Today’s Look: Kate, Stonestown
Tell us about your look: “Comfort and I love crop tops for summer. I always gotta wear boots and tights always jazz up an outfit.”
Jazz
Benefits: May 5-May 11
Ways to have fun while giving back this week
Thursday, May 6
Art Changes Lives 2010: Celebrating Color
Attend this benefit auction for Creativity Explored programs, that positively impact the lives of artists with developmental disabilities and the community that is connected to them. Featuring mistress of ceremonies Peaches Christ, cuisine by Foreign Cinema, cocktails, live music, and more. Auction features original art by Creativity Explored artists. Guests are encouraged to wear chromatic attire.
6:30 p.m., $125
Foreign Cinema
2534 Mission, SF
www.creativityexplored.org
Hysteria
Attend this benefit for the Women’s Community Clinic, a non-profit health care provider for women in San Francisco, featuring a silent auction and a comedy performance by Maria Bamford.
6 p.m., $100
Jewish Community Center
3200 California, SF
hysteria.womenscommunityclinic.org
Kestral Sound Review
Enjoy this benefit project from a local collaborative of music lovers, where curators will showcase up and coming talent through a series of mini festivals they call “Volumes.” Proceeds from the first installment will go to help fight breast cancer. The festival to feature live performances by Bye Bye Blackbirds, Grand Lake, Misirlou, and more, art by Ted Folstand and KC Skinner, photography by Christine Zona, and more.
8 p.m., $5 donation
The Tempest
431 Natoma, SF
www.kestral.org
SF AIDS Foundation Leadership Recognition Dinner
Join other community members and allies in commending vanguards in the community’s efforts to end HIV and AIDS by honoring Dr. Grant Colfax, Director of the HIV Prevention and Research Section in the SF Department of Public Health AIDS Office, Lonnie Payne-Clark, California AIDS Hotline volunteer, fundraiser, and former board member of San Francisco AIDS Foundation and Pangaea Global AIDS Foundation, and Sports Basement, a sponsor and community partner of AIDS/LifeCycle and the Greater Than One training program.
6 p.m., $200
InterContinental Hotel
Grand Ballroom, 888 Howard, SF
(415) 487-3013
Friday, May 7
First Graduate
Attend this Cap and Gown celebration and help support First Graduate, an organization that helps local youth finish high school and become the first in their families to graduate from college. Featuring live jazz, food, dancing, and dessert.
6 p.m., $175
San Francisco City Hall
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, SF
www.firstgraduate.org
Saturday, May 8
National Kidney Walk
Take part in this fundraising walk to help provide resources and raise awareness for the 20 million people with kidney disease in the U.S.
9 a.m.; free to walk, walkers encouraged to raise $200
One Maritime Plaza
300 Clay, SF
www.kidneywalk.org
Peralta Elementary School Community Festival
Help support Peralta Elementary, an Oakland public school for kindergarten through fifth grades, at this spring festival featuring carnival games, sing a song and pot a plant, climbing wall, music, and edible carnival treats.
Noon – 4 p.m., free
Peralta Elementary School
460 63rd St., Oak.
(510) 658-8161
Sunday, May 9
Space Odyssey
Attend Southern Exposure’s annual fundraiser and art auction featuring live and silent art auction, creative projects, food and drink, and music. Proceeds help SoEx continue to be an independent local hub for the Bay Area visual arts community.
7:30 p.m., $35-$65
Southern Exposure
3030 20th St., SF
www.soex.org
Walk to Empower
Join over 1, 000 walkers participating in this Mother’s Day Breast Cancer Walk with a goal of raising $190,000 for those affected by breast cancer.
9 a.m., minimum group purchase of $50.00
Justin Herman Plaza
Market at Embarcadero, SF
www.networkofstrength.org
Our 2010 Small Business Awards
culture@sfbg.com
The mallification of America continues apace, with faceless conglomerates training new generations of shoppers to look for the cheapest deals at bland big box outlets, regardless of what “cheap” might actually mean in terms of pollution, transportation, labor, and the local economy. (For starters, out of every $100 dollars spent at a big box, only $43 remains in the local economy, compared to $68 if you buy local.) But in San Francisco at least, the little guys keep on swinging, maintaining unique shops and service companies with a vibrant local feel and contributing to the patchwork of optimism, individuality, and community effort that make the city great. Each year, we honor several of them for sticking to their guns and pursuing their visions.
WOMEN IN BUSINESS AWARD
DEENA DAVENPORT, GLAMA-RAMA SALON
“The higher the hair, the closer to God,” a wise Southern drag queen once said. Here in San Francisco, one of our own heavenly salons, Glama-Rama, is about to get a whole lot more divine, expanding from its homey kitsch digs in SoMa to a new 2500 square foot space on Valencia Corridor, creating 16 new jobs. The driving force behind that expansion is owner Deena Davenport, who combined her hairdressing talent, natural business acumen, and deep connection to the local arts scene into a formula for sheer success when she opened Glama-Rama 11 years ago.
“My dream was not to have a business, but a community space,” Davenport told me. “I wanted a place for all my gifted friends to express themselves. Not just our excellent stylists, but artists, designers, musicians, event producers — we all came together to make this happen. I think that’s the key to our success. We work with all kinds of styles and we don’t price ourselves out of the nonprofit sector. That allows a great mix of clientele, and an element of comfort for everyone.”
Davenport, a creative blur, plans to kickstart a Valencia Corridor merchants association once she gets settled in, and dreams of a future in politics. (She currently hosts a show on Pirate Cat Radio and appears onstage in local productions.) “I’m fortunate to have always had great friends and great landlords — and to be in a business the Internet can’t compete with,” she says.
“By the way, the new space will be two shades of cream with gold accents,” Davenport adds, ever the stylish professional. “We’re taking off our Doc Martens and putting on some heels.” (Marke B.)
GLAMA-RAMA
304 Valencia, SF
415-861-4526
GOLDEN SURVIVOR AWARD
CAFÉ DU NORD
It’s no secret that nightlife in San Francisco has taken a big hit lately. A combination of economic woes and persistent crackdowns by the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control and local police, a.k.a. the War on Fun, has taken its toll — even on 100-year-old live-venue mainstays like Café Du Nord.
“It’s been tough for us and for everyone out there,” says Guy Carson, who took over the space with Kerry LaBelle in 2003. “They don’t call it ‘hard times’ for nothing. But we love what we do, and we know how to run a quality business. I’ve been promoting live shows since I was nine years old, so you know it’s what I love. You have to be willing to weather the storms.”
The intimate basement space retains its speakeasy vibe and velvet-curtained, cabaret-like setting, while playing host to mighty big names and burgeoning local upstarts. As a “venue with a menu” that serves food and puts on all ages and 18+ shows, Café Du Nord has been specifically targeted by the city and ABC for what Carson calls “differing interpretations of the law.” He looks forward to the upcoming launch of the new California Music and Culture Association, which will bring together several local venues and nightlife activists to fight the tide of local nightlife repression. “When we all work together, we can return the city’s nightlife to its former glory,” Carson says. (Marke B.)
CAFÉ DU NORD
3174 Market, SF
(415) 861-5016
GOOD NEIGHBOR AWARD
OPPORTUNITY FUND
Eric Weaver put his first nonprofit loan package together in 1995. His small startup, called Opportunity Fund, helped brothers who wanted to expand their pet shop borrow $17,000 for aquariums and fish. The deal worked out well; the pet store prospered, the money got repaid, and Opportunity Fund was on its way to becoming one of the most successful microlending outfits in California.
Weaver, a Stanford MBA and the fund’s CEO, now oversees a staff of 35 that makes loans to small businesses, most of them minority owned, that might have trouble getting financing from a traditional bank. And the nonprofit continues to grow by helping entrepreneurs in the Bay Area get the financing they need to create jobs and build community businesses. “We just made our 1,000th loan,” he told me. “We’re on target to make 200 loans this year, more than ever.”
Unlike most banks, Opportunity Fund sees its clients almost as partners. The staff takes time to help borrowers work up a successful business plan and learn how to manage their finances. “We do one-on-one business counseling with almost all of our clients,” Weaver said.
The group also helps finance affordable housing developments and offers individual development accounts (IDAs)— special savings accounts that come with financial training and grants — for everything from education to home purchases to putting aside the cash it now takes to become a U.S. citizen.
A recent study showed that Opportunity Fund has created or retained 1,200 in the Bay Area. “With a median loan size of $7,000, and a focus on making loans to people who have historically been underserved by banks, Opportunity Fund has been a particularly valuable resource for women, minority, and low-income entrepreneurs,” Weaver noted. He added that 73 percent of Opportunity Fund borrowers are members of an ethnic minority, and 90 percent of borrowers have incomes at or below 80 percent of area median income.
Imagine a traditional bank making a statement like that. (Tim Redmond)
OPPORTUNITY FUND
785 Market Street, Suite 1700, SF
408-297-0204
opportuityfund.org
CHAIN ALTERNATIVE AWARD
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA INDEPENDENT BOOKSELLERS ASSOCIATION
Independent booksellers are a wonder. Up against giant chains like Wal-Mart, facing technological changes like Kindle and online behemoths like Amazon.com (which doesn’t even have to pay state sales taxes), it’s hard to believe they can even survive. Yet they do — in fact, the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association keeps growing.
“The mainstream press wants to write about bookstores closing,” Calvin Crosby, NCIBA’s vice president, told me. “But actually, stores are opening. We have two new members this year.”
The booksellers group keeps the small, community-based stores in the public eye, with promotions, events like the annual NCIBA awards (see page 28) and political lobbying (NCIBA is a big supporter of a bill by Assembly Member Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, that would force Amazon to pay sales tax).
One of the group’s biggest tasks is education — reminding the public that local bookstores serve a critical function. “I was at a book-signing recently with a major author, and a bunch of people showed up with books they bought on Amazon and they wanted to trade them for signed copies,” Crosby, who is community relations director at Books Inc., recalled. “I had to explain to all of them that Amazon doesn’t pay taxes and hurts the locals.”
And with 300 bookseller members, NCIBA is helping preserve the notion that buying a book from someone who actually cares about books is an idea whose time will never pass. (Redmond)
NCIBA
1007 General Kennedy, SF.
415-561-7686
SMALL BUSINESS ADVOCATE AWARD
KEITH GOLDSTEIN
“Money spent in a small business — far, far more of it stays here in the neighborhood than with a chain store,” says Keith Goldstein, president of the Potrero Hill Association of Merchants and Businesses. A Potrero Hill resident since 1974, and owner of Everest Waterproofing and Restoration, Inc., Goldstein has spent the last six years with the merchant’s association promoting a sense of community in the inclined blocks of Potrero.
He’s overseen the growth of the Potrero Hill Festival from what he calls “a small affair” to a yearly event that’s “great for residents and businesses,” and also serves on the Eastern Neighborhood Advisory Committee, where he works on issues, like new transit plans, that affect local businesses.
Somehow he has found the time to start SEEDS (www.nepalseeds.org), a group that provides infrastructure and health support to underserved Tibetan villages, and is involved in Food Runners (www.foodrunners.org), an organization that links homeless shelters to food sources.
The superlative community member incorporates the ‘buy local’ mentality into every aspect of his life, even placing the administration of the health care plan for his 50 employees into the hands of a fellow Potrero Hill Merchant’s Association member. “It’s all richly rewarding,” Goldstein says of his hands-on role in his neighborhood’s economic viability. “I like to walk around the hill and be able to chat with my neighbors about quality of life issues.” (Caitlin Donohue)
KEITH GOLDSTEIN
Potrero Hill Association of Merchants and Businesses
1459 18th St., SF.
(415) 341-8949
EMPLOYEE-OWNED BUSINESS AWARD
RED VIC MOVIE HOUSE
“Once it got going, it was like a perpetual-motion machine. And I have to say, I think it was the collective nature of the thing that’s kept the Red Vic going this long,” says Jack Rix, long time worker and cofounder of the Red Vic Movie House, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year.
The Red Vic’s employees put a lot into the neighborhood theater’s showings of unique and classic flicks. Each worker-owner does a little of everything, from sweeping the lobby floor to washing dishes. “We’re all utility players here, this is very much a labor of love,” Rix says. Launched in 1980 by community organizers, the theater’s focus has not only been on providing great movies but doing it sustainably, installing solar paneling on the roof and eschewing paper products. “Back then I don’t think the phrase ‘green’ existed,” Rix recalls. “We were trying to be ‘green’ and we didn’t even know it!”
The Red Vic’s workers aren’t the only ones with a certain affection for the theater’s bench seating, environmentally friendly ceramic coffee mugs, and wooden popcorn bowls. Rix says some Upper Haight residents will wait for blockbusters to make their way out of “corporate” movie cinemas to the Red Vic’s second-run screen. “We’re very much a community theater,” he says proudly. (Donohue)
RED VIC MOVIE HOUSE
1727 Haight, SF
(415) 668-3994
CHAIN ALTERNATIVE AWARD
OTHER AVENUES
Nestled in a part of the city best known for its tiny pastel homes and bracing sea breezes, Ocean Beach’s Other Avenues is everything you could desire in a neighborhood grocery store: Warm atmosphere, vast swaths of bulk food bins, and a well-edited health food selection, including vitamins, medicines, and cheery shelves of produce. Plus health insurance for all its knowledgeable employees.
Trader who? No need for big box stores near Other Avenues, which has earned a loyal clientele in the 36 years since it first opened its doors. “Since we’re a co-op, I like to think of us as a giant organism,” says Other Avenues worker Ryan Bieber. “Occasionally we lose parts and regrow them. A lot of customers have been coming here for 10, 20 years.” Their loyalty might be in response to Other Avenues’ commitment to keeping its beachside clientele healthy and well. “The aim is to make sure that people have access to things like this,” says Bieber.
Asked what he thinks would happen if one of the chain grocery behemoths encroaches on the shop’s territory, Bieber is unconcerned. “I think people will come here regardless. [We] have been doing this forever and we take pretty good care of ourselves. I think our customers really respond to that. We wouldn’t want a world where there was only Whole Foods — that’d be too boring!” (Donohue)
OTHER AVENUES
3930 Judah, SF
(415) 661-7475
ARTHUR JACKSON DIVERSITY IN SMALL BUSINESS AWARD
RAYMOND OW-YANG
Raymond Ow-Yang tends to downplay the impact he’s had on the North Beach-Chinatown artistic landscape. The owner of New Sun Hong Kong restaurant, Ow-Yang put up the funds to have the iconic Jazz Mural painted on the Columbus and Broadway walls of his Chinese restaurant. The artist Bill Weber approached him in 1988 — securing an approximately $70,000 aesthetic gift to the community that Ow-Yang has never sought public recognition for.
“Back then you’re young, you have no brain. I thought, this is nice — it’s something you do because you feel like it,” Ow-Yang recalls dismissively.
“Nice”is an understatement. The mural, which depicts famous San Francisco figures and scenes, has become one of the neighborhood’s visual joys, stopping tourists in their photo-snapping tracks. The gift reflects Ow-Yang’s commitment to the streets he grew up on
He immigrated to Chinatown from Canton in 1962, at age 13. A lifelong entrepreneur, Ow-Yang owned a photo studio, a floral shop, and a restaurant in Oakland’s Chinatown (the original Sun Hong Kong) before opening at 606 Broadway in 1989. The restaurant is open until 3 a.m. every day — a timetable residents can appreciate for more reasons than just Ow-Yang’s post-bar won ton soup. “Before, people were afraid to walk through this area,” says the businessman. “Now there’s a lot more foot traffic — the city even put up traffic lights. With the bright lights [from New Sun Hong Kong], it’s a lot safer in this area.” (Donohue)
RAYMOND OW-YANG
New Sun Hong Kong
606 Broadway, SF
(415) 956-3338
Music listings
Music listings are compiled by Paula Connelly and Cheryl Eddy. Since club life is unpredictable, it’s a good idea to call ahead to confirm bookings and hours. Prices are listed when provided to us. Submit items at listings@sfbg.com.
WEDNESDAY 5
ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP
Bane, Alpha and Omega, Wolves and Thieves, Streetwalkers Thee Parkside. 8pm, $12.
*Cannibal Corpse, 1349, Skeletonwitch, Lecherous Nocturne Slim’s. 7:30pm, $28.
Coheed and Cambria, Circa Survive, Torche Warfield. 7pm, $32.
Ferocious Few, Mississipi Man, Sermon, DJ Ted Café du Nord. 9:30pm, $5.
Flobots, Trouble Andrew, Champagne Champagne Bottom of the Hill. 8pm, $15.
Guella, Soda Pop Junkies, DudeHouse Hotel Utah. 8pm, $6.
Lambs, Splinters, Honey Knockout. 9pm, $5.
Michael McIntosh Rite Spot, 2099 Folsom, SF; www.myspace.com/ritespot. 9pm, free.
Ronaldo Morales Biscuits and Blues. 8 and 10pm, $15.
Owen Pallett, Snowblink Independent. 8pm, $16.
Street Pyramids, Watchdawg, Purrs, Symbolick Jews Kimo’s. 9pm.
FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY
Bluegrass Country Jam Plough and Stars. 9pm.
Nathan Hamilton McTeague’s Saloon, 1237 Polk, SF; (415) 776-1237. 9pm.
La Colectiva featuring Toqueson Elbo Room. 9pm, $8. With DJs Soniada Diablo, Laonzo, and Rabeat.
Sang Matiz, Trio Paz, Gema de los Deseos El Rio. 8pm, $7.
DANCE CLUBS
Afreaka! Attic, 3336 24th St, SF; (415) 643-3376. 10pm, free. Psychedelic beats from Brazil, Turkey, India, Africa, and across the globe with DJs MAKossa and Om.
Booty Call Q-Bar, 456 Castro, SF; www.bootycallwednesdays.com. 9pm. Juanita Moore hosts this dance party, featuring DJ Robot Hustle.
Hands Down! Bar on Church. 9pm, free. With DJs Claksaarb, Mykill, and guests spinning indie, electro, house, and bangers.
Machine Sloane, 1525 Mission, SF; (415) 621-7007. 10pm, free. Warm beats for happy feet with DJs Sergio, Conor, and André Lucero.
Mary-Go-Round Lookout, 3600 16th St, SF; (415) 431-0306. 10pm, $5. A weekly drag show with hosts Cookie Dough, Pollo Del Mar, and Suppositori Spelling.
Q-Burns Abstract Message Triple Crown. 11:30pm, $5. Spinning house.
RedWine Social Dalva. 9pm-2am, free. DJ TophOne and guests spin outernational funk and get drunk.
Respect Wednesdays End Up. 10pm, $5. Rotating DJs Daddy Rolo, Young Fyah, Irie Dole, I-Vier, Sake One, Serg, and more spinning reggae, dancehall, roots, lovers rock, and mash ups.
Slump Night Coda. 10pm, free. Hip-hop with L.I. Aspect and DJ Centipede.
Synchronize Il Pirata, 2007 16th St, SF; (415) 626-2626. 10pm, free. Psychedelic dance music with DJs Helios, Gatto Matto, Psy Lotus, Intergalactoid, and guests.
Yoruba Dance Sessions Bacano! Som., 2925 16th St, SF; (415) 558-8521. 9pm, free. With resident DJ Carlos Mena and guests spinning afro-deep-global-soulful-broken-techhouse.
THURSDAY 6
ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP
Josh Clarke, Naysayers Knockout. 9:30pm, $6.
Dosh, White Hinterland, Baths Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $12.
Hold Steady Fillmore. 8pm, $25.
Denise Perrier Biscuits and Blues. 8 and 10pm, $20.
Paulie Rhyme Rock-It Room. 8pm, $5.
Reckless Kelly, Brothers Comatose Slim’s. 9pm, $16.
Reuben Rye Rite Spot, 2099 Folsom, SF; www.myspace.com/ritespot. 9pm, free.
Shondes, Ex-Boyfriends, Excuses for Skipping, Bruises Café du Nord. 9pm, $10.
Mariee Sioux, Dead Western, Aaron Ross Hemlock Tavern. 9pm, $8.
Tussle, Javelin, Bronze Rickshaw Stop. 8pm, $12.
Yung Mars, Mugpush, Karmo, Double Take Coda. 9pm, $10.
FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY
Heather Combs, Elliott Randall, Alden Schell, Jeff Campbell Hotel Utah. 8pm, $8.
Savannah Blu Atlas Café. 8pm, free.
Shannon Céilí Band Plough and Stars. 9pm.
DANCE CLUBS
Afrolicious Elbo Room. 9:30pm, $8-10. DJs Pleasuremaker and Señor Oz spin Afro-tropical, samba, and funk.
Caribbean Connection Little Baobab, 3388 19th St, SF; (415) 643-3558. 10pm, $3. DJ Stevie B and guests spin reggae, soca, zouk, reggaetón, and more.
Club Jammies Edinburgh Castle. 10pm, free. DJs EBERrad and White Mice spinning reggae, punk, dub, and post punk.
Drop the Pressure Underground SF. 6-10pm, free. Electro, house, and datafunk highlight this weekly happy hour.
Electric Feel Lookout, 3600 16th St, SF; (415) 431-0306. 9pm, $2. With DJs subOctave and Blondie K spinning indie music videos.
Good Foot Yoruba Dance Sessions Bacano! Som., 2925 16th St, SF; (415) 558-8521. 9pm, free. A James Brown tribute with resident DJs Haylow, A-Ron, and Prince Aries spinning R&B, Hip hop, funk, and soul.
Holy Thursday Underground SF. 10pm, $5. Bay Area electronic hip hop producers showcase their cutting edge styles monthly.
Koko Puffs Koko Cocktails, 1060 Geary, SF; (415) 885-4788. 10pm, free. Dubby roots reggae and Jamaican funk from rotating DJs.
Lacquer Beauty Bar. 10pm-2am, free. DJs Mario Muse and Miss Margo bring the electro.
Mestiza Bollywood Café, 3376 19th St, SF; (415) 970-0362. 10pm, free. Showcasing progressive Latin and global beats with DJ Juan Data.
Peaches Skylark, 10pm, free. With an all female DJ line up featuring Deeandroid, Lady Fingaz, That Girl, and Umami spinning hip hop.
Popscene 330 Rich. 10pm, $10. Rotating DJs spinning indie, Britpop, electro, new wave, and post-punk.
Rock Candy Stud. 9pm-2am, $5. Luscious Lucy Lipps hosts this electro-punk-pop party with music by ReXick.
Solid Thursdays Club Six. 9pm, free. With DJs Daddy Rolo and Tesfa spinning roots, reggae, dancehall, soca, and mashups.
Studio SF Triple Crown. 9pm, $5. Keeping the Disco vibe alive with authentic 70’s, 80’s, and current disco with DJs White Girl Lust, Ken Vulsion, and Sergio.
FRIDAY 7
ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP
"Battle of the Bands" DNA Lounge. 5:30pm, $12. With High Volume Dealer, Baysic Wonder, Apothesary, and more.
Trevor Childs and the Beholders, American Professionals, Headslide Hotel Utah. 9pm, $8.
Los Campesinos!, Signals Regency Ballroom. 9pm, $22.
"Devil-Ettes a Go Go" Rickshaw Stop. 8:30pm, $10. Dance troupe with live music by the Royal Deuces, Ron Silva and the Monarchs, and Riff Ditties Orchestra.
Fast Times Maggie McGarry’s, 1353 Grant, SF; (415) 399-9020. 9pm, free.
Here Come the Saviours, Victory and Associates, Control-R Hemlock Tavern. 9:30pm, $6.
Mark Hummel and Rusty Zinn 8 and 10pm, $20.
Impalers, Inciters, Titan-Ups, Revival Sound System Café du Nord. 9:30pm, $10.
J-Billion, Odd Future Wolf Gang, DJs Mally Jesus and Roost Uno Thee Parkside. 9pm, $5.
Menew, Lilofee, Frail Mezzanine. 9pm, $7.
Kally Price Revolution Café, 3248 22nd St, SF; (415) 642-0474. 8:45pm, free.
Red Sparowes, Fang Island, Oxbow Great American Music Hall. 9pm, $14. Acoustic show.
Martin Sexton Fillmore. 9pm, $26.50.
Wallpaper, Oona, DJ Morale Independent. 9pm, $15.
JAZZ/NEW MUSIC
Audium 9 1616 Bush, SF; (415) 771-1616. 8:30pm, $15.
Black Market Jazz Orchestra Top of the Mark. 9pm, $10.
Conscious Contact Rite Spot, 2099 Folsom, SF; www.myspace.com/ritespot. 9pm, free.
Eric Kurtzrock Trio Ana Mandara, Ghirardelli Square, 891 Beach, SF; (415) 771-6800. 8pm, free.
Rachelle Ferrell Yoshi’s San Francisco. 8 and 10pm, $25-32.
Shotgun Wedding Symphony Coda. 10pm, $10.
George Winston Grace Cathedral, 1100 California, SF; www.gracecathedral.org. 8pm, $36.
FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY
JimBo Trout and the Fishpeople Plough and Stars. 9pm.
Left Coast Special Socha Café, 3235 Mission, SF; (415) 643-6848. 8:30pm, free.
DANCE CLUBS
Activate! Lookout, 3600 16th St, SF; (415) 431-0306. 9pm, $3. Face your demigods and demons at this Red Bull-fueled party.
Braza! Som., 2925 16th St., SF; (415) 558-8521.10pm, $10.
Deeper 222 Hyde, 222 Hyde, SF; (415) 345-8222. 9pm, $10. With rotating DJs spinning dubstep and techno.
Dirty Rotten Dance Party Madrone Art Bar. 9pm, $5. With DJs Morale, Kap10 Harris, and Shane King spinning electro, bootybass, crunk, swampy breaks, hyphy, rap, and party classics.
Exhale, Fridays Project One Gallery, 251 Rhode Island, SF; (415) 465-2129. 5pm, $5. Happy hour with art, fine food, and music with Vin Sol, King Most, DJ Centipede, and Shane King.
Fat Stack Fridays Koko Cocktails, 1060 Geary, SF; (415) 885-4788. 10pm, free. With rotating DJs Romanowski, B-Love, Tomas, Toph One, and Vinnie Esparza.
Freqo de Mayo Mighty. 10pm, $25. With DJs Tipper, Motion Potion, Absurge, Mycho Cocoa, Victor Vega, Tim Dietz, Big$Bill, and Digital Rust.
Gay Asian Paradise Club Eight, 1151 Folsom, SF; www.eightsf.com. 9pm, $8. Featuring two dance floors playing dance and hip hop, smoking patio, and 2 for 1 drinks before 10pm.
Good Life Fridays Apartment 24, 440 Broadway, SF; (415) 989-3434. 10pm, $10. With DJ Brian spinning hip hop, mashups, and top 40.
Hot Chocolate Milk. 9pm, $5. With DJs Big Fat Frog, Chardmo, DuseRock, and more spinning old and new school funk.
Look Out Weekend Bambuddha Lounge. 4pm, free. Drink specials, food menu and resident DJs White Girl Lust, Swayzee, Philie Ocean, and more.
M4M Fridays Underground SF. 10pm-2am. Joshua J and Frankie Sharp host this man-tastic party.
Mochipet vs. Polish Ambassador and Deceptikon Elbo Room. 10pm, $10-12. Electro.
Rockabilly Fridays Jay N Bee Club, 2736 20th St, SF; (415) 824-4190. 9pm, free. With DJs Rockin’ Raul, Oakie Oran, Sergio Iglesias, and Tanoa "Samoa Boy" spinning 50s and 60s Doo Wop, Rockabilly, Bop, Jive, and more.
Strangelove: Vinyl Night Cat Club, 1190 Folsom, SF; (415) 703-8965. 9:30pm, $6. With DJs Tomas Diablo, Mitch, Lowlife, Andy T, and more spinning goth and industrial.
SATURDAY 8
ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP
Damn Near Dead Ireland’s 32. 9pm, free.
Aram Danesh and the Superhuman Crew Coda. 10pm, $10.
Drive By Truckers Fillmore. 9pm, $25.
Flakes, Tropical Sleep, Only Sons Hemlock Tavern. 9:30pm, $6.
Hurricane Bells Hotel Utah. 9pm, $10.
Illness, No Captains, Wasteland Saints Kimo’s. 9pm, $7.
*Ludicra, Kowloon Walled City, Fell Voices Café du Nord. 9pm, $12.
Mono, Twilight Sad Slim’s. 9pm, $16.
Kate Nash Amoeba, 1855 Haight, SF; www.amoeba.com. 2pm, free.
Old and In the Way, Ten Mile Tide Great American Music Hall. 9pm, $18.
Ash Reiter, Dead Westerns, Ian Fays Thee Parkside. 9pm, $6.
Eric Sardinas Biscuits and Blues. 8 and 10pm, $20.
Sioux City Kid and the Revolutionary Rambler, Fool Proof Four, High Winds Red Devil Lounge. 8pm, $10.
Stanton Moore Trio, Good Band Independent. 9pm, $18.
Tied to the Branches, Aan, Upward House of Shields. 9pm, $6.
Young Offenders, La Urss, N/N, Ruleta Rusa Bender’s, 806 S. Van Ness, SF; www.bendersbar.com. 10pm, $5.
JAZZ/NEW MUSIC
Aca Revolution Café, 3248 22nd St, SF; (415) 642-0474. 8:45pm, free.
Emily Anne Rite Spot, 2099 Folsom, SF; www.myspace.com/ritespot. 9pm, free.
Audium 9 1616 Bush, SF; (415) 771-1616. 8:30pm, $15.
Beth Custer Ensemble Noe Valley Ministry, 1021 Sanchez, SF; (415) 454-5238. 8:15pm, $18.
Eric Kurtzrock Trio Ana Mandara, Ghirardelli Square, 891 Beach, SF; (415) 771-6800. 8pm, free.
Rachelle Ferrell Yoshi’s San Francisco. 8 and 10pm, $32.
FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY
Celina Reyes Socha Café, 3235 Mission, SF; (415) 643-6848. 8:30pm, free.
Mars Arizona, Ken Will Morton Plough and Stars. 9pm.
DANCE CLUBS
Bar on Church 9pm. Rotating DJs Foxxee, Joseph Lee, Zhaldee, Mark Andrus, and Niuxx.
Bootie DNA Lounge. 9pm, $6-12. Mash-ups with Loo and Placido.
Cockblock Rickshaw Stop. 10pm, $7. DJ Nuxx and guests spin for queers and their friends.
Dead After Dark Knockout. 6-9pm, free. With DJ Touchy Feely.
Electricity Knockout. 10pm, $4. Eighties jams with DJs Omar, Deadbeat, Yule B. Sorry, and guest Aidan.
Frolic Stud. 9pm, $3-7. DJs Dragn’Fly, NeonBunny, and Ikkuma spin at this celebration of anthropomorphic costume and dance. Animal outfits encouraged.
HYP Club Eight, 1151 Folsom, SF; www.eightsf.com. 10pm, free. Gay and lesbian hip hop party, featuring DJs spinning the newest in the top 40s hip hop and hyphy.
Mini Non-Stop Bhangra Rickshaw Stop. Noon-3pm, $5-10. Family-friendly dance party.
Same Sex Salsa and Swing Magnet, 4122 18th St, SF; (415) 305-8242. 7pm, free.
Social Club Lookout, 3600 16th St, SF; (415) 431-0306. 9pm. Shake your money maker with DJs Lee Decker and Luke Fry.
Spirit Fingers Sessions 330 Ritch. 9pm, free. With DJ Morse Code and live guest performances.
Spotlight Siberia, 314 11th St, SF; (415) 552-2100. 10pm. With DJs Slowpoke, Double Impact, and Moe1.
Tormenta Tropical Elbo Room. 10pm, $4-10. Electro cumbia with DJs Orion, Disco Shawn, and Oro 11.
SUNDAY 9
ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP
Analog Rebellion, Mansions, Poema Café du Nord. 8pm, $12.
Cloud Archive, Atomic Bomb Audition, Sleepy Eyes of Death Hemlock Tavern. 9pm, $6.
Karina Denike Rite Spot, 2099 Folsom, SF; www.myspace.com/ritespot. 9pm, free.
Fucked Up Rickshaw Stop. 7:30pm, $14.
Lloyd Gregory Biscuits and Blues. 7:30 and 9:30pm, $15.
Sara Haze Hotel Utah. 9pm, $10.
Tallest Man on Earth, Nurses Independent. 8pm, $14.
JAZZ/NEW MUSIC
Rachelle Ferrell Yoshi’s San Francisco. 5 and 7pm, $5-32.
FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY
Jack Gilder, Kevin Bemhagen, Richard Mandel and friends Plough and Stars. 9pm.
Kat Parra and the Sephardic Experience Coda. 8pm, $10.
Pa Sevilla Bollyhood Café. 7pm, $15. With DJ Sandrella spinning flamenco rock, rumba, and salsa.
DANCE CLUBS
Autobahn Koko Cocktails, 1060 Geary, SF; (415) 885-4788. 9pm, free.
DiscoFunk Mashups Cat Club. 10pm, free. House and 70’s music.
Dub Mission Elbo Room. 9pm, $6. Dub, roots, and classic dancehall with Maneesh the Twister and Vinnie Esparza.
Gloss Sundays Trigger, 2344 Market, SF; (415) 551-CLUB. 7pm. With DJ Hawthorne spinning house, funk, soul, retro, and disco.
Honey Soundsystem Paradise Lounge. 8pm-2am. "Dance floor for dancers – sound system for lovers." Got that?
Jock! Lookout, 3600 16th St, SF; (415) 431-0306. 3pm, $2. This high-energy party raises money for LGBT sports teams.
Kick It Bar on Church. 9pm. Hip-hop with DJ Zax.
Lonely Teardrops Rock n’ Roll Night Knockout. 9pm, $4. Doo-wop, R&B, jivers, and more with DJs dX the Funky Granpaw and Sergio Iglesias.
Religion Bar on Church. 3pm. With DJ Nikita.
Stag AsiaSF. 6pm, $5. Gay bachelor parties are the target demo of this weekly erotic tea dance.
MONDAY 10
ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP
Alexisonfire, Trash Talk, Therefore I Am, La Dispute Slim’s. 7:30pm, $16.
Besnard Lakes, Happy Hollows, New Slave Independent. 8pm, $14.
"Felonious Presents Live City Revue" Coda. 9pm, $7.
Ed Jones Rite Spot, 2099 Folsom, SF; www.myspace.com/ritespot. 9pm, free.
Rattlesnakes, Cellar Doors, Atom Age Elbo Room. 9pm, $5.
*Red Fang, Hot Fog, Hazzard’s Cure Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $10.
DANCE CLUBS
Bacano! Som., 2925 16th St, SF; (415) 558-8521. 9pm, free. With resident DJs El Kool Kyle and Santero spinning Latin music.
Black Gold Koko Cocktails, 1060 Geary, SF; (415) 885-4788. 10pm-2am, free. Senator Soul spins Detroit soul, Motown, New Orleans R&B, and more — all on 45!
Death Guild DNA Lounge. 9:30pm, $3-5. Gothic, industrial, and synthpop with DJs Joe Radio, Decay, and Melting Girl.
M.O.M. Madrone Art Bar. 6pm, free. With DJ Gordo Cabeza and guests playing all Motown every Monday.
Manic Mondays Bar on Church. 9pm. Drink 80-cent cosmos with Djs Mark Andrus and Dangerous Dan.
Monster Show Underground SF. 10pm, $5. Cookie Dough and DJ MC2 make Mondays worth dancing about, with a killer drag show at 11pm.
Network Mondays Azul Lounge, One Tillman Pl, SF; www.inhousetalent.com. 9pm, $5. Hip-hop, R&B, and spoken word open mic, plus featured performers.
Skylarking Skylark. 10pm, free. With resident DJs I & I Vibration, Beatnok, and Mr. Lucky and weekly guest DJs.
TUESDAY 11
ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP
*Embers, Ninth Moon Black, Blackwaves, Nero Order Thee Parkside. 8:30pm, $8.
Fromagique featuring Bombshell Betty Elbo Room. 9pm, $8. Live music and burlesque.
Tom Goss, Dudley Saunders, Daniel Owens, Jeremiah Clark Metropolitan Community Church, 110 Gough, SF; www.tomgossmusic.com/tickets. 7:30pm, $15.
Hamilton Loomis Biscuits and Blues. 8 and 10pm, $15.
MC Meathook and the Vital Organs, Hammer Horror Classics, Trashkannon Knockout. 9:30pm, free.
Midnite Independent. 9pm, $28.
Minks, Bang, She’s Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $8.
Phantom Kicks, Skeletal Systems, Sunbeam Road Hemlock Tavern. 9pm, $6.
*Wiz Khalifa, Fashawn, Jasmine Solano Slim’s. 9pm, $15.
FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY
Barry O’Connell, Vinnie Cronin and friends Plough and Stars. 9pm.
DANCE CLUBS
Alcoholocaust Presents Argus Lounge. 9pm, free. With DJ What’s His Fuck, H-Bomb, and Big Dwayne.
Eclectic Company Skylark, 9pm, free. DJs Tones and Jaybee spin old school hip hop, bass, dub, glitch, and electro.
La Escuelita Pisco Lounge, 1817 Market, SF; (415) 874-9951. 7pm, free. DJ Juan Data spinning gay-friendly, Latino sing-alongs but no salsa or reggaeton.
Rock Out Karaoke! Amnesia. 7:30pm. With Glenny Kravitz.
Share the Love Trigger, 2344 Market, SF; (415) 551-CLUB. 5pm, free. With DJ Pam Hubbuck spinning house.
Womanizer Bar on Church. 9pm. With DJ Nuxx.
Hot sexy events: April 28 – May 4
It’s time to take control, cats and kittens. And no, I don’t mean you’ve gotta throw away all those naughty thoughts of ropes and handcuffs — rather, it’s time to lay claim to your own sex life. This week’s sexy events give you ample room to play with this concept, be it Cleo Dubois (2008 leather Marshall of the Pride parade)’s weekend long intensive on mastering the whip for female dominants, or Julian Wolf’s class at Good Vibes on reaffirming the divine in your S&M. For a different take, head to Wicked Grounds’ Festish Munch, where you can calmly meet and greet potential playmates with as much discretion as you have over your extra foamy latte… or was that a mocha with whip? Regardless, get out there and make it how you want to.
S&M: Spirit & Meaning
Julian Wolf shows the way to BDSM scenes that inspire spiritual awakening, making it possible to be a sexy person, and a spiritual person, all in the same moment.
Wed/28 8-10 p.m., $25-30
Good Vibrations
603 Valencia, SF
(415) 552-5460
www.goodvibes.com
Fetish Munch
Do you like fetish play, dress up, BDSM fun, and “dark and sexy” music — but find it hard to really get to know your partners in the thick of the party? Take time to come discuss your passions over a cup of coffee at SF’s sexiest cafe, Wicked Grounds.
Wed/28 8-9:30 p.m., free
Wicked Grounds
289 8th St., SF
(415) 503-0405
www.wickedgrounds.org
Amazing Grace
The first movie to touch on AIDS issues in Israel, Amazing Grace witnesses the relationship between upstairs and downstairs neighbors. The film screens as part of the SF Jewish Film Festival and the “Out in Israel” LBGT Culture Festival.
Thur/29 9 p.m., free
Roxie Cinema
3125 16th St., SF
(415) 863-1087
www.sfjff.org
Cleo Dubois’ Women’s Erotic Dominance Weekend
A full weekend of women learning how to maximize their power in the dungeon. Feedback from previous attendees: “the course gave me more than I had anticipated or hoped for and I had hoped for quite a lot.” Time to get some more confidence in your life, starting with your sexual dynamics.
Starts Fri/30 7 p.m. @ private SOMA residence
Day long courses Sat/1 & Sun/2 @ SF Citadel
1277 Mission, SF
(650) 326-3269
cleodubois@sm-arts.com
Burlesque ‘N Brass
Blue Bone Express provides the jazz melodies to which lovely ladies will shake their spangles. Raise a glass (I hear they have good grapefruit juice cocktails, just a thought), and watch out for dangerous curves.
Sat/1 8:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m., $10
Café Van Kleef
1621 Telegraph, Oakland
(510) 763-7711
www.cafevankleef.com
SF Citadel Play Party
Romp amongst the slings and arrows, outrageous fortune pretty much guaranteed at this frisky get together for the leather community! The event is only open to members, but unaffiliated pervs, you’re in luck — you can buy in for a full year at the Citadel for just $10. They’re also open to work/play exchanges, if you’d like to volunteer for a shift.
Sat/1 8 p.m.-1 a.m., $25 for members
SF Citadel
1277 Mission, SF
(415) 626-1746
www.sfcitadel.org
Thrillpeddlers Present: “Hot Greeks”
The Thrillpeddlars follow up the wild success of “Pearls Over Shanghai” with this sassy little stage number, which tells the story of the Tri Thigh sorority girls’ quest to find the Oracle of Delphi (otherwise known as the Hot Twat of Tangier). The pricey tickets are a partner price for the special “shock box” seating. Oooo…
Sun/2 7 p.m., $30-69
Hypnodrome Theater
575 10th St., SF
(415) 377-4402
www.thrillpeddlers.com
Mommy’s Playdate
Madres only at this mingle fest for those with little ones. Leave the kiddies at home, and instead pick up “mommy-tini,” and get a one on one consultation from the Good Vibes staff sexologist. And a makeover… of what you’ll have to attend to find out.
Tues/4 7-9 p.m., free
Good Vibrations
1620 Polk, SF
(415) 345-0400
www.goodvibes.com
Music listings
Music listings are compiled by Paula Connelly and Cheryl Eddy. Since club life is unpredictable, it’s a good idea to call ahead to confirm bookings and hours. Prices are listed when provided to us. Submit items at listings@sfbg.com.
WEDNESDAY 28
ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP
*Aesop, Venture Capitalists, New Humans Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $10.
Fix My Head, This Runs on Blood, Useless Children, Gain to Lose Sub-Mission, 2183 Mission, SF; www.sf-submission.com. 9pm, $6.
*"Full Pink Moon Party" Rickshaw Stop. 8pm, $10. With Sonya Cotton, Honeycomb, Jascha vs. Jascha, and Kris Gruen.
Japanther, Reaction, Dirty Marquee, Street Eaters Hemlock Tavern. 9pm, $8.
Pomegranate, Fall Risk, Control-R Hotel Utah. 8:30pm, $6.
Chad Price, Michael Dean Damron, Micah Schabnel, Piss Pissdofferson Thee Parkside. 8:30pm, $5.
Stymie and the Pimp Jones Luv Orchestra, Funk Revival Orchestra Café du Nord. 9pm, $10.
Volker Strifler Band Biscuits and Blues. 8pm, $15.
FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY
Anoushka Shankar Palace of Fine Arts Theater, 3301 Lyon, SF; (415) 563-6504. 8pm, $25-$65.
DANCE CLUBS
Booty Call Q-Bar, 456 Castro, SF; www.bootycallwednesdays.com. 9pm. Juanita Moore hosts this dance party, featuring DJ Robot Hustle.
Club Shutter Elbo Room. 10pm, $5. Goth with DJs Omar, Nako, and Justin.
Hands Down! Bar on Church. 9pm, free. With DJs Claksaarb, Mykill, and guests spinning indie, electro, house, and bangers.
Machine Sloane, 1525 Mission, SF; (415) 621-7007. 10pm, free. Warm beats for happy feet with DJs Sergio, Conor, and André Lucero.
Mary-Go-Round Lookout, 3600 16th St, SF; (415) 431-0306. 10pm, $5. A weekly drag show with hosts Cookie Dough, Pollo Del Mar, and Suppositori Spelling.
RedWine Social Dalva. 9pm-2am, free. DJ TophOne and guests spin outernational funk and get drunk.
Respect Wednesdays End Up. 10pm, $5. Rotating DJs Daddy Rolo, Young Fyah, Irie Dole, I-Vier, Sake One, Serg, and more spinning reggae, dancehall, roots, lovers rock, and mash ups.
Synchronize Il Pirata, 2007 16th St, SF; (415) 626-2626. 10pm, free. Psychedelic dance music with DJs Helios, Gatto Matto, Psy Lotus, Intergalactoid, and guests.
Telephoned Harlot, 46 Minna, SF; www.harlotsf.com. 7pm. Mash-ups with DJ Sammy Bananas and singer Maggie Horn.
Yoruba Dance Sessions Bacano! Som., 2925 16th St, SF; (415) 558-8521. 9pm, free. With resident DJ Carlos Mena and guests spinning afro-deep-global-soulful-broken-techhouse.
THURSDAY 29
ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP
Aquaserge, Casper and the Cookies, Grand Lake Rickshaw Stop. 8pm, $10.
Arcadio, Guns for San Sebastian, Charles Gonzalez Café du Nord. 9pm, $10.
C-Mon and Kypski, Frequency, Sweet Snacks, DJ Mancub Independent. 9pm, $12.
A Day to Remember, August Burns Red, Silverstein, Enter Shikari, Go Radio Regency Ballroom. 6:45pm, $23.
Dunes El Rio. 8pm, $5.
Shane Dwight Biscuits and Blues. 8pm, $20.
Flood, Hashishian, Days of High Adventure Knockout. 10pm, $6.
49 Special, Big Nasty, TV Mike and the Scarecrowes Hotel Utah. 9pm, $7.
Emily McLean, Quinn DeVeaux, Street Sirens Red Devil Lounge. 8pm, $8.
Murs, Sick Jacken Fillmore. 8pm, $20.
Photo Atlas, Moog, Smile Radio Thee Parkside. 9pm, $8.
Spill Canvas, Tyler Hilton, AM Taxi, New Politics Slim’s. 7:30pm, $16.
Sugar and Gold, Nite Jewel, Baron Von Luxxury, DJ Loose Shus Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $10.
Sugar Butt Tiger, Bare Wires, Girl Band, MC Meathook and the Vital Organs, SF Rockstar Paradise Lounge. 9pm, $7. Proceeds benefit the Haight-Ashbury Street Fair.
Emily Jane White, Helene Renault, Chloe Makes Music Hemlock Tavern. 9pm, $7.
FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY
Bluegrass and old-time jam Atlas Café. 8pm, free.
Jordan Carp Bollyhood Café. 8pm, free.
Jon Rubin with Cal Keaoola Bliss Bar, 4026 24th St., SF; (415) 826-6200. 8pm, free.
DANCE CLUBS
Afrolicious Elbo Room. 9:30pm, $8-10. DJs Pleasuremaker and Señor Oz mark their night’s third anniversary with a live performance by Aphrodesia.
Caribbean Connection Little Baobab, 3388 19th St, SF; (415) 643-3558. 10pm, $3. DJ Stevie B and guests spin reggae, soca, zouk, reggaetón, and more.
Drop the Pressure Underground SF. 6-10pm, free. Electro, house, and datafunk highlight this weekly happy hour.
Good Foot Yoruba Dance Sessions Bacano! Som., 2925 16th St, SF; (415) 558-8521. 9pm, free. A James Brown tribute with resident DJs Haylow, A-Ron, and Prince Aries spinning R&B, Hip hop, funk, and soul.
Koko Puffs Koko Cocktails, 1060 Geary, SF; (415) 885-4788. 10pm, free. Dubby roots reggae and Jamaican funk from rotating DJs.
Mestiza Bollywood Café, 3376 19th St, SF; (415) 970-0362. 10pm, free. Showcasing progressive Latin and global beats with DJ Juan Data.
Peaches Skylark, 10pm, free. With an all female DJ line up featuring Deeandroid, Lady Fingaz, That Girl, and Umami spinning hip hop.
Popscene 330 Rich. 10pm, $10. Rotating DJs spinning indie, Britpop, electro, new wave, and post-punk.
FRIDAY 30
ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP
Aunt Kizzy’z Boyz Biscuits and Blues. 8 and 10pm, $20.
David Baron, Dan Vickrey, Blackstone Heist, American Studies Hotel Utah. 9pm, $10.
Clipd Beaks, Sightings, Bill Orcutt Hemlock Tavern. 9pm, $7.
Flexx Bronco, My Revolver, Bourbon Saints, Electric Sister Thee Parkside. 9pm, $6.
JFP, Cnote, Mack Misstress El Rio. 10pm, $5.
Kapakahi, Dogman Joe, Stranger Café du Nord. 9:30pm, $12.
Lemonade, Solid Gold, Active Child, DJ Aaron Axelsen Rickshaw Stop. 9pm, $10.
Lord T. and Eloise, Tenderloins, Hottub DJ Set Independent. 9pm, $14.
Ponys, Disappears, Spencey Dude and the Doodles Bottom of the Hill. 10pm, $12.
Rogue Wave, Man/Miracle Fillmore. 9pm, $19.50.
Joe Rut Great American Music Hall. 9pm, $14. With comedian Will Franken.
Shpongle, ADHK, Hallucinogen LIVE Regency Ballroom. 9pm, $30.
Shayna Steele Coda. 10pm, $10.
JAZZ/NEW MUSIC
Audium 9 1616 Bush, SF; (415) 771-1616. 8:30pm, $15.
Black Market Jazz Orchestra Top of the Mark. 9pm, $10.
Chano Dominguez Flamenco Jazz Quartet featuring Tomasito Palace of Fine Arts Theare, 3301 Lyon, SF; www.sfjazz.org. 8pm, $25-60.
Dan Zemelmen Quartet with Kenny Washington Red Poppy Art House. 8pm, $12-15.
Eric Kurtzrock Trio Ana Mandara, Ghirardelli Square, 891 Beach, SF; (415) 771-6800. 8pm, free.
Fred Frith and Theresa Wong Meridian Gallery, 535 Powell, SF; www.meridiangallery.org. 8pm, $10.
Kenny Lattimore Yoshi’s San Francisco. 8 and 10pm, $38.
"A Night at Birdland" Deco Lounge, 510 Larkin, SF; (415) 346-2025. 9pm. With the MegaFlame Blue Band.
FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY
Eek-a-mouse Rock-it Room. 10pm, $22. With the Holdup and DJ Mr. E.
Lava, Mestizo, Carmen Milagro Slim’s. 8pm, $16.
Melees Socha Café, 3235 Mission, SF; (415) 643-6848. 8:30pm, free.
Stairwell Sisters Revolution Café, 3248 22nd St, SF; (415) 642-0474. 8:45pm, free.
DANCE CLUBS
Activate! Lookout, 3600 16th St, SF; (415) 431-0306. 9pm, $3. Face your demigods and demons at this Red Bull-fueled party.
Afrolicious Elbo Room. 9:30pm, $8-10. DJs Pleasuremaker and Señor Oz mark their night’s third anniversary with Chico Mann and guest DJ Similak Chyld.
Area Codes Element Lounge. 10pm, $10. With DJs Platurn, Doc Fu, and White Mike spinning Bay Area hip hop.
Blow Up Rickshaw Stop. 10pm, $10. With rotating DJs.
Exhale, Fridays Project One Gallery, 251 Rhode Island, SF; (415) 465-2129. 5pm, $5. Happy hour with art, fine food, and music with Vin Sol, King Most, DJ Centipede, and Shane King.
Fat Stack Fridays Koko Cocktails, 1060 Geary, SF; (415) 885-4788. 10pm, free. With rotating DJs Romanowski, B-Love, Tomas, Toph One, and Vinnie Esparza.
Gay Asian Paradise Club Eight, 1151 Folsom, SF; www.eightsf.com. 9pm, $8. Featuring two dance floors playing dance and hip hop, smoking patio, and 2 for 1 drinks before 10pm.
Good Life Fridays Apartment 24, 440 Broadway, SF; (415) 989-3434. 10pm, $10. With DJ Brian spinning hip hop, mashups, and top 40.
Hot Chocolate Milk. 9pm, $5. With DJs Big Fat Frog, Chardmo, DuseRock, and more spinning old and new school funk.
Look Out Weekend Bambuddha Lounge. 4pm, free. Drink specials, food menu and resident DJs White Girl Lust, Swayzee, Philie Ocean, and more.
M4M Fridays Underground SF. 10pm-2am. Joshua J and Frankie Sharp host this man-tastic party.
Meat Vs. Death Guild DNA Lounge. 8:30pm, $4-8. Industrial, gothic, EBM, and more with Decay, BaconMonkey, Joe Radio, and Melting Girl.
Quantic Mighty. 10pm, $12. With Disco Shawn and DJ Sake 1.
Rockabilly Fridays Jay N Bee Club, 2736 20th St, SF; (415) 824-4190. 9pm, free. With DJs Rockin’ Raul, Oakie Oran, Sergio Iglesias, and Tanoa "Samoa Boy" spinning 50s and 60s Doo Wop, Rockabilly, Bop, Jive, and more.
Suite Jesus 111 Minna. 9pm, $20. Beats, dancehall, reggae and local art.
Teenage Dance Craze Party Knockout. 10pm, $3. With DJ Sergio Iglesias, Russell Quann, and dX the Funky Gran Paw.
SATURDAY 1
ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP
*AC/Dshe, Total B.S., Honeydust Slim’s. 9pm, $14.
Antlers, Phantogram Independent. 9pm, $14.
Mike Beck and the Bohemian Saints Riptide. 9pm, free.
Broken Social Scene Fillmore. 9pm, $25.
Grand National, Bonafide, General Jones Hotel Utah. 9pm, $8.
JC Smith Band Biscuits and Blues. 8 and 10pm, $16.
*Laudanum, Worm Ouroboros, Dispirit Hemlock Tavern. 9:30pm, $7.
Maus Haus, Rafter, White Cloud Bottom of the Hill. 10pm, $10.
Outernational Thee Parkside. 9pm, $10.
Plushgun, Music for Animals, Fake Your Own Death, Marissa Guzman Rickshaw Stop. 8pm, $15.
Warren Teagarden, Collisionville, Charmless Kimo’s. 9pm, $7.
JAZZ/NEW MUSIC
Audium 9 1616 Bush, SF; (415) 771-1616. 8:30pm, $15.
Eric Kurtzrock Trio Ana Mandara, Ghirardelli Square, 891 Beach, SF; (415) 771-6800. 8pm, free.
Hypnotic Brass Ensemble Palace of Fine Arts Theatre, 3301 Lyon, SF; www.sfjazz.org. 3 and 8pm, $5-25.
Kenny Lattimore Yoshi’s San Francisco. 8 and 10pm, $38.
Marlena Teich Quintet Savanna Jazz. 8pm.
Sanctuary Trio featuring Peter Apfelbaum and guests Coda. 10pm, $10.
Ricardo Scales Top of the Mark. 9pm, $15.
FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY
Boyd and Wain Socha Café, 3235 Mission, SF; (415) 643-6848. 8:30pm, free.
Evangenitals El Rio. 11:30pm, $7.
Gold Live Rockit Room. 9pm, $15. With Ce’Cile, Daddy Rolo, Empress I-Lexis, Danneekah.
Sour Mash Hug Band, Four Inch Pony, Janay Rose Mercury Café, 201 Octavia, SF; (415) 252-7855. 7pm, $5.
Red Hot Chachkas Red Poppy Art House. 8pm, $15.
Brazil Vox Revolution Café, 3248 22nd St, SF; (415) 642-0474. 8:45pm, free.
DANCE CLUBS
Bar on Church 9pm. Rotating DJs Foxxee, Joseph Lee, Zhaldee, Mark Andrus, and Niuxx.
Dead After Dark Knockout. 6-9pm, free. With DJ Touchy Feely.
Debaser Knockout. 9pm, $5. Alt-rock hits from the 90s with DJ Jamie Jams and Emdee of Club Neon.
Everlasting Bass 330 Ritch. 10pm, $5-10. Bay Area Sistah Sound presents this party, with DJs Zita and Pam the Funkstress spinning hip-hop, soul, funk, reggae, dancehall, and club classics.
Fire Corner Koko Cocktails, 1060 Geary, SF; (415) 885-4788. 9:30pm, free. Rare and outrageous ska, rocksteady, and reggae vinyl with Revival Sound System and guests.
Foundation Som., 2925 16th St., SF; (415) 558-8521. 10pm.
Gemini Disco Underground SF. 10pm, $5. Disco with DJ Derrick Love and Nicky B. spinning deep disco.
HYP Club Eight, 1151 Folsom, SF; www.eightsf.com. 10pm, free. Gay and lesbian hip hop party, featuring DJs spinning the newest in the top 40s hip hop and hyphy.
Kontrol Endup. 10pm, $20. With resident DJs Alland Byallo, Craig Kuna, Sammy D, and Nikola Baytala spinning minimal techno and avant house.
Leisure Paradise Lounge. 10pm, $7. DJs Omar, Aaron, and Jet Set James spinning classic britpop, mod, 60s soul, and 90s indie.
New Wave City DNA Lounge. 9pm, $7-12. Erasure tribute with Skip and Shindog and Andy T.
Rebel Girl Rickshaw Stop. 10pm, $5. "Electroindierockhiphop" and 80s dance party for dykes, bois, femmes, and queers with DJ China G and guests.
Saturday Night Soul Party Elbo Room. 10pm, $10. Sixties soul with DJs Lucky, Phengren Oswald, and Paul Paul.
So Special Club Six. 9pm, $5. DJ Dans One and guests spinning dancehall, reggae, classics, and remixes.
Social Club Lookout, 3600 16th St, SF; (415) 431-0306. 9pm. Shake your money maker with DJs Lee Decker and Luke Fry.
Soundscape Vortex Room, 1082 Howard, SF; www.myspace.com/thevortexroom. With DJs C3PLOS, Brighton Russ, and Nick Waterhouse spinning Soul jazz, boogaloo, hammond grooves, and more.
Spirit Fingers Sessions 330 Ritch. 9pm, free. With DJ Morse Code and live guest performances.
SUNDAY 2
ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP
Eluvium, Benoit Pioulard Café du Nord. 8pm, $12.
Nymph, Three Leafs, Woom Hemlock Tavern. 9pm, $6.
Shootin’ Lucy, Neutralboy, Steel Tigers of Death, Gunner Kimo’s. 5:30pm, $6.
JAZZ/NEW MUSIC
Kenny Lattimore Yoshi’s San Francisco. 5pm, $5-38.
Raul Midon Palace of Fine Arts Theatre, 3301 Lyon, SF; www.sfjazz.org. 7pm, $25-55.
Ray Obiedo and the Urban Latin Jazz Project Coda. 8pm, $10.
*Kronos Quartet Herbst Theatre, 401 Van Ness, SF; www.performances.org. 11am, $8-15.
Rent Romus and the Emergency String Ensemble, Noertker’s Moxie Chamber Ensemble Musicians Union Hall, 116 Ninth, SF; www.noertker.com. 7:30pm, $10.
FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY
Damon and the Heathens, Graves Brothers Deluxe, Doc Holler Amnesia. 8:30pm, $7.
"Wanderlust at the Fillmore" Fillmore. 8pm, $25. With Rupa and the April Fishes, MC Yogi, and DJ Dragonfly.
DANCE CLUBS
Afterglow Nickies, 466 Haight, SF; (415) 255-0300. An evening of mellow electronics with resident DJs Matt Wilder, Mike Perry, Greg Bird, and guests.
Call In Sick Skylark. 9pm, free. DJs Animal and I Will spin danceable hip-hop.
DiscoFunk Mashups Cat Club. 10pm, free. House and 70’s music.
Dub Mission Elbo Room. 9pm, $6. Dub, roots, and classic dancehall with Vinnie Esparza and guest Spliff Skankin’.
FlashDance SF Glas Kat, 520 4th St., SF; www.flashdancesf.com. 6pm, $25.
Gloss Sundays Trigger, 2344 Market, SF; (415) 551-CLUB. 7pm. With DJ Hawthorne spinning house, funk, soul, retro, and disco.
Honey Soundsystem Paradise Lounge. 8pm-2am. "Dance floor for dancers – sound system for lovers." Got that?
Jock! Lookout, 3600 16th St, SF; (415) 431-0306. 3pm, $2. This high-energy party raises money for LGBT sports teams.
Kick It Bar on Church. 9pm. Hip-hop with DJ Zax.
Lowbrow Sunday Delirium. 1pm, free. DJ Roost Uno and guests spinning club hip hop, indie, and top 40s.
Religion Bar on Church. 3pm. With DJ Nikita.
Stag AsiaSF. 6pm, $5. Gay bachelor parties are the target demo of this weekly erotic tea dance.
MONDAY 3
ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP
"Felonious Presents Live City Revue" Coda. 9pm, $7.
Futurecop, Keith Masters Elbo Room. 9pm, $7.
Green River Ordinance, Matt Hires, Angel Taylor Café du Nord. 8pm, $12.
Garrison Starr, Joey Ryan, Cate Le Bon Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $10.
FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY
AaronandJane Rockit Room. 8pm, free.
DANCE CLUBS
Bacano! Som., 2925 16th St, SF; (415) 558-8521. 9pm, free. With resident DJs El Kool Kyle and Santero spinning Latin music.
Black Gold Koko Cocktails, 1060 Geary, SF; (415) 885-4788. 10pm-2am, free. Senator Soul spins Detroit soul, Motown, New Orleans R&B, and more — all on 45!
Death Guild DNA Lounge. 9:30pm, $3-5. Gothic, industrial, and synthpop with Decay, Joe Radio, and Melting Girl.
M.O.M. Madrone Art Bar. 6pm, free. With DJ Gordo Cabeza and guests playing all Motown every Monday.
Manic Mondays Bar on Church. 9pm. Drink 80-cent cosmos with Djs Mark Andrus and Dangerous Dan.
Monster Show Underground SF. 10pm, $5. Cookie Dough and DJ MC2 make Mondays worth dancing about, with a killer drag show at 11pm.
Network Mondays Azul Lounge, One Tillman Pl, SF; www.inhousetalent.com. 9pm, $5. Hip-hop, R&B, and spoken word open mic, plus featured performers.
Skylarking Skylark. 10pm, free. With resident DJs I & I Vibration, Beatnok, and Mr. Lucky and weekly guest Djs.
TUESDAY 4
ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP
Heartless Bastards, Hacienda, Amy Cook Independent. 8pm, $18.
*Lupe Fiasco, B.o.B. Warfield. 8pm, $40.
MC Frontalot, Brandon Patton, Edible Norris Café du Nord. 8pm, $12.
Mantles, Dimmer, Weekend Rickshaw Stop. 8pm, $10.
Mudface, Great American Beast, Motogruv Elbo Room. 9pm, $6.
Needtobreathe, Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers, Seabird Great American Music Hall. 8pm, $19.
Rangers, Jon Porras, Radiant Husk, Centipede Eest Hemlock Tavern. 9pm, $6.
Title Tracks, New Trust, Bye Bye Blackbirds Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $10.
Zweng, Frisky Disco, Parachute Musical, Winter Sounds Thee Parkside. 8pm, $6.
DANCE CLUBS
Alcoholocaust Presents Argus Lounge. 9pm, free. With DJs What’s His Fuck, Taypoleon, and Mackiveli.
Eclectic Company Skylark, 9pm, free. DJs Tones and Jaybee spin old school hip hop, bass, dub, glitch, and electro.
La Escuelita Pisco Lounge, 1817 Market, SF; (415) 874-9951. 7pm, free. DJ Juan Data spinning gay-friendly, Latino sing-alongs but no salsa or reggaeton.
Mixology Aunt Charlie’s Lounge, 133 Turk, SF; (415) 441-2922. 10pm, $2. DJ Frantik mixes with the science and art of music all night.
Rock Out Karaoke! Amnesia. 7:30pm. With Glenny Kravitz.
Share the Love Trigger, 2344 Market, SF; (415) 551-CLUB. 5pm, free. With DJ Pam Hubbuck spinning house.
Womanizer Bar on Church. 9pm. With DJ Nuxx.
FEAST: 10 kick-ass brunches
We here at the Guardian don’t survive on green buds and printer ink alone. We eat real food. Sometimes! But we do get up late and hungover. While we often forgo fancy brunch — unless we save our pennies for the amazing eggs-meet-legs “Sunday’s a Drag” buffet at Harry Denton’s (www.harrydenton.com) or dim sum nirvana at Yank Sing (www.yanksing.com) or Ton Kiang (www.tonkiang.net) — we’ll sure as shootin’ shell out for thrifty chilaquiles and bloody marys, especially the way the Bay makes ’em. Here are some of our dearest bleary-eyed, late-morning tummy fillers. (Marke B.)
BASHFUL BULL TOO
There are days when you wake up with a bladder full of Jameson’s and a fervent wish to sink into a salty, unglamorous world of egg and cheese. These are the mornings when bottomless mimosas and goat cheese frittatas sound like fightin’ words. Easy tiger, I got you — just slump into a booth at Bashful Bull Too, the most standard of Outer Sunset diners. There’s no live jazz band, no “scene” at all — just you and your greasy calories. Get down on their cheap plates of hash browns and bacon, or better yet, a burger. Slabs of ground beef are acceptable fare when, after all, you’re having breakfast at 2 p.m. (Caitlin Donohue)
3600 Taraval, SF. (415) 759-8112
BEAN BAG CAFÉ
In you’re from the Midwest, good brunch spots are distinguished by waitresses who call you “hon” and have your coffee waiting for you before you sit down. Become a regular at Bean Bag Café in the Western Addition, and they’ll do all that and more. Bean Bag’s extensive breakfast and lunch menu and progressive cooking staff means never having to decide if it’s too late for Goldilocks oatmeal (yep, it’s just right) or too early for pancakes and beer. Speaking of pancakes, the Bean Bag buttermilk, customized with bananas and caramelized walnuts on top, is a must-have. Pair it with scrambled eggs drenched in Tabasco, and you’re set until 3 p.m., when Bean Bag kicks off its happy hour with beer for $1.75. Other highlights: sunshine and a petting zoo of scruffy but wuvable dogs outside. (Diane Sussman)
601 Divisadero, SF. (415)-563-3634
CAFE DU SOLEIL
Lower Haight — known for its nicoise? C’est vrai! The salad nicoise at Cafe Du Soleil is a stunner, bursting with tender tuna, piquant greens, and enough fresh fixings to ensure some inner sunshine. But don’t stop there — or at the pastry case in front, with delectable goodies like croques madames and hazelnut chocolate croissants. Soleil’s salmon tortilla, a sort of deconstructed-quiche pyramid topped with lovely lox and drizzled with smoky romesco, is this laidback Parisian hang’s brunchtime piece de resistance. Bonus: hunky scruffsters and tattooed ladies. (Marke B.)
200 Fillmore, SF. (415) 934-8637. www.soleilsf.com
CHLOE’S
Let’s face it, one aspect of brunch — at least on a Sunday — is the wait. Chloe’s is no exception. The restaurant’s rep and tiny size mean that while weekdays are fine, on the weekend you will be waiting in a (loose) line. The upside is that Chloe’s is on a quiet corner of Church Street, so on a sunlit day, you’ll get fresh air and nothing noisier or more imposing than the people-watching pleasure of the J-Church sliding by. Once inside, indulge your sweet tooth: two highlights of the low-key menu are french toast made with croissants (served with strawberries and powdered sugar) and banana walnut pancakes, a Chloe’s specialty. Chloe’s offers some pleasant, simple variations on scrambled eggs, and the fresh fruit and white rosemary toast to compliment them. This may be Noe Valley, but the coffee is Twin Peaks good. (Johnny Ray Huston)
1399 Church, SF. (415) 648-4116
CHOW
The agony of brunch, since it allows for judgment-free consumption of lunch dishes or breakfast dishes, means having to choose between savory or sweet, sandwich or omelet, salad or hash browns. Ten minutes alone can be devoted to the age-old question of pancake or eggs benedict? Coffee or cocktail? Pancake or … This is where Chow ends the cycle of neurosis. At Chow, you can order one egg benedict and one pancake, accompanied by one cup of coffee and one wine mojito. Plus, Chow has two pancakes without peer: the blueberry with warm blueberry sauce and mascarpone cheese, and Marion’s ricotta pancake with lemon. Get one of each! Of course, if you want the chilaquiles or a cheesy scramble, Chow will happily oblige. Watch them start to emit a soft, warm glow when paired with a blushing bellini. (Diane Sussman)
212 Church and 1245 Ninth Ave. 415-552-2469; 415-665-9912, www.chowfoodbar.com
HOMEMADE CAFÉ
It’s Saturday morning-slipping-toward-noon, and there are few reasons to expend the effort to pick your fuzzball head up off the pillow it dropped onto in the after-party wee hours. Curled in your cocoon, there is but one comforting thought: breakfast! Few places can revive the soul and satisfy the belly as proficiently as Homemade Café. You’d be wise to choose the spinach, mushroom, and feta omelet. Sweet or spicy is a tough choice, though, since there are spectacularly fluffy blueberry pancakes to be had as well. It’s crucial that you remember this magical phrase: “Upgrade to Home-Fry Heaven.” They’ll arrive smothered in cheese, salsa, sour cream, and a choice of guacamole or pesto. You will feel alive again — at least until naptime. (Rebecca Bowe)
2454 Sacramento, Berk. (510) 845-1940
LIME
I love Lime. Not just because it offers a pretty good assortment of belly-filling foodstuffs on Sunday mornings or the hip and lively atmosphere — but because of the bottomless mimosas and bloody marys. Now, I could try to compare Lime’s eggs benedict to others I’ve eaten, but why bother? There are bottomless fucking mimosas and bloody marys, people! Who cares about the food when I can get stupid drunk with my friends at 11 a.m.? In fact, I can’t recall a time when we weren’t asked to leave, albeit very nicely by the wait staff. Just be careful, those drinks will knock you on your ass and give you a hangover by 4 p.m. Guaranteed. (Ben Hopfer)
2247 Market St., SF. 415.621.5256, www.lime-sf.com
LYNN & LU’S ESCAPADE CAFE
Lynn and Lu, I heart you. Snag a quaint table under an umbrella on Grand Avenue or find a spot on the back patio for a beautiful sunny brunch. The morning portions are fat, happy, and classic. Three-egg omelets come bursting with your filler of choice and arrive sitting next to a pile of yummy roasted potatoes. Those with stomachs bigger than their eyes will be relieved to see that the Escapade frittatas look more like a crowd-pleasing tower of peppers, veggies, and eggs than a paltry single serving — everyone will waddle away with a smile. The service is fabulous, the price is just right, and the food comes quick enough to whisk away any dream-soaked cobwebs. (Amber Schadewald)
3353 Grand Ave, Oakland, 510-835-5705
MAMA’S ROYAL CAFÉ
Imagine a John Waters time warp with rickety counter chairs, a napkin art gallery, and a suggestive painting of female softball players with a giant bat, and you’ve just about captured the quirkiness of Mama’s Royal Café. The home fries, hollandaise dishes, and rib-sticking omelets are consistently satisfying, but weekly specials also offer seasonal and delicious treats like lemon-ricotta pancakes with blood orange curd. The wait staff often serves on hipster time, which, quite frankly, works out perfectly since Mama’s is best enjoyed with friends on a lazy Sunday as you discuss, or help each other remember, last night’s misadventures. (Robyn Johnson)
4012 Broadway, Oakland. (510) 547-7600. www.mamasroyalcafeoakland.com
STACKS
After a recent multihour hike around the Presidio, I found myself ravenous. You know the feeling — fully prepared to combine breakfast, lunch, dinner, a multitude of snacks, and dessert into a single meal. Where better to do that than at Stacks, the San Francisco location of a mini-chain (others are in Menlo Park and Burlingame) that looks like a Denny’s that got an upscale makeover, with some of the biggest floral arrangements you’ll ever see. Speaking of gigantic, Stacks’ portions are robust, and their menu is a monster: over a dozen omelet choices; copious varieties of pancakes, crepes, and waffles; sandwiches and burgers; daily specials; and at least seven different smoothies. (Cheryl Eddy)
501 Hayes, SF. (415) 241-9011. www.stacksrestaurant.com
TAQUERIA LOS COYOTES
Being on a tight budget has forced me to get creative, and this underdog taqueria located on a block full of distracting alternatives has become my favorite spot for a weekend breakfast burrito. There are never any lines, the food is as cheap as it comes, and the egg and chorizo burrito with beans, cheese, and rice is guaranteed to soak up a whole weekend of leftover mischief hanging. It’s even big enough to share with any co-conspirators still hanging out as well. (Paula Connelly)
3036 16th St., SF. (415) 861-3708. www.taquerialoscoyotes.com
ZAZIE
Yes, there’ll be a wait — but it’s more than worth it at Zazie, a French bistro that is San Francisco’s best patio brunch spot. The heart of the menu resides in the poached egg dishes (my favorite is La Mer, with real Dungeness crab, avocado, and green onion), seven to choose from, each with a choice of one, two, or three perfectly poached eggs, wonderfully tangy hollandaise sauce, and a side of potatoes fried up with, get this, roasted garlic cloves. Yum! Everything on the brunch menu is awesome, from challah french toast to scrambled eggs Fontainebleau to the full-on trout du sud. C’est magnifique! (Steven T. Jones)
941 Cole Street, SF. (415) 564-5332, www.zaziesf.com
Brass, Bows & Beats sweeps over Yoshi’s
By Lilan Kane
Brass, Bows & Beats, a local 45-piece orchestra that bridges genres and generations, is back. After a sold out performance last year at the Palace of Fine Arts, composer and band leader Adam Theis (of Jazz Mafia) is ready to take this show on the road (coming to Yoshi’s SF on Sun/25).
Brass Bows & Beats is a 45 piece orchestra that bridges genres and generations. With an innovative mélange of jazz, soul, hip hop, funk, and electronica, BBB creates its own musical niche that has caught the attention of locals and even Jazz heads like Bill Cosby. The group will play two shows this Sunday at Yoshi’s to support their tour this summer.
Other members of the ensemble include rising stars Karyn Paige, Joe Bagale, and emcees Dublin and Lyrics Born. VIP tickets include passes to the exclusive afterparty.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyyVofis3Ak
BRASS BOWS & BEATS
Sun/25, 3pm, $10 (kids), $35 (adults) and 7pm, $25/$75 VIP
Yoshi’s SF
1330 Fillmore Street, SF
(415) 655-5600
Our Weekly Picks
WEDNESDAY 21
EVENT/LIT
Yann Martel: Beatrice and Virgil
Yann Martel brought us The Life of Pi, an award-winning story about an Indian boy trapped on a life raft with a Bengal tiger in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. At www.whatisstephenharperreading.ca, Martel chronicles his vow to send a book every two weeks to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to promote government arts funding. And now, Martel is back with Beatrice and Virgil, another folkloric tale. It’s about a writer working on a novel about the Holocaust, and it’s also the story of a donkey named Beatrice and a howler monkey named Virgil whose epic journey begins only after fate places them in a taxidermy shop run by an intriguing man. (Paula Connelly)
In conversation with Laura Fraser
7:30 p.m., $15 (21 and over)
Sundance Kabuki Theater
1181 Post, SF
THURSDAY 22
MUSIC
Blank Dogs
It’s impossible to keep up with what Blank Dogs frontman Mike Sniper is up to at any given moment. In addition to being a tad shy — as evidenced by his wearing a mask or blanket to performances and publicity photo shoots — the Brooklyn native is also so prolific that he probably has another limited distribution EP or 7-inch scheduled for release by the end of this sentence. His brand of lo-fi new-wave is noisy and discordant, but ever familiar, like New Order or OMD heard through a tunnel with a blender running in the background. Sniper is emerging from his East Coast bedroom for a show at Eagle Tavern, and though his persona might not be the mystery it once was, his unique perversion of post-punk is always promisingly puzzling. (Peter Galvin)
With Bare Wires, Fresh and Onlys, Cosmetics
9 p.m., call for price
Eagle Tavern
398 12th St. , SF
(415) 626-0880
DINE
Wine Enthusiast’s Talk of the Town 2010
More than 500 varieties of wine and spirits — along with food from 30 great Bay Area restaurants — are on the menu for sampling at Wine Enthusiast’s Toast of the Town 2010, a classy affair taking place in the historic environs of the beautiful War Memorial Opera House. Live jazz provides the soundtrack for the evening’s indulgences, which benefit the San Francisco Food Bank, the venerable organization that needs a little help of its own right now to help people in our community. Raise a glass (or several) and know that this night of fun will also help to make someone’s day tomorrow when they sit down for a much-needed meal. (Sean McCourt)
7 p.m., $89 ($169 for 5 p.m. VIP tasting)
War Memorial Opera House
301 Van Ness, SF.
1-800-847-5949
MUSIC
Jrod Indigo
Jrod Indigo inspires comparisons to Michael Jackson, Robin Thicke, and Prince. Born in Chicago, raised in Atlanta, having spent some time in Seattle and now in the Bay Area, Jrod possesses musical versatility. He’s a polished songwriter who prefers to play with a live band. Layered harmonies, vintage synths, funky guitar riffs, and deeply-rooted soul incorporate different elements from the music of the cities where he has lived. He’s performed with Amel Larrieux, Martin Luther, Crown City Rockers, and others. Tonight he’s the headliner. (Lilan Kane)
With the Whooligan, Femi
9:30pm, $7
Coda Lounge
1710 Mission, SF
(415) 551-2632
MUSIC
Chicha Libre
Drink enough mugs of chicha, and you’ll get lifted like the ancients. The fermented corn drink has been imbibed since before the conquistadors launched their grand tour of bummer, and still plays a central role in the lives of indigenous Peruvians. Gets you all drunk and stuff. This age-old psychedelia inspires the chaps of Chicha Libre, a South American surf band that adds classic pop sounds from 1970s AM radio, sun-drenched Beach Boys guitar melodies, and a little cumbia shake to the Amazonian rhythms of their ancestors. Raise a glass. (Caitlin Donohue)
With the Cuban Cowboys, DJ Juan Data
8 p.m., $9.99
Rickshaw Stop
155 Fell, SF
(425) 861-2011
FRIDAY 23
SPORTS
Harlem Globetrotters
They’re the only professional basketball team to play an entire game on ice skates (and ice, in Central Park) or go for an 8,000-game win streak: If you haven’t seen the Harlem Globetrotters do their thing, you’re missing out on the greatest American sports kitsch. From the get they’ve been showboaters — they actually got their start as a traveling team in Chicago, but dubbed themselves Harlem because it sounded more exotic. We forgive them because they can make half-court shots, have the most kick ass of theme songs, dribble like the devil, and clown on David Duchovny when he sits courtside. (Donohue)
7 p.m., $21–$109
Cow Palace
2600 Geneva, Daly City
(415) 404-4111
MUSIC
Around Amoeba in 180 Minutes with DJ Bearzbub
Amoeba is a colossal beast of a record store. With rows upon rows of vinyl, CDs, posters, and listening stations, it’s hard not to look for a specific record and leave with 10 other things. The infinite sound in the place can suck you in for hours. Today, however, DJ Bearzbub is your guide. He’ll show you what the store has to offer within a three-hour timespan. (Elise-Marie Brown)
6 p.m., free
Amoeba Music
1855 Haight, SF
(415) 831-1200
DANCE
National Dance Week
National Dance Week is a kind of spring madness of lessons, mini-performances, workshop showings and rehearsal watching in SF, the North, South and East Bay. All of it is free. You won’t be able to take in all of the four hundred-plus offerings, but you can enjoy it today. Noon is kick-off time at Union Square with over a dozen showcases and — new this year — the first annual “One Dance” flash-mob event. Look out for solo dancer Fawole and musicians popping up throughout the city, and mini shows from a new generation of dancers at the Richmond District YMCA in the late afternoon. You can see Robert Moses at work. Or, in the evening, you can take a class in Afro-Cuban, Hula Hoop, Tango, Go Go Style, World Fusion or West Coast Swing. For details, go online or pick up a brochure at dance studios and selected coffee shops. (Felciano)
Noon (through May 2), free
Union Square, SF
(415)920-9181
MUSIC
J Rocc
In 1992, Stones Throw mainstay DH J Rocc founded the World Famous Beat Junkies with Melo-D and Rhettmatic. Since then, he’s been a dominating force in turntablism, releasing several mixtapes and producing different Stones Throw releases. He’s been a reliable force within Madlib’s live shows, and worked with Madlib again on Beat Konducta Vol. 5-6: A Tribute to J Dilla. He’s currently putting together a solo album, and this show should offer a taste. (Kane)
With DJ Apollo
10 p.m., $8–$10
Mighty
119 Utah
(415) 626-7001
MUSIC
Bonobo
Since the success of his third album, 2006’s Days to Come, Bonobo — a.k.a. Simon Green — has refined his impressive sound. The evidence is on his latest effort, Black Sands. The combination of live instrumental arrangements and complex digital sounds in his work can be extraordinary. (A tip: if you want a taste of Bonobo’s live set but don’t have the $22 to get into Mezzanine, trek to the Haight and catch an earful at Amoeba Music at 5 p.m.) (Brown)
With Yppah and Mofnono
Mezzanine
444 Jessie, SF
(415) 625-8880
SATURDAY 24
THEATER
Tartuffe
Seems like lately, everything old is new again on the Bay Area theater scene. Current or recent local productions have updated The Diary of Anne Frank, Lysistrata, and The Seagull. San Francisco’s up-and-coming Generation Theatre isn’t aiming to alter to content of Molière’s classic comedy Tartuffe, as other productions have before (there’ve been versions that cast the main character as a televangelist, reset the action in India or during the Harlem Renaissance, and paid homage to the TV show Dallas.) Instead, Generation’s new translation by director Roland David Valayre arranges the play’s lines in alexandrine verse — which is to say, the 12-syllable format in which it was originally written. “Twelve-foot long laughter” is promised. (Cheryl Eddy)
8 p.m. (through May 16), $20–$25
Studio 205 at Off-Market Theater
965 Mission, SF
(415) 377-5882
SUNDAY 25
COMEDY
Aqua Teen Hunger Force Live
Two of the more bizarrely brilliant and hilarious shows that appear on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim, Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Squidbillies, come to life tonight. As part of a national tour, ATHF cocreator Dave Willis (voice actor for characters including Meatwad and Carl) is joined by Dana Snyder, who voices Master Shake and Granny Cuyler. Expect zany script readings, screenings of clips, music, and more at an event that should be more exciting than drinking pine cone liquor and selling a house that oozes blood to Glenn Danzig. (McCourt)
8 p.m., $25
Regency Ballroom
1290 Sutter, SF
(800) 745-3000
MONDAY 26
MUSIC
Audra MacDonald with the SF Symphony
After you win four Tony awards, you can pretty much do what you want when it comes to musical theater. Audra McDonald neatly illustrates the point. One of only three actresses to accomplish the triple Tony feat, the soprano has graduated from roles in Broadway productions like A Raisin in the Sun, Carousel, and Ragtime to solo performances backed by some of the greatest musical ensembles in the country. In this SF Symphony performance, McDonald takes on her favorite show tunes, as well as a few ditties written especially for her. When you’re this good — did we mention she has two Grammies stashed away? — people will compose music in the hopes you’ll sing it. (Donohue)
8 p.m., $15–$105
Davies Symphony Hall
201 Van Ness, SF
(415) 864-6000
TUESDAY 27
EVENT
A Fresh Look: Observations on Artistic and Social Practices in Urban Farming
Mmmmm. If there’s any benefit of living in San Francisco, it’s the array of delicious food sold at the multiple farmers’markets throughout the city. But selling pesticide-free produce isn’t the only way to encourage sustainable farming. The San Francisco Art Institute is working to address the proper social practices of urban farming by launching a new underground market. Along with live music and a panel discussion, delicious treats will be sold: think homemade cookies, raw chocolate, quiche, marmalades and kombucha. (Brown)
4 p.m., free
San Francisco Art Institute
800 Chestnut, SF
(415) 771-7020
MUSIC
Liars
Liars has spent the better part of a decade refining a terrifyingly bestial art-metal, and its fifth album Sisterworld is the culmination of years spent concocting an unusual formula of chant-like vocals, ambient noise and sudden outbursts of sound. Whether anyone’s listening or not, the group is immensely proud of its weirdness — they reinforce high-concept songs about murder and witchcraft with just the right amount of traditional songwriting to draw in the unsuspecting. After all, if there wasn’t a good deal of brilliance behind that eerie atmosphere and brutal bluster, it’d just be another Tuesday night goth show. (Galvin)
With Fol Chen
8:30 p.m., $15
Slim’s
333 11th St., SF
(415) 255 0333
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 Building, 135 Mississippi St., SF, CA 94107; fax to (415) 487-2506; or e-mail (paste press release into e-mail body — no text attachments, please) to listings@sfbg.com. We cannot guarantee the return of photos, but enclosing an SASE helps. 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.
Our Weekly Picks
WEDNESDAY 14
MUSIC/CLUB
Nachtmusik
Pseudo Echo, Zwischenfall, Pluta Connexion, Gina X, Das Kabinette — you may not know who they are, but if you imagine them dressed in black sometime in the early ’80s, making cold, dark, catchy music with analog synthesizers and drum machines, then you get the gist. Nachtmusik is an intimate monthly club night for fans of forgotten dark wave, cold wave, and minimal synth styles and the artists who made them. (There’s a definite Liquid Sky rush from hearing these obscure retro tunes on a big soundsystem.) This month, DJs Omar, Justin, Goutroy, and Riegler dig up frigid gems and angular oddities. Dress in hot black, wet your lips, and the try out some electro-industrial moves on the floor. It’s pop for porcupines. (Marke B.)
10 p.m., $5
The Knockout
3223 Mission, SF
(415) 550-6994
MUSIC
The Whitest Boy Alive
If you don’t have the luxury of traveling down to Indio for Coachella this year, don’t fret. Many of the bands showcasing this year are heading up to the Bay Area, and the Whitest Boy Alive is no exception. After the release of 2009’s Rules, the Berlin-based band has been making waves with a new outgoing and upbeat record. The electro-dance quartet graces us with its presence as front man and Kings of Convenience crooner Erland Oye serenades the crowd with airy vocals over danceable tunes. (Peter Galvin)
With special guests
9 p.m., $16-18 (at the door)
Slim’s
333 11th Street, SF
415.255.0333
THURSDAY 15
DANCE
“Move(men)t”
The men are back. Joe Landini’s The Garage has picked up on a noble San Francisco tradition that had just about disappeared. Until the mid-nineties, the City regularly celebrated its male dancers in the Men Dancing festivals. Landini’s “Move(men)t,” now in its third year, gives voice to about as wide a variety of male choreographers as you will see on one program. Some have their own companies (Dance Theater/Shannon, David Herrera Performance Company, Labayen Dance/SF); others put ensembles together as needed: Kegan Marling, Jose Navarrete, Jorge De Hoyos and Folawo Oyinlola among them. The first two evenings show choreographed work; the last two are dedicated to improvisation. On Sat. from from 2 to 6 p.m., Cristine Cali will teach a free Men’s Improv Workshop, with the opportunity to perform that night. (Rita Felciano)
8 p.m. (through Sun/18), $10-20
The Garage
975 Howard St. San Francisco
(415) 885-4006
FRIDAY 16
MUSIC
Wolves in the Throne Room
Wolves in the Throne Room plays a distinctive brand of enveloping, distinctively-American black metal, and the Olympia, WA group has matured before our eyes into a blast-beaten export that the Western United States can be proud to call its own. Founded by brothers Nathan and Aaron Weaver in their Olympian “farm-stronghold” (named “Calliope,” according to the band’s bio), Wolves draws on natural parallels between black metal’s nature-worshiping roots and the Weaver brothers’ headbanging brand of environmentalism. They share the stage Friday with their fellow Northwest iconoclasts, Seattle drone legends Earth. (Ben Richardson)
With Earth, Lori Goldston
9 p.m, $16
Slim’s
333 11th St., SF
(415) 255-0333
DANCE
LINES Ballet
Over the last quarter of a century, Alonzo King has developed a unique — angular, stretched and spacey — vocabulary for his LINES Ballet company. What makes his work so exciting these days is that he is venturing ever more daringly into new musical terrains. His collaborations with musicians such as saxophonist Pharoah Sanders and tabla player Zakir Hussein may have whetted his appetite. Bringing in jazz musician Jason Moran last year certainly resulted in a hot show, musically and choreographically. Stepping into western opera and art song, however, opens a huge landscape even for somebody as congenitally open-minded as King. For the still-untitled premiere, King enlists the help of Adler Fellows Sara Gartland (soprano), Maya Layhani (mezzo-soprano), Ryan Belongie (counter-tenor) and Austin Kness (baritone). They have chosen songs and arias from George Frideric Handel and Richard Strauss. In addition to lending their voices, the singers will also move with the dancers, based on their own physical reflections of what the music tells them. (Felciano)
8 p.m. (through April 25), $15-65
Novellus Theater
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
700 Howard, San Francisco
(415) 978-2787
MUSIC
Love is All
Sweden must be just the cutest place in the world, to have carelessly bestowed Love is All with a force like Josephine Olausson. You could not be chastised for thinking that Olausson sounds like an raucous schoolgirl as she yelps and sputters through Two Thousand and Ten Injuries, the band’s third release. But after a few listens, that casually adorable bombast and tympani begins to feel like it comes from a very personal place, a distinction that was once an anomaly for any self-righteous noise pop band. I suppose we all seek to divert attention from our insecurities; not all of us are lucky enough to do it with a catchy melody and a dreamy set of pipes. (Galvin)
With Princeton, the Butterfly Bones
8:30 p.m., $12
Rickshaw Stop
155 Fell, SF
(415) 861-2011
SATURDAY 17
EVENT/FOOD
First Annual Goat Festival
Early spring got you feeling “goatish”? Don’t get your fetlocks in a twist. Hie thee down to the first annual Goat Festival, “A Celebration of All Things Goat,” to commune with your fellow capraphiles while sampling tasty tidbits of goat cheeses, kefirs, yogurts, and ice creams, checking out the cooking demos, and pestering local author and cheese whiz Gordan Edgar about gjetost. Plus, there will be baby goats gamboling about. (In a confined area, I presume, but still). BABY GOATS, people! There is nothing cuter. The merriment is co-hosted by “The Goat Girls” — the respective heads of Cypress Grove Chevre, Redwood HillFarm and Creamery, and Laloo’s Goat Milk Ice Cream — and CUESA, the Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture. (Nicole Gluckstern)
10 a.m.-1 p.m. free
Ferry Building,
Embarcadero, SF
EVENT
First Annual Bed Races
With the annual Folsom Street Fair, LovEvolution and the How Weird Street Fair in San Francisco, it’s hard to think of anything in the city as obscure or strange. So what’s special about the First Annual
Bed Races, you ask? Well just imagine a bunch of drunk college kids, business men and (one hopes) bona fide freaks pushing decked-out bed cars (think soap box derby) in a mad race to the finish line. Trust me, this race will put the Red Bull Soapbox Race to shame. Oh yeah, and proceeds benefit charity, so take that, Red Bull. (Elise Marie Brown)
10:30 a.m., free
Marina Middle School
3500 Fillmore Street, SF
(408) 374-1600
VISUAL ART
Avatar 4D
I have no clue what the Facebook description of this show is saying. Something about “a night of logarithms and viral glancing.” Where the title is concerned, Cameron’s 3D Avatar is being trapped in “utopian metamorphosis” while JstChillin’s (this show’s curators, who just wanna chillax in “a flow of existence between web and physicality”) 4D vision incorporates “collective re-embodiment” as seen and experienced through the ever-changing, always-schizophrenic, net and self. Okay, I think I get it now: The Internet is our avatar and these 17 artists — excuse me, these “reality hackers” — just wanna have fun with their Deleuze-ian Body without Organs. Or something like that. Either way, the spectacle of 17 net artists simultanteously performing in the same space sounds cooler than Cameron’s weak vision any day. (Spencer Young)
7–10 p.m., free
Noma Gallery
80 Maiden Lane, 3rd Floor, SF
(415) 391 0200
MUSIC
Collie Buddz, Devin The Dude
Collie Buddz has become a staple in the rising reggae and dub scene. Born in New Orleans but raised in Bermuda, he grew up trading lyrics in schoolyard clashes. He credits Bounty Killer and Beenie Man as his primary influences. Collie Buddz and his brother built a studio where he “trained,” developing his signature style. This will be a joint performance (pun intended) with well-known underground Houston hip-hop artist Devin The Dude. Both are respected for their lyrical and musical abilities. Be prepared to get elevated and educated. Other guests include Phife Dawg of Tribe Called Quest, and the Skaflaws. (Lilan Kane)
9 p.m., $10
The Independent
628 Divisadero, SF
415.771.1421
MUSIC
Public Image Ltd.
After the Sex Pistols imploded onstage in San Francisco in 1978, John Lydon dropped his “Johnny Rotten” moniker and formed Public Image Ltd., an influential revolving band of musicians that centered around the often caustic and controversial yet always riveting front man. A showcase for Lydon’s trademark snarl that incorporated a host of styles, including dub bass, searing guitar rock, and electronic experimentation, PiL helped lay the foundation for a generation of post-punk bands to come. On its first American tour in 18 years, the group hits the city the day after performing an eagerly anticipated headlining slot at Coachella. (Sean McCourt)
9 p.m., $50–$53
Regency Ballroom
1290 Sutter St., SF
(800) 745-3000
SUNDAY 18
FILM
“So, You Wanna Fight!”
Before the days of Oscar De La Hoya and Manny Pacquiao, boxing was more about the physical sport than advertisers and HBO subscriptions. Film archivist and anecdotal master Dennis Nyback wants you to know that. Tonight, the cinema connoisseur presents classic boxing films of the 20th century, with a program that includes Joe Louis, Tex Avery and feisty fist-fighting 8-year-old Pam Sproul. After watching these films, you might even start pricing some boxing gloves and enroll in a class or two. (Brown)
2 p.m., $6-8
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
701 Mission, SF
(415) 978-2787
MUSIC
Vader
Vader was created in 1983, born deep behind the Iron Curtain in Olsztyn, Poland. Though they struggled at first to even obtain proper musical equipment — the literal tools of their trade — the fall of Polish communism and the explosion of the death metal scene during the early 1990s gained them a dedicated cult following, both at home and abroad. Now approaching its third decade, the band is still adept at churning out thick, tremolo-picked riffs and grandiose arrangements, while simultaneously staying one step ahead of the legal eagles over at Lucasfilm, Ltd. (Ben Richardson)
With Overkill, God Dethroned, Warbringer, Evile, and Woe of Tyrants
6:30 p.m., $26.50
The Regency Ballroom
1300 Van Ness, SF
(415) 673-5716
TUESDAY 20
MUSIC
Gary Numan
After initial recognition as the singer and leader of Tubeway Army, especially with their single “Down In The Park,” Gary Numan exploded into succcess upon the release of his 1979 solo record The Pleasure Principal, which featured the hit single “Cars.” Inspiring untold new wave, industrial and goth bands with his sound and look over the ensuing years, Numan is enjoying a resurgence of late, finding himself on stage with groups such as Nine Inch Nails as a special guest. His appearance here performing The Pleasure Prinicipal in it’s entirety is another fine example of the joys of living in a major city close to the annual juggernaut that is Coachella; his only other U.S. gigs on the books this go round are the festival in Indio and another club show in L.A., so don’t miss out. (McCourt)
8 p.m., $27.50
The Fillmore
1805 Geary Blvd., SF
(415) 346-6000
******
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 Building, 135 Mississippi St., SF, CA 94107; fax to (415) 487-2506; or e-mail (paste press release into e-mail body — no text attachments, please) to listings@sfbg.com. We cannot guarantee the return of photos, but enclosing an SASE helps. 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.
Can’t stay away
arts@sfbg.com
MUSIC “What can you do at the age of 44 that’s relevant?” a philosophical Too Short asks over brunch at the Buttercup in Oakland. “It can’t be good; it’s gotta be critic-proof.”
Seldom can you trace an entire artistic milieu back to one person, yet with Bay Area rap, you can. And his name is Too Short, a.k.a. Todd Shaw. In 1980, when the 14-year-old Short moved from L.A. to Oakland, rap was still considered a New York City phenomenon, but this didn’t stop him from making tapes to sell on the bus and the block. Between 1983 and 1986, he cut three discs on local label 75 Girls before forming his own Dangerous Music, whose first album, Short’s Born to Mack (1987), was soon re-released by Jive Records.
But after 14 albums on Jive — three gold, five platinum, one double platinum — Short Dog has gone independent. His label, once named Short Records, then Up All Nite, has been rechristened Dangerous Music, which released his Internet-only pre-album, Still Blowin’, on April 7. The most exciting news is that he’s returned from Atlanta to make music in the Bay, as well as his native L.A.
“What brought me back West was just the love, period,” he says. “People love me other places, but the West Coast love is unconditional. Not only in the Bay. It’s the same in L.A.
“Even in Atlanta,” he continues, “a lot of what I wrote was Oakland music. Oakland gives me the inspiration to write songs.”
Beyond the Bay, Too Short is as seminal a figure as Ice-T, bringing two major innovations to rap: profanity and pimpin’. These days, when half an MC’s verse gets muted on the radio due to graphic content, it’s hard to imagine rap without dirty lyrics, but it was a teenage Short who opened this Pandora’s box, with hardcore classics like “Blow Job Betty.”
“It’s not about pimps so much as having game,” Too Short says, yet the dirty rhymes inevitably meshed with Oakland’s cult of the pimp, whose ur-text is the locally-shot blaxploitation film, The Mack (1973). His much-imitated signature word, “biatch,” once caused controversy, though America fell in love with it after Dave Chappelle’s Rick James skit. As Short raps on the hit title track of his 16th album, Blow the Whistle (Jive 2006), “He got it from me.” Having discovered and recorded with Lil Jon even makes Short a pivotal figure in crunk.
JIVE JIVE
Unlike Ice-T or other contemporaries, Short remains a viable hitmaker. Blow the Whistle reached No. 14 on Billboard (No. 7 on the rap chart) and spawned a second hit, “Keep Bouncin’,” featuring Snoop Dogg and will.i.am, who produced it. Yet Jive refused to promote it, or even make a video, despite Snoop and will’s offer to work on it for free — one symptom of a deteriorating relationship between artist and label, which changed focus in the late 1990s to concentrate on teen pop like Britney Spears. Despite its lack of support, Short says that Jive “wouldn’t bow out gracefully,” instead holding him up for months with talk of a major retrospective with four new tracks that never materialized.
“When it’s near the end of the contract,” he says. “No matter how much they made off you, they don’t want to settle it in a humane way. It was clear their only intent was, ‘You must leave here not famous.'<0x2009>”
“I’m a realist,” he says about Jive pursuing more lucrative pop while abandoning a flagship artist who made the label millions. “It leaves a bad taste in your mouth. But there are no regrets. There wouldn’t be the legendary rapper Too Short if I didn’t get in my early years at Jive.” Eventually Short turned in a new album, Get Off the Stage (2007) — which, without promotion by Short or Jive, still hit No. 21 on the rap chart — in exchange for freedom.
INDEPENDENCE DAY
Unlike E-40, who left Jive for Reprise, Short Dog opted to go independent. “I could have got a major label deal two weeks after I left Jive,” Short says. “But I’m not going to get 100,000 first-week scans, and that’d be it.”
Both statements are probably true; he’s high-profile and relevant enough to get signed. Yet given the state of the industry and the youth-bias of major label rap, he’s unlikely to go platinum. But platinum’s a scarce commodity nowadays. And much like the nearly 40-year-old Snoop, Short still reliably makes hits and sells records. And he doesn’t intend to stop.
“I was smart enough to realize when the support wasn’t there, I could support myself,” he states matter-of-factly, without a trace of bravado.
Still Blowin’, Short says, “is just an appetizer for the upcoming menu,” his full-blown 2011 disc whose title is “so fly” he won’t unveil it yet. “I can’t just throw another album out there in this market. I need to warm it up, and this Internet album’s to feel out which direction I want to go in.” One direction is mixing in songs with a little more food for thought, even flirting with the idea of falling in love on the standout “Playa Card.”
“This is all premeditated,” he says. “I’m talking lots of shit, but I pick subjects where I can give a little more depth.”
“My last and final goal in hip-hop is to shatter that age-limit myth,” he continues. “It’s totally against everything this hip-hop industry is about. I’ll be 45 in 2011, and I guarantee you, I’ll drop an album and it’ll be the shit.
“I see it like I’m a jazz or a blues musician,” he continues. “I should be a rapper when I can’t even get off the stool, just sit there, nod my head, and do the show. I should be in a Vegas show with showgirls and shit. I’m going to rap till the words don’t come out.”
An MPC fiend at work
arts@sfbg.com
MUSIC Few producers have pushed forward the aesthetic of West Coast underground hip-hop like Exile. His dynamic production style navigates a certain uneasiness at the heart of Californian reveries: warm pulses of boom-bap ride over blown-out bass lines and dirtied, jazz-strut melodies. Yet among the towering forces of Dr. Dre gangster pulp and Madlib beat tapes ad infinitum, Exile has been something of a submerged anonymity.
Exile (born Aleksander Manfredi) broke out into the Los Angeles scene at the brink of the millennium as part of the duo Emanon, formed in half by dexterous lyricist and singer Aloe Blacc. In reality, they had already been hustling an arsenal of cassettes since the mid-1990s, championing sun-bleached soundscapes and whimsical verses on the grind. It set the framework for Exile’s prodigious output during the last few years (holds breath): another decisive Emanon full-length, 2004’s The Waiting Room on Shaman Work; full production in the vein of Marley Marl for two freshmen rap debuts, Blu’s impassioned 2007 Below the Heavens on Sound in Color, and Fashawn’s solid 2009 Boy Meets World on One Records; a versatile 2006 beat conductor showcase, Dirty Science (also on Sound and Color); and the 2009 concept album Radio on Plug Research, which reworked a pastiche of sound bytes, vocals, and loops culled from Los Angeles’ AM/FM frequencies.
In any free time scrapped among those projects, Exile also helped spearhead a new form of live performance with the Akai MPC, a powerful drum machine and sampler tool henceforth used only for production. “The MPC is able to do almost anything any instrument can do if it’s programmed right,” Exile tells me over the phone. “Buttons allow you to trigger and manipulate sounds — and that’s exactly what music is.” No longer limited to mixing, scratching, and juggling prerecorded sounds on the turntables, the producer can build, layer, and freak music from its most basic building blocks. “The idea is to have your own instrument, made up of other instruments: a chopped up guitar, horn, bass line, and drums; then add some synth keys,” Exile says. “You have all these instruments at your fingertips and you can rework them.” Simply put, Exile brings a hip-hop producer’s analog studio to the stage.
Whether flipping robotic percussive breaks and lurching sub-bass that reach into your gut and pile-drive your sternum or reimagining Afrika Bambaataa with kindred spirit DJ Day, Exile continually impresses and body rocks the crowd in his live show. Sure, some talented laptop performers have incorporated similar techniques into their sets from behind glowing Apple computer screens, but it’s thrilling to see Exile openly at work in front of the audience. The visual aspect is key as he demonstrates unparalleled skills on the machine, tapping buttons in rapid-fire wizardry like a future-funked Thelonious Monk.
Exile invokes a natural musicality when playing the equipment. This makes his claims that the MPC is a real and serious instrument all the more convincing. “The first instrument I learned was an accordion, which has a lot of buttons,” he says, amused by the thought. “Then I picked up the keyboard and some drums. But I really learned to play the drums with the MPC.”
Exile was that kid in junior high finger-drumming syncopated rhythms on classroom desks and beat boxing in the hallways. Hooked on hip-hop and electronic jams, he was inspired to make programmed music with whatever tools he could find. “The first song I ever recreated was Tom Tom Club’s “Genius of Love” with a turntable and two-tape decks,” Exile recalls. “I recorded a two-bar section of a song, rewound so there were two bars of empty space, recorded two bars again, and then empty space again. Do that for three minutes, then go back and fill in the empty space, and add another tape onto that.” Repeat that DIY method until the sounds of a loving genius knock out of the speakers in full android glory.
This restless impulse to create took Exile down a long road experimenting with four-track recorders, Roland samplers, and even helium balloons before he laid his hands on the MPC. Now, he’s a certified fiend, transforming the way we see hip-hop as much as we hear it. And there’s much more to come.
EXILE
Fri/16, 9 p.m., $5–$10
Som SF
2925 16th St., SF
(415) 558-8521
The art of play
arts@sfbg.com
FILM Through the rear window of a nondescript vehicle, three lines of dotted lights stream by in the darkness. The perspective shifts, and you realize you are at the seat of a car, driving through a tortuous tunnel, about to emerge into a skylit, open highway. You’re unsure of your location, or even your destination, but slowly, like a detective story, clues help you piece together some semblance of meaning and purpose. You peer into the rear-view mirror, dive into the road flickering behind you, and let your mind wander beyond that concrete past.
From there, animated filmmaker and multimedia artist Al Jarnow guides you on a hypnotic trip through the interconnected pathways of nature, art, and machinery in Autosong (1976). The dark tunnel returns anew, and the car disappears, unhinging your viewpoint in a disembodied drift. Oceanic tides wash away the whirling road and grids of cubes emerge, twisting in harmony as Jarnow deconstructs the geometrical notions that give form to subjectivity, motion, and space. “In my experimental films I leaned more toward music than a traditional narrative structure,” Jarnow says, calling from his home and studio in Long Island. “Themes build up and then repeat, come back slightly changed and repeat again… like a jazz variation on a theme.”
Brooklyn-born Jarnow found a supportive and inspired community for animated films in New York during the 1970s and ’80s. Trained originally as a painter, he fell into the medium by chance, coaxed by a friend into animating humorist Edward Lear’s offshoot love story The Owl and the Pussycat (1968) with his wife Jill Jarnow’s vibrant paintings. “As we were in the process of making that film, I started doing experiments. And the thrill of seeing something move, and come alive, just woke up a whole new world for me,” Jarnow says. Fascinated with “sculpting in time” more than conventional cartoon plots, Jarnow populated his mesmerizing worlds with an atypical cast of characters and ideas.
Jarnow’s experimental shorts — handcrafted from cell-animation, stop-motion, painting, drawing, and photography — revel in the unending process of exploration and discovery. In left field films like Cubits (1978), Jarnow wields an unlikely power, bringing abstract concepts and formal procedures to life. Ink-drawn geometric shapes dance in rhythm on flashcards like robotic pop-lockers, revealing both operations of motion and a methodical creative process. Yet the logical rigor underpinning Jarnow’s stories feels human and impassioned, saturated with a visceral aura of wonder that is far removed from a scientist’s sterile research lab. Call Jarnow the Carl Sagan of animators (well, a bit more fun than that). “I think art is a form of play,” he says. “It’s a tactile experience of experimenting with the world around you, pushing it this way or that way, and seeing what happens. It’s as much for children as grownups.”
So it’s fitting that Jarnow also brought that playful spirit to bear on educational shorts for PBS’s Sesame Street and 3-2-1 Contact. In his first commercial piece, Yak (1970), the talking beast drops knowledge about the letter y, before running headfirst into the screen and terrifying many an imaginative youngin’ under the sheets (just check the YouTube comments). In Facial Recognition (1978), humans reproduce the computational functions of a dot-matrix printer, thanks to stop-motion magic. And billions of years are reduced to two minutes in the time-lapse of Cosmic Clock (1979), where the lifetime of a boy, a city, and nature all pass through their respective cycles (the last civilization even blasts off into space in a moment’s flash).
Even though Jarnow’s multilayered vision made a lasting impression on a whole generation in heyday of the Children’s Television Workshop, no one knew the author behind the box — and very few had the opportunity to penetrate NYC’s avant-garde animators scene. But earlier this year Jarnow finally got his due. Chicago’s archival imprint Numero Group digitally transferred 45 of Jarnow’s 16mm shorts and compiled them in a handsomely packaged DVD. Celestial Navigations: The Short Films of Al Jarnow includes a 30-minute documentary and 60 pages of liner notes. The title piece, Jarnow’s most explicit scientific voyage, traces the window-light defining his studio walls from equinox to equinox, montaged with heliocentric frames of Stonehenge. It’s stunning — and difficult — but with some patience, you can travel the cosmos with the druids and back again.
The retrospective is hardly exhaustive. “Making art is a way of learning about the world,” Jarnow says. “It’s a way of processing the information coming in through you.” Jarnow hasn’t stopped experimenting with new artistic forays, ceaselessly searching for engaging mediums to provoke and compel. From installing exhibits at San Francisco’s Exploratorium (which set the framework for cofounding the Long Island Children’s Museum) and developing interactive computer software to making ephemeral sculpture on the beach, Jarnow continues to make a playful game, and invoke an animated wonder, of the world.
AL JARNOW: CELESTIAL NAVIGATIONS
Screening and Q&A with Al Jarnow
April 22, 7:15 and 9:30 p.m., $6–$9
Red Vic Movie House
1727 Haight, SF
(415) 668-3994
Uncovering visions with SFMAPP
Maybe we’re a little too old to go searching for chocolate eggs and ginormas white bunnies in grassy fields, but last weekend there was an alternative Easter scavenger hunt for grown-ups, thanks to SFMAPP, the San Francisco Mission Arts & Performance Project. This bi-monthly art event brings together artists, musicians and poets and scatters them among cafes, backyards, and galleries for a diverse evening of music and art in sometimes the most unexpected places.
With my buddy Clairebear, we headed out into the cold April night. First we stopped at Red Poppy Art House where we listened to Benn Bacot sing some classy jazz tunes, while we mused over our recently acquired treasure map. After consulting our map we both agreed that our next stop must be the Secret Garden. I mean how cool is that — we were off to a Secret Garden and, yes, we got lost on the way. It was that secret.
After a few wrong turns, we finally walked down a sweet smelling path to the garden and found a small crowd of people (or should we call them garden elves?) listening to Jonathan Stephen and his friend Josh play a lovely cover of a well-known mandolin piece by Chris Thile. The stage was perfectly centered under a canopy of trees draped in twinkling lights, which created a truly magical ambiance.
Back en-route, we headed to Area 2881, where we were greeted with a sign that read “Rotating Amusement Devices by Carl Pisaturo.” Sweet. What the heck does that mean? When we got inside the gallery, we encountered metallic sculptures whirling and twirling at varying velocities that were incredibly entertaining to look at. With added spacey music and pink and purple light filling the room, it was a totally awesome experience.
Back to the mapp! Trotting along, we stopped at Galeria de la Raza for a movie overload in a piece called “Hollywoodpedia” by Mexican artist Artemio, that collaged together clips from thousands of popular films, based on themes like Love, Failure, and War. The project took years to make and millions of hours of movie-watching to complete, but was definitely worth the oh-so-clever final product.
By that time, Clairebear and I were hungry, but luckily there was a foodie stop on the mapp, so we headed to La Victoria Bakery for live music and snacks from “Sweet Corazon De La Mission” that included delightful edibles by local food cart vendors. We ended the evening at Precita Eyes, to gaze over the colorful mural-style art pieces filling their gallery. Clairebear and I both agreed, it was best scavenger hunt we’d even been on, despite the lack of chocolate bunnies.
Tricia Taborn, a great San Francisco spirit, died today
I was saddened to hear that my former associate of many years, Tricia Taborn, died today (April 7) of cancer at Kaiser Hospital in Oakland.
She was four days shy of her 62nd birthday.
She entered the hospital on Saturday (April 3). Her mother Neomi flew out from Dallas, Texas, to be with her the last few days. Her sister Ginny, her two brothers Kenneth and Michael and her husband Gerald Baron were with her when she died.
Tricia worked for me as assistant to the publisher from July of 1993 to April of 2000.
I always marveled at how she could jump into things and make them work. Her friends and family say that she has been doing that throughout her life. When she came to the Guardian, she had no newspaper or journalism experience, yet she quickly fit in and
became a valuable employee able to handle most any administrative job that came along. She kept me organized and she organized an endless series of events at the Guardian that included five annual awards contests and ceremonies (poetry, photography, cartoons, short stories, film treatments) that she structured to reflect the rich cultural diversity and artistic talent in San Francisco.
She also put on major events and dinners for the Northern California chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and the California Freedom of Information Coalition during its early days. She loved being a hostess and she did so with flair, a rollicking laugh, flamboyant hats and an ability to make the event important and distinctive and to see that everyone was welcome and having fun. She served for several years as a director and treasurer of SPJ.
Victoria McDonnell, a friend that Tricia talked with almost every day on the phone, agreed that Tricia liked to jump into things.
“I know she joined her high school year book committee in Florida soon after arriving at the school. In San Francisco, she did this at Major Ponds (a jazz club where she worked as a bartender in the late 1970s and early 1980s), the Bay Guardian, the Industry Standard (the late dot.com magazine), OneWorld Health, and lastly selling real estate.
“Tricia was the first employee for One World Health, It started out at (founder) Victoria Hale’s house and grew to be a world-wide multimillion dollar non profit pharmaceutical company. The first ever non-profit pharmaceutical company in fact. Tricia thrived on ‘start ups.'”
Victoria Hale said that Tricia was “an amazing woman who accomplished much, despite the obstacles, with humor and passion, while caring for others. She had an especially good relationship with the Indian physicians who worked on leishmaniasis. She demonstrated much courage and trust by becoming the first employee of OneWorld Health, while still on the first floor of our house.”
Tricia lived in Florida, Utah, Atlanta, Dallas, and other places because her father Raymond Taborn was an aeronautical engineer and moved about because of his work. She bought a house in Berkeley in 2004 with her husband Gerald Baron.
For the last two years of her life, Tricia lived her dream: getting her independence by selling real estate and having fun doing it. She worked in the Berkeley office of Coldwell Banker, specializing in low price housing that many real estate people avoided. She was recently recognized as the top sales person in her office. Her main hobby, according to her friends, was shopping and she was well known at Nordstroms, Macys and Ross department stores, as well as thrift shops and farmer’s markets.
Tricia was diagnosed in November with metastatic colon cancer. Over the last two months she rallied and was able to spend time and phone calls talking to her friends and “wrapping up her relationships in a positive and meaningful way,” as Victoria Hale put it.
Invariably, her friends reported that Tricia remained upbeat until she went into the hospital for the last time.
She leaves her mother Neomi Taborn of Dallas, a sister Ginny of Dallas, two brothers, Kenneth of Arlington, Texas, and Michael of Phoenix, Arizona, her husband Gerald Baron, and Tommy, her beloved cat. Services are pending and will be reported on this blog when they are set.
Original synth
marke@sfbg.com
MUSIC “In a time when people are becoming more and more isolated every day by the Internet, alone at their computers and staring at the tiny, sad glowing screens in their cellular hands, it only makes sense to me that we are all feeling a slight sense of loneliness and (hopefully) the desire for connection with others … Whereas 1980s groups responded to implicit cold, colorless alienation of the repressive regimes of Reagan-Thatcher-era politics and culture, today’s groups I think express a similar frustration responding to what I call ‘the culture of isolation.'”
That’s Pieter Schoolwerth, founder of Wierd Records, a New York City label dedicated to releasing records by contemporary acts that eerily mimic the sounds of obscure electronic new wave, in a recent interview with Austrian music journal Skug. Oddly in the context of connection, he’s talking about some of the most deliberately cold, enigmatic, bleak yet beguiling music ever produced — “lost” underground European and American music that came out roughly between 1979 and 1986 (if it came out at all), was inspired by goth, industrial, and synthpop giants like Throbbing Gristle, Joy Division, Bauhaus, the Cure, and Depeche Mode, and is only being rediscovered now.
It’s igniting fierce interest, with musicological fanatics digging up spooky swaths of unknown angular gems and a slew of current bands channeling the sound. Originally made in decaying urban centers with then-newly-affordable analog synthesizers and drum machines by dozens of often untraceable musical mavericks — Ausgang Verboten, Esplendor Geometrico, Das Kabinette, Eleven Pond, Nine Circles, Zwischenfall, Gerry and the Holograms — these unearthed and unearthly tunes from decades ago are beginning to seep into the Bay Area scene via a handful of excellent compilations, club nights, and musical visionaries. Can something be retro if hardly anyone heard it the first time? That’s just one of the intriguing questions that springs to mind. Meanwhile, humans are dancing. Here’s a mix of some of the originals:
ANGULAR COLDWAVE LAUNCH MIX by Angular Recording Co
COLD CONNECTION, CHAIN REACTION
This bracingly unfamiliar music (or rather, slightly familiar — you think you’re hearing some bizarre 1981 B-side by Soft Cell or Visage but it turns out to be a crazy one-off from Columbus, Ohio from that same year) was usually grouped at the time into three fuzzy genres that overlapped at many points, sharing among them a DIY spirit, a dystopian view of the future, an urge to map the melodramatic onto the automatic, erotic astringency, and pretension without pretentiousness. Yes, much of it veers into “Sprockets” territory, but that’s actually part of the appeal.
Dark wave was an umbrella term for goth rock, early industrial, and darker synthpop. It grafted lamentation and cavernous basslines over post-punk’s angular angst and icebox oddity, and was popularized by groups like Fad Gadget, Front 242, and Chris and Cosey and at clubs like London’s seminal Batcave. Cold wave was the French version of dark wave that skewed toward more Pong-like synth figures, fizzling chords, studied malaise, and gnomic haiku. (“Business man/Yet you kill the boss/Computer programs/Shadows in the night,” Lyonnaise duo Deux disaffectedly intone on 1983’s unshakeable “Game and Performance.”) Synth wave, or minimal synth, was a kind of prickly disco: chromatic, sparsely produced, brooding and moody, yet often quite catchy and dance floor-oriented.
All three genres are now generally lumped together as “wave” (or sometimes “retrograde”), which can include a vast array of other period sounds, from John Zorn-like no-wave jazz explosions to Dead Can Dance spooky-tribal incantations. Basically, if it feels like you’re listening to a late-night college radio program somewhere in the Midwest in 1984, one possibly called “Flash Frequencies” or “Shadow Talk,” you’ve caught the uncanny wave gist. If you imagine yourself a fishnet-gloved extra in the movie Liquid Sky who pronounces “paradise” as “pah-rahd-eyes,” then you definitely have.
Dark wavers Brynna and Domini at Club Shutter. Photo by Sadie Mellerio
But just because the sound aimed for frigidity doesn’t mean it didn’t build community. Wave acts may have been what some would call “unbranded,” but they operated within close-knit networks: cassettes were passed hand-to-hand, recording studios were shared in warehouse-based artists’ communes, fans around the world braved dangerous parts of town to attend wave-centric club nights. The music itself attempted to humanize the arctic pitch of analog synths by infusing it with longing, restlessness, ennui, and gloom.
Vice Angular “This is Cold Wave” Mix
Today, that naive sincerity, refreshing lack of self-conscious irony, and marketplace virginity translate into authenticity, appealing to retro aficionados who vomit a tad at goth’s Hot Topicality, the macho posturing that torpedoed industrial, or the Polly Estherization of new wave. (Like techno, soul, and disco before it, new wave retro is finally purging itself of excess baggage and mainstream complications by going minimal and original.) Dusted-off waveforms and hyperactive web forums attract a network of virtual seekers and posters who salivate at each discovery. Schoolwerth may be right about wave’s cry against a culture of Internet isolation — and the turn toward analog is a specific rejection of the digital — but like an anxious clan gathered around a silicon-chip fire, its current fans watch anxiously online for freshly exhumed and re-chilled visions to appear. Then they go play them at clubs. Here is something old that seems truly new.
FOREVER EXHUMED, FOREVER ORANGE EYES
Wierd Records’ contemporary roster of disquieted simulators, including the almost paranormally attuned Xeno and Oaklander and Led er Est, has been gaining global club-play traction — something many of the original artists, who drifted off into other, often fascinatingly mundane lives, could only have hoped for. (One example: Lidia the Rose, one half of Dutch act Nine Circles, abandoned musicmaking in the early ’80s to raise “a half dozen” children in a commune-like setting. It was only after one of her sons Googled her name that she realized there were fans of her extremely limited, cassette-only output. She has since started making music again.) And wave affectations have garnered larger attention from the breakthrough of experimental synthpop band Cold Cave, which draws on the sound’s pallid idiosyncrasies. “Hear sounds about yesterday’s pain today,” the band’s MySpace deadpans.
Notable contemporary Bay Area wave acts include the excellently jerky Muscle Drum, founded by long-term wave-proponent Rob Spector of the group Bronze, fog-shrouded darkwave duo Sleeping Desiress, cinematic dirgers After Dark, and exquisitely anguished quintet Veil Veil Vanish. The East Bay’s Katabatik Sound System has been producing lurching experimental-industrial music and events for a while, and V. Vale’s Re/Search crew has been exhuming rare tunes forever. A particular favorite around the Bay Guardian office lately is the Soft Moon, a melancholic, pitch-perfectly crepuscular project of punk veteran and graphic designer Luis Vasquez.
The Soft Moon
“Honestly, being associated with the wave phenomenon was a little surprising to me at first,” Vasquez told me, balking, like many retro-contemporizers I talked to, at being associated with any kind of scene. “But I think I understand why. My instrumental formula is similar because of the use of drum machines, synthesizers, rhythmic bass lines, and somber melodies. It could also just be the overall feeling my music has. I’m still not quite sure.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ufcfo9K1yfI
On the classic side of things, two just-released, high profile compilations — The Minimal Wave Tapes (Minimal Wave/Stones Throw) and Wierd-curated Cold Waves and Minimal Electronics Volume 1 (Angular) — along with recent German comp Genotypes (Genetic Records) have made underground synth rarities more accessible to potential wavers.
“I was exposed to new wave at a young age via my older brother’s small collection of cassettes,” NYC’s Veronica Vasicka of the Minimal Wave label wrote in an e-mail. “Later I’d sneak out of my parents’ apartment at night to go dancing in the East Village. I really associate those teenage days of first discovering record shops and old VHS tapes of bands like Throbbing Gristle with the inspiration that led me to launch the Minimal Wave label.”
Vasicka coined the term minimal wave to encompass her fascination with both cold wave and minimal synth sounds. Her long-running Sunday night East Village Radio show has served as a beacon for American synth fans, and the incredible response to her extensive Web site (www.minimal-wave.org) has established her as the point-person for the movement. She has her own theory about why the sound seems right:
“On one hand, I am surprised that minimal wave has been so easily welcomed in this day and age. But on the other, and when looking at things from an economic standpoint, there’s a distinct parallel between what was happening during the late 1970s and early ’80s and now. The weak economy that led to the recession peak in 1983 is similar to what has been happening during the past several years. And it seems that cultural and artistic output tend to be affected by economic and social struggle. So perhaps this context has provided the openness necessary to embrace minimal, DIY synthesizer music.”
PASSING FIRES, STRANGE DESIRES
I’ve just entered Sub Mission Gallery for underground queer punk party Sissy Fit. The energy is edgy. Clouds of smoke drift in from outside. Patrons in black sway on the dance floor and eye each other from the benches lining the bare walls. DJ Pickle Surprise, whose style ranges from hardcore blasts to camp classics, puts on a throbbing track by early ’80s Marseille synthers Martin Dupont and I’m instantly transported back to my shadowy youth, spent skulking around the checkerboard dance floors of downtown Detroit clubs Bookie’s, Todd’s, and Liedernacht. I whip an imaginary cigarette holder to my pursed lips, checking to make sure my phantom pillbox hat is properly tilted. He follows that up with a selection of wave tracks old and new, including Storüng, Oppenheimer Analysis, and 2VM, that transforms the joint into an electro-sepulchral time portal. The added twist to this nostalgia trip is mystery — the music ventures beyond the “‘remember the 80s party” canon and into some uncanny partial-recall state.
DJ Pickle Surprise
“I find I’m playing this sound more and more,” Pickle Surprise, a.k.a. Joe Krebs, told me. He got into wave after attending one of the parties Wierd has been throwing in Brooklyn since 2003. “It can call up visions of lasers and line-dancing robots, but after getting to know it more, there’s something less cold or android about it, more of a human touch. It’s analog. There’s something supernatural as well. Like Videodrome, where you’re up in the middle of the night and get pulled into something on television. Something haunting that recalibrates you.”
“Did the passions of the artists shape the way the technology was used, or did the technology shape the people using it? NERD!” DJ Nary Guman, a.k.a. Joe Polastri, teased over e-mail. Along with DJ Inquilab, a.k.a. Nihar Bhatt, he puts on the monthly wave-friendly Warm Leatherette. They started their own party early last year because they found their tastes didn’t quite fit in anywhere. “Once I started digging I found out just how vast the field was,” Bhatt added. “It’s exciting to have something that can be danceable, experimental, popular, and punk at the same time.”
Other San Francisco parties that have embraced the sound include the monthly Shutter (www.myspace.com/clubshutter) at Elbo Room, which packs in the kohled and the beautiful with hits from Sisters of Mercy and Fields of the Nephilim among rarer tracks. Local band Jonas Reinhardt’s Synth City, every last Thursday of the month at the Attic (www.jonasreinhardt.com) mixes a wave feel into atmospheric krautrock and new age rambles. And the Radioactivity happy hour at 222 Hyde (www.222hyde.com) celebrates “low-budget synths and Cold War dance parties.”
LE DECADENCE ELECTRONIQUE
The party most faithful to the retrograde spirit, however, is the energetically opaque Nachtmusik, put on by DJs Josh Cheon, Justin, and Omar. Chilly green lasers strobe live performers, wave-o-philes gather in corners to trade track knowledge, and open-minded dancers try out new-old moves to alien beats. (Surprisingly, this insular music sounds really good loud in a crowd.)
Josh Cheon of Dark Entries Records. Photo by Jon Rivera
If anyone’s the heart of the Bay wave scene, it’s Cheon. One of our most important amateur musicologists, he was integral to the disco revival of the ’00s, tracking down and conducting in-depth interviews with gay bathhouse-era survivors and then moving on to international wave. For him, the music summons youthful memories of dancing at NYC’s the Bank to Clan of Xymox, Q Lazzarus, Cetu Javu, Wolfshiem, Beborn Beton, and VNV Nation. “From the first notes of Ministry’s With Sympathy and Depeche Mode’s Speak and Spell, I’ve been a sucker for synths,” he told me, laughing.
Death Domain by darkentriesrecords
In 2009, Cheon started Dark Entries Records (www.darkentriesrecords.com) to release some of his finds, including Second Decay, Zwischenfall, Those Attractive Magnets, and upstate New York’s Eleven Pond, whose “Watching Trees” has become a wave anthem of sorts. (He found Eleven Pond through a comment one of the members posted on SF synth collector Goutroy’s A Viable Commercial blog, goutroy.blogspot.com.)
Staying true to the “DIY vinyl retrograde” spirit, Dark Entries releases come in hand-numbered batches of 500, and for the most part the digital rights are kept by the artists themselves. There are no CDs.
He shrugs off the possibility that there’s little left to discover. “It’s like gold mine after gold mine,” Cheon told me. “There’s just so much out there — even the artists themselves are surprised to be reminded of this time in their lives that they’d mostly forgotten. It’s actually really touching when they find out there’s an intense interest in what they did in their youth. They’re just amazed.”
Later this year he’ll be releasing a Bay Area Retrograde (BART) compilation, highlighting our own historical wave purveyors. “What many people forget is San Francisco’s rich synthpop and new wave history, with bands like Voice Farm, Tuxedomoon, the Units, and the Club Foot scene for starters. [Factrix, Minimal Man, and Los Microwaves are some others.] But that’s just scratching the surface. I mean, who knows what great tracks are waiting to be heard? And what amazing stories behind them.”
NACHTMUSIK
Wed/14 and second Wednesdays, 10 p.m., $3
The Knockout
3223 Mission, SF
WARM LEATHERETTE
Fri/16 and third Fridays, 9 p.m., free
Space Gallery
1141 Polk, SF
www.myspace.com/warmleatherettesf
THE SOFT MOON
Tue/20, 8 p.m., pay what you can
21 Grand
416 25th St., Oakl.
Stage listings
Stage listings are compiled by Guardian staff. Performance times may change; call venues to confirm. Reviewers are Robert Avila, Rita Felciano, and Nicole Gluckstern. Submit items for the listings at listings@sfbg.com.
THEATER
OPENING
"DIVAfest" Exit Theatre, 156 Eddy; 673-3847, www.theexit.org. Opens April 8, check website for dates and times. Through May 1. The ninth annual festival features plays and performances by women artists.
BAY AREA
Girlfriend Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison, Berk; (510) 647-2949, www.berkeleyrep.org. $27-71. Previews Fri/9-Sat/10 and Tues/13, 8pm; Sun/11, 7pm. Opens April 14, 8pm. Runs Wed, 7pm; Thurs-Sat and Tues, 2pm (also Sat, 2pm); Sun, 2 and 7pm. Through May 9. Berkeley Rep presents a new musical written around Matthew Sweet’s love songs.
A History of Human Stupidity LaVal’s Subterranean Theatre, 1834 Euclid, Berk; (510) 499-0356, www.randt.org. $16-20. Previews Thurs/8, 7:30pm. Opens Fri/9, 8pm. Runs Thurs-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 7pm. Through April 25. Rough and Tumble performs Andy Bayiates’ intellectual vaudeville, an examination of stupidity.
The Lysistrata Project Regent House, 2836 Regent, Berk; www.crowdedfire.org. $10-15. Opens Thurs/8, 8pm. Runs Thurs-Sat, 8pm. Through April 23. Crowded Fire presents Elana McKernan’s Aristophanes-inspired tale as part of its Matchbox Production development program for new works.
To Kill a Mockingbird Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro, Mtn View; (650) 463-1960, www.theatreworks.org. $27-62. Previews Wed/7-Fri/9, 8pm. Opens Sat/10, 8pm. Runs Tues-Wed, 7:30pm; Thurs-Sat, 8pm (also Sat, 2pm); Sun, 2 and 7pm. Through May 9. TheatreWorks performs Christopher Sergel’s adaptation of Harper Lee’s literary masterpiece.
ONGOING
*…And Jesus Moonwalks the Mississippi Cutting Ball Theater, 277 Taylor; 1-800-838-3006, www.cuttingball.com. $15-30. Thurs-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 5pm. Through April 25. In this inspired poetical-historical counter-narrative from Bay Area playwright Marcus Gardley, Greek mythology, African American folklore, personal family history, and Christian theology are all drawn irresistibly along in a great sweep of wild and incisive humor, passion, pathos and rousing gospel music as buoyant and wide as the Mississippi — or rather Miss Sippi (the impressive Nicole C. Julien), personification of the mighty and flighty river. The Cutting Ball-Playwrights Foundation coproduction, lovingly directed by Amy Mueller, sports exquisite design touches from Cutting Ball regulars like Michael Locher, whose gorgeous plank-wood set serves as the ideal platform for a work both magnificently simple and eloquently evocative. (Avila)
Baby: A Musical Off-Market Theatres, 965 Mission; 1-800-838-3006, www.roltheatre.com. $20-32. Thurs-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. Through April 18. Ray of Light Theatre performs a comedy about pregnancy.
*Den of Thieves SF Playhouse, 533 Sutter; 677-9596, www.sfplayhouse.org. $40. Tues, 7pm; Wed-Sat, 8pm (also Sat, 3pm). Through April 17. Stephen Adly Guirgis has been good to SF Playhouse. The company already scored big with two of the New Yorker’s gritty, dark and sharply funny plays, Our Lady of 121st Street and Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train. Director Susi Damilano continues the streak with SF Playhouse’s latest, the less heavy but very funny Den of Thieves, about an unlikely foursome of inept bandits caught trying to heist a Mafioso’s safe under a discotheque in Queens — a simple tale that gives plenty of scope to Guirgis’s muscular way with dialogue and the clash of characters. It’s a meaty comedy, and the exceptional cast sells the conceit so beautifully they make it a crime to miss. (Avila)
Desperate Affection Royce Gallery, 2901 Mariposa; www.expressionproductions.com. $28. Thurs/8-Sat/10, 8pm. Expression Productions presents a dark comedy by Bruce Graham.
The Diary of Anne Frank Next Stage, 1620 Gough; 1-800-838-3006, www.custommade.org. $10-28. Thurs-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 7pm. Through May 1. Custom Made performs Wendy Kesselman’s modern take on the classic.
Eat, Pray, Laugh! Off-Market Theaters, 965 Mission; www.brownpapertickets.com. $20. Wed, 8pm. Through April 28. Off-Market Theaters presents stand up comic and solo artist Alicia Dattner in her award-winning solo show.
An Enemy of the People Eureka Valley Recreation Center Auditorium, 100 Collingwood; http://sffct.wordpress.com. Free. Fri/9-Sat/10, 7:30pm; Sun/11, 3pm. San Francisco Free Civic Theatre performs Henrik Ibsen’s drama.
Frau Bachfeifengesicht’s Spectacle of Perfection Stage Werx Theatre, 533 Sutter; 1-800-838-3006, www.circusfinelli.com. $15-20. Fri-Sun, 8pm. Through April 25. San Francisco’s all-women clown troupe, Circus Finelli, performs their comedy show inspired by European circus acts and American vaudeville.
Lady, Be Good! Eureka Theatre, 215 Jackson; 255-8207, www.42ndstmoon.org. $8-44. Wed, 7pm; Thurs-Fri, 8pm; Sat, 6pm (also Sat/10, 1pm); Sun, 3pm. Through April 18. 42nd Street Moon presents George and Ira Gershwin’s madcap tale of a brother-sister vaudeville team in the 1920s.
*Legs and All Climate Theater, 285 Ninth St; 346-1411. $15-20. Thurs/8-Sat/10, 8pm (also Sat/10, 3pm). After last year’s SF Fringe run and fresh from a roundly lauded New York appearance, San Francisco–based physical comedienne Summer Shapiro brings her cheeky-fresh show back to the Climate Theater. Since last appearing in workshop form at the Climate, a solo piece has bloomed into a pas de deux between Shapiro and Brooklyn-based performer and co-creator Peter Musante (Blue Man Group, New York), becoming a sassy and shrewd physical-comic deconstruction of romance by two hapless, winsome characters — an eat-drink-man-woman-pie sort of thing. The show’s series of short vignettes hits all the right notes in its playful skewering of love’s half-bemused pleasures and general panic. I wept copiously at the precision here, but most people will likely laugh and reach out for their loved ones, or at least warmly squeeze the knee of the patron seated next to them. Deft physical comedy to an eclectic and bouncy soundscape (from Musante and Jeremy Shapiro, and including an original score by local composer-musician Brandi Brandes) substitute quite nicely for the usual he-she dialogue, though there’s a brief, absurdist version of that too. Just shy of an hour in length, psycho-romantic Legs offers a swift all-ages kick in the funny groin. (Avila)
*Loveland The Marsh, 1074 Valencia; 826-5750, www.themarsh.org. $15-50. Sat, 8:30pm; Sun, 7pm. Through April 25. Starting May 8, runs Sat, 5pm and Sun, 2pm at the Marsh Berkeley, 2120 Allston, Berk. Through June 13. Los Angeles–based writer-performer Ann Randolph returns to the Marsh with a new solo play partly developed during last year’s Marsh run of her memorable Squeeze Box. Randolph plays loner Frannie Potts, a rambunctious, cranky, and libidinous individual of decidedly odd mien, who is flying back home to Ohio after the death of her beloved mother. The flight is occasion for Frannie’s own flights of memory, exotic behavior in the aisle, and unabashed advances toward the flight deck brought on by the seductively confident strains of the captain’s commentary. The singular personality and mother-daughter relationship that unfurls along the way is riotously demented and brilliantly humane. (Avila)
Macho Bravado Thick House, 1695 18th St; http://machobravado.eventbee.com. $15-25. Thurs-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 5pm. Through April 24. Asian American Theater Company performs Alex Park’s drama about a Korean-American soldier dealing with life on the home front after fighting in the Middle East.
Othello African American Art and Culture Complex, 762 Fulton; 1-800-838-3006, www.african-americanshakes.org. $20-30. Wed-Thurs, 10am (school matinees); Sat, 8pm; Sun, 3pm. Through April 18. African-American Shakespeare Company closes its 15th season with this adaptation of Shakespeare’s play, set during a modern-day military tribunal in Iraq.
Pearls Over Shanghai Hypnodrome, 575 Tenth St.; 1-800-838-3006, www.thrillpeddlers.com. $30-69. Fri-Sat, 8pm; starting July 10, runs Sat, 8pm and Sun, 7pm. Extended through August 1. Thrillpeddlers presents this revival of the legendary Cockettes’ 1970 musical extravaganza.
The Real Americans The Marsh, 1062 Valencia; 826-5750, www.themarsh.org. $18-50. Wed-Fri, 8pm (April 16, show at 9pm; starting April 24, no Fri shows except May 28, 8pm); Sat, 5pm; Sun, 3pm. Through May 30. The Marsh presents the world premiere of Dan Hoyle’s new solo show.
Scalpel! Brava Theater Center, 2781 24th St; 647-2822, www.brava.org. $20-35. Thurs-Sat and April 14, 8pm; Sun/11, 3pm. Through April 17. Writer-director D’arcy Drollinger’s world premiere is a comedic rock thriller that satirizes the pursuit of plastic-surgery perfection.
Shopping! The Musical Shelton Theater, 533 Sutter; 1-800-838-3006, www.brownpapertickets.com. $27-29. Fri-Sat, 8pm. Ongoing. The musical is now in its fifth year at Shelton Theater.
Suddenly Last Summer Actors Theatre, 855 Bush; 345-1287, www.actorstheatresf.org. $15-35. Thurs/8-Sat/10, 8pm. Actors Theatre presents one of Tennessee Williams’ finest and most famous plays.
Vigil American Conservatory Theater, 415 Geary, SF; 749-2228, www.act-sf.org. $10-82. Tues-Sat, 8pm (also Wed and Sat, 2pm); Sun, 2pm (also Sun/11, 7pm). Through April 18. Olympia Dukakis and Marco Barricelli star in Morris Panych’s comedy about a self-involved bachelor and his dying aunt.
What Mama Said About Down There Our Little Theater, 287 Ellis; 820-3250, www.theatrebayarea.org. $15-25. Thurs-Sun, 8pm. Through July 30. Writer-performer-activist Sia Amma presents this largely political, a bit clinical, inherently sexual, and utterly unforgettable performance piece.
BAY AREA
*Concerning Strange Devices from the Distant West Roda Theatre, 2015 Addison, Berk; (510) 647-2949, berkeleyrep.org. $13.50-27. Wed/7 and Sun/11, 7pm (also Sun/11, 2pm); Thurs/8-Sat/10, 8pm (also Thurs/8 and Sat/10, 2pm). Using the medium of photography as its unifying thread, Naomi Iizuka’s Strange Devices ties together two moments in time — the 19th century and the present — as a collector of rare Meiji-era photographs (Bruce McKenzie) comes to modern Yokohama to make a buy, eager to believe in the constructed reality their images represent. But as the tantalizing fragments of a mystery of birthright unfold within an elaborate web of forgery, fraud, and blackmail, so does the realization that, even posed, the truth of a photograph lies within the moment of time it captures, even when misinterpreted by the viewer. (Gluckstern)
*East 14th: True Tales of a Reluctant Player Marsh Berkeley, 2120 Allston, Berk; www.themarsh.org. $20-35. Fri/9, April 16, 30, and May 7, 9pm; Sat/10, May 1, and May 8, 8pm; April 18 and 25, 2pm. Through May 8. Don Reed’s solo play, making its Oakland debut after an acclaimed New York run, is truly a welcome homecoming twice over. (Avila)
Equivocation Marin Theatre Company, 397 Miller, Mill Valley; (415) 388-5208, www.marintheatre.org. $34-54. Tues and Thurs-Sat, 8pm (also April 17 and 24, 2pm); Wed, 7:30pm; Sun, 2 and 7pm. Through April 25. Marin Theatre Company performs Bill Cain’s drama, set behind the scenes during Shakespeare’s time at the Globe Theatre.
John Gabriel Borkman Aurora Theatre, 2081 Addison, Berk; (510) 843-4822, www.auroratheatre.org. $34-55. Opens Thurs/8, 8pm. Runs Tues and Sun, 7pm (also Sun, 2pm); Wed-Sat, 8pm. Through May 9. Aurora Theatre Company performs Henrik Ibsen’s pointed indictment of capitalism.
*A Seagull in the Hamptons Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby, Berk; www.shotgunplayers.org. $15-30. Wed, 7pm; Thurs-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 5pm. Through April 25. Emily Mann’s free adaptation of Chekhov’s Seagull captures the essence of his early "comedy" — very much a human comedy, brimming with pain, turmoil and tragedy in equal measure with laughter, love and folly — and yet manages to be completely of its own (our own) time and place, so effortlessly as to seem a little miraculous. It helps, naturally, that director Reid Davis has assembled a very solid and enjoyable ensemble cast for this wonderfully tailored Shotgun Players production. (Avila)
PERFORMANCE/DANCE
"Bijou" Martuni’s, Four Valencia; www.dragatmartunis.com. Sun, 7pm. $5. Cabaret showcase with Alyssa Stone and others.
"Catwalk 2010" Somarts, 934 Brannan; www.brownpapertickets.com. Sat, 7pm. $35. Tita Aida hosts this search for the next transgender supermodel.
Mario Cantone Castro, 429 Castro; 392-4400, www.cityboxoffice.com. Sat, 8pm, $27.50-49.50. The Broadway and Sex in the City star performs.
"The Dance Hour" CounterPULSE, 1310 Mission; www.brownpapertickets.com. Thurs-Sat, 8pm, $20. Stephen Pelton Dance Theater performs new works and audience favorites.
"A Funny Night for Comedy" Actors Theatre of San Francisco, 855 Bush; www.brownpapertickets.com. Sun, 7pm. $10. Marga Gomez headlines, with Morgan, Ronn Vigh, Tom Smith, and Katie Compa.
"Gotta Dance" Novellus Theatre, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 700 Howard; (510) 526-8474. Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. $12-20. Gil Chun presents this eclectic program of tap, hula, jazz, and ethnic dances.
"Hysteresis" Dance Mission Theater, 3316 24th St; 287-0192, www.double-vision.biz. Fri-Sun, 8pm, $15. Double Vision presents this evening-length dance work with choreography by Pauline Jennings.
"Kung Pao Kosher Comedy presents Comedy Returns to El Rio!" El Rio, 3158 Mission; www.brownpapertickets.com. Mon, 8pm. $7-20. Lisa Geduldig presents and performs at this comedy show, also featuring Maureen Langan, Dhaya Lakshminarayanan, Bob McIntyre, and Erin Souza.
"ODC Theater presents SCUBA" ODC Dance Commons Studio B, 351 Shotwell; 863-9834, www.odctheater.org. Sat-Sun, 8pm. $18. This dance series includes new work by Megan Mazarick, Locust, and the Foundry.
"Previously Secret Information" StageWerx Theatre, 533 Sutter; www.brownpapertickets.com. Wed/7, 8pm; May 16 and June 13, 7pm. $10. Joe Klocek hosts this storytelling series.
Slomski Brothers with Red Hots Burlesque El Rio, 3158 Mission; www.elriosf.com. Fri, 7:30pm. $5-10. Vaudeville and burlesque performers.
"Snob Theater" Dark Room, 2263 Mission; www.darkroomsf.com. Thurs, 8pm, $10. Music and comedy with Mary Van Note, Natasha Muse, Emily Heller, and more.
"Three Stories" Mission Dolores School Auditorium, 3320 16th St; sixteenthstreetplayers@yahoo.com. Fri, 7:30; Sat-Sun, 3pm. Through April 18. Free. 16th Street Players perform one-act plays by Anton Chekhov, Susan Glaspell, and Jean Giraudous.
"Ungrateful Daughter: One Black Girl’s Story of Being Adoped Into a White Family … That Aren’t Celebrities" StageWerx Theatre, 533 Sutter; www.brownpapertickets.com. Thurs/8 and April 22, 8pm. $15-25. Lisa Marie Rollins performs her solo show.
Music listings
Music listings are compiled by Paula Connelly and Cheryl Eddy. Since club life is unpredictable, it’s a good idea to call ahead to confirm bookings and hours. Prices are listed when provided to us. Submit items at listings@sfbg.com.
WEDNESDAY 7
ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP
Boy in the Bubble, Actors, Catholic Radio, DJ Dudehouse El Rio. 9pm, $6.
*Faith and the Muse, Jill Tracy, Tell Tale Heartbreakers, Sunshine Blind DNA Lounge. 9pm, $15.
Gram Rabbit, Spindrift, Foxtail Somersault Red Devil Lounge. 8pm, $8.
Adam Green, Dead Trees Café du Nord. 9:30pm, $15.
*Patty Griffin, Buddy Miller Fillmore. 8pm, $35.
Moira Scar, Attic Ted, Slow Poisoner Hemlock Tavern. 9pm, $5.
Moldover, Nonagon, Celeste Lear Hotel Utah. 8pm.
Curtis Salgado Biscuits and Blues. 8pm, $18.
Sherwood, Seabird, Black Gold, Reece Rickshaw Stop. 7pm, $15.
DANCE CLUBS
Afreaka! Attic, 3336 24th St, SF; souljazz45@gmail.com. 10pm, free. Psychedelic beats from Brazil, Turkey, India, Africa, and across the globe with MAKossa.
Booty Call Q-Bar, 456 Castro, SF; www.bootycallwednesdays.com. 9pm. Juanita Moore hosts this dance party, featuring DJ Robot Hustle.
Hands Down! Bar on Church. 9pm, free. With DJs Claksaarb, Mykill, and guests spinning indie, electro, house, and bangers.
Jam Wednesday Infusion Lounge. 10pm, free. DJ Slick Dee.
Machine Sloane, 1525 Mission, SF; (415) 621-7007. 10pm, free. Warm beats for happy feet with DJs Sergio, Conor, and André Lucero.
Mary-Go-Round Lookout, 3600 16th St, SF; (415) 431-0306. 10pm, $5. A weekly drag show with hosts Cookie Dough, Pollo Del Mar, and Suppositori Spelling.
RedWine Social Dalva. 9pm-2am, free. DJ TophOne and guests spin outernational funk and get drunk.
Respect Wednesdays End Up. 10pm, $5. Rotating DJs Daddy Rolo, Young Fyah, Irie Dole, I-Vier, Sake One, Serg, and more spinning reggae, dancehall, roots, lovers rock, and mash ups.
Synchronize Il Pirata, 2007 16th St, SF; (415) 626-2626. 10pm, free. Psychedelic dance music with DJs Helios, Gatto Matto, Psy Lotus, Intergalactoid, and guests.
Yoruba Dance Sessions Bacano! Som., 2925 16th St, SF; (415) 558-8521. 9pm, free. With resident DJ Carlos Mena and guests spinning afro-deep-global-soulful-broken-techhouse.
THURSDAY 8
ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP
Growlers, Sandwitches Rickshaw Stop. 8pm, $10.
Miles Kurosky, Pancho-san, Lia Rose Bottom of the Hill. 8:30pm, $12.
Late Young, Jaws Knockout. 9:30pm, $7.
Light This City, Comadre, Funeral Pyre, Early Graves Thee Parkside. 9:30pm, $12.
Montana 1948, DownDownDown, Beta State, Brooks Was Here Café du Nord. 8:30pm, $10.
Murder By Death, Ha Ha Tonka, Linfinity Slim’s. 9pm, $16.
*Ty Segall, Numerators, Bridez Hemlock Tavern. 9pm, $6.
"Stevie Ray Vaughn Tribute with Alan Iglesias" Biscuits and Blues. 8pm, $16.
White Buffalo, Joey Ryan Hotel Utah. 9pm, $12.
JAZZ/NEW MUSIC
Graham Connah Socha Café, 3235 Mission, SF; (415) 643-6848. 8:30pm, free.
FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY
Valerie Orth Band Revolution Café, 3248 22nd St, SF; (415) 642-0474. 8:30pm, free.
DANCE CLUBS
Afrolicious Elbo Room. 9:30pm, $5-7. DJs Pleasuremaker and Señor Oz spin Afrobeat, Tropicália, electro, samba, and funk.
CakeMIX SF Wish, 1539 Folsom, SF; www.wishsf.com. 10pm, free. DJ Carey Kopp spinning funk, soul, and hip hop.
Caribbean Connection Little Baobab, 3388 19th St, SF; (415) 643-3558. 10pm, $3. DJ Stevie B and guests spin reggae, soca, zouk, reggaetón, and more.
Drop the Pressure Underground SF. 6-10pm, free. Electro, house, and datafunk highlight this weekly happy hour.
Funky Rewind Skylark. 9pm, free. DJ Kung Fu Chris, MAKossa, and rotating guest DJs spin heavy funk breaks, early hip-hop, boogie, and classic Jamaican riddims.
Good Foot Yoruba Dance Sessions Bacano! Som., 2925 16th St, SF; (415) 558-8521. 9pm, free. A James Brown tribute with resident DJs Haylow, A-Ron, and Prince Aries spinning R&B, Hip hop, funk, and soul.
Heat Icon Ultra Lounge. 10pm, free. Hip-hop, R&B, reggae, and soul.
Kick It Bar on Church. 9pm. Hip-hop with DJ Jorge Terez.
Kissing Booth Make-Out Room. 9pm, free. DJs Jory, Commodore 69, and more spinning indie dance, disco, 80’s, and electro.
Koko Puffs Koko Cocktails, 1060 Geary, SF; (415) 885-4788. 10pm, free. Dubby roots reggae and Jamaican funk from rotating DJs.
Mestiza Bollywood Café, 3376 19th St, SF; (415) 970-0362. 10pm, free. Showcasing progressive Latin and global beats with DJ Juan Data.
Motion Sickness Vertigo, 1160 Polk, SF; (415) 674-1278. 10pm, free. Genre-bending dance party with DJs Sneaky P, Public Frenemy, and D_Ro Cyclist.
Peaches Skylark, 10pm, free. With an all female DJ line up featuring Deeandroid, Lady Fingaz, That Girl, and Umami spinning hip hop.
Popscene 330 Rich. 10pm, $10. Rotating DJs spinning indie, Britpop, electro, new wave, and post-punk.
Represent Icon Lounge. 10pm, $5. With Resident DJ Ren the Vinyl Archaeologist and guest.
FRIDAY 9
ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP
Citizen Cope Fillmore. 8pm, $25.
*Fear Factory, Amon Amarth, Eluveitie, Dirge Within Regency Ballroom. 7pm, $27.
Roy Gaines Biscuits and Blues. 8 and 10pm, $22.
John n Jesse, Ziggy King and the Jokers Epicenter Café, 764 Harrison, SF; (415) 543-5436. 7pm.
Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, DJ Logic Independent. 9pm, $25.
Love of Diagrams, Weekend, Fever Dream Hemlock Tavern. 9:30pm, $7.
Miko Marks, Andre Thierry Slim’s. 9pm, $16.
Noodles, All Ages, Golda and the Gunz, El Nino Red Devil Lounge. 8pm, $12.
Retribution Gospel Choir, Carta, Sarah June Hotel Utah. 9pm, $10.
7 Walkers featuring Bill Kreutzmann and Papi Mali with George Porter Jr. Great American Music Hall. 9pm, $25.
Rube Waddell, Sweet Bones, Cheetahs on the Moon, Unpopable Bottom of the Hill. 9:30pm, $9.
JAZZ/NEW MUSIC
Audium 9 1616 Bush, SF; (415) 771-1616. 8:30pm, $15.
Black Market Jazz Orchestra Top of the Mark. 9pm, $10.
Eric Kurtzrock Trio Ana Mandara, Ghirardelli Square, 891 Beach, SF; (415) 771-6800. 8pm, free.
Sounds of Blackness Yoshi’s San Francisco. 8 and 10pm, $24-34.
Thorny Brocky Red Poppy Art House. 8pm, $10-15.
FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY
Jackie Rago and the Venezuelan Music Project El Rio. 4pm, $10-25 sliding scale. With DJ La Rumorosa.
Jonathan Shue Socha Café, 3235 Mission, SF; (415) 643-6848. 8:30pm, free.
"That Night in Rio" Café du Nord. 9pm, $15. Samba party with Grupo Samba Rio and Dj Fausto Sousa.
Matt Turk Revolution Café, 3248 22nd St, SF; (415) 642-0474. 8:45pm, free.
DANCE CLUBS
Activate! Lookout, 3600 16th St, SF; (415) 431-0306. 9pm, $3. Face your demigods and demons at this Red Bull-fueled party.
Bar on Church 9pm. Rotating DJs Zax, Zhaldee, and Nuxx.
Blow Up Rickshaw Stop. 10pm, $10. With rotating DJs.
Evil Breaks DNA Lounge. 9:30pm, $20. Breaks with Fine Cut Bodies, Left/Right, Aaron Jae, and more.
Exhale, Fridays Project One Gallery, 251 Rhode Island, SF; (415) 465-2129. 5pm, $5. Happy hour with art, fine food, and music with Vin Sol, King Most, DJ Centipede, and Shane King.
Fat Stack Fridays Koko Cocktails, 1060 Geary, SF; (415) 885-4788. 10pm, free. With rotating DJs Romanowski, B-Love, Tomas, Toph One, and Vinnie Esparza.
Fo’ Sho! Fridays Madrone Art Bar. 10pm, $5. DJs Kung Fu Chris, Makossa, and Quickie Mart spin rare grooves, soul, funk, and hip-hop classics.
Gay Asian Paradise Club Eight, 1151 Folsom, SF; www.eightsf.com. 9pm, $8. Featuring two dance floors playing dance and hip hop, smoking patio, and 2 for 1 drinks before 10pm.
Good Life Fridays Apartment 24, 440 Broadway, SF; (415) 989-3434. 10pm, $10. With DJ Brian spinning hip hop, mashups, and top 40.
Gui Boratto Mighty. 10pm, $15. With Nikola Baytala and more spinning techno.
Gymnasium Stud. 10pm, $5. With DJs Violent Vickie and guests spinning electro, disco, rap, and 90s dance and featuring performers, gymnastics, jump rope, drink specials, and more.
Hot Chocolate Milk. 9pm, $5. With DJs Big Fat Frog, Chardmo, DuseRock, and more spinning old and new school funk.
Look Out Weekend Bambuddha Lounge. 4pm, free. Drink specials, food menu and resident DJs White Girl Lust, Swayzee, Philie Ocean, and more.
M4M Fridays Underground SF. 10pm-2am. Joshua J and Frankie Sharp host this man-tastic party.
Menage a Birthday Party Rickshaw Stop. 9pm, $10. Benefit for Northern California Youth Leadership Seminar with DJs spinning music celebrating famous threesomes (like TLC!)
Rockabilly Fridays Jay N Bee Club, 2736 20th St, SF; (415) 824-4190. 9pm, free. With DJs Rockin’ Raul, Oakie Oran, Sergio Iglesias, and Tanoa "Samoa Boy" spinning 50s and 60s Doo Wop, Rockabilly, Bop, Jive, and more.
Sensitive Thug Club Six. 9pm, $7. With DJs Whooligan and J. Boogie spinning hip hop, soul, funk, dancehall, and breaks.
Strictly Video 111 Minna. 9pm, $10. With VDJs Shortkut, Swift Rock, GoldenChyld, and Satva spinning rap, 80s, R&B, and Dancehall.
Treat Em Right Elbo Room. 10pm, $5. Hip-hop, funk, and more with DJs Vinnie Esparza, B. Cause, and guest Joe Quixx.
SATURDAY 10
ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP
*Exene Cervenka Rasputin Music, 67 Powell, SF; www.rasputinmusic.com. 4pm.
Citizen Cope Fillmore. 8pm, $25.
"Fifth Annual Funk Out with R.O.C.K." Café du Nord. 9pm, $15-25. With Stymie and the Pimp Jones Luv Orchestra.
*Grannies, Fast Takers, Blank Stares El Rio. 10pm, $7.
Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, DJ Logic Independent. 9pm, $25.
*Kowloon Walled City, Hollow Mirrors, Across Tundras, Lost Machine Thee Parkside. 9pm, $7.
*McCabe and Mrs. Miller, Orange Peels, Ralph Carney’s Serious Jass Project Hemlock Tavern. 9:30pm, $7.
Society Dog, Hot Farm, Empireslum Thee Parkside. 3pm, free.
Tender Mercies, Naked Barbies, Yard Sale Hotel Utah. 9pm, $8.
Tornado Rider, Stomacher, 3rd Rail, I the Mighty Great American Music Hall. 8pm, $14.
Phillip Walker Biscuits and Blues. 8pm, $20.
We Are Wolves, Parlovr, Off Campus Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $10.
JAZZ/NEW MUSIC
Audium 9 1616 Bush, SF; (415) 771-1616. 8:30pm, $15.
Bobby McFerrin’s VOCAbuLarieS Nob Hill Masonic Center, 1111 California, SF; www.sfjazz.org. 8pm, $25-85.
Eric Kurtzrock Trio Ana Mandara, Ghirardelli Square, 891 Beach, SF; (415) 771-6800. 8pm, free.
Ricardo Scales Top of the Mark. 9pm, $15.
Sounds of Blackness Yoshi’s San Francisco. 8 and 10pm, $34.
FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY
Bryan Byrnes Socha Café, 3235 Mission, SF; (415) 643-6848. 8:30pm, free.
Derek Lassiter Red Poppy Art House. 8pm, $15.
DANCE CLUBS
Audio Alchemy Yoshi’s San Francisco. 10:30pm, $15-25. With Mix Master Mike, DJ Shortkut, and Jazz Mafia All-Stars.
Bar on Church 9pm. Rotating DJs Foxxee, Joseph Lee, Zhaldee, Mark Andrus, and Niuxx.
Blowoff Slim’s. 10pm, $15. With DJs Bob Mould and Rich Morel.
Bootie DNA Lounge. 9pm, $6-12. DJ Earworm headlines this mash-up party.
Cockblock Rickshaw Stop. 10pm, $7. DJ Nuxx and guests spin at this queer-friendly dance party.
Dead After Dark Knockout. 6pm, free. With DJ Touchy Feely.
Electricity Knockout. 10pm, $4. A decade of 80s with DJs Omar, Deadbeat, and Yule Be Sorry.
Frolic Stud. 9pm, $3-7. DJs Dragn’Fly, NeonBunny, and Ikkuma spin at this celebration of anthropomorphic costume and dance. Animal outfits encouraged.
HYP Club Eight, 1151 Folsom, SF; www.eightsf.com. 10pm, free. Gay and lesbian hip hop party, featuring DJs spinning the newest in the top 40s hip hop and hyphy.
Mini Non-Stop Bhangra Rickshaw Stop. Noon-3pm, $5-10. Family-friendly Bollywood dance party.
No Way Back 222 Hyde, 222 Hyde, SF; (415) 345-8222. 10pm, $10. With DJs Trevor Jackson, Solar, and Conor.
Same Sex Salsa and Swing Magnet, 4122 18th St, SF; (415) 305-8242. 7pm, free.
Social Club Lookout, 3600 16th St, SF; (415) 431-0306. 9pm. Shake your money maker with DJs Lee Decker and Luke Fry.
Spirit Fingers Sessions 330 Ritch. 9pm, free. With DJ Morse Code and live guest performances.
Spotlight Siberia, 314 11th St, SF; (415) 552-2100. 10pm. With DJs Slowpoke, Double Impact, and Moe1.
Tormenta Tropical Elbo Room. 10pm, $5-10. Electro cumbia with Ghosts on Tape, Disco Shawn, Oro11, and more.
SUNDAY 11
ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP
"Battle of the Bands" DNA Lounge. 5:30pm, $12. With Amalgrama, Ten Days New, Wheels Have Eyes, and more.
Edie Sedgwick, Pozor, Leslie Q Hemlock Tavern. 9pm, $6.
Ordstro, Tigon, Former Thieves, Benoit, Caulfield, Deadman, Versions Submission Art Space, 2183 Mission, SF; (415) 503-1425. 7pm, $6.
P.K. 14, Carsick Cars, AV Okubo Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $10.
Michael Rose, R2D2, Reggae City Slim’s. 9pm, $30.
Serena Ryder, Ryan Star Café du Nord. 8pm, $12.
*Slough Feg, Bible of the Devil, Orchid Thee Parkside. 8pm, $10.
JAZZ/NEW MUSIC
Lua Hadar, Jason Martineau Bliss Bar, 4026 24th St, SF; (415) 826-6200. 4:30pm, $10.
Noertker’s Moxie Musicians Union Hall, 116 Ninth St, SF; www.noertker.com. 7:30pm, $10.
Sounds of Blackness Yoshi’s San Francisco. 2 and 7pm, $5-34.
Tomasz Stanko Quintet Florence Gould Theatre, Legion of Honor, 100 Legion of Honor Dr, SF; www.sfjazz.org. 2pm, $25-40.
FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY
Country Casanovas Thee Parkside. 3pm, free.
DANCE CLUBS
DiscoFunk Mashups Cat Club. 10pm, free. House and 70’s music.
Dub Mission Elbo Room. 9pm, $6. Dub, roots, and classic dancehall with J Boogie and Vinnie Esparza.
Gloss Sundays Trigger, 2344 Market, SF; (415) 551-CLUB. 7pm. With DJ Hawthorne spinning house, funk, soul, retro, and disco.
Honey Soundsystem Paradise Lounge. 8pm-2am. "Dance floor for dancers – sound system for lovers." Got that?
Jock! Lookout, 3600 16th St, SF; (415) 431-0306. 3pm, $2. This high-energy party raises money for LGBT sports teams.
Kick It Bar on Church. 9pm. Hip-hop with DJ Zax.
Lonely Teardrops Rock n’ Roll Night Knockout. 9pm, $4. With DJs dX the Funky Granpaw and Sergio Iglesias.
Lowbrow Sunday Delirium. 1pm, free. DJ Roost Uno and guests spinning club hip hop, indie, and top 40s.
Movement Temple. 9pm, $15. A benefit for CommuniTree and after party for the Green Festival featuring a live performance by Abstract Rude with DJ Drez, and DJs Ana Sia, David Satori, Aima the Dreamer, Sake One, and Abai.
Religion Bar on Church. 3pm. With DJ Nikita.
Stag AsiaSF. 6pm, $5. Gay bachelor parties are the target demo of this weekly erotic tea dance.
MONDAY 12
ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP
Buxter Hoot’n, Mark Matos and Os Beaches, Nick Jaina Elbo Room. 8:30pm, $5.
MGMT Fillmore. 7pm, $30.
Ruby Suns, Toro y Moi, Dreamdate Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $10.
DANCE CLUBS
Bacano! Som., 2925 16th St, SF; (415) 558-8521. 9pm, free. With resident DJs El Kool Kyle and Santero spinning Latin music.
Black Gold Koko Cocktails, 1060 Geary, SF; (415) 885-4788. 10pm-2am, free. Senator Soul spins Detroit soul, Motown, New Orleans R&B, and more — all on 45!
Death Guild DNA Lounge. 9:30pm, $3-5. Gothic, industrial, and synthpop with Decay, Joe Radio, and Melting Girl.
M.O.M. Madrone Art Bar. 6pm, free. With DJ Gordo Cabeza and guests playing all Motown every Monday.
Manic Mondays Bar on Church. 9pm. Drink 80-cent cosmos with Djs Mark Andrus and Dangerous Dan.
Monster Show Underground SF. 10pm, $5. Cookie Dough and DJ MC2 make Mondays worth dancing about, with a killer drag show at 11pm.
Network Mondays Azul Lounge, One Tillman Pl, SF; www.inhousetalent.com. 9pm, $5. Hip-hop, R&B, and spoken word open mic, plus featured performers.
Skylarking Skylark. 10pm, free. With resident DJs I & I Vibration, Beatnok, and Mr. Lucky and weekly guest Djs.
Spliff Sessions Tunnel Top. 10pm, free. DJs MAKossa, Kung Fu Chris, and C. Moore spin funk, soul, reggae, hip-hop, and psychedelia on vinyl.
TUESDAY 13
ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP
Taina Asili y la Banda Rebelde, Lila Rose, Genie Café du Nord. 9:30pm, $10.
Blue Scholars, Bambu Slim’s. 9pm, $13.
Fat Tuesday Band Biscuits and Blues. 8pm, $15.
Jen Grady, Kevin Florence, Ploughman Club Waziema, 543 Divisadero, SF; (415) 346-6641. 8pm, free.
Jel, Serengeti, Odd Nosdam Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $20. Benefit for Haitian relief by Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods (SOIL).
Little Dragon, VV Brown, Hottub Independent. 9pm, $20.
MGMT Fillmore. 7pm, $30.
Neighbors, Lazer Zeppelin, Ghost to Falco Hemlock Tavern. 9pm, $6.
Robot Bombshelter, Marrow, Girls N Boomboxes Elbo Room. 9pm.
DANCE CLUBS
Alcoholocaust Presents Argus Lounge. 9pm, free. With DJ What’s His Fuck and DJ Crystal Meth.
Eclectic Company Skylark, 9pm, free. DJs Tones and Jaybee spin old school hip hop, bass, dub, glitch, and electro.
La Escuelita Pisco Lounge, 1817 Market, SF; (415) 874-9951. 7pm, free. DJ Juan Data spinning gay-friendly, Latino sing-alongs but no salsa or reggaeton.
Rock Out Karaoke! Amnesia. 7:30pm. With Glenny Kravitz.
Share the Love Trigger, 2344 Market, SF; (415) 551-CLUB. 5pm, free. With DJ Pam Hubbuck spinning house.
Womanizer Bar on Church. 9pm. With DJ Nuxx.
Hooch with the pooch
By Robyn Johnson
You have to take the dog for a walk anyway, right? Why not stop in at your friendly neighborhood dog bar along the way? A few local bars make a point of catering to the canine crowd; here are some places where your (well-behaved) pet is welcome.
STRAY BAR
With its motto of “Sit. Stay. Drink.” and Smurf-esque French bulldog logo, Stray Bar flaunts its fur-buddy friendliness, and the bartenders always make sure to keep the dog-treat and water bowls filled. People amenities include a darts room, a TV (usually tuned to a sports game), a jukebox with a healthy cross section, and a few ample leather couches. The crowd tends toward the unpretentious and neighborly, so if you happen to see a grizzled fellow totter on by, greet him with a raised glass and a pat on the head — that’s Camden “the drunken sailor,” the owner’s beloved pooch, just making his usual rounds. Some rules to keep in mind: keep your pup on a leash and off the couches, no doggie roughhousing, and, of course, if you don’t clean up any mess your furry friend should make, you will be summarily ejected and banned. Also, for crowd and animal safety, don’t bring your four-legged pal on Fridays and Saturdays or during special events.
309 Cortland, SF. (415) 821-9263, www.straybarsf.com. Happy hour: $2–$3 beers, daily, 4–7 p.m.
LUCKY 13
If you and your dog are of a more dive-bar-patronizing persuasion, trot on over to Lucky 13. The consistently top-rated jukebox is loaded with classic punk, metal, and rockabilly tunes, and the two of you can rock out over complimentary doggie treats and cheap beers from the extensive microbrewery selection. (People treats usually range from free popcorn to cheese Goldfish.) Other fun bits include a pool table, a photo booth, and, best of all, an outdoor patio to give your dog a stretch and a breather — as long as you don’t mind sharing the air with smokers. Although pups can wander off their leashes, the basic tenets of responsible pet ownership still apply. Don’t let your dog act in any way that would, if you were to do the same, get you tossed out or arrested.
2140 Market, SF. (415) 487-1313. Happy hour: $1 off well drinks, 50¢ off beer, daily, 4–8 p.m.
FIRESIDE BAR
If, on the other hand, you are both creatures of finer tastes, seeking a more elegant excursion, take a walk to the Fireside Bar. At this modern-minded and cozy lounge, the purple walls and dark leather furniture strive for a chic ambience, and sofas are set up around — you might have guessed — a fireplace. It’s a lot like drinking in someone’s classy living room — someone who doesn’t mind your bringing over the dog. The bartenders also seem to be phenomenally friendly, and the eclectic jukebox plays everything from Flogging Molly to jazz. Dogs must always be on a leash, and water bowls are set out in case it gets a little too toasty.
603 Irving, SF. (415) 731-6433. Happy hour: $4 well drinks, 50¢ off beer and wine, daily, 1–7 p.m.
ALBATROSS PUB
It’s games galore at the Albatross Pub, the cheerful and spacious bar that describe its atmosphere as the “guts of an old wooden pirate ship.” Besides a pool table and a darts shooting gallery, Berkeley’s oldest pub boasts 17 types of board games to tickle patrons’ competitive spirit. Be wary, though: Connect Four always gets nabbed first. Yarr. If gaming doesn’t set your heart aflame, you can occupy yourself listening to the live music sets and sorting, or drinking your way, through the decent selection of Scotches, bourbons, whiskeys, and Belgian-style beers. One buck gets you an unlimited pass to the popcorn machine. Dogs must be on leashes and at the tables, so don’t sidle up to the bar with your furry companion in tow. And here’s one of the most important rules: dogs must be out by 8 p.m. Consider the Albatross the perfect place to stop by for a sip or two on your pup’s evening constitutional.
1822 San Pablo, Berkeley. (510) 843-2473, www.albatrosspub.com. Happy hour: 50¢ off pints, $2 off pitchers, free popcorn, and discounted pool, Wed.–Sat., 6–8 p.m.
HOMESTEAD
Homestead’s a lot like other Mission joints — cheap strong drinks, $2 Tecates, and a hipsterish crowd peppered with some normal folks (although according to Yelpers, an unusual number of attractive people seem to congregate here, so use that tip for whatever you will). The bevy of topless pinups hung on the walls sets the bar apart, as does the gorgeous Victorian decor, holdovers from and nods to the establishment of the first bar on the site in 1905. You can also look forward to free peanuts. The rules for dog patrons are on par with the ones at Lucky 13. Dogs can wander around without a leash, but don’t be an irresponsible a-hole pet owner. Treats and water bowls are available.
2301 Folsom, SF. (415) 282-4663, www.myspace.com/thehomesteadsf. Happy hour: $1 off drinks, Mon.–Wed. and Fri., 3–6 p.m.
Music listings
Music listings are compiled by Paula Connelly and Cheryl Eddy. Since club life is unpredictable, it’s a good idea to call ahead to confirm bookings and hours. Prices are listed when provided to us. Submit items at listings@sfbg.com.
WEDNESDAY 31
ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP
"Blue Bear School of Music Band Showcase" Café du Nord. 7:30pm, $12-20.
Hugh Cornwell Red Devil Lounge. 8pm, $10-20. Benefit for victims of the Haitian earthquake.
Epiphanette Grant and Green. 9pm, free.
"Fundraiser for Precita Eyes 14th Annual Urban Youth Arts Festival" El Rio. 8pm, $5-20. With Genie, A-1, Orukusaki, Cio Castaneda, and more.
Laura Gibson and Ethan Rose, Emily Jane White, Garrett Pierce Rickshaw Stop. 8pm, $10.
Ari Herstand, Brett Hunter Trio Hotel Utah. 8pm, $8.
Kidz in the Hall, 88 Keys, Izza Kizza, Donnis Independent. 8pm, $15.
Koalacaust, Ghost Town Refugees, Travis Hayes Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $7.
Never Shout Never, Cab, Hey Monday, Every Avenue, Summer Set Regency Ballroom. 6pm, $18.
Perfect Age of Rock n’ Roll Blues Band with guests Elvin Bishop, Tim Reynolds, and Ray Manzarek Great American Music Hall. 8pm, $30.
Radio Moscow, Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound, Naam, Zodiac Death Valley Elbo Room. 9pm, $10.
Kevin Russell Biscuits and Blues. 8pm, $15.
Rachel Wonder, Tiny Little Blackouts, Skyflakes, Golda and the Guns Rock-It Room. 8:30pm, $5.
FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY
Kasey Anderson Plough and Stars. 9pm.
Gaucho, Michael Abraham Jazz Session Amnesia. 8pm, free.
Kami Nixon and Bill Spooner Café Royale, 800 Post, SF; (415) 441-4099. 7pm, free. Featuring Sharon Maher.
DANCE CLUBS
Booty Call Q-Bar, 456 Castro, SF; www.bootycallwednesdays.com. 9pm. Juanita Moore hosts this dance party, featuring DJ Robot Hustle.
Greatest Hits Knockout. 9pm, $4. With DJs Sergio Iglesias and Omar.
Hands Down! Bar on Church. 9pm, free. With DJs Claksaarb, Mykill, and guests spinning indie, electro, house, and bangers.
Jam Wednesday Infusion Lounge. 10pm, free. DJ Slick Dee.
Machine Sloane, 1525 Mission, SF; (415) 621-7007. 10pm, free. Warm beats for happy feet with DJs Sergio, Conor, and André Lucero.
Mary-Go-Round Lookout, 3600 16th St, SF; (415) 431-0306. 10pm, $5. A weekly drag show with hosts Cookie Dough, Pollo Del Mar, and Suppositori Spelling.
RedWine Social Dalva. 9pm-2am, free. DJ TophOne and guests spin outernational funk and get drunk.
Respect Wednesdays End Up. 10pm, $5. Rotating DJs Daddy Rolo, Young Fyah, Irie Dole, I-Vier, Sake One, Serg, and more spinning reggae, dancehall, roots, lovers rock, and mash ups.
Synchronize Il Pirata, 2007 16th St, SF; (415) 626-2626. 10pm, free. Psychedelic dance music with DJs Helios, Gatto Matto, Psy Lotus, Intergalactoid, and guests.
Yoruba Dance Sessions Bacano! Som., 2925 16th St, SF; (415) 558-8521. 9pm, free. With resident DJ Carlos Mena and guests spinning afro-deep-global-soulful-broken-techhouse.
THURSDAY 1
ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP
Jonny Craig, Tides of Man, Eye Alaska, Honor Bright, Mod Sun Bottom of the Hill. 7:30pm, $12.
Cult of Youth, Veil Veil Vanish, Ssleeping Desiress Knockout. 9:30pm, $5.
Destruments feat. Monophonic Horns Coda. 9:30pm.
Lesbian, White Mice, CCR Headleaner, Nuclear Death Wish Hemlock Tavern. 9pm, $6.
Allison Lovejoy and Graves Brothers Deluxe, Brother’s Horse, Fuzzbucket, Ed, Atomic Lucy Paradise Lounge. 9pm, $7. Benefit for the Haight-Ashbury Street Fair.
Tim Reynolds and TR3, Alma Desnuda, Marcus Eaton Red Devil Lounge. 8pm, $15-30. Benefit for victims of the Haitian earthquake.
Surfer Blood Amoeba, 1855 Haight, SF; (415) 831-1200. 6pm, free.
Steve Taylor Revolution Café, 3248 22nd St, SF; (415) 642-0474. 8:30pm, free.
Terror, Ignite, Hour of the Wolf, Crucified, Boundaries Thee Parkside. 8:30pm, $15.
Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt, Shakes, Blank Tapes, Pony Village Amnesia. 9pm.
Pat Wilder Biscuits and Blues. 8pm, $15.
*Zion I Rickshaw Stop. 8:30pm, $20.
JAZZ/NEW MUSIC
Habib Koite and Bamada Yoshi’s San Francisco. 8pm, $24.
Patrick Wolff Socha Café, 3235 Mission, SF; (415) 643-6848. 8:30pm, free.
FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY
Heather Combs, Austin Willacy, Stewart Lewis, Chi McClean Hotel Utah. 8pm, $8.
DANCE CLUBS
Afrolicious Elbo Room. 9:30pm, $5-7. DJs Pleasuremaker and Señor Oz spin Afrobeat, Tropicália, electro, samba, and funk.
Assemblage 23, Angel Theory, Savi0r DNA Lounge. 8:30pm, $16.
Afrolicious Elbo Room. 9pm, $6. DJs Pleasuremaker and Señor Oz spin Afrobeat, Tropicália, electro, samba, and funk.
Caribbean Connection Little Baobab, 3388 19th St, SF; (415) 643-3558. 10pm, $3. DJ Stevie B and guests spin reggae, soca, zouk, reggaetón, and more.
Club Jammies Edinburgh Castle. 10pm, free. DJs EBERrad and White Mice spinning reggae, punk, dub, and post punk.
Drop the Pressure Underground SF. 6-10pm, free. Electro, house, and datafunk highlight this weekly happy hour.
Electric Feel Lookout, 3600 16th St, SF; (415) 431-0306. 9pm, $2. With DJs subOctave and Blondie K spinning indie music videos.
Funky Rewind Skylark. 9pm, free. DJ Kung Fu Chris, MAKossa, and rotating guest DJs spin heavy funk breaks, early hip-hop, boogie, and classic Jamaican riddims.
Good Foot Yoruba Dance Sessions Bacano! Som., 2925 16th St, SF; (415) 558-8521. 9pm, free. A James Brown tribute with resident DJs Haylow, A-Ron, and Prince Aries spinning R&B, Hip hop, funk, and soul.
Heat Icon Ultra Lounge. 10pm, free. Hip-hop, R&B, reggae, and soul.
Holy Thursday Underground SF. 10pm, $5. Bay Area electronic hip hop producers showcase their cutting edge styles monthly.
Kick It Bar on Church. 9pm. Hip-hop with DJ Jorge Terez.
Koko Puffs Koko Cocktails, 1060 Geary, SF; (415) 885-4788. 10pm, free. Dubby roots reggae and Jamaican funk from rotating DJs.
Lacquer Beauty Bar. 10pm-2am, free. DJs Mario Muse and Miss Margo bring the electro. Mestiza Bollywood Café, 3376 19th St, SF; (415) 970-0362. 10pm, free. Showcasing progressive Latin and global beats with DJ Juan Data.
1320.SF Temple. 9pm, $10. With DJs David Murphy, David Phipps, Nalepa Dub Orchestra, Flying Skulls, Virtual Boy, and more spinning electronic music.
Peaches Skylark, 10pm, free. With an all female DJ line up featuring Deeandroid, Lady Fingaz, That Girl, and Umami spinning hip hop.
Popscene 330 Rich. 10pm, $10. Rotating DJs spinning indie, Britpop, electro, new wave, and post-punk.
Represent Icon Lounge. 10pm, $5. With Resident DJ Ren the Vinyl Archaeologist and guest. Rock Candy Stud. 9pm-2am, $5. Luscious Lucy Lipps hosts this electro-punk-pop party with music by ReXick.
Studio SF Triple Crown. 9pm, $5. Keeping the Disco vibe alive with authentic 70’s, 80’s, and current disco with DJs White Girl Lust, Ken Vulsion, and Sergio.
FRIDAY 2
ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP
Astronautalis, Oona, Le Vice Rickshaw Stop. 8:30pm, $10.
Larry Graham and Graham Central Station, Slave, DJ Harry D Regency Ballroom. 9pm, $46.
Honor Society, Just Kait, Ashlyne Huff Great American Music Hall. 8pm, $18.
Maria Muldaur Biscuits and Blues. 8 and 10pm, $22.
Okmoniks, Touch-Me-Nots, Wrong Words Hemlock Tavern. 9:30pm, $6.
Passenger and Pilot, Cola Wars, All My Pretty Ones El Rio. 9pm, $6.
Kally Price Revolution Café, 3248 22nd St, SF; (415) 642-0474. 8:45pm, free.
Scraping for Change, Solid State Logic, Cloverleaf Drive, Fever Charm Slim’s. 8pm, $14.
Texas Thieves, Sharp Objects, Ruleta Rusa, Bad Tickers Thee Parkside. 9:30pm, $7.
*Zion I Independent. 9pm, $20.
JAZZ/NEW MUSIC
Audium 9 1616 Bush, SF; (415) 771-1616. 8:30pm, $15.
Black Market Jazz Orchestra Top of the Mark. 9pm, $10.
Habib Koite and Bamada Yoshi’s San Francisco. 8 and 10pm, $22-26.
Eric Kurtzrock Trio Ana Mandara, Ghirardelli Square, 891 Beach, SF; (415) 771-6800. 8pm, free.
Miya Masaoka, David Wessel, Nils Bultmann Meridian Gallery, 535 Powell, SF; www.meridiangallery.org. 8pm, $10.
Shotgun Wedding Symphony Coda. 10pm, $10.
FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY
Dead Dreams Connecticut Yankee, 100 Connecticut, SF; (415) 552-4440. 10pm, $10.
Jesse Jay Harris, 77 El Deora, East Bay Greaser, Merle Jagger Café du Nord. 9pm, $10.
Left Coast Special Socha Café, 3235 Mission, SF; (415) 643-6848. 8:30pm, free.
Manicato, Palenke Soul Tribe, Funky C and Joya Elbo Room. 10pm, $15.
Rob Reich and Craig Ventresco Amnesia. 7pm, free.
Yonder Mountain String Band Fillmore. 9pm, $25.
DANCE CLUBS
Activate! Lookout, 3600 16th St, SF; (415) 431-0306. 9pm, $3. Face your demigods and demons at this Red Bull-fueled party.
"Ball of Justice" DNA Lounge. 7:30pm, $20. With live performances by Los Straightjackets and the Phenomenots, plus Fishnet Follies Burlesque Revue, DJ Melting Girl, and more.
Bar on Church 9pm. Rotating DJs Zax, Zhaldee, and Nuxx.
Brass Tax Amnesia. 9:30pm, $5. DJs Ding Dong, Ernie Trevino, and Lil’ Bear Hat spin house, breaks, electro, and hip-hop.
Braza! Som., 2925 16th St., SF; (415) 558-8521. 10pm, $10.
DatA Paradise Lounge. 10pm, $12. With DJs Jeffery Paradise and Ava Berlin spinning disco, funk, dance, and more.
Deeper 222 Hyde, 222 Hyde, SF; (415) 345-8222. 9pm, $10. With rotating DJs spinning dubstep and techno.
Dirty Rotten Dance Party Madrone Art Bar. 9pm, $5. With DJs Morale, Kap10 Harris, and Shane King spinning electro, bootybass, crunk, swampy breaks, hyphy, rap, and party classics.
Exhale, Fridays Project One Gallery, 251 Rhode Island, SF; (415) 465-2129. 5pm, $5. Happy hour with art, fine food, and music with Vin Sol, King Most, DJ Centipede, and Shane King.
Fat Stack Fridays Koko Cocktails, 1060 Geary, SF; (415) 885-4788. 10pm, free. With rotating DJs Romanowski, B-Love, Tomas, Toph One, and Vinnie Esparza.
Gay Asian Paradise Club Eight, 1151 Folsom, SF; www.eightsf.com. 9pm, $8. Featuring two dance floors playing dance and hip hop, smoking patio, and 2 for 1 drinks before 10pm.
*Golden Era Mighty. 10pm, $10. With DJs Apollo, Sake One, D-Sharp, Ren the Vinyl Archaeologist, Jah Yzer, Proof, Whooligan, and Vickity Slick spinning a tribute to the Golden Era of hip hop.
Life Fridays Apartment 24, 440 Broadway, SF; (415) 989-3434. 10pm, $10. With DJ Brian spinning hip hop, mashups, and top 40.
Hot Chocolate Milk. 9pm, $5. With DJs Big Fat Frog, Chardmo, DuseRock, and more spinning old and new school funk.
Look Out Weekend Bambuddha Lounge. 4pm, free. Drink specials, food menu and resident DJs White Girl Lust, Swayzee, Philie Ocean, and more.
M4M Fridays Underground SF. 10pm-2am. Joshua J and Frankie Sharp host this man-tastic party.
Oldies Night Knockout. 9pm, $2-4. Doo-wop, one-hit wonders, and soul with DJs Primo, Daniel, and Lost Cat.
Rockabilly Fridays Jay N Bee Club, 2736 20th St, SF; (415) 824-4190. 9pm, free. With DJs Rockin’ Raul, Oakie Oran, Sergio Iglesias, and Tanoa "Samoa Boy" spinning 50s and 60s Doo Wop, Rockabilly, Bop, Jive, and more.
Strangelove: Vinyl Night Cat Club. 10pm, $6.
SATURDAY 3
ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP
Mark David Ashworth, Beehavers, Mira Cook Kaleidoscope, 3109 24th St, SF; www.kaleidoscopefreespeechzone.com. 9pm, free.
"Benefit for City of Hope Cancer Center of LA" Slim’s. 8:30pm, $20. With Mo’Fessionals, Fungo Mungo, Bang Data, and Butterscotch.
Contribution Great American Music Hall. 9pm, $20.
Damn Near Dead Abbey Tavern, 4100 Geary, SF; (415) 221-7767. 9pm, free.
Deadfall, Dean Dirg, Face the Rail El Rio. 10pm, $7.
English Beat, Impalers Bimbo’s 365 Club. 9pm, $22.
Five for Fighting, Matt Wertz Regency Ballroom. 9pm, $32.
Ghost Pepper, Fred Torphy, Sean Leahy Trio Connecticut Yankee, 100 Connecticut, SF; www.theyankee.com. 9pm, $10.
John Lee Hooker Jr. Biscuits and Blues. 8 and 10pm, $22.
Impediments, Danny James and Pear, Colossal Yes Amnesia. 7pm, free.
Inca Silver, Kalrissian Make-Out Room. 7:45pm, $7.
Love Dimension, Honey, Spyrals, Greg Ashley Hemlock Tavern. 9:30pm, $7.
Jonah Matranga, Hours of Op Epicenter Café, 764 Harrison, SF; (415) 543-5436. 7pm, $10.
Murkin, J. Ward, Head Slide Thee Parkside. 3pm, free.
Scissors for Lefty, Hundred Days, Saint Motel Bottom of the Hill. 10pm, $12.
Spandex Tiger Grant and Green. 9:30pm, free.
Tyrone Wells, Tony Lucca, Roy Jay Café du Nord. 9:30pm, $16.
JAZZ/NEW MUSIC
Audium 9 1616 Bush, SF; (415) 771-1616. 8:30pm, $15.
Broun Fellinis Coda. 10pm, $10.
Eric Kurtzrock Trio Ana Mandara, Ghirardelli Square, 891 Beach, SF; (415) 771-6800. 8pm, free.
"Filipino American Jazz Appreciation Month Celebration" San Francisco Main Library, Koret Auditorium, 100 Larkin, SF; (415) 557-4430. 1-5pm, free.
Habib Koite and Bamada Yoshi’s San Francisco. 8 and 10pm, $26.
Ricardo Scales Top of the Mark. 9pm, $15.
Isaac Schwartz Socha Café, 3235 Mission, SF; (415) 643-6848. 8:30pm, free.
FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY
Gonzalo Bergara Revolution Café, 3248 22nd St, SF; (415) 642-0474. 8:45pm, free.
Jarrett Fenlon, Tenderloins Hotel Utah. 9pm, $10.
Craig Ventresco and Meredith Axelrod Atlas Café. 4pm, free.
Yonder Mountain String Band Fillmore. 9pm, $25.
DANCE CLUBS
Bar on Church 9pm. Rotating DJs Foxxee, Joseph Lee, Zhaldee, Mark Andrus, and Niuxx.
*Bardot A Go Go’s Serge Gainsbourg Dance Party Knockout. 9pm, $10. With DJs Brother Grimm, Pink Frankenstein, and Cali Kid.
Crystal Method Ruby Skye. 9pm, $25.
Debaser Knockout. 9pm, $5. DJs Jamie Jams and Emdee spin 90s alternative.
Everlasting Bass 330 Ritch. 10pm, $5-10. Bay Area Sistah Sound presents this party, with DJs Zita and Pam the Funkstress spinning hip-hop, soul, funk, reggae, dancehall, and club classics.
Fire Corner Koko Cocktails, 1060 Geary, SF; (415) 885-4788. 9:30pm, free. Rare and outrageous ska, rocksteady, and reggae vinyl with Revival Sound System and guests.
Foundation Som., 2925 16th St., SF; (415) 558-8521. 10pm.
Gemini Disco Underground SF. 10pm, $5. Disco with DJ Derrick Love and Nicky B. spinning deep disco.
Get Loose Beauty Bar. 10pm, free. With DJ White Mike spinning dance jams.
HYP Club Eight, 1151 Folsom, SF; www.eightsf.com. 10pm, free. Gay and lesbian hip hop party, featuring DJs spinning the newest in the top 40s hip hop and hyphy.
Kontrol Endup. 10pm, $20. With resident DJs Alland Byallo, Craig Kuna, Sammy D, and Nikola Baytala spinning minimal techno and avant house.
Leisure Paradise Lounge. 10pm, $7. DJs Omar, Aaron, and Jet Set James spinning classic britpop, mod, 60s soul, and 90s indie.
New Wave City DNA Lounge. 9pm, $7-12. Eighties dance party.
Rebel Girl Rickshaw Stop. 10pm, $5. "Electroindierockhiphop" and 80s dance party for dykes, bois, femmes, and queers with DJ China G and guests.
Saturday Night Soul Party Elbo Room. 10pm, $10. Sixties soul on 45s with DJs Lucky, Phengren Oswald, and Paul Paul.
So Special Club Six. 9pm, $5. DJ Dans One and guests spinning dancehall, reggae, classics, and remixes.
Social Club Lookout, 3600 16th St, SF; (415) 431-0306. 9pm. Shake your money maker with DJs Lee Decker and Luke Fry.
Soundscape Vortex Room, 1082 Howard, SF; www.myspace.com/thevortexroom. With DJs C3PLOS, Brighton Russ, and Nick Waterhouse spinning Soul jazz, boogaloo, hammond grooves, and more.
Spirit Fingers Sessions 330 Ritch. 9pm, free. With DJ Morse Code and live guest performances.
Tiefschwarz Mighty. 10pm, $15. Spinning techno and house.
White Party Trigger, 23 Market, SF; (415) 551-2582. 9pm, $10. With DJ Claksaarb. White attire required.
SUNDAY 4
ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP
Flatliners, Broadway Calls, Cobra Skulls, Longway Thee Parkside. 8pm, $10.
*Grayceon, Lesbian, Hazzard’s Cure Knockout. 6pm, $5.
Music for Animals, Mata Leon, Links, Doll and the Kicks Rickshaw Stop. 7pm, $12.
Triclops!, Brent Weinbach and Alex Koll, Tubers, SF School of Rock, Peijman and Ben Kunin Bottom of the Hill. 5pm, $10.
U-Melt Connecticut Yankee, 100 Connecticut, SF; www.theyankee.com. 8pm.
JAZZ/NEW MUSIC
Brass Menazeri vs. Emperor Norton’s Jazz Band Amnesia. 9pm, $7-10.
"Hot Air Music Festival" San Francisco Conservatory of Music, 50 Oak, SF; www.hotairmusic.org. 2-10pm, free. Contemporary music marathon run by SFCM students.
Habib Koite and Bamada Yoshi’s San Francisco. 5 and 7pm, $5-26.
FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY
Tomorrow Men, Hurtinanny Thee Parkside. 4pm, free.
DANCE CLUBS
Afterglow Nickies, 466 Haight, SF; (415) 255-0300. An evening of mellow electronics with resident DJs Matt Wilder, Mike Perry, Greg Bird, and guests.
Call In Sick Skylark. 9pm, free. DJs Animal and I Will spin danceable hip-hop.
Dance-A-Thon Shoebox Studios, 864 Folsom, SF; (415) 861-5976. 10am-6pm, $10. Featuring dance classes all day to celebrate the opening of the new studio.
Death Guild DNA Lounge. 9:30pm, $3-5. Goth, industrial, and synthpop with DJs Joe Radio, Decay, and Melting Girl.
DiscoFunk Mashups Cat Club. 10pm, free. House and 70’s music.
Dub Mission Elbo Room. 9pm, $6. Dub, roots, and classic dancehall with DJ Sep, Vinnie Esparza, and guest DJ Sun.
Gloss Sundays Trigger, 2344 Market, SF; (415) 551-CLUB. 7pm. With DJ Hawthorne spinning house, funk, soul, retro, and disco.
Honey Soundsystem Paradise Lounge. 8pm-2am. "Dance floor for dancers – sound system for lovers." Got that?
Jock! Lookout, 3600 16th St, SF; (415) 431-0306. 3pm, $2. This high-energy party raises money for LGBT sports teams.
Kick It Bar on Church. 9pm. Hip-hop with DJ Zax.
Lowbrow Sunday Delirium. 1pm, free. DJ Roost Uno and guests spinning club hip hop, indie, and top 40s.
Religion Bar on Church. 3pm. With DJ Nikita.
Shuckin’ and Jivin’ Knockout. 10pm, free. Jivers and stompers with DJs Dr. Scott and Oran.
Stag AsiaSF. 6pm, $5. Gay bachelor parties are the target demo of this weekly erotic tea dance.
MONDAY 5
ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP
Angels and Airwaves, Say Anything Warfield. 9pm, $29.
Rocco Deluca Café du Nord. 9pm, $15.
"Felonious Presents: Live City Revue" Coda. 9pm, $7.
Dave Lionelli, Ben Fuller, Jon Ji Rock-It Room. 10pm.
Macabea, Ruinitas Elbo Room. 9pm, $5.
Owl City, Lights, Paper Route Fillmore. 6:30pm, $20.
Puddle of Mudd, Burn Halo, Veer Union Slim’s. 8pm, $25.
DANCE CLUBS
Bacano! Som., 2925 16th St, SF; (415) 558-8521. 9pm, free. With resident DJs El Kool Kyle and Santero spinning Latin music.
Black Gold Koko Cocktails, 1060 Geary, SF; (415) 885-4788. 10pm-2am, free. Senator Soul spins Detroit soul, Motown, New Orleans R&B, and more — all on 45!
M.O.M. Madrone Art Bar. 6pm, free. With DJ Gordo Cabeza and guests playing all Motown every Monday.
Manic Mondays Bar on Church. 9pm. Drink 80-cent cosmos with DJs Mark Andrus and Dangerous Dan.
Monster Show Underground SF. 10pm, $5. Cookie Dough and DJ MC2 make Mondays worth dancing about, with a killer drag show at 11pm.
Network Mondays Azul Lounge, One Tillman Pl, SF; www.inhousetalent.com. 9pm, $5. Hip-hop, R&B, and spoken word open mic, plus featured performers.
Skylarking Skylark. 10pm, free. With resident DJs I & I Vibration, Beatnok, and Mr. Lucky and weekly guest Djs.
TUESDAY 6
ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP
Church Great American Music Hall. 8pm, $30.
Adam Green, Dead Trees Café du Nord. 8pm, $15.
Jeepster, Build Us Airplanes, X-Ray Press, Aimless Never miss Elbo Room. 9pm, $6.
Owl City, Lights, Paper Route Fillmore. 6:30pm, $20.
DANCE CLUBS
Alcoholocaust Presents Argus Lounge. 9pm, free. With DJs What’s His Fuck, Taypoleon, and Mackiveli.
Eclectic Company Skylark, 9pm, free. DJs Tones and Jaybee spin old school hip hop, bass, dub, glitch, and electro.
La Escuelita Pisco Lounge, 1817 Market, SF; (415) 874-9951. 7pm, free. DJ Juan Data spinning gay-friendly, Latino sing-alongs but no salsa or reggaeton.
Mixology Aunt Charlie’s Lounge, 133 Turk, SF; (415) 441-2922. 10pm, $2. DJ Frantik mixes with the science and art of music all night.
Rock Out Karaoke! Amnesia. 7:30pm. With Glenny Kravitz.
Share the Love Trigger, 2344 Market, SF; (415) 551-CLUB. 5pm, free. With DJ Pam Hubbuck spinning house.
Womanizer Bar on Church. 9pm. With DJ Nuxx.
SCENE: Jazz Mafia Keeps it in the family
Written by Lilan Kane. From Scene: The Guardian Guide to Bay Area Nightlife and Glamour — on stands now in the Guardian
Jazz in its most fashionable and handsome form found itself around a table at Coda recently. I had the pleasure of meeting with dapper Jazz Mafia members Adam Theis, Joe Bagale, and Dublin to gain some insight into their music and experiences as members of one of the Bay’s most youthful jazz ensembles.
The Mafia (www.jazzmafia.com), as one might expect, is a collective that incorporates several smaller groups containing dozens of members into a large and tuneful family. The first of these groups, Realistic Orchestra, was established about 10 years ago when various jazz forces of the Bay Area started to intertwine and jam together. (Other branches of the family include Brass Mafia, Spaceheater, and the Shotgun Wedding Quintet.)
Main Mafia figures Theis (trombonist, arranger, and bandleader) and Dublin (emcee, vocalist, rapper) are still at the forefront of Realistic Orchestra. They’ve held a Tuesday night residency at Coda for several years, rotating various Jazz Mafia acts. The night I interviewed them, singer and multi-instrumentalist Joe Bagale was taking the stage, with Theis manning the bass.
Before moving to the elegantly appointed Coda, the Mafia had a raucous six-year run at Bruno’s, racking up several awards and introducing jazz to a new generation of night-lifers. The sharpshooters have played with Lyrics Born, Santana, Bobby McFerrin, Sly and the Family Stone drummer Gregg Errico, and many more. A highlight: recently Joe was closing a Saturday night show with Donny Hathaway’s version of John Lennon’s song “Jealous Guy.” He was lost in the moment of it with his eyes closed and his heart pouring out into the microphone. He opened his eyes to find Stevie Wonder in front of him. Wonder got onstage and the band prompted him to revisit an old B-side cut, “All Day Sucker.” Suffice to say, the house was rocked and shocked.
But Mafia members’ interests aren’t limited to revamping standards with star power. In 2008, Theis won the prestigious Gerbode-Hewlett Foundation’s Emerging Composers Grant, which he used to fund his latest project, “Brass Bows and Beats,” a 50-minute innovative suite with strings, vocals, horns, a DJ, and even a didgeridoo. When Theis took the group to the Playboy Jazz Festival last year, host Bill Cosby called Bagale to the stage, facetiously suggested that the variety of genres in the piece would sound like skimming through all the channels of satellite radio really fast. Admittedly, this concept — infusing hip-hop, jazz, classical, soul, electronic, and more — is ambitious. But Brass Bows and Beats debuted with a sold-out performance at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco last April and was deemed an artistic success. (Theis will also be jazzing up the San Francisco Symphony’s performance of Shostakovich’s Symphony 8 in April.)
Dublin, the MC of the group, adds a hip-hop element to the mix — and a connection to younger fans. He recently paired with producer Elon to release a solo record, Ease The Pain (Jazz Mafia Recordings), featuring singers Emily Schmidt and Forrest Day. And Bagale, although able to call up the deepest soul and sharpest wit in his vocal stylings, enjoys taking a background role as head vocal arranger. “One of the coolest experiences for me is to be able to write and arrange for other singers and not be the focal point,” he said.
About those arrangements — it’s in its orchestral distribution of sounds that the Mafia really shines. Its talented members have the capacity hear and highlight a dazzling array of instrumental lines, often numbering up to 45. Then the group’s arrangers write them out instrument by instrument, voice by voice, line by line. “To do one three-minute or so tune, I usually put in 50 to 100 hours,” Theis said.
In an attempt to reach more young jazz enthusiasts, the Mafia is planning a summer tour across Canada, New York, and New England, the first major tour it has undertaken. These young men and women are trying to expand the palette of the live scene, one arrangement at a time.
JAZZ MAFIA TUESDAYS
Tuesdays, 9 p.m., $7
Coda Lounge
1710 Mission, SF
ADAM THEIS AND ALL-STAR JAZZ MAFIA ENSEMBLE WITH SF SYMPHONY
April 2, 8 p.m., $15–$130
Davies Symphony Hall
201 Van Ness, SF
JAZZ MAFIA TOUR FUNDRAISER FEATURING BRASS, BOWS, AND BEATS
April 25, 3 p.m. and 7 p.m., $25–$75
Yoshi’s SF 1330 Fillmore, SF
See you at the bar
By Allan McNaughton
This week, San Francisco and the world said goodbye to a good friend, a true gentleman, and a diehard rock and roll fan. Bruce Roehrs, columnist and reviewer for Maximumrocknroll magazine and a staple on the local punk rock scene, passed away peacefully at his home. The exact time and circumstances of his death have yet to be determined.
Roehrs was born in Philadelphia and spent his childhood in Fort Myers, Fla. His mother, Elizabeth, raised him and his younger brother, Ted, in a single-parent household. He was proud to cite her as the main influence on his life, and the many strengths of Roehrs’ character (his manners, work ethic, optimism, and loyalty) are a testament to her parenting. In the mid-1960s, he attended the University of Miami, where his interest in basic three-chord rock progressed into a passion for all forms of jazz, blues, and rock ‘n’ roll. After college, he spent time in Gainesville, Fla., and then Tucson, where he drove a Yellow Cab. Wherever he lived, he had to be close to a major city, where he could be sure to catch live music.
Roehrs moved to San Francisco in the early 1980s and soon became a fixture on the punk rock scene. His obvious passion for rock ‘n’ roll led to him being drafted by Maximumrocknroll founder Tim Yohannan to write for the magazine. His enthusiasm for the music he championed jumped off the page from his first reviews until the day he died.
In Roehrs’ most recent column for the magazine, the April issue, he froths at the mouth over the recent reunion of New York hardcore pioneers Agnostic Front while still devoting dozens of column inches to obscure punk, skinhead, and hardcore bands from Australia, Germany, and Boise, Idaho. His columns earned him thousands of fans all over the world. The massive outpouring of tributes that have appeared online since his passing give some idea of this love and respect. The stories his friends are sharing continue to give more insight on his unique personality, from the time Grand Funk Railroad gave him a bunch of acid to sell and he came back with $8 (he’d been giving it away to pretty girls), to his weekly grocery deliveries to a 90-year-old woman in his union. He always had a firm handshake for the fellas and a charming word for the ladies.
Roehrs’ many friends in San Francisco knew him as a fixture right in front of the stage whenever a great band was playing. He was a true music fan, from the latest just-out-of-the-garage projects of his drinking buddies to international stars like Motorhead, Cock Sparrer, and the U.K. Subs. He traveled extensively to pursue his passion, from flying to Texas or London to see his favorite bands, to driving through the South following his beloved AntiSeen.
While most of us find that our music tastes get mellower with age, Bruce joked that his tastes got harder, faster, and louder as he got older. He had less time for “wimpy shit” like the Undertones, although I know he always retained a soft spot for the Fall. He grabbed life by the neck the same way he would get you in an affectionate headlock if he saw you in the pit. He was also a longtime member of the Rumblers Car Club, was known to enjoy surfing and skiing, and could hold a reasoned conversation on pretty much any topic connected to history or current events. Still, nothing could top listening to loud, fast music over a couple of beers.
Roehrs will be sadly missed by his brothers Ted, Christopher, and Robert, his union brothers from San Francisco Carpenters Union Local 42, his brothers from the Rumblers CC, the staff and shitworkers of Maximumrocknroll, and his massive family of friends and fans on the international music scene. I’ll end this the way he would end his column: See you at the bar, you fucks!
For updates and memorial information, see www.maximumrocknroll.com