies, Divvy’s, Dead Air Saviors.

Scott H. Biram, Restavrant, TV Mike and the Scarecrows Bottom of the Hill. 10pm, $12.

Boyjazz, Hot Lunch, Hot Fog Hemlock Tavern. 9:30pm, $8.

Cannons and Clouds, By Sunlight, Dr. Foxmeat Brick and Mortar Music Hall. 9pm, $7-$10.

DaMaDa Westside Art House, 540 Balboa, SF; www.westsidearthouse.com. 7:30pm, $8.

Good Hurt, Matt Masih and the Messengers, Thrive Slim’s. 9pm, $13-$15.

Los Straightjackets, Daddy-O Grande, Big Sandy and his Fly-Rite Boys Great American Music Hall. 9pm, $25.

Blake Mackey, Mason Jones Amnesia. 6pm, $7.

Mutaytor, NVO Independent. 9pm, $25.

Netherfriends Hotel Utah. 9pm.

Old Firm Casuals, City of Vain, Toughskins, Bricktop, Old Glory Thee Parkside. 9pm, $12.

"Rock Make" Treat Avenue at 18th St, SF; www.rockmake.com. Noon-7pm, free. With John Vanderslice, Tartufi, Exray’s, Will Sprott, DRMS, Yalls, Twin Step, Mallard, and more.

Secret Suspenders, Wave Commision Thee Parkside. 3pm, free.

EC Scott Biscuits and Blues. 8 and 10pm, $20.

Simon Townsend, One Way Station Boom Boom Room. 8pm, $15.

Slick Rick: The Ol’ Skool House Party Part 5 Yoshi’s SF.10pm, $30-$50.

Slippery Slope, Paranoids 50 Mason Social House, SF; www.50masonsocialhouse.com. 9pm, free.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

Karen Akers: Akers Sings Sondheim Rrazz Room. 7:30pm, $45.

"Art of Noise: A Mini-Festival of Experimental Music" Red Poppy Art House. 8pm, $10-$20. Curated by Meerenai Shim.

Audium 1616 Bush, SF; www.audium.org. 8:30pm, $20. Theater of sound-sculptured space.

Mason Jennings Yoshi’s SF. 8pm, $28.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

Gypsy Moonlight Band Riptide. 9:30pm, free.

Ben Taylor Yoshi’s SF. 10pm, $22.

Craig Ventresco and Meredith Axelrod Atlas Cafe, 3049 20th St, SF; www.atlascafe.net. 4-6pm.

DANCE CLUBS

Dust Off with Hybrid Sound System Public Works, 10pm, $20.

Fringe Madrone Art Bar. 9pm, $5. Indie music video dance party with DJ Blondie K and subOctave.

David Garcia, David Paul Vessel, 85 Campton Place, SF; www.vesselsf.com. 10pm, $10-$30.

OK Hole Amnesia. 9pm.

Paris to Dakar Little Baobab, 3388 19th St, SF; (415) 643-3558. 10pm, $5. Afro and world music with rotating DJs including Stepwise, Steve, Claude, Santero, and Elembe.

Radio Franco Bissap, 3372 19th St, SF; (415) 826 9287. 6 pm. Rock, Chanson Francaise, Blues.

Saturday Night Soul Party Elbo Room. 10pm, $5-$10.

Where’s Fester Deco Lounge, 510 Larkin, SF; www.decosf.com. 7pm. Addam’s Family themed, Boys of Bearlesque drag show.

Wild Nights Kok BarSF, 1225 Folsom, SF; www.kokbarsf.com. 9pm, $3. With DJ Frank Wild.

SUNDAY 16

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Aesop Rock Fillmore. 8pm.

Avengers, Mutants, Noh Mercy, Urge Bottom of the Hill. 7pm, $15.

Dawns, j. wong Hotel Utah. 8pm.

Fierce Creatures, Animals Eyes, Fanno Creek, Sunrunners Amnesia. 9pm, $5-$7.

Merle Haggard Regency Ballroom. 8pm, $45-$75.

John Lawton Trio Johnny Foley’s. 9pm, free.

Blake Mackey, Numinous Eye, Diego Gonzalez Hemlock Tavern. 9pm, $6.

Neung Phak, Lumerians, DJ Bobby Ganush Rickshaw Stop. 8pm, $10-$12.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

Karen Akers: Akers Sings Sondheim Rrazz Room. 7:30pm, $45.

Barbary Coast Belles and Whistles Boom Boom Room. 8pm, $8.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

"Hank Williams Birthday Tribute" Club Deluxe, 1511 Haight, SF; www.sfclubdeluxe.com. 8pm, $10.

Polkacide, Erin Brazill and the Brazillionairs Thee Parkside. 11am, $5-$10.

Twang Sunday Thee Parkside. 4pm, free. With Rich McCully, Golddiggers.

DANCE CLUBS

Dub Mission Elbo Room. 9pm, $6. Dub, roots, and classic dancehall.

Jock Lookout, 3600 16th St, SF; www.lookoutsf.com. 3pm, $2.

MONDAY 17

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

"Blue Bear School of Music Showcase" Cafe Du Nord. 7:30pm, $12-$20.

B’z Warfield. 7:30pm, $50-$65.

Damir Johnny Foley’s. 9pm, free.

Flobots, Astronautalis Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $15.

Love Songs, Synthetic ID, Nude Beach, Yogurt Brain Knockout. 9pm, $6.

Natural Child, Cool Ghouls, Buffalo Tooth Elbo Room. 9pm, $10.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

Bossa Nova Tunnel Top, 601 Bush, SF; (415) 722-6620. 8-11:30pm, free. Live acoustic Bossa Nova.

Richard Rite Spot Cafe, 2099 Folsom, SF; (415) 552-6066. 8pm, free.

DANCE CLUBS

Death Guild DNA Lounge. 9:30pm, $3-5. Gothic, industrial, and synthpop with Joe Radio, Decay, and Melting Girl.

Crazy Mondays Beauty Bar, 2299 Mission, SF; www.thebeautybar.com. 10pm, free. Hip-hop and other stuff.

M.O.M. Madrone Art Bar. 6pm, free. DJs Timoteo Gigante, Gordo Cabeza, and Chris Phlek playing all Motown every Monday.

Soul Cafe John Colins Lounge, 138 Minna, SF; www.johncolins.com. 9pm. R&B, Hip-Hop, NeoSoul, Reggae, Dancehall, Reggaeton, Salsa and more with DJ Jerry Ross. Happy hour all night.

Vibes’N’Stuff El Amigo Bar, 3355 Mission, SF; (415) 852-0092. 10pm, free. Conscious jazz and hip-hop from 1960s-early ’90s with DJs Luce Lucy, Vinnie Esparza, and more.

TUESDAY 18

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

"Blue Bear School of Music Showcase" Cafe Du Nord. 7:30pm, $12-$20.

Broncho, Lovely Bad Things, Bad Weather California Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $10.

Paloma Faith Rickshaw Stop. 8pm, $15.

Ted Savarese Rite Spot Cafe, 2099 Folsom, SF; (415) 552-6066. 9pm, free.

Stan Erhart Band Johnny Foley’s. 9pm, free.

Thundercult, Whiskerman, Mark Matos and His Transband Amnesia. 9pm.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

Crown Syncopators Pier 23, Embarcadero at Filbert, SF; (415) 362-5125. 5-8pm.

Gaucho Bottle Cap, 1707 Powell, SF; www.bottlecapsf.com. 7-10pm.

Leche De Tigre, Kyle Hunt and King Gypsy Boom Boom Room. 8pm, $5.

Poets and Prayers: Turtle Island Quartet with Tierney Sutton Yoshi’s SF. 8pm, $20.

DANCE CLUBS

Brazilian Wax Elbo Room. 9pm, $7. With Forro Brazuca.

Eclectic Company Skylark, 9pm, free. DJs Tones and Jaybee spin old school hip hop, bass, dub, glitch, and electro.

Criminal and beyond: Fiona Apple’s evolution

Tony Robles

September 7, 2012

You could say Fiona Apple belongs to an endangered species. One of the heavyweights in a lineage of 1990s major-label iconoclasts, dedicated to the conceptual potential of the album format, (Bjork, Spiritualized, PJ Harvey, Nine Inch Nails) Apple has built a 15-year career on making approachable, yet arty, pop music with indie-label integrity, and an undercurrent of fringe appeal.

After making a big splash with the sultry music-video to her first hit single, “Criminal” (1996), she shrewdly abandoned any MTV-vixen ambitions, in favor of foregrounding her musical and lyrical ability, and her remarkably versatile, jazz-inflected vocal range; as a result, she’s one of the few artists of her generation to transition from stardom to cult status, and not the other way around.

Taking her sweet time between albums, Apple has also proven herself to be one of the more elusive singer-songwriters of her time. Released earlier this year, The Idler Wheel... marked the end of a seven-year hiatus, and in testament to her increasingly highbrow rank in the music world, it’s the most difficult, demanding work of her career thus far.

On Tuesday, Apple will return to San Francisco (she played Oakland’s Fox Theater earlier this summer) as she graces the Warfield stage with her bold new material, and (presumably) a retrospective of the equally distinctive records that came before. Read on for a rundown of Apple’s artistic progression throughout the years; each of her four albums marks a watershed, in an ever-changing, ever-complex musical evolution.

“Criminal”
from Tidal (1996)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFOzayDpWoI

The album, the single, and the video that started it all. A story of the power and persuasiveness of female sexuality in a world full of horndogs, the video was right on mark, lyrically. Musically speaking, it’s a knockout, simmering with jazzy nuance, yet powering forward with the hearty chug of a great rock song. Producer Jon Brion’s “Strawberry Fields Forever” organ is applied liberally, (foreshadowing his increased presence on her next record) and the whole thing culminates in a funky, two-minute jam session, as unnecessary and impractical as it is generous and viscerally gripping. Singles like this don’t make their way to MTV anymore.

“On the Bound”
from When the Pawn… (2000)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1G2Rvz-ITvE

Largely a defensive gesture against the sexed-up image generated by her MTV breakthrough, When the Pawn… is the record which firmly prioritized Apple’s art over her public persona. It’s the album that established her as an enduring musician in control of her own destiny, instead of a flash-in-the-pan curiosity, tethered to the ‘90s like Alanis Morissette. Opening track, “On the Bound” announces her intent forcefully, bolstering her earthy, overtone-rich vocals with a muscular piano riff, and beautifully layered production from Brion. When the Pawn… found Apple’s songwriting and vocal maturity growing into themselves, and dispelled any notions that her debut was just some teenage fluke.

“Red Red Red”
from Extraordinary Machine (2005)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8FKIXvF_yk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W20JTBOXhP0

If When the Pawn… found Apple transitioning from pop wunderkind to serious musician, Extraordinary Machine announced her artistic integrity like never before. However, the album’s actual content is largely upstaged by the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot-esque story of its creation. Initially produced by Jon Brion in 2003, the LP was scrapped by Epic Records, who wanted a Tidal retread, and expressed ambivalence surrounding its marketability. After re-recording from scratch, with a team of new producers, Extraordinary Machine finally saw an official release in 2005.

While not a game-changer to the degree of When the Pawn…, the record continued Apple’s bold evolution, sporting thicker arrangements and production, and a heightened emphasis on electronic textures. Above are two versions of “Red Red Red.” First is Brion’s production: dynamic, and hard-hitting, in contrast with the relatively muted, Brian Kehew-produced rendition that made the final cut. In the end, the narrative behind Extraordinary Machine’s tense creative process significantly shaped Apple’s current image as an elusive, Kate Bush-ian perfectionist.

“Left Alone”
from The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw, and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do (2012)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2cSlMPU3OM

Gone are the cascading strings and richly textured compositions. Bone-dry, thorny, and more challenging than any other record she’s made, The Idler Wheel… is Apple’s King of Limbs moment. With her piano placed squarely in the center, the album’s production bears the simple sound of a band playing together in a room. This sparseness highlights Apple’s jazz tendencies more effectively than ever.

While the ornate, studio-sorcery of Extraordinary Machine never denied her vocals the ability to soar, The Idler Wheel’s emphasis on empty space puts the nuances, cracks, and overtones of Apple’s mighty voice under a microscope, imparting a level of vulnerability we’ve never heard from her before. “Left Alone” showcases the striking versatility of Apple’s pipes as well as any other track in her repertoire.

So, what’s next? Will Apple continue down the path of unadorned, austere textures introduced by The Idler Wheel…? Or, will she pull the rug out from under her loyal fanbase yet again, and embark on yet another daring reinvention? This uncertainty is one of the most compelling reasons to watch Apple: one of the shrewdest, most enterprising singer-songwriters of her time.

Fiona Apple
With Blake Mills
Tues/11, 8pm, $62-72.50
Warfield
982 Market, SF
(415) 345-0900
www.thewarfieldtheatre.com

Beyond the Pink

September 4, 2012

marke@sfbg.com

LIT Molly Ringwald is 44, fabulous, and living a dream life in Santa Monica with her gorgeous husband and three daughters. She’s also far from shy when it comes to talking about her storied past as an 1980s movie legend, the red-headed dream girl of choice for a generation of disaffected teens.

No, she didn’t have anything to do with designing Andie’s prom dress in Pretty in Pink (1986). Yes, director John Hughes almost fired Judd Nelson from The Breakfast Club (1985) for being mean to her (Nelson was staying in character). And — sorry those of us who spent hours pushing our boobs together — she cannot put lipstick on with her cleavage. That was “movie magic.”

Also? The quote she gets most on the street is “What’s a-happenin’, hot stuff?”

Ringwald is hot stuff for something else right now. She’s just released When It Happens to You: A Novel in Stories (It Books, 256 pp., $24.99), a debut novel comprised of linked short stories that’s been garnering raves. (She’ll be appearing courtesy of Litquake at the Verdi Club, Thu/6.)

The book deals with the dissolution of the marriage of Phillip and Greta, and the unsettledness that ripples through their family and friends. It’s a naturalistic mosaic of betrayals, full of lovely observations of contemporary human behavior and well-wrought passages that jibe with her love of Gustave Flaubert, Raymond Carver, and poet Mary Oliver — yet still reveal a voice distinctly her own.

The promotion she’s been doing for the book has been revealing too: her sharp wit and playful literary intelligence have had many realizing how much they’ve missed her. (Example: She basically slayed all of Reddit during a community interview when she casually mentioned that she drinks the blood of Kristen Stewart to stay young.) Ringwald called me during a tumultuous morning at her household: her twins were starting their first day of preschool, and she was getting them ready to go. She briefly put one of them on the phone with me, who told me she was excited about her “new backpack and pink nail polish.”

San Francisco Bay Guardian Um, I just talked to one of Molly Ringwald’s kids — that’s kind of a weird time warp for me.

Molly Ringwald Ha, I can see that. Are you OK?

SFBG A bit dazzled, but I’ll survive. Another time warpy thing is finding out how much you’re a self-described “Internet junkie.” I feel that I and so many others connected with your ’80s movies because we were so isolated as weirdos and outsiders. Those movies were like the social networking of the time — not in terms of actually communicating with others like ourselves, but just knowing there were people like us out there …

MR I’ve never thought about it that way, but I certainly know how the presence of the Internet has changed the lives of young people now, which has so much to do with reaching out but also moving forward, always going on to the next thing. My children are Internet natives. And I have to limit myself because I can just dive in to all the distractions. I’m fascinated by the effect it’s having on movies, the opening up, the distribution. I’m working to adapt my book to a screenplay right now, but I could see writing a Web series someday.

SFBG I’m curious how your book took on the form of linked stories. One of the most famous examples of that form is John Steinbeck’s Pastures of Heaven, set in Monterey. Did you model When It Happens to You on any particular linked story collections?

MR You know, the form came about on its own — I wrote one story, and then I was so curious about what was happening with some of the other characters, another came out, then another. I was thinking about all the ways people betray each other, and that theme guided me forward. I didn’t want to do a lot of reading research while I was writing, I was afraid it would overly influence me. After it was all done, I found other linked story collections, like Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kittredge, which I loved. But there were no intentional influences on the book.

SFBG Themes of motherhood pervade the book — from Greta’s chemical fertility rituals and presence of the super harvest moon in the first story, through the maternal ambivalence of Betty later on, and in between, Marina’s surprise at how much she loves her child Olivia, and her struggle to accept that child’s transgender identity.

MR Motherhood is obviously a huge part of my life right now, and in a way those characters define themselves by their reactions to it. Especially with Marina, I could never understand growing up how anyone could imagine a fulfilling life without wanting or having children — but of course people do. So that character lead me to live in that perspective for a while, so different from what I feel. And society really does judge women through the prism of motherhood.

SFBG You mentioned how much you admire Michel Houllebecq and love Georges Perec — both considered radical experimentalists. Would you ever write something outright experimental?

MR I would love to explore everything I can with my writing, and I do love challenging things. But I feel it still has to retain an emotional component that I can interact with — otherwise it’s like super-abstract jazz fusion [Ringwald is putting out a jazz album next spring], and my brain can’t handle it. I’m reading D.T. Max’s biography of David Foster Wallace right now, and I can totally see where his style was coming from, but that might not be my individual path. But this is my first fiction book, so who knows? *

LITQUAKE: MOLLY RINGWALD IN CONVERSATION

Thu/6, 8pm, $12–$15

Verdi Club

2424 Mariposa, SF

www.litquake.org

Music Listings

Andrew Lam

September 4, 2012

WEDNESDAY 5

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Cheap Girls, Drowning Men, Fayroy Thee Parkside. 8pm, $8.

Fucked Up, Ceremony Slim’s. 9pm, $17-$19.

Daughn Gibson, Reckless Kind, Emily Anne Band Elbo Room. 9pm, $10.

Gram Rabbit, Stripminers, Pleasure Kills Rickshaw Stop. 8pm, $10.

Inglish and Louise Hotel Utah. 8:30pm.

Inner Ear Brigade, Toyboat Toyboat Toyboat, Froadz Hemlock Tavern. 9pm, $6.

Keith Crossan Blues Showcase with guests Biscuits and Blues. 8 and 10pm, $15.

Old Man Gloom, William Fowler Collins, Sad Vicious, DJ Rob Metal Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $12.

“Re-Opening Party with Ramshackle Romeos” Rite Spot Cafe, 2099 Folsom, SF; (415) 552-6066. 9pm, free.

JC Rockit vs Guido Johnny Foley’s Dueling Pianos. 9:30pm

Terry Savastano Johnny Foley’s. 9pm, free.

Sensations, Birdhouse, Sea of Bees, Naia Kete Brick and Mortar Music Hall. 8pm, $8-$10.

Wild Nothing, DIIV Great American Music Hall. 9pm, $17.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

Cat’s Corner with Nathan Dias Savanna Jazz. 9pm, $10.

Cosmo AlleyCats Le Colonial, 20 Cosmo Place, SF; www.lecolonialsf.com. 7-10pm.

Dink Dink Dink, Gaucho, Eric Garland’s Jazz Session Amnesia. 7pm, free.

“Electronic Music Festival” Million Fishes Gallery, 2501 Bryant, SF; www.sfemf.org. 6-9pm. Exhibition opening.

Halley Elell 50 Mason Social House, SF; www.50masonsocialhouse.com. 7pm, free.

Jack Dejohnette Trio feat. Chick Corea and Stanley Clark Yoshi’s SF. 8pm, $45; 10pm, $40.

Ricardo Scales Top of the Mark, 999 California, SF; www.topofthemark.com. 6:30pm, $5.

DANCE CLUBS

Booty Call Q-Bar, 456 Castro, SF; www.bootycallwednesdays.com. 9pm. Juanita MORE! and Joshua J host this dance party.

Coo-Yah! Som., 2925 16th St, SF; (415) 558-8521. 10pm, free. DJs Daneekah and Green B spin reggae and dancehall with weekly guests.

Get Low Madrone Art Bar. 10pm. With Jerry Nice and Anti-1 spinning ’90s and ’00s hip-hop.

Hardcore Humpday Happy Hour RKRL, 52 Sixth St, SF; (415) 658-5506. 6pm, $3.

THURSDAY 6

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Ahnnu, Sri, Waxy Tomb, Jungle Jim Cafe Du Nord. 8:30pm, $7.

Big Black Delta, Youngblood Hawke, Dramantics Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $12.

Big Sam’s Funky Nation, Con Brio Independent. 9pm, $15.

Blue Skies with Black Hearts, Bye Bye Blackbirds, John Moreman’s Floatation Device Hemlock Tavern. 9pm, 8.

Zachary Blizzard, Trebuchet, Travis Hayes Amnesia. 9pm, $7-$10.

Guido vs Rags Tuttle Johnny Foley’s Dueling Pianos. 9:30pm

Gunshy Johnny Foley’s. 9pm, free.

Loose Cuts, Corbetti, Bottle Kids Brick and Mortar Music Hall. 9pm, $5-$7.

Nite Jewel, Soft Metals, Cosmetics Rickshaw Stop. 9pm, $13-$15.

This Bike is a Pipe Bomb, Wild Assumptions, Nasty Christmas Thee Parkside. 9pm, $8.

Todd Wolfe Biscuits and Blues. 8 and 10pm, $10.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

Bela Fleck and the Marcis Roberts Trio Yoshi’s SF. 8pm, $30; 10pm, $26.

Stompy Jones Top of the Mark, 999 California, SF; www.topofthemark.com. 7:30pm, $10.

Jack Dejohnette Trio feat. Chick Corea and Stanley Clark Yoshi’s SF. 8pm, $45; 10pm, $40.

Kitten on the Keys Rite Spot Cafe, 2099 Folsom, SF; (415) 552-6066. 9pm, free.

Ned Boyton Trio Bottle Cap, 1707 Powell, SF; www.bottlecapsf.com. 7-10pm.

Savanna Jazz Jam with Eddy Ramirez Savanna Jazz. 7:30pm, $5.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

Twang! Honky Tonk Fiddler’s Green, 1330 Columbus, SF; www.twanghonkytonk.com. 5pm. Live country music, dancing, and giveaways.

DANCE CLUBS

Afrolicious Elbo Room. 9:30pm, $5-$7. With DJ-host Pleasuremaker. spin Afrobeat, Tropicália, electro, samba, and funk.

All 80s Thursday Cat Club. 9pm, $6 (free before 9:30pm). Two dance floors bumpin’ with the best of 80s mainstream and underground with DJ’s Damon, Steve Washington, Dangerous Dan, and guests.

Base: Kaiserdisco, Vitamindevo Vessel, 85 Campton Place, SF; www.vesselsf.com. 10pm, $5-$10.

Peaches Lady Hip-Hop DJ Party Skylark Bar, 3089 16th St, SF; www.skylarkbar.com. 9pm, $3.

Supersonic Lookout, 3600 16th St., SF; www.lookoutsf.com. 9pm. Global beats paired with food from around the world by Tasty. Resident DJs Jaybee, B-Haul, amd Diagnosis.

Tropicana Madrone Art Bar. 9pm, free. Salsa, cumbia, reggaeton, with DJs Don Bustamante, Apocolypto, Sr. Saen, Santero, and Mr. E.

FRIDAY 7

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Rome Balestrieri, Jason Marion, Nathan Temby Johnny Foley’s Dueling Pianos. 9pm.

Body and Soul Johnny Foley’s. 9pm, free.

Carl Sonny Leyland Trio, B-Stars, West Coast Ramblers, DJ Tanoa Samoa Boy Cafe Du Nord. 9pm, $12-$15.

Entrance Band, Matt Baldwin Brick and Mortar Music Hall. 9:30pm, $10-$12.

Hi-Nobles, Pre-Legendary and the Dreamers, Angstroms Hemlock Tavern. 9:30pm, $7.

Katatonia, Devin Townsend, Paradise Lost, Stolen Babies Great American Music Hall. 7:30pm, $24.

Los Rakas Independent. 9pm, $15.

Roach Gigz, Main Attrakionz, A-1, Baby E Slim’s. 9pm, $19-$24.

77 El Deora, Kitchen Fire Amnesia. 6:30pm.

“Spot-On Sound Records Showcase” Sub-Mission. 9:30pm, $8. With Gravys Drop, Debora Iyall Band, Warm Soda, Spanish Moss.

Kenny “Blue Boss” Wayne Biscuits and Blues. 8 and 10pm, $20.

Violent Vickie, Darling Gunsel, Samuelroy, Erleen Nada Thee Parkside. 9pm, $10.

Wildlife Control, Mercies, Dandelion War Bottom of the Hill. 10Pm, $12.

Yogoman Burning Band Hotel Utah. 9pm, $10.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

Audium 1616 Bush, SF; www.audium.org. 8:30pm, $20. Theater of sound-sculptured space.

Black Jazz Orchestra Top of the Mark, 999 California, SF; www.topofthemark.com. 9pm, $10.

Conscious Contact Rite Spot Cafe, 2099 Folsom, SF; (415) 552-6066. 9pm.

Terry Disely Bottle Cap, 1707 Powell, SF; www.bottlecapsf.com. 5:30-8:30pm.

Jack Dejohnette Trio feat. Chick Corea and Stanley Clark Yoshi’s SF. 8 and 10pm, $50.

“Electronic Music Festival” Brava Theater, 2781 24th St, SF; www.sfemf.org. 8pm. With William Balinski, Machine Drop, Damion Romero.

Amanda McBroom Rrazz Room. 7:30pm, $37.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

Taste Fridays 650 Indiana, SF; www.tastefridays.com. 8pm, $18. Salsa and bachata dance lessons, live music.

DANCE CLUBS

Automatic Message Beatbox, 314 11th St, SF; Facebook: Reset State. 9pm, $10-$15.

Braza! Som., 2925 16th St, SF; (415) 558-8521. 10pm, $5-$10. DJs Sabo, Kento, Elan spin Brazilian, Batucada, Samba.

JJ Flores, Lucas Med Vessel, 85 Campton Place, SF; www.vesselsf.com. 10pm, $10-$30.

Joe Lookout, 3600 16th St.,SF; www.lookoutsf.com. 9pm. Eight rotating DJs, shirt-off drink specials.

New Wave City 20-year Anniversary Party DNA Lounge. 9pm, $12. With DJs Skip and Shindog, Low-Life, Brian Raffo and John, Melting Girl, and more.

Old School JAMZ El Rio. 9pm. Fruit Stand DJs spinning old school funk, hip-hop, and R&B.

Paris to Dakar Little Baobab, 3388 19th St, SF; (415) 643-3558. 10pm, $5. Afro and world music with rotating DJs including Stepwise, Steve, Claude, Santero, and Elembe.

Push the Feeling: Les Sins (Toro Y Moi) DJ set Underground SF, 424 Haight, SF; Facebook: Push the Feeling. 9pm, $5 with RSVP. With Silver Hands, YR Skull, epicsauce DJs.

120 Minutes: Two-Year Anniversary Elbo Room. 10pm. With S4NtA MU3rTE, Planet Death, Nako.

Samples Fillmore. 9pm, $32.50.

SATURDAY 8

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Adicts, Brothers of Brazil Slim’s. 9pm, $23-$25.

Crystal Antlers, Lenz, Dimples, Pang Hemlock Tavern. 9pm, $10.

Doe Eye, Churches, Eazy Tiger Bottom of the Hill. 9:30pm, $12.

Fresh and Onlys, Terry Malts Independent. 9pm, $15.

Giggle Party, In Watermelon Sugar, Girls in Suede, Church Thee Parkside. 9pm, $6.

Gunpowder, Raging Free Radicals, Redwood Wires Thee Parkside. 3pm, free.

Jason Isabell, 400 Unit, Kasey Anderson and the Honkies Great American Music Hall. 9pm, $17.

Matt Lax and the Nearly Beloved Riptide. 9:30pm, free.

“Radio Quemado CD Release Party” Rockit Room. 8pm, $10. With Burnt, Delirians, San Francisco Vintage Reggae Society.

Rock N Roll Adventure Kids, Glitz, Chief, Visions and Tones El Rio. 10pm, $7.

Sista Monica Biscuits and Blues. 8 and 10pm, $20.

Megan Slankard, City on a Lake Cafe Du Nord. 9pm, $12-$15.

Tall Shadows Johnny Foley’s. 9pm, free.

Nathan Temby, Jason Marion, Rome Balestrieri Johnny Foley’s Dueling Pianos. 9pm.

Ten Mile Tide, Delta Nove Brick and Mortar Music Hall. 9pm, $10-$15.

Moon Trent (from Brown-Star), Carl with Records, Magic Mirror Brainwash Cafe, 1122 Folsom, SF; www.brainwash.com. 8pm, free.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

Audium 1616 Bush, SF; www.audium.org. 8:30pm, $20. Theater of sound-sculptured space.

Ralph Carney Rite Spot Cafe, 2099 Folsom, SF; (415) 552-6066. 9pm.

Jack Dejohnette Trio feat. Chick Corea and Stanley Clark Yoshi’s SF. 8 and 10pm, $60.

“Electronic Music Festival” Brava Theater, 2781 24th St, SF; www.sfemf.org. 8pm. With Dieter Moebius, Richard Lerman, Loud Objects, Cheryl Leonard.

Amanda McBroom Rrazz Room. 7:30pm, $37.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

HowellDevine and Devine’s Jug Band Red Poppy Art House. 8pm, $10-$20.

Craig Ventresco and Meredith Axelrod Atlas Cafe, 3049 20th St, SF; www.atlascafe.net. 4-6pm.

DANCE CLUBS

Bootie SF: Kleptones DNA Lounge. 9pm, $10-$20.

Club Gossip Cat Club. 9pm, free before 9:30pm, $5-$8 after. With VJs Shon, Low Life, Damon, and more.

Cockblock Rickshaw Stop. 10pm, $5-$10.

Kinky Disko Rebel, 1760 Market, SF; (415) 431-4202 . 9pm, $8. Eclectic mashup of electro-disco and house.

Non Stop Bhangra Public Works. 9pm, $20. With Bikram Singh.

Oliver Twizt, Jared F Vessel, 85 Campton Place, SF; www.vesselsf.com. 10pm, $5-$10.

Paris to Dakar Little Baobab, 3388 19th St, SF; (415) 643-3558. 10pm, $5. Afro and world music with rotating DJs including Stepwise, Steve, Claude, Santero, and Elembe.

Tormenta Tropical Elbo Room. 10pm. With Shawn Reynaldo and Oro11.

2 Men Will Move You Amnesia. 9pm.

SUNDAY 9

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Black Uhuru Independent. 8pm, $25.

Covenant, Break Up, Deephearted DNA Lounge. 9pm, $22

Lloyd Gregory Biscuits and Blues. 8 and 10pm, $15.

“New York Night Train’s Soul Clap and Dance Off” Great American Music Hall. 8pm, $13. With Shannon and the Clams, Mikal Cronin.

Terry Savastano Johnny Foley’s. 9pm, free.

Spider Heart, Tokyo Raid, Atomic Bride, Spiral Electric Brick and Mortar Music Hall.7pm, $5-$8.

Drew Southern 50 Mason Social House, SF; www.50masonsocialhouse.com.10pm, free.

Tigon, Mercy Ties, Commissure Hemlock Tavern. 9:30pm, $6.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

“Electronic Music Festival” Brava Theater, 2781 24th St, SF; www.sfemf.org. 8pm. With William Balinski, Machine Drop, Damion Romero.

Amanda McBroom Rrazz Room. 4pm, $37.

Noertker’s Moxie, Melanchoholics Musicians’ Union Hall, 116 Ninth St, SF; www.noertker.com. 7:30pm, $10.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

Paula Frazer, Jeffrey Luck Lucas, Justin Frahm Rite Spot Cafe, 2099 Folsom, SF; (415) 552-6066. 6pm, free.

Hurd Ensemble Red Poppy Art House. 7pm, $12-$20.

DANCE CLUBS

Activate! After After Hours Monroe, 473 Broadway, SF; www.monroesf.com. 6am-1pm, $10. With James Henderson, Joseph Lee, and Zenith.

Domingos Latinos Blue Macaw, 2565 Mission, SF; www.thebluemacawsf.com. 6pm, $10. Salsa dance party with live Afro-Cuban salsa bands.

Dub Mission Elbo Room. 9pm, $6. With DJ Sep, Ludichris, and special guest Janaka Selekta.

Jock Lookout, 3600 16th St, SF; www.lookoutsf.com. 3pm, $2.

MONDAY 10

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound, Karina Denike Cafe Du Nord. 9:30pm, $10-$12.

Damir Johnny Foley’s. 9pm, free.

Devo, Blondie Warfield. 8pm, $39.50-$92.50.

Gypsyhawk, Hellfire, At Our Heels, Wild Eyes Elbo Room. 9pm, $7.

Miguel Independent. 8pm, $25.

Swans, Xiu Xiu Regency Ballroom. 8pm, $34.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

Bossa Nova Tunnel Top, 601 Bush, SF; (415) 722-6620. 8-11:30pm, free. Live acoustic Bossa Nova.

Dawn Oberg Rite Spot Cafe, 2099 Folsom, SF; (415) 552-6066.8pm, free.

DANCE CLUBS

Crazy Mondays Beauty Bar, 2299 Mission, SF; www.thebeautybar.com. 10pm, free. Hip-hop and other stuff.

Death Guild DNA Lounge. 9:30pm, $3-5. Gothic, industrial, and synthpop with Joe Radio, Decay, and Melting Girl.

M.O.M. Madrone Art Bar. 6pm, free. DJs Timoteo Gigante, Gordo Cabeza, and Chris Phlek playing all Motown every Monday.

Soul Cafe John Colins Lounge, 138 Minna, SF; www.johncolins.com. 9pm. R&B, Hip-Hop, NeoSoul, Reggae, Dancehall, Reggaeton, Salsa and more with DJ Jerry Ross. Happy hour all night.

Vibes’N’Stuff El Amigo Bar, 3355 Mission, SF; (415) 852-0092. 10pm, free. Conscious jazz and hip-hop from 1960s-early ’90s with DJs Luce Lucy, Vinnie Esparza, and more.

TUESDAY 11

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Fiona Apple Warfield. 8pm, $62-$72.50.

Billy T. Band Biscuits and Blues. 8 and 10pm, $15.

Blaqk Audio, Hi Deaf Great American Music Hall. 8pm, $15.

Custom Kicks, City Deluxe, Courtney and the Crushers Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $8.

Fat Opie Bazaar Cafe, 5927 California, SF; www.bazaarcafe.com. 7pm, free.

Korpiklaani, Moonsorrow, Tyr, Metsatoll DNA Lounge. 7pm, $25.

People’s Temple Hemlock Tavern. 9pm, $6.

Sandi Thom, Francesca Lee Cafe Du Nord. 9:30pm, $12-$15.

Sleepy Todd, Michael Musika, fpodbpod Amnesia. 9pm.

Stan Ernhart Band Johnny Foley’s. 9pm, free.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

Bombshell Betty and Her Burlesqueteers, Fromagique Elbo Room. 9pm, $10.

Friskey Frolics Rite Spot Cafe, 2099 Folsom, SF; (415) 552-6066. 9pm, free.

Gaucho Bottle Cap, 1707 Powell, SF; www.bottlecapsf.com. 7-10pm.

Virginia Tichenor Pier 23, Embarcadero near Filbert, SF; (415) 362-5125. 5-8pm.

DANCE CLUBS

Eclectic Company Skylark, 9pm, free. DJs Tones and Jaybee spin old school hip hop, bass, dub, glitch, and electro.

Stylus John Colins Lounge, 138 Minna, SF; www.johncolins.com. 9pm. Hip-hop, dancehall, and Bay slaps with DJ Left Lane.

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