Mission

Music listings

David Talbot
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0

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 for the listings at listings@sfbg.com.

WEDNESDAY 1

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Archaeology, Fling, Teeeth Hemlock Tavern. 9pm, $6.

*Bobby Bare Jr., Blue Giant Café Du Nord. 9:30pm, $12.

Gram Rabbit, Chambers Rickshaw Stop. 8pm, $10.

Mark Matos and Os Beaches, Shareef Ali and the Radical Folksonomy, Wolf and Crow Hotel Utah. 8pm, $7.

Midnight Strangers, Monsters Are Not Myths, Kris Racer Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $8.

Jimmy Thackery Biscuits and Blues. 8 and 10pm, $18.

Yigael’s Wall, Dimesland, Ontogeny Elbo Room. 9pm, $6.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

Gaucho Amnesia. 7:30pm, $10.
Michael Abraham Sessions Amnesia. 10pm, free.

DANCE CLUBS

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 Fresh Wednesdays Vessel, 85 Campton, SF; (415) 433-8585. 9:30pm, free. With DJs Slick D, Chris Clouse, Rich Era, Don Lynch, and more spinning top40, mashups, hip hop, and remixes.

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.

THURSDAY 2

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Girls With Guns, Meat Sluts, Sassy Hemlock Tavern. 9pm, $6.

Growlers, Shannon and the Clams Rickshaw Stop. 8pm, $12.

Krum Bums, Monster Squad, Dopecharge, Bum City Saints Thee Parkside. 9:30pm, $8.

Jenny Lewis and Jonathan Rice, Farmer Dave Scher, Sonny and the Sunsets Great American Music Hall. 9pm, $20.

Mint Condition Yoshi’s San Francisco. 8pm, $35.

Mumiy Troll, Run Run Run, Your Cannons Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $20.

*"On Land Festival" Café Du Nord. 7:30pm, $10. With Barn Owl, Starving Weirdos, Pulse Emitter, Danny Paul Grody, Rene Hell, and En.

*Stereo Total, Allister Izenberg Slim’s. 9pm, $20.

Jimmy Thackery Biscuits and Blues. 8 and 10pm, $18.

DANCE CLUBS

Afrolicious Elbo Room. 9:30pm, $5-7. DJs Pleasuremaker and Señor Oz, plus guest Martin Perna, 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.

Good Foot Som., 2925 16th St, SF; (415) 558-8521. 10pm, free. With DJs spinning R&B, Hip hop, classics, and soul.

Holy Thursday Underground SF. 10pm, $5. Bay Area electronic hip hop producers showcase their cutting edge styles monthly.

Jivin’ Dirty Disco Butter, 354 11th St., SF; (415) 863-5964. 8pm, free. With DJs spinning disco, funk, and classics.

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.

Smithsfits Friend Club Knockout. 9:30pm, $2. Smiths and Misfits with DJs Josh Ghoul and Jay Howell.

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 3

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Seth Augustus Revolution Café, 3248 22nd St., SF; (415) 642-0474. 5pm, free.

Commander Cody Biscuits and Blues. 8 and 10pm, $22.

*Jenny Lewis and Jonathan Rice, Farmer Dave Scher, Ganglians Great American Music Hall. 9pm, $20.

Lights Over Paris, Some Hear Explosions, Hollywood Heartthrob Slim’s. 9pm, $14.

Mint Condition Yoshi’s San Francisco. 8 and 10pm, $35.

*"On Land Festival" Café Du Nord. 7:30pm, $10. With Oneohtrix Point Never, White Rainbow, Pete Swanson, Operative, Robert A.A. Lowe, Eli Keszler and Ashley Paul, and Golden Retriever.

Rec-League, Trunk Drank, Sadistik, Kristoff Krane, CasOne, Alexipharmic Hotel Utah. 9pm, $10.

*Screaming Females, Songs for Moms, Kreamy ‘Lectric Santa, Tesseract Thee Parkside. 9pm, $7.

Sore Thumbs, Compton SF, Get Dead, Koozbane Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $10.

Triple Cobra, Soft White Sixties, Wave No Wave DJs Hemlock Tavern. 9:30pm, $8.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

Absynth Quintet Plough and Stars. 9:30pm, $6-$10.

Heather Ambler Mercury Café, 201 Octavia, SF; (415) 252-7855. 7:30pm, free.

*Brass Tax Amnesia. 10pm, $5.

Garotos Suecas, Tasso, Disco Shawn Elbo Room. 10pm, $10.

Rob Reich and Craig Ventresco Amnesia. 6pm, free.

DANCE CLUBS

Braza! Som., 2925 16th St., SF; (415) 558-8521.10pm, $10. With DJ Sabo.

Club Dragon Club Eight, 1151 Folsom, SF; www.eightsf.com. 9pm, $8. A gay Asian paradise. Featuring two dance floors playing dance and hip hop, smoking patio, and 2 for 1 drinks before 10pm.

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 B-Cause, Vinnie Esparza, Mr. Robinson, Toph One, and Slopoke.

Fubar Fridays Butter, 354 11th St., SF; (415) 863-5964. 6pm, $5. With DJs spinning retro mashup remixes.

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.

Oldies Night Knockout. 9pm, $2-4. Doo-wop and one-hit wonders with DJs Primo, Daniel, and Lost Cat.

Popscene vs. Loaded Rickshaw Stop. 10pm, $13. Live sets by Limousines and Lilofee and DJs Aaron Axelsen, Omar, and guests.

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.

Some Thing The Stud. 10pm, $7. VivvyAnne Forevermore, Glamamore, and DJ Down-E give you fierce drag shows and afterhours dancing.

Strangelove Cat Club, 1190 Folsom, SF; (415) 703-8965. 9:30pm, $6. With DJs Tomas Diablo, Dangerous Dan, Justin, and Fact50 spinning goth and industrial.

Tropical DNA Lounge. 9pm, $10. House, downtempo, and dub with Halo, Tony Hewitt, Rick Preston, DJ Swing, and William the monQ.

SATURDAY 4

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Apache Thunderbolt, Poor Sons, Dead Feet Thee Parkside. 9pm, $5.

Big High, Grannies, Dirty Power Hemlock Tavern. 9:30pm, $8.

Ferocious Few, Black, East Bay Grease Bottom of the Hill. 9:30pm, $10.

Grand Daddy Purp with DJ Ignite, Rumble Fish, Spider Heart Slim’s. 7:30pm, $15. Also with Adventurous Type, Guns Fall Silent, Automatic Band, Amply Hostile.

JGB with Melvin Seals and Stu Allen Great American Music Hall. 9pm, $25.

Mint Condition Yoshi’s San Francisco. 8 and 10pm, $35.

My First Earthquake, Don’ts, Spiro Agnew Rickshaw Stop. 8pm, $12.

*"On Land Festival" Café Du Nord. 7:30pm, $10. With Alps, Zelienople, Xela, Date Palms, Grasslung, Metal Rouge, and Le Revelateur.

Rookie of the Year, Scarlet Grey, It Boys, Westland Elbo Room. 5-9pm, $10.

Walter Trout Biscuits and Blues. 8 and 10pm, $22.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

Africa Rising featuring DJ Jerimiah Coda. 10pm.

Israel Vibration, Lloyd Brown Independent. 9pm, $25.

Craig Ventresco and Meredith Axelrod Atlas Café. 4pm, free.

DANCE CLUBS

Bar on Church 9pm. Rotating DJs Foxxee, Joseph Lee, Zhaldee, Mark Andrus, and Nuxx.

Debaser Knockout. 9pm, $10pm. Nineties alternative dance party with DJs Jamie Jams and Emdee of Club Neon.

DJ Cam Mighty. 10pm, $10. With DJs Centipede and Carey Kopp.

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.

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. Pet Show Boys and OMD tribute with DJs Skip and Shindog.

Rock City Butter, 354 11th St., SF; (415) 863-5964. 6pm, $5 after 10pm. With DJs spinning party rock.

Saturday Night Soul Party Elbo Room. 10pm, $10. Soul with DJs Lucky, Phengren Oswalt, and Paul Paul.

Souf Club Six. 9pm, $7. With DJs Jeanine Da Feen, Motive, and Bozak spinning southern crunk, bounce, hip hop, and reggaeton.

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 5

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Jordan Carp, Angie Mattson, Guy Sebastian Hotel Utah. 8pm, $8.

Cold Cave, Abe Vigoda Great American Music Hall. 9pm, $16.

Lambs, Glass Trains, Makeing Tents Hemlock Tavern. 9:30pm, $7.

Magic Kids, Candy Claws, She’s Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $10.

Mint Condition Yoshi’s San Francisco. 8pm, $35.

*"On Land Festival" Swedish American Hall (upstairs from Café Du Nord). 7:30pm, $10. With Charalambides, Grouper, Dan Higgs, Bill Orcutt, Ilayas Ahmed, Common Eider King Eider, and Higuma.

Salvador Santana, Scribe Project, Blanca Café Du Nord. 8pm, $12.

Otis Taylor Biscuits and Blues. 8 and 10pm, $18.

*Vetiver, Fresh and Onlys Independent. 8pm, $15.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

"Cowgirlpalooza" El Rio. 4pm, $10. With 77 El Deora, Wicked Mercies, Bootcuts, Evangenitals, and Los Trainwreck.
Lucien Pagnon and Lillian Gordis 152 Chattanooga, SF; (510) 524-4318. 3pm, $15. Performing Baroque music.

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.

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

*Dub Mission Elbo Room. 9pm, $6. Dub Mission celebrates its 14th anniversary spinning dub, roots, and classic dancehall with Dr. Israel, Patch Dub, and Katrina Blackstone, plus a live set by Turbo Sonidero Futuristico with MC Mex Tape and DJ Sep.

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.

Swing Out Sundays Rock-It Room. 7pm, free (dance lessons $15). DJ BeBop Burnie spins 20s through 50s swing, jive, and more.

$3 (Labour Day) Dance Party Knockout. 10pm, $3. Latin, soul, rock, pop, and hip-hop with Paul Paul, dX the Funky Gran Paw, and DJ Deadbeat.

MONDAY 6

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Man Man, Let’s Wrestle Great American Music Hall. 8pm, $17.

Peace Creeps Hemlock Tavern. 7pm, $5.

Soft White Sixties, Glassines, Street Pyramids Knockout. 9pm, $7.

DANCE CLUBS

Beatles Karaoke Café Royale, 800 Post, SF; (415) 641-6033. 8pm, free.

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!

Krazy Mondays Beauty Bar. 10pm, free. With DJs Ant-1, $ir-Tipp, Ruby Red I, Lo, and Gelo spinning hip hop.

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.

Musik for Your Teeth Revolution Café, 3248 22nd St., SF; (415) 642-0474. 5pm, free. Soul cookin’ happy hour tunes with DJ Antonino Musco.

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 7

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Alright Class, Callow, Soft Hills Hotel Utah. 9pm, $6.

Beak> Independent. 8pm, $20.

Cheryl Bentyne and Mark Winkler Rrazz Room. 8pm.

Flood, Same-Sex Dictator, Ironwitch Knockout. 9:30pm, $5.

Mark Olson, Ivan and Alyosha Café Du Nord. 8pm, $15.

Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions Great American Music Hall. 8pm, $26.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

"Brazilian Independence Day" Elbo Room. 9pm. With Forro Brazuca, DJ Carioca, and more.

DANCE CLUBS

Alcoholocaust Presents Argus Lounge. 9pm, free. With DJ Mackiveli and DJ Taypoleon.

DJ Anthony Atlas Hemlock Tavern. 9pm, free.

Aural Logic Sound System Coda. 9pm, $7. With DJ Aspect, members of Raw Deluxe/Band of Brothers, and more.

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

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.

Stage listings

David Talbot
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0

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

THEATER

OPENING

A Picasso Royce Gallery, 2901 Mariposa; (866) 811-4111; www.apicassoonstage.com. $12-28. Previews Thurs/2-Fri/3, 8pm. Opens Sat/4, 8pm. Runs Thurs-Sat, 8pm. Expression Productions presents Jeffery Hatcher’s drama about the authenticity of three Picasso paintings.

Bi-Poseur StageWerx Theatre, 533 Sutter; (800) 838-3006; www.brownpapertickets.com. $20. Opens Thurs/2, 8pm. Runs Thurs-Sat, 8pm. Through Sept 25. W. Kamau Bell directs a solo piece by Oakland native Paolo Sambrano.

Olive Kitteridge Z Space at Theater Artaud, 450 Florida; (800) 838-3006; www.zspace.org. $20-40. Previews Wed/1-Thurs/2, 7pm; Fri/3, 8pm. Opens Sat/4, 8pm. Runs Wed-Thurs, 7pm; Fri-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 5pm. Through sept 26. Word for Word presents a premiere production of stories from Elizabeth Strout’s award-winning novel.

BAY AREA

Anton in Show Business Marion E. Green Black Box Theater, 531 19th St; (510) 436-5085; www.theatrefirst.com. $10-30. Previews Thurs/2, 8pm. Opens Fri/3, 8pm. Runs Thurs-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. TheatreFIRST presents Jane Martin’s theater comedy, under the direction of Michael Storm.

She Loves Me Lesher Center for the Arts, 1601 Civic Drive, Walnut Creek; (825) 943-7469; www.CenterREP.org. $36-45. Previews Fri/3-Sat/4, 8pm; Sun/5, 2:30pm. Opens Tues/7, 7:30pm. Runs Wed, 7:30pm; Thurs-Fri, 8pm; Sat, 2:30 and 8pm; Sun, 2:30pm. Through Oct 10.Center REPertory company presents a musical choreographed and directed by Robert barry fleming.

 

ONGOING

*Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Actors Theatre, 855 Bush; 345-1287, www.actorstheatresf.org. $26-38. Wed-Sat, 8pm. Through Oct 2. Actors Theatre presents Tennessee Williams’ sultry, sweltering tale of a Mississippi family, directed by Keith Phillips.

Don’t Ask New Conservatory Theatre Center, 25 Van Ness; 861-8972; www.nctcsf.org. $24-36. Wed-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. Through Sept 19. New Conservatory Theatre Center presents the West Coast premiere of Bill Quigley’s play about the affair between a Private and his superior.

The Glass Menagerie Boxcar Playhouse, 505 Natoma; 776-1747, www.boxcartheatre.org. $15-25. Fri/2 and Sat/3, 8pm. The third production in Boxcar Theatre’s trio of Tennessee Williams plays in repertory is the biggest disappointment, not only because director Jessica Holt’s production comes bloated distractingly by “shadow” versions of the principals and other random characters, but because it’s the play that otherwise feels most apt and urgent. The “social background of the play,” as narrator Tom (a generally credible Brian Trybom) describes it, is a landscape characterized by depression at home and revolution abroad, as pent-up American energies shuffle along through hangdog subsistence, shallow hedonism and occasional “labor unrest.” This is the social projection of Tom’s private quandary, but that’s just how this partly autobiographical play speaks so eloquently and subtly to larger themes. When the unhelpful, enervating pantomiming and other stage business dies down a bit, you can see the principal roles—rounded out by Hannah Knapp as Tom’s too fragile sister, Laura, and Suzan A. Kendall as his indomitable mother, Amanda—breath more genuinely and the play actually take shape on the stage. The arrival of the Gentleman Caller (played with winning solidity by Boxcar’s Nick A. Olivero) marks the best part of the evening, even if the gentleman arrives too late to fully redeem the proceeding hour’s misconceived shenanigans. (Avila)

*Dreamgirls Curran Theatre, 445 Geary; (888) SHN-1749, www.shnsf.com. $30-99. Wed, 2 and 8pm; Thurs-Fri, 8pm; Sat, 2 and 8pm, Sun, 2pm; Tues, 8pm. The touring version of director-choreographer Robert Longbottom’s revamped revival of the 1981 Broadway sensation (with book and lyrics by Tom Eyen and music by Henry Krieger, under original direction by A Chorus Line‘s Michael Bennett) is a visually and aurally dazzling spectacle that is also a knowing (if now familiar) take on the history and business of latter-20th-century American pop music from the perspective of African American R&B. The cast, operating with ease against and within a remarkable videoscape projected onto large draped screens center stage, charms from the outset of this story about the rise of a female vocal group called The Dreams (a loose composite of the Supremes and the Shirelles). The first act enthralls with the plot’s gathering possibilities, the sparkling music and the irresistible performances—not least Moya Angela’s unstoppable Effie and Chester Gregory’s heroically soulful, funky Jimmy “Thunder” Early. But the second act stretches things unnecessarily with one too many power ballads (albeit lunged to perfection) and a slowpoke approach to the all but predictable plot resolution. Still, this is a masterful production on many counts and an infectious evening overall. (Avila)

How Lucky Can You Get? New Conservatory Theatre Center, 25 Van Ness; 861-8972, www.nctcsf.org. $20-28. Thurs-Sat, 8pm. Through Sept 11. Darlene Popovic sings Kander and Ebb under the direction of F. Allen Sawyer.

Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray Eureka Theatre, 215 Howard; 552-4100, www.TheRhino.org. $10-25. Wed-Sat, 8pm (also Sun/ 5, Sept 12, and Sept 19, 3pm). Through Sept 19. John Fisher adapts the Oscar Wilde novel for the stage and directs the production.

Party of 2 Shelton Theater, 533 Sutter; (800) 838-3006, www.partyof2themusical.com. $25-29. Sun, 3pm. Through Sept 12. A new show written by Morris Bobrow.

Peter Pan Threesixty Theater, Ferry Park (on Embarcadero across from the Ferry Bldg); www.peterpantheshow.com. $30-125. Tues and Thurs, 7pm; Fri-Sat, 7:30pm (also Sat, 2pm); Wed, 2pm; Sun, 1 and 5pm. Through Sun/5. JM Barrie’s tale is performed in a specially-built 360-degree CGI theater.

*Posibilidad, or Death of the Worker Dolores Park and other sites; 285-1717, www.sfmt.org. Free. Sat-Sun, 2pm; also Mon/6, 2pm; Sept 17, 8pm. Through Sept 17. It may have been just a coincidence, but it certainly seems auspicious that the San Francisco Mime Troupe, itself collectively run since the 1970’s, would preview their latest show Posibilidad on the United Nations International Day of Cooperatives. The show, which centers around the struggles of the last remaining workers in a hemp clothing factory (“Peaceweavers”), hones in on the ideological divide between business conducted as usual, and the impulse to create a different system. Taking a clip from the Ari Lewis/Naomi Klein documentary The Take, half of the play is set in Argentina, where textile-worker Sophia (Lisa Hori-Garcia) becomes involved in a factory takeover for the first time. Her past experiences help inform her new co-workers’ sitdown strike and takeover of their own factory after they are told it will close by their impossibly fey, new age boss Ernesto (Rotimi Agbabiaka). You don’t need professional co-op experience to find humor in the nascent collective’s endless rounds of meetings, wince at their struggles against capitalistic indoctrination, or cheer the rousing message of “Esta es Nuestra Lucha” passionately sung by Velina Brown, though in another welcome coincidence, the run of Posibilidad also coincides with the National Worker Cooperative conference being held in August, so if you get extra inspired, you can always try to join forces there. (Gluckstern)

*The Real Americans The Marsh MainStage, 1062 Valencia; (800) 838-3006; www.themarsh.org. $20-50. Wed-Fri, 8pm; Sun, 5pm. The fifth extension of Dan Hoyle’s acclaimed show, directed by Charlie Varon.

*Streetcar Named Desire Boxcar Playhouse, 505 Natoma; 776-1747, www.boxcartheatre.org. $15-25. Wed-Sat, 8pm. Through Sat/4. It’s no small feat, creating a sultry southern summer circa 1940’s smack-dab in the middle of a typically frosty San Francisco summer circa right here right now, but Boxcar Theatre rises admirably to the challenge. Rebecca Longworth’s creative staging of Tennessee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire” includes musical interludes, ghostly apparitions, and the clattering of a cleverly impersonated streetcar that shakes the walls of Matt McAdon’s simply-detailed tenement flat and the spirits of one Blanche DuBois (Juliet Tanner), while the deliberately-muted lighting (Stephanie Buchner) and period-appropriate sound (Ted Crimy), add the appropriate layers of southern discomfort to the unfolding action. Especially captivating to watch are the performances of supporting characters Stella (Casi Maggio) and Mitch (Brian Jansen), who seem to almost helplessly orbit the hot flame of Stanley Kowalski’s sun (Nick A. Olivero) and the grimly flickering satellite of Blanche’s waning moon. As he does in “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” Seth Thygesen stands in for one dearly-departed, in this case Blanche’s old beau, Allan Gray, whose abrupt suicide de-magnetized her moral compass. And in addition to a saucy turn as next-door neighbor Eunice, Linnea George tracks the fractured emotions of the main characters on her mournful violin. (Nicole Gluckstern)

*This Is All I Need NOHspace, 2840 Mariposa; www.mugwumpin.org. Thurs-Sun, 8pm. Through Sat/4. $15-20. In our obsession with possessions, just who possesses who? Mugwumpin’s inventive, hilarious and repeatedly surprising new work—captivated and captivating—reminds us that a possession isn’t just a thing but also a (colonized) state of being. But there’s no manifesto here, so much as a multifaceted, deftly staged exploration of a theme so central to this bare and incredibly cluttered existence that we hardly even notice it. The four person ensemble (Madeline H.D. Brown, Joe Estlack, Erin Mei-Ling Stuart, and Christopher W. White), sharply co-directed by Liz Lisle and Jonathan Spector, brings various states of being and relation to life with aplomb—amid swift transformations of time and place, provocative contrasts and parallels, dexterous vocalizations, and supple and satisfyingly offbeat choreography. I’m purposely leaving out the details of the vignettes and the sometimes-startling mise en scène because it’s better that way. All you really need now is the price of a ticket. (Avila)

 

BAY AREA

Antony & Cleopatra Forest Meadows Ampitheatre, 1475 Grand, San Rafael; 499-4488, www.marinshakespeare.org. $20-35. Fri-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 4pm. Through Sept 25. Marin Shakespeare Company’s summer season continues with the tale of the Egyptian queen.

*East 14th: True Tales of a Reluctant Player Marsh Berkeley, 2120 Allston, Berk; www.themarsh.org. $20-50. Dates and times vary. Through Nov 21. Don Reed’s solo play, making its Oakland debut after an acclaimed New York run, is truly a welcome homecoming twice over. (Avila)

In the Wound John Hinkel Park, Berk; (510) 841-6500, www.shotgunplayers.org. $10 (no one turned away). Sat-Sun, 3pm (also Sun/5, 3pm). Through Oct 3. Shotgun Players present a unique take on the Iliad, written and directed by Ian Tracy.

Into the Woods 142 Throckmorton Theatre, 142 Throckmorton, Mill Valley; 383-9600, www.142throckmortontheatre.org. $14-30. Fri-Sat, 7:30pm, Sun, 2pm. Through Sat/4. Marin Youth Performers present James Lapine’s and Stephen Sondheim’s fractured fairy tale.

The Light in the Piazza TheatreWorks at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro, Mtn View; (650) 463-1960, www.theatreworks.org. $19-67. Tues-Wed, 7:30pm, Thurs-Fri, 8pm; Sat, 2 and 8pm; Sun, 2 and 7pm. Through Sept 19. TheatreWorks presents Craig Lucas’s tale of love under the Tuscan sun.

Macbeth Bruns Ampitheater, 100 California Shakespeare Way, Orinda; (510) 548-9666, www.calshakes.org. $34-70. Fri-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 4pm (also Sept 11, 2pm). Through Sept 12. Minneapolis’s Joel Sass returns to Cal Shakes to direct Macbeth with a pared down cast of 12, lead by Jud Williford in the title role of the prophesy-driven regicidal social climber and Stacy Ross as his ambitious and then guilt-crazed Lady M. The towering, two-tiered set (by Daniel Ostling) is a suitably eerie, decrepit-looking place, a “murky hell” with a sort of Old World clinical sleaze about it. The three witches come gowned (by costumer Christal Weatherly) in dingy white nurses habits and sickly green surgical gloves with black voids where their faces should be (their spectral speech projected over the audio system). But Cal Shakes’s production doesn’t really measure up to the atmospheric mise-en-scene, being more dutiful than heat-generating. A wily cut-and-paste job with one of the more famous lines doesn’t quite come off either, since it jars by its initial absence and then rings a bit self-consciously when it does surface as a downbeat coda. (Avila)

MilkMilkLemonade La Val’s Subterranean, 1834 Euclid, Berk; www.impacttheatre.com. $10-20. Previews Thurs/26-Fri/27, 8pm. Thurs-Sat, 8pm. Through Oct 2. Impact Theatre presents Joshua Conkel’s off off Broadway play about a lonely gay man trapped in a chicken farm.

*The Norman Conquests The Ashby Stage, 901 Ashby, Berk; (510) 841-6500, www.shotgunplayers.org. $20-25. Dates and times vary. Through Sun/5. Shotgun Players has a way with modern classics like few other theaters its size. When the company gets it right, as not long ago with David Hare’s Skylight, the production can hold its own with just about any other anywhere. Judging by a visit to two of the three plays currently up, this is again the case with the ambitious repertory run of Alan Ayckbourn’s celebrated trilogy, The Norman Conquests, a shrewd and consistently hysterical sex farce about modern romance and relationships with real—but admirably understated—bite. Table Manners and Living Together feature the same brilliant cast (who also reappear in the third play, not yet reviewed, Round and Round the Garden) under astute direction by Joy Carlin and Molly Aaronson-Gelb, respectively. Each play is another vantage on the same rollicking weekend at an English country house, where our philandering hero Norman (a superlative Rich Reinholdt), alternately brooding and expansive, pitches woo with preternatural determination and consummate wit to two sisters-in-law (Zehra Berkman and Kendra Lee Oberhauser) as well as his own frosty wife (Sarah Mitchell), while a brother-in-law (Mick Mize) and a painfully shy local vet (Josiah Polhemus) move about more or less ineffectually. On a set (by Nina Ball) admirably atmospheric in its detailed solidity, the cast enchants from the first with special chemistry and exceptional chops. Reinholdt, however—with saucy beard, bounding playfulness and mischievous glint—is downright revelatory in the titular role, delivering a performance that not only gives boisterous heft to the proceedings but probes the moral dimensions of love in an age of crass individualism and lingering prudery. (Avila)

The Taming of the Shrew Forest Meadows Amphitheatre, 1475 Grand, San Rafael; (415) 499-4488, www.marinshakespeare.org. $20-25. Fri-Sun, 8pm; also Sun, 4pm and 5pm. Through Sept 26. Marin Theatre Company presents a swashbuckling version of the classic.

Trouble in Mind Aurora Theatre, 2081 Addison, Berk; (510) 843-4822, www.auroratheatre.org. $10-55. Wed-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2 and 7pm; Tues, 7pm. Through Sept 26. Aurora Theatre presents Alice Childress’ look at racism through the lens of theater.

PERFORMANCE/DANCE

“The Extreme Animals Sit Down” Southern Exposure, 3030 20th St; 863-2141; www.soex.org. Free. Tues/7, 9pm. Jacob ciocci and David Wightman of Paper Rad’s new project presents a mashup of live music, video, and theatrics.

The Front Row The Dark Room, 2263 Mission; www.TheFrontRow4.com. Sat/4, 7:30pm. $7. The all-female sketch comedy group is accompanied by Jesse Elias and Donny Davinian.

“RawDance Presents the Concept Series: 7” James Howell Studio, 66 Sanchez; www.rawdance.org. Sat/4, 8pm; Sun/5, 3 and 8pm. Pay what you can. An informal and intimate salon of contemporary dance, complete with popcorn.

Alerts

David Talbot
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0

alert@sfbg.com

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 1

Outlaws live on


As a follow-up to Kate Bornstein’s 1995 book, Gender Outlaw, Bornstein and S. Bear Bergman edited the new anthology, Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation. The book gives voice to this generation’s trans and genderqueer forward thinkers as their narratives make their way from the margins to the mainstream. Readers include Serilyn Connelly, Sarah Dopp, Luis Gutierrez-Mock and Amir Rabiyah.

7 p.m., free

Modern Times Bookstore

888 Valencia, SF

www.mtbs.com

FRIDAY, SEPT. 3

Eco reads


Join the Political Ecology reading group, which focuses on issues of geopolitics, energy descent, decolonization, agroecology, and the emerging diagonal economy. The group meets the first and third Fridays of the month and plans to begin with Kevin Carson’s The Homebrew Industrial Revolution: A Low-Overhead Manifesto.

6:30 p.m., free

Near Fruitvale Bart Station, Oakl.

Email roadtosantiago@gmail.com for exact address and directions

SATURDAY, SEPT. 4

Catch the buzzzzzzz


Khaled Almaghafi, fourth-generation beekeeper and owner of Queen Sheba Farms, brings a small colony of bees to the North Oakland farmers market as a part of its Food ‘N’ Justice workshop series. Learn the tricks to becoming an urban Bay Area beekeeper.

Noon, free

Arlington Medical Center Parking Lot

5715 Market, Oakl.

(510) 689-3068

"Beyond Darkness and Light"


Attend the opening reception for artists Sonya Genel and Sallie Smith’s new exhibit, which invites you to reflect on the psyche of the 21st century with photos, drawings and paintings that "illuminate the beautifully stained parts of the human condition." There will also be a window installation by Poetry Store Poet, Silvi Alcivar.

7 p.m., free

Femina Potens Art Gallery

2199 Market, SF

TUESDAY, SEPT 7

Road warriors

Shot over the course of five years, American Gypsy tells the tale of one Romani family in the United States fighting a civil rights battle to defend Romani history and culture. The documentary also provides viewers with a glimpse into an immigrant world at a crucial turning point for survival.

7:30 p.m., $3–$5 sliding scale

Station 40

3030B 16th St., SF

www.americangypsy.com

Poking holes in ’em

Hear Rick Rowden, author of The Deadly Ideas of Neoliberalism, discuss the International Monetary Fund (IMF), global economic recession, and how citizens are mobilizing with a rights-based approach for alternative economic policies. Rowden is a senior policy analyst for ActionAid, an international advocacy NGO that works with women’s rights organizations, small farmers, and health and education activists in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Noon, free

Global Exchange

2017 Mission, SF

www.priorityafrica.org

Mail items for Alerts to the Guardian Building, 135 Mississippi St., SF, CA 94107; fax to (415) 437-3658; or e-mail alert@sfbg.com. Please include a contact telephone number. Items must be received at least one week prior to the publication date.

Intuitive Impressions

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0

The Guardian Presents
Intuitive Impressions – A Celebration of the Birth of Impressionism

Friday, September 3rd from 6pm – 8:45PM
de Young, 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, San Francisco
FREE

This is the final weekend to see the Birth of Impressionism exhibition! 

Featuring: Live performances by Gaucho, a gypsy jazz sextet & Soundscape by KUSF’s DJ Schmeejay

Plus: Holistic Henna will be providing intuitive tarot, palm readings, and henna

And: Mission Muralismo Film Series in partnership with Precita Eyes muralists in the Koret Auditorium

The final act

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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0
The final act

arts@sfbg.com

FALL ARTS The Brother/Sister Plays The most anticipated event of a rather sparkling fall theater lineup is surely this triptych of plays penned by a 20-something playwright being hailed as a vital new voice in American theater. Tarell Alvin McCraney’s celebrated trilogy, which premiered at New York’s Public Theater, delves with potent language and exceptional theatrical imagination into the lives of ordinary people in the bayous of Louisiana, its setting and themes made more urgent than ever in the wake of manmade catastrophe in the gulf. To make room for this epic work, three of San Francisco’s leading theaters are collaborating in the presentation of all three plays, with mid-September seeing the unveiling of In the Red and Brown Water at Marin Theatre Company and The Brothers Size at the Magic, and October following with Marcus, or the Secret of Sweet at ACT. Sept.–Oct., various venues; www.brothersisterplays.org.

How Can You Stay in the House All Day and Not Go Anywhere? Ralph Lemon began as a dancer/choreographer but has evolved into an interdisciplinary artist of broad scope and rigorous invention. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts presents his latest multimedia piece, which unfurls in four separate events or chapters, together combining live performance, visual art and film in various spaces. Oct. 7-9, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts; www.ybca.org.

Etiquette This half-hour, site-specific, audience-as-actor piece from lauded London-based experimental theater company Rotozaza plants two willing participants at a time in a San Francisco eatery (The Grove on Mission Street), wearing headphones that feed them their lines and actions. First launched in London in 2007, the globetrotting piece arrives in SF. Sept. 16-Oct. 3, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, www.ybca.org.

The Companion Piece A vaudeville duo struggle to cobble together their floundering opening act alongside the aesthetic perfection of the Headliner, as Z Space at Theater Artaud presents a new devised work conceived by actor Beth Wilmurt and directed by Mark Jackson. But this opportunity is more than the finished piece, which is still evolving ahead of its premiere in early 2011. This fall, audiences are invited into the process — by walking into the theater or watching streaming video online. Check the Z Space website for details. Jan. 16- Feb. 26, 2011, Z Space; www.zspace.org

Coraline It started as a book; it was made into a stop-motion animated feature; now it’s a musical brought to life by composer Stephin Merritt (of the Magnetic Fields) and playwright David Greenspan (She Stoops to Comedy; Dead Mother). Together they compliment the decidedly weird imagination of author Neil Gaiman, a latter-day Lewis Carroll of the children’s fiction genre who penned this creepy-funny story of a little girl’s battle against chaos and evil in a bizarre world just on the other side of the drawing room door. This West Coast premiere by astute presenter SF Playhouse will mark only the second production of Coraline after its initial off-Broadway run in 2009. Nov. 16–Jan. 15, SF Playhouse; www.sfplayhouse.org.

Compulsion Berkeley Rep, New York’s Public Theater. and Yale Repertory Theatre present Rinne Groff’s play based on the life of writer Meyer Levin and his complex obsession with producing his own version of a play based on the diary of Anne Frank. The Public’s Oscar Eustis, who cut his teeth at San Francisco’s storied Eureka Theater in the 1980s setting, among other things, Angels in America aloft, returns to the Bay Area to direct lead Mandy Patinkin amid a cast augmented by marionettes. Sept. 13-Oct. 31, Berkeley Rep; www.berkeleyrep.org.

San Francisco Fringe Festival A perennial, a pearl, a Road Trip to Pluto (judging by one title), the Exit Theatre–sponsored San Francisco Fringe Festival is always a trip. Sept. 8–19, various venues; www.sffringe.org.

Port Out, Starboard Home I recently saw a staged reading of this new work from New York playwright Sheila Callaghan at the Bay Area Playwrights Festival. While Callaghan is still developing the piece with producing company foolsFURY, it seems clear the finished product — set aboard a mysteriously intense cruise liner among a group of vacationing seekers in the material world — should be well worth a look. But this production has yet to find a safe harbor. It will apparently be docking at a theater near you this fall. Date and venue TBD; www.foolsfury.org.

Failure to Communicate Performers Under Stress (PUS) opens its season with a new work of physical theater channeling the perspectives and inner visions of students and teachers at an inner-city high school for severely behavior disordered, emotionally disturbed, learning disabled children, based on the teaching experiences of the company’s managing director, Valerie Fachman. Oct. 29-Nov. 14, The Garage; www.pustheatre.com

Anton in Show Business (Sept. 2–Sept. 26) Three nightmare actresses come together in San Antonio, Texas, for a dismaying production of Chekhov’s Three Sisters in Jane Martin’s 2001 award-winning send-up of the theater world. Oakland’s ever able TheatreFIRST leads off its new season with this swift and ruthless backstage comedy, helmed by artistic director Michael Storm and featuring a strong all-female cast meting out satirical justice to the men and women (and critics) of the art form and the dubious cultural landscape at large. Sept. 2-26, Marion E. Greene Black Box Theater; www.theatrefirst.com.

Our Weekly Picks: August 25-31, 2010

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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0

WEDNESDAY 25

THEATER

The Penny Dreadful Project

If you know what a penny dreadful is, and you know who Andrea Yates is, and you’re still reading this, The Penny Dreadful Project will probably be up your alley (you sick freak!) Directed by Mario El Caponi Mendoza, this experimental play concerns an anonymous woman and a triad of men who are three different versions of her son. Mommy goes mad, and potentially murderous, as she finds herself in the hell she’s created. The production is also inspired by Susan Eubanks who, like Yates, murdered her sons. It’s one thing to read about this stuff, and another to see it unfold in front of you. Prepare to be shaken. Oh, and don’t bring the kids. (Ryan Lattanzio)

8:30 p.m., free

Studio Theatre

Creative Arts Bldg., Room 102

SF State University

1600 Holloway, SF

(415) 338-2467

www.creativearts.sfsu.edu

 

THURSDAY 26

MUSIC

“Mexico: Los Soneros de la Bahía”

Under the artistic direction of Nydia Algazzali Gonzalez, the music ensemble Los Soneros de la Bahía brings traditional Mexican son to the Yerba Buena Gardens lunchtime concert series. Known for its danceable, dynamic rhythmic patterns and elements of improvisation, son fuses colonial and indigenous music traditions and embodies Mexican mestizo culture. Dedicated to preserving and reviving this unique art form, the musicians, dancers, and poets (also known as soneros) of Los Soneros de la Bahía deliver Mexican music and dance that evoke both old traditions and contemporary aesthetics. Let’s just hope their lively son brings out some sol. (Katie Gaydos)

12:30 p.m., free

Yerba Buena Gardens Esplanade

740 Mission, SF

(415) 543-1718

www.ybgf.org

 

MUSIC

Boris

It’s easy to reflexively dislike Boris, if only because it’s the one heavy band that a guy wearing a purple keffiyeh to a cocktail party will profess his undying affection for. But despite all the too-cool-for-school trappings, the Japanese trio is a potent rock ‘n’ roll force, combining drone, doom, and scuzz into a noisy, inimitably raw package. It’s a particular favorite of the band’s fellow musicians, having collaborated with SunnO))), Torche, and the Cult’s Ian Astbury, with whom they’ll release a four-track EP in September. Great American Music Hall — one of the city’s best-sounding venues — should be a perfect location for its sonic excursions and incursions. (Ben Richardson)

With Red Sparowes and Helms Alee

9 p.m., $18

Great American Music Hall

859 O’Farrell, SF

(415) 885-0750

www.gamh.com

 

FILM

“Dark in August: Rare Vampire Films”

For folks of the ever-more-prevalent view that vampire cinema these days totally bites, the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts is here to staunch the wound. Over four days, it is screening bloodsucking fare from decades past, kicking off with Kathryn Bigelow’s cult Western-tinged fang flick Near Dark (1987). The following days bring Vampire Hookers (1978), ostensibly a trashy vamp romp shot in the Philippines and starring David Carradine; and two showings of Vampyr (1932), Carl Theodor Dreyer’s first sound film. Hookers is reportedly standing in for an unsatisfactory print of Daughters of Darkness (1971), but it seems the range of camp to class will still be maintained. (Sam Stander)

Near Dark tonight, 7:30 p.m.; Vampire Hookers Fri/27, 7:30 p.m.;

Vampyr Sat/28, 7:30 p.m. and Sun/29, 4:30 p.m., $6–$8

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

701 Mission, SF

(415) 978-2787

www.ybca.org

 

FRIDAY 27

MUSIC

Nekromantix

Expect some spooky and sinfully delightful musical mayhem when Danish imports Nekromantix hits the stage tonight after the sun goes down. You may just want to bring some wooden stakes and holy water with you, unless you’ve already been bitten — er, smitten — by its infectious songs. Founding member Kim Nekroman’s wild antics on his signature coffin bass have given unholy life to the band’s funeral-march-on-speed psychobilly blasts since 1989, when he played the part of the classic movie mad scientist and melded the sounds of punk and rockabilly and fused them together. Listen to them, children of the night. What music they make. (Sean McCourt)

With Howlers and Mutilators

9 p.m., $15

Slim’s

333 11th St., SF

(415) 255-0333

www.slims-sf.com

 

DANCE

“Café Flamenco”

So you can’t go to Andalucia for your flamenco fix this summer. Not to worry. This time of the year its cities are really hot and the parking is lousy. Much better to indulge that all-encompassing passion at home, offered in a fresh guise to boot: Caminos Flamencos, SF’s foremost flamenco company, is inviting pianist-composer Alex Conde from Valencia and bassist Haggai Cohen of Israel for a jazz-flavored evening. They join Caminos’ own formidable dancers and musicians, including the always-welcome singer Jesus Montoya from Seville. (Rita Felciano)

8 p.m., $22

Verdi Club

2424 Mariposa, SF

1-800-838-3006

www.caminosflamencos.com

 

SATURDAY 28

VISUAL ART

16777216

A Web browser-based digital art piece, Richard S. Mitchell’s new work comprises millions of single-colored frames, across the spectrum that makes up the RGB color model. It runs for seven days, 18 hours, 24 minutes, and 48.64 seconds, and is simultaneously viewable from any computer that accesses the Jancar Jones Gallery website. That may seem like a mouthful of data, and there’s more to be had on the site, but little in the way of stated intent or contextual mumbo-jumbo. This is a minimalist exercise focusing on color rather than shape and allowing anyone, anywhere to synchronously experience a nonstatic piece of art. But if you want to rub elbows with other appreciators, it will be showing in the gallery for three hours. (Stander)

Through Sept. 5

Reception tonight, 6–9 p.m., free

Jancar Jones Gallery

965 Mission, Suite 120, SF

(415) 281-3770

www.jancarjones.com

 

MUSIC

Valerie Orth

Valerie Orth is a sexy, soulful singer-songwriter whom I’ve been lucky enough to catch for truly memorable sets ranging from a powerful performance at Cafe du Nord to an intimate acoustic session rolling across the playa in an art car with a konked out generator at Burning Man last year. Now the SF artist has just come out with a new album, Faraway City, that beautifully captures a voice and style that is reminiscent of Ani DiFranco or Björk, two of her key influences. The album, filled with catchy original songs developed over the last two years, was produced by Jon Evans, another local who plays bass for Tori Amos and helped record music for the likes of Tom Waits, Third Eye Blind, and Boz Scaggs. Stop by this CD release party and see what I mean. (Steven T. Jones)

With Emily Wells and Kindness and Lies

8 p.m., $15

Slim’s

333 11th St., SF

(415) 255-0333

www.slims-sf.com

 

SUNDAY 29

MUSIC

Slash

For more than 20 years, Saul Hudson — better known to his millions of fans around the world simply as Slash — has exuded the very essence of what it means to be a rock star. His iconic stage image: trademark top hat, sunglasses, and low-slung Les Paul is instantly recognizable, as are his innumerable guitar licks and solos that are now part of the rock ‘n’ roll canon. Although on this tour he’s supporting his new self-titled solo album, which hit stores in April, fans should probably expect a decent dose of some classic Guns N’ Roses tunes in the mix as well. (McCourt)

With Myles Kennedy and Taking Dawn

8 p.m., $32–$40

Warfield

982 Market, SF

www.thewarfieldtheatre.com

 

MONDAY 30

MUSIC

Mazel Tov, Mis Amigos

Es la hora de salsa — or make that, la hora de hora. Either dance would be an appropriate response to the music at this live album recreation. The year was 1961 when Mazel Tov, Mis Amigos was released, Yiddish folk tunes remixed by top Latin jazz musicians into dance floor fusions fit to blow off your yarmulke. The Idelsohn Society is sponsoring its on-stage rebirth featuring Larry “El Judio Maravilloso” Harlow, Wil-Dog of Ozomatli, and Jeremiah Lockwood of the Sway Machinery; the whole shebang is led by Arturo O’Farrill of the Afro Cuban Sextet. They’re playing in conjunction with an exhibit at the Contemporary Jewish Museum that highlights congruent notions of Zion, “Black Sabbath: The Secret Musical History of Black-Jewish Relations.” (Caitlin Donohue) 8 p.m., $18

Yoshi’s San Francisco

1330 Fillmore, SF

(415) 655-5600

www.yoshis.com

 

TUESDAY 31

MUSIC

Lower Dens

If you combine Jana Hunter’s saturnine vocals, or found (like Nico’s) between masculine and feminine, with Will Adams’ shoegazing guitar, you get what sounds like something caught in the wind. Or sometimes you get music that sounds like was recorded in the most depressing bedroom ever. For the most part, the Baltimore, Md., quartet Lower Dens keeps things in a minor key, and its 2010 debut Twin-Hand Movement glistens with brooding songcraft, riding a dark and stormy (new) wave. This band was already on the rise before it was stabbed with a certain Pitchfork, as Hunter had been kicking it solo since early in the aughts. (Lattanzio)

9 p.m., $10

Hotel Utah

500 Fourth St., SF

(415) 546-6300

www.thehotelutahsaloon.com EVENT

 

MUSIC/LIT

Mustaine: A Heavy Metal Memoir

Dave Mustaine has seen more than his fair share of difficult obstacles to overcome throughout his musical career due to his past drug and alcohol addictions, which famously got him kicked out of an early Metallica lineup. Even during his ensuing triumphs with long-time metal favorites Megadeth, he struggled often with his demons. Now clean and sober, the singer and guitarist is riding high on his current successes, which include a new autobiography, Mustaine: A Heavy Metal Memoir (Harper Collins), that hit the New York Times Best Sellers List earlier this month. Fans won’t want to miss this rare opportunity to meet a true metal icon when he signs copies this afternoon before taking the stage at the Cow Palace tonight with Slayer and Testament. (McCourt)

10:30 a.m. (updated event time!), free

Borders Stonestown

233 Winston, SF

(415) 731-0665

www.borders.com 

 

The Guardian listings deadline is two weeks prior to our Wednesday publication date. To submit an item for consideration, please include the title of the event, a brief description of the event, date and time, venue name, street address (listing cross streets only isn’t sufficient), city, telephone number readers can call for more information, telephone number for media, and admission costs. Send information to Listings, the Guardian 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.

 

Magic 8-Ball

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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0
Magic 8-Ball

superego@sfbg.com

FALL ARTS/ SUPER EGO What does the immediate future of nightlife hold? “Cloud” DJs, quantum trannies, Hovaround races, de-friending parties, cocktail holography, xylophones? Honey. I just rolled in from a night at Aunt Charlie’s in the TL. Answer hazy, ask again later — maybe after I score some hot hangover grits from Eddie’s on Diviz. In the meanwhile, here’s all tomorrow’s parties I want to see your pretty game face at.

 

LOVETECH

A recent tipsy visit to the California Academy of Science’s Thursday Nightlife party confirmed that it’s still one of the most consistently intriguing events on the scene. (It’s also full of gorgeous, smart women — hint, hint all you lonely geeks). Appropriately for its “Inventors Month” theme, this week will see nonstop live electronic music performances from the likes of Edison, Scuzzy, Seventh Swami, Moldover, Spit Brothers, and the Evolution Control Committee. Will the penguins dance? Yes. Yes, they will dance.

Thurs/26, 6 p.m.–10 p.m., $12. California Academy of Sciences, 55 Music Concourse Drive, Golden Gate Park, SF. www.calacademy.org/nightlife

 

THE BEAT ELECTRIC DANCE SHOW

Kind of freaking out about this. Mezzanine is getting done up like 1982 Detroit cable dance show The Scene (think Soul Train but with early techno and house) — tinsel curtains, dance runway, platforms, and all. Party Effects, BT Magnum, Black Shag, and more keep you popping and locking — and it’ll all be filmed VHS-style. Jihaari T. hosts, and the Miss Honey children, including Terry T and Manicure Versace, preside.

Fri/27, 9 p.m., $5. Mezzanine, 444 Jessie, SF. www.mezzaninesf.com

 

OSUNLADE

Very deep, very spiritual, very fantastic global house grooves from the busy Yoruba Soul artist. Carlos Mena of Oakland’s lovely Yoruba Dance Sessions weekly and hometown funkologist J-Boogie support, with live drum troupe Loco Bloco.

Fri/27, 10 p.m.–late, $20. Mighty, 119 Utah, SF. www.mighty119.com

 

TRANNYSHACK BJÖRK TRIBUTE

Koo-koo queens once again take on the Icelandic idol in true Trannyshack fashion. With Cousin Wonderlette, Miss Rahni, Elijah Minnelli, Jupiter, Fruitbomb, Suppositori Spelling, Raya Light, Ambrosia Salad (who was born to Björk out), and of course Heklina herself, the queen of creamed salmon. Ever-stylish DJ Omar tickles your medulla.

Fri/27, 10 p.m.–3 a.m., $12. DNA Lounge, 375 11th St., SF. www.trannyshack.com

 

GIRL UNIT

Intensely funky, forward-thinking Night Slugs artist brings the future grime with a side of early Chicago spooky house feel. He’ll be at the quite nice Icee Hot monthly with Disco Shawn, Rollie Fingers, and Ghosts on Tape.

Sat/28, 10 p.m., $5. 222 Hyde, SF. www.222hyde.com

 

GO BANG!

So, what’s the retro-disco scene like in Omaha, Neb.? Find out when cutie Omahanian DJ Brent Crampton heats up the tables at one of my favorite monthly parties. Headliners funky Cole Medina and Sergio V from L.A. join residents Steve Fabus and Sergio Fedasz, plus newcomers Tres Lingerie, to call down the spirits.

Sat/28, 9 p.m.-late, $5. Deco Lounge, 510 Larkin, SF. www.decosf.com

 

BIG TOP THIRD ANNIVERSARY

Promoter Joshua J’s parties are curious mélanges of disparate nightlife flavors, dizzying yet fun. His monthly circus-themed extravaganza Big Top certainly operates under the big tent principle: this anniversary gig includes electro-indie DJ Jeffrey Paradise, fab photog Ava Berlin, drag-vogue shenanigans by the Miss Honey Children and Hoku Mama Swamp, a “lights out” makeout lounge, clothing optional Twister, go-go boys, and a fortune teller. Whew!

Sat/28, 9 p.m.–3 a.m., $5 advance. Club Eight, 1151 Folsom, SF., www.joshuajpresents.com

 

DJ CAM

The dreamy French hip-hopiste comes bearing surreal stoner grooves. (His new album Seven includes an appearance by reclusive house legend Nicolette!) Sway along with local bass-twister Mophono of mind-bending weekly Change the Beat and Carey Kopp.

Sat., Sept. 4,10 p.m.–late, $10 advance. Mighty, 119 Utah, SF. www.mighty119.com

 

DUB MISSION 14TH ANNIVERSARY

San Francisco’s original dub haven, this weekly joint always makes me smile while turning my head all spacey. Mission maestro DJ Sep welcomes Dr. Israel, Patch Dub, Katrina Blackstone, Turbo Sonidero Futuristico, and MC Mex Tape for a global-eared night of true vibes.

Sun., Sept. 5, 9 p.m., $10 advance. Elbo Room, 647 Valencia, SF. www.elbo.com

 

THE FUTURE 06

The sixth installment of this amazing party brings Brainfeeder knob-god Flying Lotus back from L.A. (via space). Trust, you will not know what hit you when he’s done. Also on deck: dubstep slayer Caspa, who radiates a classic bonkers feel.

Fri., Sept. 24, 9 p.m.–late, $20 advance. Mezzanine, 444 Jessie, SF. www.mezzaninesf.com

 

DESIGNER DRUGS

I caught this tireless NYC banger duo a few years back when they opened at a Blow Up party — they seemed far too sweet for the face-melting (yet strangely melodic) set they went on to unleash. It was madness! They’re a lot more well-known now, but their funhouse-electro sound still causes heart murmurs and panty drops.

Sat., Sept. 25, 9 p.m.–late, $12 advance. Mezzanine, 444 Jessie, SF. www.mezzaninesf.com

 

DEVIANTS

Thanks to some canny programming, the Folsom Street Fair is turning into a major music festival in its own right — this year’s performers include Nitzer Ebb, Dragonette, FM Attack, and HOTTUB. Folsom 2010 also sees the launch of a crazy-sounding new after-party, Deviants, with an ear toward extending the pervy deliciousness for hip omnisexuals. House-y thrill The Juan Maclean performs, with DJs Zach Moore of Space Cowboys and Johnny Seymour of Stereogamous opening the floodgates.

Sun., Sept. 26, 6 p.m., $30 advance. 525 Harrison, SF. www.flsomstreetfair.org/deviants

 

LOVEVOLUTION

Change is in the air for this fantastic mega dance festival, formerly known as Lovefest. The party has outgrown its Civic Center location, and a new one is soon to be announced. What hasn’t changed is that the Bay Area is home to several kinds of electronic music, and it would be a shame if we couldn’t all celebrate once a year outdoors, safely and peacefully.

Sat., Oct. 2. Check website for times, location, and price. www.sflovevolution.org

 

NEW WAVE CITY 18TH ANNIVERSARY

Ain’t nothing wrong with a little straight-up, nonironic New Wave nostalgia, especially if venerable 1980s-obsessed DJs Skip and Shindog are serving. Of course, the fun part about this being NWC’s 18th is that the ’80s were barely over before the nostalgia began. Also of course, you won’t be able to not sing and dance along.

Sat., Oct. 2, 9 p.m.–3.am., $12. DNA Lounge, 375 11th St., SF. www.newwavecity.com

 

TREASURE ISLAND MUSIC FESTIVAL

My fondest wishes for this fab four-year-old? More local talent and a DJ tent playing continuous tunes for dancing. Still, it’s hard to argue with a lineup that includes Four Tet, Die Antwoord, Wallpaper, Little Dragon, and more undergroundish acts.

Sat., Oct. 17 and Sun., Oct. 18, $67.50 single day, $119.50 advance two-day package. Treasure Island, www.treasureislandfestival.com

 

PUBLIC WORKS OPENING

I’ve been dying to sing the praises of the awesome crew of DJs and artists involved in this new club and gallery space, located on a nifty street called Erie and marked by a Banksy mural. Now that they’ve set an opening date, I can gush: if all goes well, this should be another hot spot to make the city proud. The launch should be a dance dream.

Wed., Oct. 20, 9 p.m.–4 a.m., price tba. Public Works, 161 Erie, SF.

Leap into fall

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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0
Leap into fall

Looking over the fall dance schedule, two ingredients jump out: celebration and experimentation. Given the depressed economy and vacuous political conversations, this optimism comes as a welcome surprise. But then dancers are a resilient lot; they are used to rock bottom or nonexistent budgets and functioning below the radar screen of the pundits who try to tell us which way the culture is tilting. They simply go about doing what they sense needs to be done and put their own stamp on the social ecology. Here is a glimpse at what you can expect until Nutcracker time. 

Flyaway Productions Jo Kreiter’s troupe of strong female warriors — one of our more innovative equipment-based ensembles — is taking to the air to celebrate the Women’s Building’s centennial. They have an open rehearsal Aug. 26 at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 10–18, Women’s Building; www.flyawayproductions.com.

Central Market Arts This is a truly exciting initiative by four Mid-Market Street arts organizations: Alonzo King’s LINES Dance Center, The Garage, Kunst-Stoff Arts and Project Bandaloop. Billed as “24 Days of Art, Music, Dance & Theater,” it presents art in the places where it is made. One idea is to show that the “theater district” exists on the streets. It kicks off with free performances by a who’s who of talents at the Mint Plaza by Fifth and Martet. Kunst-Stoff, LEVYdance, and Robert Moses Kin are the among those doing the honors. Sept. 24–Oct. 17, Market St. corridor; www.jonsimsctr.org.

San Francisco Hip-Hop Dancefest Taking its cue from the jam-packed auditions for the San Francisco Ethnic Festival, the San Francisco Hip-Hop Dance Fest is opening its local company auditions to the public. There are so many applicants, it had to create two separate Sept. 12 sessions at Cowell Theater: one from 11 a.m–2: 30 p.m. and another from 3:30 p.m. –7 p.m. (Out-of-town groups undergo separate evaluations.) This all-day event offers a fabulous opportunity to sample Bay Area hip-hop dance and should whet the appetite for the big event in November. Nov. 19–21, Palace of Fine Arts; www.sfhiphopdancefest.com.

West Wave Dance West Wave is back for its 19th season, this time structured as a monthly series falling on usually dance-free Sunday and Monday nights. Each program features five choreographers. Including a night devoted to dance on film, this is a must for anyone wanting a perspective on Bay Area dance. Sept.20–Dec. 13, Cowell Theater; www.westwavedancefestival.org.

Mark Morris Dance Company The much-welcome perennial returns with three West Coast premieres: this year’s Socrates, about dying; 2007’s Looky, about gallery-hopping; and 1990’s Behemoth, which has been described as “cold, abstract, and silent.” Doesn’t sound much like MM, does it? Sept. 30–Oct. 2, Zellerbach Hall, Berk; www.calperformances.org.

“Traditions Engaged: Dance, Drama, Rhythm” To celebrate its 30th anniversary, Chitresh Das Dance Company follows its 2006 “Kathak at the Crossroads” — which brought together an amazing assembly of dancers, teachers, scholars, and aficionados — with a performance that expands to other classical Indian dance forms: bharata natyam, kathakali, kuchipudi. and odissi. Oct. 1–3, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts; www.kathak.org.

Smuin Ballet Try McIntyre has made himself a reputation for skillful, congenial, and exuberantly danceable choreography. So his Smuin Ballet world premiere — set to indie rock by the Shins — is a good match for the company’s fine crop of dancers. It joins Michael Smuin’s Blue Grass/Slide (which involves pole dancing), and Brahms/Haydn Variation, one of Smuin’s more refined essays on a gorgeous piece of music. Oct. 1–19, Palace of Fine Arts; www.smuinballet.org.

ODC Theater (Oct. 1–3, ODC Theater, SF) is opening its new facilities with a firework of performances. First in line is the world premiere of Brenda Way’s “Architecture of Light”, then comes “JumpstART” (Oct. 16), a daylong celebration of dance, music, and theater, to be followed throughout the fall by a series of commissions, the first one for Kunst-Stoff and LEVYdance (Oct.21–28).

Na Lei Hulu I Ka Wekiu Happy 25th birthday to Patrick Makuakane’s company. If you have seen these remarkable hula dancers, you know that every concert by them is a celebration of contemporary and old-style Hawaiian culture. You can expect a cross-section of their repertoire as well as a special one-hour family matinee on closing day. Oct. 16–24, Palace of Fine Arts; www.naleihulu.org.

Scheherazade Today the Orientalism and racism of Mikhael Fokine’s 1910 extravaganza Scheherazade make the work just about unperformable. Not so, says Alonzo King of LINES Ballet Company, who accepted a commission from the Monaco Dance Forum to rethink the tale. Zakir Hussein does the honors for the Rimsky-Korsakov score. This is the U.S. premiere. Oct. 14–24, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts; www.ybca.org.

“Harvest: The Fall 2010 Choreographers Showcase” Dance Mission Theater’s fall showcase rides in on an unlikely premise. Unjuried and programmed on a first-come, first-serve basis, it includes beginners and experienced artists. The results should be surprising, and are frequently satisfying. Oct. 22–23, Dance Mission Theater; www.dancemission.com.

Sankai Juku For sheer elegance of presentation of a very demanding dance style, the 35-year-old Sankai Juku has few equals. It is bringing 2002’s mesmerizing Hibiki: Resonance from Far Away to San Francisco. If you want to see a newer work, head for Stanford, where it presents Tobari (As If In an Inexhaustible Flux), from 2008. Nov. 9, Memorial Auditorium, Stanford; www.livelyarts.stanford.edu. Nov. 11–13, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts; www.ybca.org.

Girlschool 2010

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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17
Girlschool 2010

arts@sfbg.com

FALL ARTS/MUSIC When I last looked at the state of all-female bands in 2006, Sleater-Kinney, Destiny’s Child, and Le Tigre had hung up their guitars, mics, and samplers. Since then, the Bay Area has produced a motherlode of female-dominated rock outfits — including Grass Widow, the Splinters, Brilliant Colors, the Twinks, the Sandwitches, the Sarees, the Glassines, and Shannon and the Clams — while frontperson Dee Dee (née Kristin Gundred) of the Dum Dum Girls has moved back to SF, where she grew up.

Is there a girl band revolution on the horizon? Mainstream charts don’t reflect a change, despite the rising national profiles of the Dum Dum Girls, Vivian Girls, Frankie Rose and the Outs, and the all-female band backing Beyonce during her last tour. Yet since 2007, waves of all-female bands have been breaking locally — outfits often informed by girl groups, as well as garage rock and generations of punk. Jess Scott of Brilliant Colors told me she recently broached this subject with riot grrrl vet Layla Gibbon, editor of Maximum Rocknroll: “I think people are writing about the music itself, which is exciting. I’m always for new music, and I’m doubly for girls in music.”

But just because girl bands are becoming more of a norm doesn’t mean that sexism has evaporated, much like the election of Barack Obama hasn’t dispelled racism. “When we go on tour in the South or Midwest or anywhere else, you realize how different it is,” says Lillian Maring of Grass Widow. “You’re loading into the venue and hearing, ‘Where’s the band?’ ‘Heh-heh, it’s us — we’re the band.’ ‘You’re traveling by yourselves?'” She looks flabbergasted. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

Intriguingly, the very idea of foregrounding gender, above music, chafes against some musicians. “There’s definitely a history of women being objectified in all kinds of visual culture,” says Grass Widow’s Hannah Lew. “We’re thoughtful people who work hard at writing songs and are trying to challenge that whole system of objectification, so it would kind of be an oxymoron if we were to capitalize on the idea of being a girl group. Our gender is an element of what we do, but the first thing is our thoughts and our music.”

Still, others see gender as an inextricable part of writing music, often collaboratively, about their own experiences. “I think it’s a powerful thing to be a troupe of women together writing music,” says the Splinters’ Lauren Stern. “The lyrics are totally different, and there are certain things that a woman writer conveys differently.” Her bandmate Caroline Partamian believes the popularity of all-female combos like the Vivian Girls may be “subconsciously giving girl bands more power to keep writing songs and keep playing shows.”

The Girlschool class of 2010, would probably agree that a new paradigm is in order. Scott, for instance, confesses she’d rather align herself with politically like-minded labels like Make a Mess than simply other all-female bands that “want the same old things tons of guy bands have wanted.” The same old won’t get you a passing grade.

 

MEAT THE BAND: GRASS WIDOW

The dilemma of so many women’s bands — to be on the CD or LP cover, or not to be — is beside the point when it comes to SF’s Grass Widow, hunkering down over burgers and shakes in the belly of a former meatpacking building at 16th and Mission streets, in a onetime-meat locker-now-practice space jammed with drum kits, amps, and gear.

“I think it’s annoying to try and sensationalize girl groups, but at the same token maybe it’s cool because it might normalize, a bit, the idea of gender,” says bassist-vocalist Hannah Lew. “But it’s definitely the thing we don’t like to talk about first. I almost don’t want to use our image in anything. People are automatically, ‘They’re hot! Omigod, that one is hot!'”

The cover of Grass Widow’s second, newly released album, Past Time (Kill Rock Stars), appears to sidestep the issue, until you look closely and notice Lew, guitarist-vocalist Raven Mahon, and drummer-vocalist Lillian Maring poking their heads out a car window in the background. “We’re very blurry, but we could be really hot!” Lew jokes. “We probably are really hot!”

Some consider Grass Widow hot for altogether different reasons: the band is often brought up by other all-female local bands as a favorite, and Past Time stands to find a place beside such influential groups as the Raincoats for its blend of sweetness and dissonance, spare instrumentation and sing-out confidence, and interwoven vocals. In some ways, Grass Widow sounds as if it’s starting from scratch in a post-punk universe and going forward from there, violating rockist convention.

Are they, as their name might suggest, mourning an indie rock that might or might not be dead? Well, when Lew, Mahon, and Maring started playing together in 2007 under the moniker Shit Storm (“It was a self-fulfilling prophecy, like the facial tattoo of band names!” says Lew), they probably couldn’t predict how sadly apropos Grass Widow — a centuries-old phrase referring to a woman whose husband is away at sea or war or on duty — would become. Last year, among other events, Lew’s father, noted SF Rabbi Alan Lew, passed away. “We took a six-month break during this intense grieving period, and it was strange to come out of it and think, we’re in a band called Grass Widow,” Lew says now. “And we were grass widows to each other! Then playing again, it felt right to be in a band like that — it took on this other meaning.”

In a similar way, the group regularly works together to transform their experiences, thoughts, and dreams through allegory into song lyrics — and for its release party, it plans to incorporate a string section and a 35-lady choir. “We’re not a girl group mourning the loss of our boyfriends and waiting for them to return,” muses Mahon. “It’s more like we’re working together to create and we’re functioning just fine that way.”

BRIGHT STARS: BRILLIANT COLORS

“We’re associated with a lot of bands that came along a few years later, but when I started writing songs three or four years ago, it was a wasteland,” says Jess Scott, Brilliant Colors’ vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter. “It was really hard to find people who wanted to play pop, not hardcore. It seems like a given now, but it was hard to find people who were into Aislers Set.”

Scott’s tenacity and focus comes through — loud, clear, and as vivid as the brightest hues in your paint set, and the most resonant melodies of Aislers Set — on Brilliant Colors’ 2009 debut, Introducing (Slumberland). Her breathy vocals and rhythm guitar — a crisp combination of post-punk spunk and drone — bound off drummer Diane Anastacio’s frisky, skipping beats and bassist Michelle Hill’s simple, straight-to-the-gut bass lines like the most natural thing in the world, recalling punk classics by early Buzzcocks and Wire as well as later successors Delta 5 and LiliPUT and riot grrrl-era kin Heavens to Betsy and Huggy Bear.

Scott has been writing songs since she was 15, which, full disclosure, was around the time I first met her, the daughter of two moms, one of whom I worked with. At the time, her sound was softer, more melodic, and at times weirder than the punk outfits that frequented 924 Gilman Street Project, her pals’ preferred hangout. Nevertheless, Brilliant Colors has gone on to somehow fuse Gilman’s political-punk commitment with Scott’s obsession with perfecting pop songcraft.

“We get offers to do cheesy things and we don’t do it. We’re extremely liberal punk kids, y’know,” explains Scott, who sees all of her band’s numbers as love songs, with a few intriguing angles: “Motherland,” say, is “an overtly feminist song about solidarity between women,” while “Absolutely Anything” concerns vaginal imagery in art.

Call Brilliant Colors’ inspired tunes a true reflection of its music-obsessed maker: Scott studied political science and economics as an undergraduate at Mills College, and arts journalism as a fellow at University of Southern California, and she regularly writes for Maximum Rocknroll. She also runs a cassette label, Tape It to the Limit.

“You could say we’re conscious of who we play with and where we play and what we say,” says. That means saying “no way” to playing at chain clothing stores such as Top Shop, though she humbly adds, “I don’t want to seem ungrateful or rude about it, but we want to stick to shows that are all ages and cheap.”

Snackable: The Sandwitches

Give naivete a good, hard twist and you get something close to the rock ‘n’ roll-primitive originality of the Sandwitches. Little wonder that two of the winsome ‘Witches, vocalist-guitarists Grace Cooper and Heidi Alexander, were once backup vocalists for the Fresh and Onlys — the Sandwitches’ music rings out with the ear-cleansing clarity of smart girls who understand the importance of preserving the best, raw parts of their innocence, even amid the pleasures and perils of age, wisdom, snarking hipsters, and intimidating record collections.

One of the SF trio’s recent tunes, “Beatle Screams,” embodies that fresh, crunchy, approach: its lo-fi echo; lumbering, click-clack drums; and sad carnival-organ sounds are topped off with the comic pathos of girlish, ghoulish shrieks from the depths of groupie hell.

Live, the Sandwitches come across as offhand, upbeat, and surprisingly passionate, playing music that harks to lonely teardrops, mom ‘n’ pop low-watt radio stations, the Everlys and Gene Pitney, with a twinge of country and a dose of dissonance. The trio’s recordings have a nuanced view of love and lust. They assume the perspective of infatuated naifs on “Idiot Savant,” and warble “Fire … I fill the room, I fill the womb,” on “Fire” from the 2009 debut album, How to Make Ambient Sad Cake (Turn Up). Produced by the Fresh and Onlys’ Wymond Miles, the new Sandwitches EP, Duck, Duck, Goose! (Empty Cellar/Secret Seven) plunges even deeper into the shadows, tackling “Baby Mine,” Fresh and Onlys’ honcho Tim Cohen’s “Rock of Gibraltar,” and other eerie lullabies with confidence and tangible vision.

The Sandwitches materialized two years ago when Alexander and drummer Roxy Brodeur began playing together. “She said she really liked the way I drummed and we should play music sometime,” recalls Brodeur, who has also drummed in Brilliant Colors and Pillars of Silence. Alexander had also been playing with Cooper, and it seemed only natural for the three to join forces.

Brodeur was adept at following along: “I play to the vocals a lot, and it depends on the song because Grace and Heidi write in pretty different styles — with Grace it’s lighter and jazzier and with Heidi it’s a little heavier and thumpy.”

GRASS WIDOW

Sept. 10, 7 p.m., all ages

Cyclone Warehouse

Illinois and Cesar Chavez, SF

www.myspace.com/grasswidowmusic

POSITIVELY TEMESCAL: THE SPLINTERS

What do Canadian tuxes, temporary tats, TLC, and touring by pickup truck have in common? They’re all pleasures, guilty or not, for the Splinters. The soon-to-be-bicoastal Bay Area all-girl combo is all about fun and friendship, gauging the laughter levels as guitarist Caroline Partamian and vocalist-tambourine player Lauren Stern sip PBRs by the hideaway fireplace in the back of Oakland’s Avenue Bar. Some other choice subjects: seedy green rooms, messy Texas shows, honey-dripping Southern accents, and bandmates that make their own thongs.

“Sometimes being girls has gotten us out of trouble,” says Stern, chuckling. Like that time at an Austin house party when the Splinters got grossed out by the bathroom and decided to go pee next to their truck instead. “We had baby wipes,” Partamian explains. “And we had the truck doors open.”

“So we’re all squatting in a row, and this guy walks out with his dog and his friend,” continues Stern, “and he’s like, ‘You guys are peeing in front of our house!'” Girlish oohing and aahing over his pooch saved the day, and the aggrieved dog walker ended up replacing the truck’s brake pads at a drastic discount.

Likewise, positivity and camaraderie infuse the Splinters’ all-fun debut, Kick (Double Negative), though “Sea Salt Skin” injects melancholy into the garage-rocking shenanigans and “Oranges” levels its gaze at girl-on-girl violence with a withering Black Sabbath-style riff. “Cool” and “Dark Shades” flip the dance-party ethos on its side, playfully critiquing the hip crowd like wiseacre modern-day Shangri-Las. No surprise, then, that these women were friends and fellow students at UC Berkeley before they started playing together in late 2007, inspired by Partamian’s four-track birthday gift. The first show was an Obama house-party fundraiser. “It was $5 for a 40 and a corn dog,” Stern remembers.

The ensemble has turned out to be much more than an end-of-school lark. A New York City move is next for Stern and Partamian — the latter will be starting the museum studies graduate program at NYU. But the Splinters will stay together, in part for four female superfans who sing along to all the Splinters’ songs, and for a Bristol, U.K. father and son who have bonded over their affection for the group.

“I don’t know, we just love playing music together,” says Partamian.

“It’s so much fun,” Stern adds. “Almost in an addictive way.”

 

YOUNG AND FUN: THE TWINKS

Whether you see the term as sweet talk or a slam, the Twinks’ name couldn’t be more appropriate. After all, as drummer Erica Eller says with a laugh, “We’re cute and we like boys!”

True to form, they’re young — the foursome’s first show took place last month — and fun. The Twinks are all-girl, rather than a band of adorable and hairless young gay men. Their sugar-sweet, hip-shaking rockin’ pop unabashedly finds inspiration in the first wave of girl groups — vessels of femininity and Tin Pan Alley aspiration such as the Crystals, the Shirelles, the Dixie Cups, and the Shangri-Las. But in the Twinks’ case, girls, not the producers, are calling the shots. Tunes like “Let’s Go” and “There He Was” are tracked by the group on a portable recorder and overdubbed with Garage Band. It’s a rough but effective setup, capturing keyboardist and primary songwriter Kelly Gabaldon, guitarist Melissa Wolfe, and bassist Rita Sapunor as they take turns on lead vocals and harmonize with abandon.

The band came to life amid an explosion of creativity, when Gabaldon, who also plays in the all-girl Glassines with Eller, wrote a slew of songs last winter. “All of a sudden I had a burst of inspiration,” Gabaldon marvels. “I’d email them a new song every day.” The numbers seemed less suited to the “moodier, singer-songwriter” Glassines, so Gabaldon got her friend Wolfe and finally Sapunor into the act.

Says Gabaldon: “I started listening to a lot more oldies music than I had been before.”

“We also went to a bunch of shows in the past year,” adds Eller as the group sits around the kitchen table at her Mission District warehouse space. “Shannon and the Clams, Hunx and His Punx, a lot of local bands, for sure.”

“I got influenced by Girls,” interjects Gabaldon.

Eller: “All these concerts going on — Nobunny — “

“We went to a lot of shows in the past year!” says Gabaldon. “It was like, ‘We want to do that!'<0x2009>”

Now the Twinks are just trying to play out as much as they can and record their songs. They work ties and other menswear delights into their stage getups, and drink shots of Chartreuse before each show. “I think we all have similar ambitions,” says Sapunor, “but there’s a sense of lightness and playfulness and fun, so it doesn’t seem like work. I think that’s how female culture plays into the overall experience for us, and hopefully for audience members, too.”

BRILLIANT COLORS

With Milk Music and White Boss

Sept. 9, 9 p.m., $7

Hemlock Tavern

1131 Polk, SF

(415) 923-0923

www.hemlocktavern.com

GRASS WIDOW

Sept. 10, 7 p.m., all ages

Cyclone Warehouse Illinois and Cesar Chavez, SF www.myspace.com/grasswidowmusic

Crackdown on gangs — or civil liberties?

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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1
Crackdown on gangs — or civil liberties?

Sarah@sfbg.com

City Attorney Dennis Herrera’s Aug. 5 decision to file a civil gang injunction against two alleged gangs in Visitacion Valley is being hailed by top local law enforcement officials as an important weapon in a war between heavily-armed members of two rival gangs in the Sunnydale housing projects.

“I consider this another vital tool in the prosecution of violent criminals,” District Attorney Kamala Harris said in a City Attorney’s Office press release announcing the suit against the Down Below Gangsters (DBG) and Towerside Gang.

But in the middle of a heated race for supervisor in District 10, the gang injunction also has become a political issue — and infuriated civil liberties activists who say it’s unfair and won’t work.

Herrera’s complaint names and identifies 41 young black men using declarations from gang task force members, police reports, photographs of the men sporting tattoos, flashing hand signs, and wearing purported gang clothing — and even extracts from a letter that one listed individual sent to another alleged gang member, who was in jail.

If Herrera’s request is granted in court Sept. 30, it will be San Francisco’s fourth civil gang injunction. Herrera secured similar injunctions against the Bayview-Hunters Point Oakdale Mob in October 2006; the Mission District’s Norteños in 2007; and the Western Addition’s Chopper City, Eddy Rock, and Knock Out Posse in 2007.

The City Attorney’s Office claims a “cooling off” effect as a result of those injunctions. “Since Herrera launched the civil gang injunction program at the end of 2006, 46 percent of identified gang members (43 of 93) have gone without even a single arrest in San Francisco for crimes other than minor violations of the injunction itself,” Herrera’s office states.

It claims that the data also show progressive improvements over time. “Only 14 percent of identified gang members (13 of 93) were arrested for noninjunction crimes so far in 2010 — down from 41 percent in 2007,” Herrera’s office states.

But San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi, civil rights lawyers, and community advocates worry that the injunction raises constitutional issues and practical problems that could be counterproductive in terms of Herrera’s stated effort to reduce violence in Visitacion Valley.

“The first difficulty you observe is that there is no right to counsel,” Adachi said, pointing to the three injunctions Herrera has already launched. “Instead, the burden is on the individuals named in the injunction to come forward and contest the injunction.”

Contesting an injunction is expensive and difficult, Adachi says.

“There’s a large amount of filing, and then there’s a hearing and a trial,” said Adachi, who represented individuals named in Herrera’s 2007 suit against the Norteños. “It costs between $10,000 and $20,000 to mount an adequate defense.”

Adachi claims Herrera’s past injunctions were mostly based on allegations and stale information that could have triggered more violence. “We saw that the city attorney based its injunction solely on what police officers had alleged, officers who in most cases were members of the Gang Task Force,” he said. “For instance, there was a woman who had been in a gang, but left years before. As a result of being named, her family was threatened and she was fearful there would be reprisals.” The woman’s name was ultimately removed.

Adachi represented a young man who had never been in trouble but found himself on Herrera’s Mission-based injunction list after he rapped about the Nortenos. “There was no evidence, but when we said there had been a mistake, the city attorney disagreed,” Adachi said. “In the end, a judge found there was insufficient evidence.”

Adachi worries about the impact on individuals mistakenly named in the suit. “When you name someone, that brands them. What we saw in other injunctions was that people lost jobs.”

He notes that only a few people came forward to challenge past injunctions. “But in at least four cases, people were found not to be gang members,” he said.

At the time of those injunctions, there was no way to get off the list. “So we worked with the ACLU to demand one and the City Attorney’s Office agreed,” Adachi said. “But I don’t know how many people have since filed paperwork.”

Ingleside police station Capt. Louis Cassenego told us that as of Aug. 20, 12 men had been served with the injunction — six allegedly from DBG, six from Ingleside.

“We had signage posted on utility poles, and no signs have been torn down,” Cassenego said. “And so far, the folks served have taken it in a matter-of fact fashion.”

But Sharen Hewitt, executive director of the C.L.A.E.R. Project, a community empowerment and violence prevention nonprofit, said she worries that people don’t understand the implications of being served and won’t take the trouble to opt out. “I talked to a young man after he got served and he tore up his notice,” Hewitt said.

Hewitt invited representatives from the City Attorney’s Office, Police Department, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, Bay Area Legal Aid, and residents of the area to an Aug. 12 emergency debriefing. “We are sitting in the middle of a major war zone,” Hewitt said, referring to the meeting’s location at Britton Courts, a public housing project that Herrera claims is on DBG turf. “Although this situation threatens the community, it has also brought us together. And now we are trying to pull together a legal team.”

Deputy City Attorney Yvonne Mere explained that the suit seeks to ban criminal and nuisance conduct by creating a proposed safety zone that covers two-tenths of a square mile and encompasses both gangs’ alleged turf plus a buffer zone.

The injunction would impose a 10 p.m. curfew on the 41 men listed, who are a barred from trespassing, selling drugs, and illegally possessing firearms, loitering, displaying gang signs, and associating in public in neighborhoods surrounding the Sunnydale, Heritage Homes, and Britton Courts developments.

Some of this conduct is already against the law, but other activities, including assembling in groups, is typically protected by the Constitution, Mere explained.

Lt. Mikail Ali of the Ingleside station said many youngsters don’t want to be in a gang. “This is an out,” Ali said.

But some residents questioned whether some men on Herrera’s list are in a gang. “Who are you to say who is a gang member?” asked Sheila Hill, who was concerned that her son, the victim of a shooting a couple of years ago, was on the list. “Yes, they might have done something three or five years ago, but many of them have moved on, got married, and got a job. I don’t believe you guys are really checking your records.”

Mere disagreed (later clarifying that Hill’s son isn’t named by the injunction). “We looked at criminal records within the last five years, including shootings, shots fired, and weapons possessed, and it’s a pretty violent zone down here,” Mere said. Mere claims the war between DBG and the Towerside caused 10 murders in the last three years.

Leslie Burch, president of the Britton Courts Neighborhood Association and cofounder of the Visitacion Valley Peacekeepers, said a lot of the men named grew up together, playing sports, staying at each other’s houses overnight, and making affiliations.

“So I wouldn’t necessarily classify them as gangs,” Burch said. “They are just a bunch of friends who have common interests like music, sports, and hanging out together.”

Mere pointed to the opt-out option, part of a 2008 agreement between the city attorney, ACLU, and Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights.

“It’s an option for people to say, ‘No, you are wrong,'<0x2009>” Mere said. “They can submit letters from pastors and friends, and we’ll consider that between now and Sept. 30.“

But Burch challenged some of the evidence posted at the City Attorney’s wesbite, including photographs of people sporting alleged gang tattoos and clothing.

“Take the T sign,” Burch explained “The city attorney says it represents the Towerside. But I had a nephew who was murdered. His name was Trayon, and some people wear the letter T in remembrance of him. I was in court with a nephew who was trying to explain that he is not a gang member just because he’s wearing a hat with a T on it.”

Hewitt noted that the injunction follows budget cuts that decimated local nonprofits and that funding is desperately needed for programs that provide young men with jobs and other alternatives to crime.

Hewitt also noted that the injunction gives District 10 candidates an opportunity to show the community that they are tracking all the issues in this pivotal race. “D-10 has been reduced to the Lennar issue, and that’s what’s criminal,” Hewitt said, adding that coverage of the race has so far largely excluded Viz Valley, even though it’s home to the city’s largest public housing site.

Indeed, the injunction is becoming part of the dialogue in the District 10 supervisor campaign. Candidates Isaac Bowers, Kristine Enea, Chris Jackson, Nyese Joshua, Steve Moss, and Marlene Tran attended Sharen Hewitt’s Aug. 12 gang injunction debriefing. By meeting’s end, Bowers and Enea said they would help community members get legal representation. “A lot of people being served don’t know what an injunction is or don’t show up at the hearing, and then they become subject to the injunction,” Bowers said.

Jackson said he’s committed to helping these men get access to job and education opportunities.

Candidate Tony Kelly said if there are gangs in Viz Valley, Herrera’s injunction would be valid. “There is gang-like activity, but it’s small-scale turf wars, shootings. and retaliations. And it’s not organized,” Kelly claimed. “Instead, you’ve got unorganized young black men with no other options doing whatever it takes to get ahead. But instead of doing something constructive, the city attorney calls them gangs.”

DeWitt Lacy, also a candidate, said he remains concerned that gang injunctions are circumventing people’s due process rights. “In a criminal case, you have the right to an attorney — but that’s not so in a civil action.”

Music listings

David Talbot
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0

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 for the listings at listings@sfbg.com.

WEDNESDAY 25

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

B Rooster Blues Trio One Bush Plaza, Bush at Sansome; www.peopleinplazas.org. Noon, free.

Bane, Trapped Under Ice, Cruel Hand, Alpha and Omega, Bankrobber Thee Parkside. 8pm, $12.

Blind Willies Union Square, Powell at Geary, SF; www.unionsquarepark.us. 12:30pm, free.

Endroit, Double Plus Good Hemlock Tavern. 9pm, $5.

Entropic Density, Zoo, Saything, Zachary Michael Zinn Knockout. 9pm, $6.

Japonize Elephants, Zoyres, Killbossa Rickshaw Stop. 7:30pm, $10.

Oneida, Jonas Reinhardt, Lights Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $10.

Thriving Ivory, Ryan Star, Entice Great American Music Hall. 8pm, $17.

Tracorum, Dead Winter Carpenters Café Du Nord. 9pm, $10.

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 Nako, Omar, and Justin.

Hands Down! Bar on Church. 9pm, free. With DJs Claksaarb, Mykill, and guests spinning indie, electro, house, and bangers.

Jam Fresh Wednesdays Vessel, 85 Campton, SF; (415) 433-8585. 9:30pm, free. With DJs Slick D, Chris Clouse, Rich Era, Don Lynch, and more spinning top40, mashups, hip hop, and remixes.

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.

THURSDAY 26

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Anvil Chorus, Orchid, My Victim Thee Parkside. 9pm, $10.

Bang Data, Funky*C, Los Amnesicos, Basura, DJ Khata Selektor Submission, 2183 Mission, SF; www.kpfa.org. 8pm, $10.

BlackMahal, Boy in the Bubble, Soul Wide World Café Du Nord. 9pm, $10.

Boris, Red Sparowes, Helms Alee Great American Music Hall. 9pm, $18.

Celeste Lear Band, Moving Picture Show Red Devil Lounge. 8pm, $5.

Deep Teens, Moira Scar, Tongue and Teeth, Dawn The Stud. 9pm, $3.

Jason King Band Biscuits and Blues. 8 and 10pm, $15.

Lazer Sword, Rainbow Arabia, Religious Girls, Sister Crayon Rickshaw Stop. 8pm, $14.

Light Asylum, You, Veil Veil Vanish Knockout. 10pm, $6.

Lydia, Fight Fair, Polaris At Noon Bottom of the Hill. 8pm, $10.

Rondo Brothers featuring Foreign Globester, Oona, King Midas in Reverse Slim’s. 8pm, $13.

Royal Baths, Th Mrcy Hot Sprngs, Outlaw, Lilac Hemlock Tavern. 9pm, $6.

Volbeat, Dommin, A New Revolution Independent. 8pm, $16.

DANCE CLUBS

Afrolicious Elbo Room. 9pm, $6. DJs Pleasuremaker and Señor Oz spin Afrobeat, Tropicália, electro, samba, and funk.

Base Vessel, 85 Campton, (415) 433-8585. 9:30pm, $10. With DJs Seth Troxler and Gordon Waze spinning house.

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.

Gigantic Beauty Bar. 9pm, free. With DJs Eli Glad, Greg J, and White Mike spinning indie, rock, disco, and soul.

Good Foot Som.. 10pm, free. With DJs spinning R&B, Hip hop, classics, and soul.

Gymnasium Matador, 10 Sixth St, SF; (415) 863-4629. 9pm, free. With DJ Violent Vickie and guests spinning electro, hip hop, and disco.

Jivin’ Dirty Disco Butter, 354 11th St., SF; (415) 863-5964. 8pm, free. With DJs spinning disco, funk, and classics.

Koko Puffs Koko Cocktails, 1060 Geary, SF; (415) 885-4788. 10pm, free. Dubby roots reggae and Jamaican funk from rotating DJs.

Mestiza Bollywood Café. 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.

Solid Thursdays Club Six. 9pm, free. With DJs Daddy Rolo and Tesfa spinning roots, reggae, dancehall, soca, and mashups.

Super Happy Funtime Burlesque DNA Lounge. 7pm, $10. Performance and live music.

Tropicana Madrone Art Bar. 9pm, free. With DJs Don Bustamante, Sr. Saenz, and guests spinning salsa, cumbia, reggaeton, and merengue.

FRIDAY 27

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Café R&B Biscuits and Blues. 8 and 10pm, $22.

Cannons and Clouds, Winfred E Eye, By Sunlight Bottom of the Hill. 10pm, $10.

Cap’n Jazz, Abe Vigoda Bimbo’s 365 Club. 9pm, $17.

Flexx Bronco, Spittin’ Cobras, Departed, DJ Ace Thee Parkside. 9pm, $8.

Beres Hammond and the Harmony House Musicians, Inner Circle, Culture feat. Kenyatta Hill Independent. 9pm, $35.

Nekromantix, Howlers, Mutilators Slim’s. 9pm, $15.

Lavay Smith and Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers Red Poppy Art House. 8 and 9:30pm, $15.

Kelley Stoltz, UV Race, Total Control, Young Offenders Hemlock Tavern. 9:30pm, $8.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

Aleph Trio Yoshi’s San Francisco. 10pm, $25.

Alhambra Love Songs Yoshi’s San Francisco. 8pm, $28.

Pascal Boker Band Savanna Jazz. 7:30pm, $5.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

Albino! Elbo Room. 10pm, $10. With DJ David Satori.

Bryan Girard Trio Cliff House, 1090 Point Lobos, SF; (415) 386-3330. 7pm, free.

Culann’s Hounds Plough and Stars. 9pm.

"Old Time Southern Murder Hour" Great American Music Hall. 8:30pm, $14. With the Pine Box Boys, Trainwreck Riders, Good Luck Thrift Store Outfit, and Virgil Shaw.

Red Meat, Total BS, Famous Café Du Nord. 9:30pm, $15.

DANCE CLUBS

Club Dragon Club Eight, 1151 Folsom, SF; www.eightsf.com. 9pm, $8. A gay Asian paradise. Featuring two dance floors playing dance and hip hop, smoking patio, and 2 for 1 drinks before 10pm.

Down to Earth Rickshaw Stop. 10pm, $15. Outer space dance party with DJs Polish Ambassador and Alxndr.

Duniya Dancehall Blue Macaw, 2565 Mission, SF; (415) 920-0577. 10pm, $10. With live performances by Duniya Drum and Dance Co. and DJs dub Snakr and Juan Data spinning bhangra, bollywood, dancehall, African, 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 B-Cause, Vinnie Esparza, Mr. Robinson, Toph One, and Slopoke.

Fubar Fridays Butter, 354 11th St., SF; (415) 863-5964. 6pm, $5. With DJs spinning retro mashup remixes.

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.

House of Voodoo Medici Lounge, 299 9th St., SF; (415) 501-9162. 9pm, $5. With DJs voodoo and Purgatory spinning goth, deathrock, glam, darkwave indistrial, and 80s.

I Heart the 90s Madrone Art Bar. 9pm, $5. With DJs Samala, Mr. Grant, and Sonny Phono spinning hip hop, dance, alternative, grunge, and more.

Psychedelic Radio Club Six. 9pm, $7. With DJs Kial, Tom No Thing, Megalodon, and Zapruderpedro spinning dubstep, reggae, and 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.

Some Thing The Stud. 10pm, $7. VivvyAnne Forevermore, Glamamore, and DJ Down-E give you fierce drag shows and afterhours dancing.

Teenage Dance Craze Party Knockout. 10pm, $3. With DJs Sergio Iglesias, Russell Quann, and dX the Funky Gran Paw.

Tocadisco Club Six. 9pm, $15. With DJs Elz and Elise, Mario Dubbz, Doc Martin, Hektor Perez, and more spinning house for Tocadisco’s 5th anniversary.

Trannyshack DNA Lounge. 10pm, $12. Björk tribute with Heklina and more.

SATURDAY 28

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Band of Brotherz, Stymie and the Pimp Jones Luv Orchestra Bottom of the Hill. 9:15pm, $10.

Blasphemous Rumours, Luv’n Rockets Café Du Nord. 9:30pm, $12.

Bostich + Fussible, Loquat Independent. 9pm, $17.

Melissa Etheridge Warfield. 9pm, $57.75-102.75.

From Monument to Masses, Judgement Day, Silian Rail Great American Music Hall. 9pm, $15.

Guitar vs. Gravity, Moneypenny, Charmless Hemlock Tavern. 9:30pm, $7.

Hightower, Red Octopus, High and Tight, DJ Blackheart Thee Parkside. 9pm, $5.

Earl Thomas and the Blues Ambassadors Biscuits and Blues. 8 and 10pm, $22.

J Ward, Fujiko-Chan Thee Parkside. 3pm, free.

PROBLEMS, Abrupt Bender’s, 806 S. Van Ness, SF; www.bendersbar.com. 10pm, $5.

Realistic Orchestra Yoshi’s San Francisco. 11:59pm, $20. Michael Jackson tribute.

Shants, Vandella, Not An Airplane, Coyote Girl Hotel Utah. 9pm, $8.

Emily Wells, Valerie Orth, Kindness and Lies Slim’s. 8:30pm, $15.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

Al Coster Group Savanna Jazz. 7:30pm, $10.

Cobra Yoshi’s San Francisco. 10pm, $35.

Ralph Carney’s Serious Jass Project Amoeba, 1855 Haight, SF; www.amoeba.com. 2pm, free.

John Zorn and the Rova Saxophone Quartet Yoshi’s San Francisco. 8pm, $30.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

Gas Men Plough and Stars. 9pm.

La Gente Red Poppy Art House. 9pm, $10-$15.

Orquesta Borinquen The Ramp, 855 Terry Francois, SF; (415) 621-2378. 5pm.

Panteon Rococo, Raskahuele, Bang Data Fillmore. 8pm, $25.

Stellamara Trio, Round Mountain Noe Valley Ministry, 1021 Sanchez, SF; (415) 454-5238. 8:15pm, $17.

Craig Ventresco and Meredith Axelrod Atlas Café. 4pm, free.

DANCE CLUBS

Bar on Church 9pm. Rotating DJs Foxxee, Joseph Lee, Zhaldee, Mark Andrus, and Nuxx.

Barracuda 111 Minna. 9pm, $10. Eclectic 80s music with DJs Damon, Phillie Ocean, and Gabe Gavilanes, plus 80s cult video projections, a laser light show, prom balloons, and 80s inspired fashion.

Bootie DNA Lounge. 9pm, $6-12. Michael Jackson Birthday Tribute with mash-up DJs Adrian and Mysterious D.

Cockblock Rickshaw Stop. 10pm, $7. Homolicious dance party.

4OneFunktion Elbo Room. 10pm, $5-10. Hi-hop with Park, FAME, and DJs B.Cause, Mista B, and Aron.

Future Night Knockout. 9pm, $4. Mashers, bang-ups, and refixes with Djs Danny Glover, Kick, and Pope.

Go Bang! Paradise Lounge. Recreating the diversity and freedom of the 70’s/ 80’s disco nightlife with DJs Said, Carnitas, Brown Amy, Steve Fabus, Sergio, and more.

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.

Reggae Gold Club Six. 9pm, $15. With DJs Daddy Rolo, Polo Mo’qz, Tesfa, Serg, and Fuze spinning dancehall and reggae.

Rock City Butter, 354 11th St., SF; (415) 863-5964. 6pm, $5 after 10pm. With DJs spinning party rock.

Spirit Fingers Sessions 330 Ritch. 9pm, free. With DJ Morse Code and live guest performances.

Weekend Warriors Madrone Art Bar. 9:30pm, $5. Live music with Will Blades and O.G.D. and DJs Gordo Cabeza and guests spinning motown.

SUNDAY 29

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Dinosaur Bicycle, Red Light Circuit Hemlock Tavern. 9pm, $5.

Emily Greene, Rabbits Running, 7 Orange ABC Hotel Utah. 8pm, $8.

Juliana Theory Independent. 8pm, $25.

Junius, Orbs, Disastroid Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $10.

Slash, Myles Kennedy, Taking Dawn Warfield. 8pm, $32-40.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

Cheetahs on the Moon, Everhearts Thee Parkside. 4pm, free.

Forro Brazuca The Ramp, 855 Terry Francois, SF; (415) 621-2378. 5pm.

Jack Gilder, Darcy Noonan, Richard Mandel and friends Plough and Stars. 9pm.

DANCE CLUBS

Anamanaguchi, Minusbaby, Mr. Spastic, Crashfaster, DJ Harbour DNA Lounge. 8pm, $14. Chip music.

DiscoFunk Mashups Cat Club. 10pm, free. House and 70’s music.

Dub Mission Elbo Room. 9pm, $6. Dub, roots, and classic dancehall with DJs Sep, Vinnie Esparza, and guest Adam Twelve.

45Club Knockout. 10pm, free. Funky soul with dX the Funky Gran Paw, Dirty Dishes, and English Steve.

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.

Superbad Sundays Koko Cocktails, 1060 Geary, SF; (415) 885-4788. 10pm, free. With DJs Slopoke, Booker D, and guests spinning blues, oldies, southern soul, and funky 45s.

Swing Out Sundays Rock-It Room. 7pm, free (dance lessons $15). DJ BeBop Burnie spins 20s through 50s swing, jive, and more.

MONDAY 30

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Eden Brent Trio Biscuits and Blues. 8 and 10pm, $18.

DANCE CLUBS

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.

Krazy Mondays Beauty Bar. 10pm, free. With DJs Ant-1, $ir-Tipp, Ruby Red I, Lo, and Gelo spinning hip hop.

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.

Musik for Your Teeth Revolution Café, 3248 22nd St., SF; (415) 642-0474. 5pm, free. Soul cookin’ happy hour tunes with DJ Antonino Musco.

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 31

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Fat Tuesday Band Biscuits and Blues. 8 and 10pm, $15.

Huge Cookies, Adonisaurus Hemlock Tavern. 9pm, $5.

Jason Reeves with Brendan James, Todd Carey Café Du Nord. 8pm, $12.

*Slayer, Megadeth, Testament Cow Palace, 2600 Geneva, SF; www.ticketmaster.com. 7pm, $39.50.

Le Vice, Tim Carr Project Elbo Room. 9pm.

DANCE CLUBS

Alcoholocaust Presents Argus Lounge. 9pm, free. "Stump the Wizard" with DJ Nodrat and DJ the Wizard.

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

Kids in America Koko Cocktails, 1060 Geary, SF; (415) 885-4788. 9pm, free. With DJs Fuzzprobe and Bryna spinning 80s.

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.

Stage listings

David Talbot
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0

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

THEATER

OPENING

How Lucky Can You Get? New Conservatory Theatre Center, 25 Van Ness; 861-8972, www.nctcsf.org. $20-28. Previews Thurs/26, 8pm. Opens Fri/27, 8pm. Runs Thurs-Sat, 8pm. Through Sept 11. Darlene Popovic sings Kander and Ebb under the direction of F. Allen Sawyer.

Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray Eureka Theatre, 215 Howard; 552-4100, www.TheRhino.org. $10-25. Previews Thurs/26-Sat/28, 8pm; Sun/29, 3pm. Opens Sept 1, 8pm. Runs Wed-Sat, 8pm (also Sept 5, Sept 12, and Sept 19, 3pm). Through Sept 19. John Fisher adapts the Oscar Wilde novel for the stage and directs the production.

BAY AREA

Into the Woods 142 Throckmorton Theatre, 142 Throckmorton, Mill Valley; 383-9600, www.142throckmortontheatre.org. $14-30. Opens Fri/27, 7:30pm. Runs Fri-Sat, 7:30pm, Sun, 2pm. Through Sept. 4. Marin Youth Performers present James Lapine’s and Stephen Sondheim’s fractured fairy tale.

The Light in the Piazza TheatreWorks at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro, Mtn View; (650) 463-1960, www.theatreworks.org. $19-67. Previews Wed/25-Fri/27, 8pm. Opens Sat/28, 8pm. Runs Tues-Wed, 7:30pm, Thurs-Fri, 8pm; Sat, 2 and 8pm; Sun, 2 and 7pm. Through Sept 19. TheatreWorks presents Craig Lucas’s tale of love under the Tuscan sun.

MilkMilkLemonade La Val’s Subterranean, 1834 Euclid, Berk; www.impacttheatre.com. $10-20. Previews Thurs/26-Fri/27, 8pm. Opens Sat/28, 8pm. Runs Thurs-Sat, 8pm. Through Oct 2. Impact Theatre presents Joshua Conkel’s off off Broadway about a lonely gay man trapped in a chicken farm.


ONGOING

Abigail: The Salem Witch Trials Temple SF, 540 Howard; www.templesf.com. $10. Fri/ 26, 9pm. Buzz Productions, with Skycastle Music and Lunar Eclipse Records, presents an original rock opera based on the Salem witch trials.

Don’t Ask New Conservatory Theatre Center, 25 Van Ness; 861-8972; www.nctcsf.org. $24-36. Wed-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. Through Sept 19. New Conservatory Theatre Center presents the West Coast premiere of Bill Quigley’s play about the affair between a Private and his superior.

The Glass Menagerie Boxcar Playhouse, 505 Natoma; 776-1747, www.boxcartheatre.org. $15-25. Fri/27 (also Sept. 2 and Sept. 3), 8pm. Through Sept 3. The third production in Boxcar Theatre’s trio of Tennessee Williams plays in repertory is the biggest disappointment, not only because director Jessica Holt’s production comes bloated distractingly by "shadow" versions of the principals and other random characters, but because it’s the play that otherwise feels most apt and urgent. The "social background of the play," as narrator Tom (a generally credible Brian Trybom) describes it, is a landscape characterized by depression at home and revolution abroad, as pent-up American energies shuffle along through hangdog subsistence, shallow hedonism and occasional "labor unrest." This is the social projection of Tom’s private quandary, but that’s just how this partly autobiographical play speaks so eloquently and subtly to larger themes. When the unhelpful, enervating pantomiming and other stage business dies down a bit, you can see the principal roles—rounded out by Hannah Knapp as Tom’s too fragile sister, Laura, and Suzan A. Kendall as his indomitable mother, Amanda—breath more genuinely and the play actually take shape on the stage. The arrival of the Gentleman Caller (played with winning solidity by Boxcar’s Nick A. Olivero) marks the best part of the evening, even if the gentleman arrives too late to fully redeem the proceeding hour’s misconceived shenanigans. (Avila)

Gilligan’s Island: Live on Stage! The Garage, 975 Howard; (800) 838-3006, www.brownpapertickets.com. $15-20. Sun/29, 8pm. Moore Theatre and SAFEhouse for the Performing Arts brings the TV show to the stage, lovey.

Party of 2 Shelton Theater, 533 Sutter; (800) 838-3006, www.partyof2themusical.com. $25-29. Sun, 3pm. Through Sept 12. A new show written by Morris Bobrow.

Peter Pan Threesixty Theater, Ferry Park (on Embarcadero across from the Ferry Bldg); www.peterpantheshow.com. $30-125. Tues and Thurs, 7pm; Fri-Sat, 7:30pm (also Sat, 2pm); Wed, 2pm; Sun, 1 and 5pm. Through Sept 5. JM Barrie’s tale is performed in a specially-built 360-degree CGI theater.

*Posibilidad, or Death of the Worker Dolores Park and other sites; 285-1717, www.sfmt.org. Free. Sat-Sun, 2pm; also Sept 6, 2pm; Sept 17, 8pm. Through Sept 17. It may have been just a coincidence, but it certainly seems auspicious that the San Francisco Mime Troupe, itself collectively run since the 1970’s, would preview their latest show Posibilidad on the United Nations International Day of Cooperatives. The show, which centers around the struggles of the last remaining workers in a hemp clothing factory ("Peaceweavers"), hones in on the ideological divide between business conducted as usual, and the impulse to create a different system. Taking a clip from the Ari Lewis/Naomi Klein documentary The Take, half of the play is set in Argentina, where textile-worker Sophia (Lisa Hori-Garcia) becomes involved in a factory takeover for the first time. Her past experiences help inform her new co-workers’ sitdown strike and takeover of their own factory after they are told it will close by their impossibly fey, new age boss Ernesto (Rotimi Agbabiaka). You don’t need professional co-op experience to find humor in the nascent collective’s endless rounds of meetings, wince at their struggles against capitalistic indoctrination, or cheer the rousing message of "Esta es Nuestra Lucha" passionately sung by Velina Brown, though in another welcome coincidence, the run of Posibilidad also coincides with the National Worker Cooperative conference being held in August, so if you get extra inspired, you can always try to join forces there. (Gluckstern)

Skin Tight CounterPULSE, 1310 Mission; www.counterpulse.org. $20 ($35 for gala opening). Thurs-Sat, 8pm. Through August 28. Rapid Descent Physical Performance Company takes its debut bow with Gary Henderson’s oblique portrait of a lifelong love affair, directed and choreographed by Megan Finlay. The couple, the vivacious Elizabeth (Beth Deitchman) and her gentle but quick-witted childhood sweetheart (and later war veteran) Tom (Nathaniel Justiniano) tumble, wrestle and entwine in playful lovemaking and painful heartache across a stage largely bare but for a bathtub set prominently upstage and center, and a white-clad trumpet player (composer-performer Aaron William Priskorn) who observes and accompanies them at close quarters throughout as an invisible muse or piece of mobile furniture. The acting is strong and committed—Deitchman’s sharp and vibrant Elizabeth balances well with the brawny Justiniano’s slyly self-effacing Tom, and both are lithesome in the physically demanding staging—but the dramatic content is thin and hampered by a sentimental storyline that feels precious rather than genuinely romantic or truthful. Moreover, the movement, central to the piece, remains fitfully effective and repetitious. But there’s a promising intelligence at work throughout the production that makes Rapid Descent a welcome arrival. (Avila)

*Streetcar Named Desire Boxcar Playhouse, 505 Natoma; 776-1747, www.boxcartheatre.org. $15-25. Wed-Sat, 8pm. Through Sept 4. It’s no small feat, creating a sultry southern summer circa 1940’s smack-dab in the middle of a typically frosty San Francisco summer circa right here right now, but Boxcar Theatre rises admirably to the challenge. Rebecca Longworth’s creative staging of Tennessee Williams’ "A Streetcar Named Desire" includes musical interludes, ghostly apparitions, and the clattering of a cleverly impersonated streetcar that shakes the walls of Matt McAdon’s simply-detailed tenement flat and the spirits of one Blanche DuBois (Juliet Tanner), while the deliberately-muted lighting (Stephanie Buchner) and period-appropriate sound (Ted Crimy), add the appropriate layers of southern discomfort to the unfolding action. Especially captivating to watch are the performances of supporting characters Stella (Casi Maggio) and Mitch (Brian Jansen), who seem to almost helplessly orbit the hot flame of Stanley Kowalski’s sun (Nick A. Olivero) and the grimly flickering satellite of Blanche’s waning moon. As he does in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," Seth Thygesen stands in for one dearly-departed, in this case Blanche’s old beau, Allan Gray, whose abrupt suicide de-magnetized her moral compass. And in addition to a saucy turn as next-door neighbor Eunice, Linnea George tracks the fractured emotions of the main characters on her mournful violin. (Nicole Gluckstern)

*This Is All I Need NOHspace, 2840 Mariposa; www.mugwumpin.org. Thurs-Sun, 8pm. Through Sept 4. $15-20. In our obsession with possessions, just who possesses who? Mugwumpin’s inventive, hilarious and repeatedly surprising new work—captivated and captivating—reminds us that a possession isn’t just a thing but also a (colonized) state of being. But there’s no manifesto here, so much as a multifaceted, deftly staged exploration of a theme so central to this bare and incredibly cluttered existence that we hardly even notice it. The four person ensemble (Madeline H.D. Brown, Joe Estlack, Erin Mei-Ling Stuart, and Christopher W. White), sharply co-directed by Liz Lisle and Jonathan Spector, brings various states of being and relation to life with aplomb—amid swift transformations of time and place, provocative contrasts and parallels, dexterous vocalizations, and supple and satisfyingly offbeat choreography. I’m purposely leaving out the details of the vignettes and the sometimes-startling mise en scène because it’s better that way. All you really need now is the price of a ticket. (Avila)

This World Is Good Phoenix Theater, 414 Mason; 913-7272, www.sleepwalkerstheatre.com. Thurs-Sat, 8pm. Through Sat/28. $18-24. The 1990s are giving way to a millennial moment of anti-climax known as Y2K, but the anxiety and dread are real, and the bloodiest century in human history looks poised to be outdone by the doom-drones of the next. Making at least academic sense of all that angst is Ally (Dina Percia), a brilliant young Latina writing her doctoral dissertation on Grunge and its landscape of youth alienation. Her best friend and occasional lover is a smitten young English prof (Damian Lanahan-Kalish), a dork with a degree and the pet name Scrotum Face. But as she delves into the world of ideas, Ally loses track of her family: single mother Emmy (Tessa Koning-Martinez) and, more tragically, talented but emotionally tortured younger brother Sam (Shoresh Alaudini), whose battered mind and compassionate heart craft a graphic story around a new "super hero" with no costume, no parallel identity, and indeed no special powers. When her family collapses, Ally reassembles the pieces from a new vantage, outside the ivory tower, where she makes art from a sort of crystalline "ordinariness" that complements her brother’s all-too-ordinary super hero. This World Is Good is the opening gambit in a new trilogy by local playwright J.C. Lee called This World and After, all being presented by Sleepwalkers Theatre this season. Artistic director Tore Ingersoll-Thorp helms a competently acted production, which helps lend Lee’s ambitious scope its tangible human proportions, though in truth the characters do not always feel fully drawn. There’s a fine monologue from Sam, both chilling and exhilarating, but also a proclivity throughout for awkwardly poetical speeches over dialogue. Still, there’s subtlety and real humor in the best parts, and enough here to want to see more. (Avila)

What Mama Said About Down There Our Little Theater, 287 Ellis; 820-3250, www.theatrebayarea.org. $15-25. Thurs-Sun, 8pm. Through August 28. Writer-performer-activist Sia Amma presents this largely political, a bit clinical, inherently sexual, and utterly unforgettable performance piece.

BAY AREA

Antony & Cleopatra Forest Meadows Ampitheatre, 1475 Grand, San Rafael; 499-4488, www.marinshakespeare.org. $20-35. Fri-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 4pm. Through Sept 25. Marin Shakespeare Company’s summer season continues with the tale of the Egyptian queen.

*East 14th: True Tales of a Reluctant Player Marsh Berkeley, 2120 Allston, Berk; www.themarsh.org. $20-50. Dates and times vary. Through Sept 12. Don Reed’s solo play, making its Oakland debut after an acclaimed New York run, is truly a welcome homecoming twice over. (Avila)

In the Wound John Hinkel Park, Berk; (510) 841-6500, www.shotgunplayers.org. $10 (no one turned away). Sat-Sun, 3pm (also Sept 5, 3pm). Through Oct 3. Shotgun Players present a unique take on the Iliad, written and directed by Ian Tracy.

Macbeth Bruns Ampitheater, 100 California Shakespeare Way, Orinda; (510) 548-9666, www.calshakes.org. $34-70. Fri-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 4pm (also Sept 11, 2pm). Through Sept 12. Minneapolis’s Joel Sass returns to Cal Shakes to direct Macbeth with a pared down cast of 12, lead by Jud Williford in the title role of the prophesy-driven regicidal social climber and Stacy Ross as his ambitious and then guilt-crazed Lady M. The towering, two-tiered set (by Daniel Ostling) is a suitably eerie, decrepit-looking place, a "murky hell" with a sort of Old World clinical sleaze about it. The three witches come gowned (by costumer Christal Weatherly) in dingy white nurses habits and sickly green surgical gloves with black voids where their faces should be (their spectral speech projected over the audio system). But Cal Shakes’s production doesn’t really measure up to the atmospheric mise-en-scene, being more dutiful than heat-generating. A wily cut-and-paste job with one of the more famous lines doesn’t quite come off either, since it jars by its initial absence and then rings a bit self-consciously when it does surface as a downbeat coda. (Avila)

The Norman Conquests The Ashby Stage, 901 Ashby, Berk; (510) 841-6500, www.shotgunplayers.com. $20-25. Dates and times vary. Through Sept 5. Shotgun Players presents Alan Ayckbourn’s comic trilogy.

The Taming of the Shrew Forest Meadows Amphitheatre, 1475 Grand, San Rafael; (415) 499-4488, www.marinshakespeare.org. $20-25. Fri-Sun, 8pm; also Sun, 4pm and 5pm. Through Sept 26. Marin Theatre Company presents a swashbuckling version of the classic.

Trouble in Mind Aurora Theatre, 2081 Addison, Berk; (510) 843-4822, www.auroratheatre.org. $10-55. Wed-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2 and 7pm; Tues, 7pm. Through Sept 26. Aurora Theatre presents Alice Childress’ look at racism through the lens of theater.

PERFORMANCE/DANCE

"Buddy Club Children’s Shows" Botanical Garden, 9th Ave and Lincoln; (510) 236-7649, www.TheBuddyClub.com. Sun/29, 11am-noon, $5-10. Robert Strong performs magic.

"New Choreography" The Garage, 975 Howard; 518-1517, www.975howard.com Fri/27-Sat/28, 8pm. SPF5 presents two nights of dance.

Penny Dreadful Project Studio Theatre, Creative Arts Bldg, San Francisco State University, 1600 Holloway; 338-2467, www.creativearts.sfsu.edu. Wed/25-Sat/28, 8:30pm; free. A dark tale about an unnamed woman and three versions of her son, directed and co-written (with Alex peri) by Mario El Caponi Mendoza.

"San Francisco Circus Center Showcase" San Francisco Circus Center, 755 Frederick; www.brownpapertickets.com. Fri/27, 7pm; Sat/28 2 and 7pm; Sun/29, 2pm; $10-20. The Circus Center presents its annual showcase.

Sci-Fi Burlesque DNA Lounge, 375 11th; www.superhappyfuntimeburlesque.com. Thurs/26, 9pm; $10-15. Six-person Michigan burlesque group puts on a show.

BAY AREA

On the Cheap listings

David Talbot
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On the Cheap listings are compiled by Paula Connelly. Submit items for the listings at listings@sfbg.com.

THURSDAY 26

The Bearded Gentleman Books Inc., 2275 Market, SF; (415) 864-6777. 7:30pm, free. Men have been growing and styling their facial hair for centuries. Hear facial hair expert Nick Burns read from his authoritative, detailed guide, The Bearded Gentleman: The Style Guide to Shaving Face, on 50 specific facial hair styles and how to grow and maintain them.

“On Artists and Institutions” Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission, SF; (415) 978-2787. 6pm, free. Curators Stuart Horodner and Betti-Sue Hertz and artist Sergio de la Torre discuss the relationship between local artists and their city’s arts institutions, and the meaning of “local” in an increasingly globalized art world. RSVP required, email tlam@ybca.org.

“Seedy Side of SF” Bender’s Bar and Grill, 806 South Van Ness, SF; (415) 824-1800. 8pm, free. Check out six short silent films from Grumblefish Films that depict the darker sides of San Francisco, with slapstick humor revolving around heavy drug use, hard boozing, jerk landlords, and more from the underbelly we all know and love.

BAY AREA

007 Jack London Square, 2 Webster, Oakl.; www.jacklondonsquare.com. 7:30pm, free. Practice your double agent skills at this free showing of the newest James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, coupled with some James Bond trivia and DVD prizes. Prepare for the night by getting a martini, shaken of course, beforehand at one of the many surrounding bars.

FRIDAY 27

BAY AREA

Eat Real Festival Jack London Square, 2 Webster, Oakl.; www.eatrealfest.com. Fri. 2pm-9pm, Sat. 10:30am-9pm, Sun. 10:30am-5pm; free. Celebrate tasty, fresh, handmade food, with a focus on food craft, street food, artisan beers, and local wines at this three day food and culture festival, where no food item will be priced over $5. There will also be DIY lifestyle demonstrations, tons of live music, films, a lit fest, a Porchlight Storytelling performance on Sunday, and more.

SATURDAY 28

Climate Change, Adaptation, and the Gowen Cypress Meet in the Presidio at the parking area at the intersection of Pacific and Walnut, SF; www.wildequity.org. 10am, free. Join Brent Plater of the Wild Equity Institute and Dr. Daniel Gluesenkamp of the Bay Area Early Detection Network for a guided tour of the Presidio’s misplaced Gowen Cypress, an endangered species that is not native to the area.

Cow Palace Farmer’s Market Cow Palace, Lower Parking Lot, 2600 Geneva, SF; 9am-1pm, free. Get some fresh and affordable produce, baked and specialty goods, live music, and more at this community farmers market, happening every Saturday through October 16.

“Regeneration Art Walk” Meet at Intersection for the Arts, 446 Valencia, SF; (415) 626-2787. Noon, free. Attend this guided art walk on Valencia street of artwork curated and created by current and previous participants in Intersection’s Leadership Training Program, exploring regeneration as an integral aspect of growth in our personal lives and communities. Meet the artists and hear about their creative process and response to the theme of regeneration.

“Wondrous Strange” SFMOMA Artists Gallery, Fort Mason Building A, Fort Mason, Marina at Buchanan, SF; (415) 441-4777. 2pm, free. Attend the closing event for the exhibit, “Wondrous Strange: A Twenty-first Century Cabinet of Curiosities,” featuring works by more than a dozen Bay Area artists and including photography, sculpture, and painting, the exhibition explores themes such as evolutionary biology and history, progress and decadence, and the carnal and the intellectual.

SUNDAY 29

“Paint Out” Presidio Officer’s Club, 50 Moraga, SF; (415) 561-5500. 11am-5pm; free, $15 to enter. All artists working in any medium are invited to participate in this California Watercolor Association outdoor painting competition, where each artist has four hours to Select a subject and paint any scene visible from the grounds of the Presidio. Each artist can exhibit one completed work to be voted on for a chance to win cash prizes.

MONDAY 30

“Pint Sized Plays” Café Royale, 800 Post, (415) 441-4099. 8pm, free. Grab a beer and enjoy a series of original short plays by local writers presented in a range of tones and styles that involve people drinking beer and end once the beer is gone. Cheers!

“Up All Night” Hemlock Tavern, 1131 Polk, SF; (415) 923-0923. 7pm, free. Join in this Porchlight Storytelling Series Open Door event, where attendees are invited to tell their own five minute story about whatever it is that they were doing all night when they should have been in bed. Sign up sheet for participants will be available shortly before 7pm.

Rep Clock

David Talbot
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Schedules are for Wed/25–Tues/31 except where noted. Director and year are given when available. Double and triple features are marked with a •. All times are p.m. unless otherwise specified.

ARTISTS’ TELEVISION ACCESS 992 Valencia, SF; www.atasite.org. $3-6. "Animated Art," short films, Fri, 8. "Other Cinema Digital and Alternative Digital Domain: Kwik Gigs 66," short films, videos, and live performance, Sat, 9.

BERKELEY FELLOWSHIP OF UNITARIAN UNIVERSALISTS 1924 Cedar, Berk; (510) 841-4824, www.bfuu.org. Free. King Corn (Woolf, 2007), Thurs, 7:30.

CANNERY 2801 Leavenworth, SF; (415) 771-3112, www.thecannery.com. Free. Nine Months (Columbus, 1995), Sun, 8.

CASTRO 429 Castro, SF; (415) 621-6120, www.castrotheatre.com. $7.50-10. •Kick Ass (Vaughn, 2010), Wed, 2:35, 7, and Splice (Natali, 2009), Wed, 4:35, 9:15. •The Thing (Carpenter, 1982), Thurs, 7, and Videodrome (Cronenberg, 1982), Thurs, 9:10. "Blonde Bombshells:" •Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Hawks, 1953), Fri, 3, 7, and The Seven Year Itch (Wilder, 1955), Fri, 4:50, 8:50; •Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Hawks, 1953), Sat, 3:20, 7:10, and How To Marry a Millionaire (Negulesco, 1953), Sat, 1:30, 5:10, 9; •The Girl Can’t Help It (Tashlin, 1956), Sun, 1, 4:50, 8:30, and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (Hawks, 1953), Sun, 3, 6:45; •The Big Heat (Lang, 1953), Mon, 1:30, 5:10, 8:55, and Bus Stop (Logan, 1956), Mon, 3:20, 7; •The Burglar (Wendkos, 1957), Tues, 1:35, 5:05, 8:45, and The Public Enemy (Wellman, 1931), Tues, 3:25, 7.

CHRISTOPHER B. SMITH RAFAEL FILM CENTER 1118 Fourth St, San Rafael; (415) 454-1222, www.cafilm.org. $6.50-10.25. The Girl Who Played With Fire (Alfredson, 2009), call for dates and times. Lebanon (Maoz, 2009), call for dates and times. Cairo Time (Nadda, 2009), Aug 27-Sept 2, call for times.

"FILM NIGHT IN THE PARK" This week: Union Square, Geary at Powell, San Francisco; (415) 272- 2756, www.filmnight.org. Donations accepted. Rear Window (Hitchcock, 1954), Sat, 8.

HUMANIST HALL 390 27th St, Oakl; www.humanisthall.org. $5. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick, 1968), Wed, 7:30.

JACK LONDON SQUARE East lawn, Oakl; www.jacklondonsquare.com. Free. "Waterfront Flicks:" Quantum of Solace (Forster, 2008), Thurs, 7:30.

PACIFIC FILM ARCHIVE 2575 Bancroft, Berk; (510) 642-5249, www.bampfa.berkeley.edu. $5.50-9.50. "Akira Kurosawa Centennial:" Rhapsody in August (1991), Wed, 7; Dreams (1990), Sat, 5:30; Madadayo (1993), Sun, 7. "Modernist Master: The Cinema of Francesco Rosi:" Neapolitan Diary (1992), Thurs, 7; The Moment of Truth (1965), Sat, 8:30. "Viva La Revolución: Celebrating the Hundredth Anniversary of Mexico’s Revolution:" Reed: Insurgent Mexico (Leduc, 1971), Fri, 7. "Free Outdoor Screening:" "Shelf Life: Weird and Wonderful Shorts from the PFA Collection," Fri, 8:30.

RED VIC 1727 Haight, SF; (415) 668-3994. $6-9. Micmacs (Jeunet, 2009), Wed-Thurs, 7, 9:15 (also Wed, 2). Best Worst Movie (Stephenson, 2010), Fri-Sat, 7:15, 9:15 (also Sat, 2, 4). 2Everything2Terrible2: Tokyo Drift Sun-Mon, 7:15, 9:15. Reefer Madness (Gasnier, 1936), Tues, 7:15, 9:15.

ROXIE 3117 and 3125 16th St, SF; (415) 863-1087, www.roxie.com. $5-11.50. "Not Necessarily Noir:" •A Town Has Turned to Dust (Frankenheimer, 1958), Wed, 6:15, 9:45, and The Sadist (Landis, 1963), Wed, 8; •House of Horrors (Yarbrough, 1946), Thurs, 5:30, 8:30, and The Face Behind the Mask (Florey, 1941), Thurs, 7, 9:50; •Obsession (De Palma, 1976), Fri, 6, 10, and Last Embrace (Demme, 1979), Fri, 8; •Romeo is Bleeding (Medak, 1993), Sat, 2, 6, 10, and Breathless (McBride, 1983), Sat, 4, 8; •Blue Collar (Schrader, 1978), Sun-Mon, 5:45, 9:50 (also Sun, 1:30), and Bad Lieutenant (Ferrara, 1992), Sun-Mon, 8 (also Sun, 3:45); •Cutter’s Way (Passer, 1981), Tues, 5:30, 9:45, and Thief (Mann, 1981), Tues, 7:30.

VICTORIA THEATRE 2961 16th St, SF; www.threeminutepictureshow.com. $5-10. "Three-Minute Picture Show Presents:" "The Twinking To-Do," films for kids, Sat, 4; "Black Tie Gala and Film Screening," short films, Sat, 8.

VIZ CINEMA New People, 1746 Post, SF; www.vizcinema.com. $10. "Kurosawa On Sword Battles: Samurai Saga Vol. 2:" Rashomon (1950), Wed, 5; Sanjuro (1962), Wed, Fri, and Sun, 7; Thurs and Mon, 4:45; Yojimbo (1961), Thurs, 7; Fri and Tues, 4:30; Sat, 1:30; Throne of Blood (1957), Sat-Sun, 4; Tues and Sept 2, 7; Sept 1, 4:30; The Hidden Fortress (1958), Sat, Mon, and Sept 1, 7; Sun, 1; Sept 2, 4.

YERBA BUENA CENTER FOR THE ARTS 701 Mission, SF; (415) 978-2787, www.ybca.org. $6-8. "Dark in August: Rare Vampire Films:" Near Dark (Bigelow, 1987), Thurs, 7:30; Vampire Hookers (Santiago, 1978), Fri, 7:30; Vampyr (Dreyer, 1932), Sat, 7:30 and Sun, 4:30. "Something From Nothing: Films on Design and Architecture:" The Visual Language of Herbert Matter (Caduff, 2010), Sun, 2.

Appetite: 2 delicious food events on the horizon

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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Appetite: 2 delicious food events on the horizon

8/21 LA COCINA SF STREET FOOD FESTIVAL: Everyone who was there last year recalls the nightmare that was the SF Street Food Festival: three hour waits for a bite, only to find much of it gone by the time you reached the front of the line. I went at the 11am start time last year, yet still only got to try two vendors in two hours. At least I was able to hang out in the cocktail and beer garden awhile, as I heard that, too, was an impossible wait before long.

The organizers of the event are intent on making it different this year. Only time will tell, but the physical space is seven times larger, with four times as many vendors. I have long been a fan of La Cocina as a community treasure, and there are some new people behind the scenes this year who have a good track record with organizing large events. I’m hopeful… but you’ll still find me there at 11am, just in case.

Yes, beer, wine and spirits gardens have returned. You know I’m looking forward to cocktails by bartenders from Rye, The Alembic, and Beretta. There’s an eating contest hosted by none other than Pepto-Bismol (oh, the irony!) How about a scavenger hunt and silent auction? Or an after party at Cocomo with live salsa, dancing and street food? La Cocina will host the first annual San Francisco Street Food Conference on August 22-23 following the festival, with panelists discussing the political, economic, and social impact of street food vending.

At the festival, expect 40 food vendors and restaurants, plenty of drink and a celebration of all things street food in SF. Whether you’re eating street food treats from stellar restaurants like Aziza, Nombe or Flour+Water, from actual street carts and trucks like Curry Up Now or Kung Fu Tacos, or La Cocina greats such as Kika’s and El Huarache Loco, you should not leave hungry.

Saturday, August 21, 11am-7pm
In the Mission at Folsom from 24th-26th Sts., 25th from Shotwell-Treat Sts., Treat St. from 25th-26th Sts.; Garfield Park
Passports for eating range from $25-$150 can be purchased in advance, or bought a la carte the day of
www.sfstreetfoodfest.com

8/27-29 EAT REAL FESTIVAL IN JACK LONDON SQUARE: I also attended Oakland’s three-day Eat Real Festival last year and, being in a much bigger space with more vendors, it was considerably easier to navigate than the SF Street Food Festival. In fact, I tried well over a 15 vendors last year, finding many exciting eats and drinks from SF and East Bay purveyors. About five hours into Saturday, the heat and lines became unbearable, but I got in five great hours of eating first, with no body-to-body crowds.

Eat Real Fest focuses on sustainably produced products and regional food producers and farmers. With 80 street food trucks and carts comes a limitless amount of eating possibilities. There’s also an Urban Homesteading Zone highlighting DIY food acts like canning and preserving, cheesemaking, animal husbandry, and vertical gardening – with contests, in case you want to enter your own wares. Try fermentation tasting stations with kombucha, wine, handcrafted beer, iced teas and lemonades. There’s an outdoor short film fest, a literary portion of the festival with Bay Area writers talking food, and an entertainment stage with music, sure, but also pizza tossing, noodle pulling and a Flying Knives butchery contest.

Friday-Sunday, 8/27-29, 2pm-9pm (Fri), 10:30am-9pm (Sat), 10:30am-5pm (Sun)
Jack London Square, Oakland
Food and drink tickets will be sold on-site
www.eatrealfest.com

Hot sexy events Aug 18-24

Andrew Lam
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Two words to understand why sex at Burning Man requires some amount of pre-playa study: alkaline dust. You do not want the stuff getting in while you do, lemme tell ya. So it is a very, very nice thing that Pink, one of Mission Control’s pansexy sex parties, is providing a primer on playa pussy (Fri/20). Subjects covered in the course? How to look for sexy in the barely clothed insta-city, tips for romping through the heat and psychedelia, and the importance of spray bottles when you’re getting with that neon fur-clad bunny you met by the ice stand.

 

Queer, Poly, and Under 30

So, what’s that like? Apparently, enough are interested in the successful maneuverings in the world of polyamory by the under-30 set that the Center for Sex and Culture planned a panel on the subject. Your experts? Among others, Jiz Lee, genderqueer porn star; Allison Moon, former mayor of Burning Man’s Camp Beaverton’s Home for Wayward Girls, and moderator Reid Mihalko, sex-help web guru. 

Thurs/19 7-9 p.m., $10 suggested donation

Center for Sex and Culture

1519 Mission, SF

(415) 255-1155 

www.sexandculture.org


Spunk

You know us youngsters, always listening to them iPod contraptions. Well now there’s a way for the gay men among us to shuffle up the tunes and their partners at the same time. I’m talking about Spunk, the weekly party for 18-29 year old members at Eros, which promises that the evening’s soundtrack will be comprised of “music most often heard on ipods, and swapped among friends.” Mmmm racy vagueness… 

every Thursday 4 p.m.- 12 a.m., $8

Eros 

2051 Market, SF

(415) 255-4921 

www.erossf.com


Pre-Pink Playa Sex Playshop

Pay good attention to your teachers – Doctor Friendly and Miss Pringle know what they’re talking about when it comes to Black Rock booty. Stay after the course for a little pre-fest warmup: the Pink party is on directly after. Come gussied up in next week’s costume to inject an extra hit of playa pizazz.

Fri/20 9-10:15 p.m., $20-30 members only

Mission Control 

2519 Mission, SF

www.missioncontrolsf.org


The Mystery and Seduction of Electro Play

Lady Ripplee Severin has this to say about her first, electrifying BDSM experience: “I found myself seduced and lured to the sound, sent and feel of this visceral form of BDSM play. The first time that violet wand touched my skin, I knew then I was hooked.” She sure sells the shock, no? Bring your electrical device if you’re well-versed in this kind of play – and curious bottoms, come prepared to be turned on. 

Sat/21 6-8 p.m.

Email BigPinkHouseSF@gmail.com for location and price

www.soj.org/calendar

 

Keeping It Hot in an LTR

It sounds like a sexy sportscar, no? But Lisa Skye Carle is actually using “LTR” to refer to a “long term relationship” – shhh don’t let the secret get out! Sometimes, the fact that you and your sweetie have been together forever can seem like a fact you want to forget in the bedroom. But it just doesn’t have to be like that. This course promises to show you lust and laviciousness, even in eyes you know as well as your own. 

Tues/24 6-8 p.m., $25-30

Good Vibrations

1620 Polk, SF

(415) 345-0400

www.goodvibes.com

 

The Eyes Have It/Swap It Out!

So you’ve got your Folsom Street Fair outfit picked out, but that black eyeliner is hard to apply! And come to think of it, the black platforms you have aren’t quite the same black as your bustier and cape… man, something just isn’t right. No worries, my leather love, the Citadel’s got you covered. Bethie Bee is presenting a two part course on makeup and fashion this week. Makeup is Tues, when basic looks are covered, and on Wednesday a clothing swap is being held to make sure you’re fly for the Fair.

Tues/24 8-10 p.m., $20

Weds/25 7:30-9:30 p.m., free if you bring 5 items or more

SF Citadel 

1277 Mission, SF

(415) 626-1746

www.sfcitadel.org

 

In the dumps

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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In the dumps

From Kurt Schwitters’ dwelling-consuming accretion The Merzbau to Tim Noble and Sue Webster’s silhouette-casting garbage heaps, making art from the discard pile is by no means a new gesture. It can still be a potent one, though, as evinced by “Art at the Dump,” a 20-year survey of the fruits of Recology’s artist in residence program at Intersection for the Art’s new gallery space in the historic San Francisco Chronicle building.

Recology’s program — the first of its kind in the nation — has grown immensely since the late artist and activist Jo Hanson first reached out to the Sanitary Fill Company back in 1990 and got her hands dirty. Today, participating artists are provided with a stipend and a studio in which to create work from materials scavenged from the Public Disposal and Recycling Area (a.k.a. “the dump”). The residency also involves community outreach, with artists speaking to the more than 5,000 students and adults who annually attend tours of the city’s garbage and recycling facility.

As in any large group show, the creative mileage at “Art at the Dump” varies. More than a few residents over the years seem unified in their studied appreciation of Robert Rauschenberg’s combines and Joseph Cornell’s shadow boxes, but their final pieces often lack Rauschenberg’s precise eye for juxtaposition or Cornell’s tender hermeticism. Mark Faigenbaum’s (2005) wonderful Pop 66 (2) — a chopped-up 1966 Muni bus poster arranged into a quilt-like pattern of concentric squares — on the other hand, stands on its own as an abstract reconfiguration of its source material while also evoking Charles Demuth’s precisionist oils.

If one artist’s trash doesn’t always make for treasure, at the very least you can count on a conversation piece. A sculpture by Casey Logan (2008) consists of a section of a tree trunk whose upper half has been, as if by the intervention of some magic beavers, whittled into a two-by-four complete with barcode sticker. It is called Destiny. It makes for a humorous pairing with Linda Raynsford’s (2000) two Tree Saws: old handsaws whose rusted blades Raynsford delicately cut into the outlines of forest giants.

Other past residents have taken a craftier approach. Estelle Akamine’s 1993 evening skirt and fantastically fringed cape made from computer tape ribbon could easily pass for one of Gareth Pugh’s recent gothic runway looks.

Perhaps the exhibit’s final word belongs to Donna Keiko Ozawa’s 2001 conceptual sculpture Art Reception, a found jug filled to the top with trash produced during a gallery’s opening reception. Cleverly recalling Oscar Wilde’s famous opening salvo in The Picture of Dorian Gray that “All art is quite useless,” Ozawa’s piece also underscores that the process of art-making — from a piece’s creation to its display — leaves its own set of carbon footprints.

 

DOG DAYS

Robb Putnam’s also no stranger to refuse. The titular orphans in the Oakland artist’s first solo exhibition at Rena Bransten are large, cartoonish canine heads made from compacted scraps of old blankets, fake fur, bubble-wrap, and it seems whatever else Putnam swept off his studio floor.

Mike Kelley’s perverse stuffed animal sculptures and the grotesque composite portraits of Giuseppe Arcimboldo both come to mind here. But with their Augie Doggie-like curves and permanently wagging tongues, Putnam’s mutts are more pitiable than abject. Skinned and beheaded, they are mascots for the unwanted and forgotten.

The show is only up for four more days, so run don’t walk to take in all the plush sadness.

ART AT THE DUMP

Through Sept. 25, free

Intersection 5M

925 Mission, SF

(415) 626-2787

www.recology.com/AIR

ROBB PUTNAM: ORPHANS

Through Aug. 21, free

Rena Bransten Gallery

49 Geary, SF

(415) 982-3292

www.renabranstengallery.com

 

Rep Clock

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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Schedules are for Wed/18–Tues/24 except where noted. Director and year are given when available. Double and triple features are marked with a •. All times are p.m. unless otherwise specified.

ARTISTS’ TELEVISION ACCESS 992 Valencia, SF; www.atasite.org. $3-6. “OpenScreening,” Thurs, 8. For participation information, contact ataopenscreening@atasite.org. “Other Cinema Digital and Alternative Digital Domain present Kwik Gigs 66: Time,” works by Cal Volner-Dison, Hannah Ruskin, and more, Sat, 9. “ATA Sunday Salon,” live music with ASSS, Jesse Kudler and Chandan Narayan, and Particle Board, Sun, 4.

CANNERY 2801 Leavenworth, SF; (415) 771-3112, www.thecannery.com. Free. Sister Act (Ardolino, 1992), Sun, 8.

CASTRO 429 Castro, SF; (415) 621-6120, www.castrotheatre.com. $7.50-10. “Double Stanwyck:” •The Bitter Tea of General Yen (Capra, 1933), Wed, 2:30, 5:40, 8:55, and Baby Face (Green, 1933), Wed, 4:15, 7:30. •Greenberg (Baumbach, 2010), Thurs, 3, 7, and Please Give (Holofcener, 2010), Thurs, 5:05, 9:10. “Midnites for Maniacs: Bullies Getting Bullied:” •Revenge of the Nerds (Kanew, 1984), Fri, 7:30; The Outsiders: The Original Cut (Coppola, 1983), Fri, 1983; and Class of 1984 (Lester, 1982), Fri, 11:45. “Harryhausen 90: Day One:” •The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (Juran, 1958), Sat, 1:30, 7:30; Jason and the Argonauts, (Chaffey, 1963), Sat, 3:20, 9:15; and The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (Rózsa, 1973), Sat, 5:25. “Harryhausen 90: Day Two:” •Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (Sears, 1956), Sun, 1:30, 7; 20 Million Miles to Earth (Juran, 1957), Sun, 3:10, 8:45; and It Came From Beneath the Sea (Juran, 1957), Sun, 5:15.

CHRISTOPHER B. SMITH RAFAEL FILM CENTER 1118 Fourth St, San Rafael; (415) 454-1222, www.cafilm.org. $6.50-10.25. The Girl Who Played With Fire (Alfredson, 2009), call for dates and times. Lebanon (Maoz, 2009), Aug 20-26, call for times. Everything Strange and New (Bradshaw, 2009), Sun, 6:30. With filmmaker Frazer Bradshaw and star Jerry McDaniel in person.

“FILM NIGHT IN THE PARK” This week: Creek Park, 451 Sir Francis Drake Blvd, San Anselmo; (415) 272-2756, www.filmnight.org. Donations accepted. Notorious (Hitchcock, 1946), Fri, 8; Coraline (Selick, 2009), Sat, 8.

HUMANIST HALL 390 27th St, Oakl; www.humanisthall.org. $5. Forbidden Planet (Wilcox, 1956), Wed, 7:30.

MECHANICS’ INSTITUTE 57 Post, SF; (415) 393-0100 (reservations required). $10. “CinemaLit: Musicals With a Message:” Chicago (Marshall, 2002), Fri, 6.

PACIFIC FILM ARCHIVE 2575 Bancroft, Berk; (510) 642-5249, www.bampfa.berkeley.edu. $5.50-9.50. “Akira Kurosawa Centennial:” Dersu Uzala (1972), Wed, 7; The Quiet Duel (1949), Thurs, 7; Ran (1985), Sat, 5:30 and Sun, 7:30. “Viva La Revolución: Celebrating the Hundredth Anniversary of Mexico’s Revolution:” Let’s Go With Pancho Villa! (de Fuentes, 1935), Fri, 7; La soldadera (Bolaños, 1966), Fri, 9. “Modernist Master: The Cinema of Francesco Rosi:” To Forget Palermo (1990), Sat, 8:30. “Film on Film Foundation Presents:” Endless Lvoe (Zeffirelli, 1981), Sun, 4.

RED VIC 1727 Haight, SF; (415) 668-3994. $6-9. The Killer Inside Me (Winterbottom, 2010), Wed-Thurs, 7, 9:20 (also Wed, 2). Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work (Stern and Sundberg, 2010), Fri-Sat, 7:15, 9:15 (also Sat, 2). Blank Slate Sun, 4 (free admission). Get Him To the Greek (Stoller, 2010), Sun-Tues, 7, 9:20 (also Sun, 2).

ROXIE 3117 and 3125 16th St, SF; (415) 863-1087, www.roxie.com. $5-11.50. Alamar (González-Rubio, 2009), Wed-Thurs, 7:15, 8:45. Lourdes (Hausner, 2009), Wed-Thurs, 7, 9. “Not Necessarily Noir:” The Creeping Unknown (Guest, 1956), Fri, 5:45, 9:15; Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Siegel, 1956), Fri, 7:30, 11; 13 West Street (Leacock, 1962), Sat, 2:15, 6:15, 10; Mirage (Dmytryk, 1965), Sat, 4, 8; The Strange One (Garfein, 1957), Sun-Mon, 8 (also Sun, 4); Something Wild (Garfein, 1961), Sun-Mon, 6, 10 (also Sun, 2); Terror in a Texas Town (Lewis, 1958), Tues, 6:15, 9:50; Day of the Outlaw (De Toth, 1959), Tues, 8. VIZ CINEMA New People, 1746 Post, SF; www.vizcinema.com. $10. “Bay Area Filmmakers Series Vol. 2: Junichi Suzuki War Documentaries:” Toyo’s Camera (2008), Wed-Thurs, 12:50 and 5; 442: Live With Honor, Die With Dignity (2010), Wed-Thurs, 2:50 and 7. “Kurosawa On Sword Battles: Samurai Saga Vol. 2:” Seven Samurai (1954), Fri, 7; Sat, 1; Sun, 3:30; Rashomon (1950), Sat and Mon, 7; Sun, 1; Aug 24-25, 5; Yojimbo (1961), Mon, Aug 27, and Aug 31, 4:30; Tues and Aug 26, 7; Aug 28, 1:30. YERBA BUENA CENTER FOR THE ARTS 701 Mission, SF; (415) 978-2787, www.ybca.org. $6-8. “Something From Nothing: Films on Design and Architecture:” Rem Koolhaas: A King of Architecht (Heidingsfelder and Tesch, 2008), Sun, 2.

Listen to the animals

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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Listen to the animals

MUSIC Moira Scar is from the Bay Area, but it would be better to put it this way: from a time and space at the edge of one of Jack Smith’s 15-hour performances in a crustacean imaginative nethersphere, the musical entity that is Moira Scar has arrived. The duo’s self-released vinyl debut Slink to Intensity is made up of seven songs. Some manifest in frenetic outer space garage sounds. Others conjure sprawling free-jazz fantasy lands just beyond the negative space of a film frame. Slink to Intensity also features three photos of the group’s LuLu Gamma Ray and Roxy Monoxide in nakedly wild attire. The spirit of Mary Daly would approve. I recently asked Moira Scar about itself.

SFBG Moira Scar moves, but not in a typical running or walking way. it meanders or sallies forth, wiggles like a wildebeest, dances or slinks to intensity. What kind of human or animal actions do you find inspiring, and what reactions do you want people to have to your music?

Roxy Monoxide To become your own mystical beast. Still influenced by the made-up animal friends of childhood, along with the ideal that we can somehow stand up with the wild animals of the world and learn to coexist as animals again. But then again, stuck between predator and prey, the tiger mouth chews on her own zebra hinds, kind of like ouroboros.

LuLu Gamma Ray Haunting tones of the waddell seals inspire, along with loud boomings of the Lyrebird, which has two sound sources and can produce a far greater variety of sounds than human beings. Animals and plants have wide ranges of emotions, vast intelligence, and can impart important information if only we’d listen.

SFBG Can you tell me a bit about the vintage-horror film analog sounds in "You Make Me Scream" and how you made them?

LLGR The eerie entrancing sounds are made with a CAT SRM2 70’s analog synth’s pulse width modulation. I play electronic music and musique concrete in the lineage of Delia Derbyshire, Ruth White, Sun Ra, and David Tudor, as well as other courageous musical astronauts.

SFBG What is Moira Scar’s favorite Nino Rota score? For me, you also bring to mind the organ sounds in the movie Carnival of Souls.

LLGR Nina Rota’s cut-up method in Juliette of the Spirits is influential, and also the camp and beauty of organists Korla Pandit and Anton LaVey. Many spirits passed and future possess the vessel’s Pelvis and Saphoid, and are warped and distorted through our lens to create the Muse-ick

SFBG What do you like about Jean Vigo’s L’Atalante?

RM The bittersweet realism with poetic montage, the slacker anarchy and feebleness of our lives expressed through human and cat coexistence aboard barge on 1930s Seine and Paris backdrops, with antagonistic relationships and the wise drunken fool; Moira Scar can’t help but being romantic in spite of our psycho-depressive tendencies, or maybe because of them.

SFBG What drug is most recommended for listening to Moira Scar?

RM Moira is the drug. We have been told that we are like watching Forbidden Zone on acid, and some fans enjoy their lubricants while dancing to Scar. But for us the muse possession is the best high.

SFBG What is Moira Scar’s vision of the future?

RM A show with Bambi Lake, M. Lamar, the Deepthroats, and Omnivourous Sinsillium; and us as vegan witches in a world of cannibal zombies.

LLGR To wake the audience from corporate hypnosis with insect and alien soundscapes. Realign nutrinos and journey through the wormhole with us!

RM and LLGR Transmogrify!

MOIRA SCAR

With Tongue and Teeth, Deep Teens

Aug. 26, 9 p.m., 21 and over

The Stud Bar

399 Ninth St., SF

www.studsf.com


Aug. 31, 10 p.m., all ages

SubMission

2183 Mission, SF

www.sf-submission.com

Stage Listings

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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Stage listings are compiled by Guardian staff. Performance times may change; call venues to confirm. Reviewers are Robert Avila, Rita Felciano, and Nicole Gluckstern. Submit items for the listings at listings@sfbg.com. For further information on how to submit items for the listings, see Picks. For complete listings, see www.sfbg.com.

THEATER

OPENING

BAY AREA

Antony & Cleopatra Forest Meadows Ampitheatre, 1475 Grand, San Rafael; 499-4488, www.marinshakespeare.org. $20-35. Previews Fri/20-Sun/22, 8pm. Opens August 28, 8pm. Runs Fri-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 4pm. Through Sept 25. Marin Shakespeare Company’s summer season continues with the tale of the Egyptian queen.

In the Wound John Hinkel Park, Berk; (510) 841-6500, www.shotgunplayers.org. $10 (no one turned away). Opens Sat/21, 3pm. Runs Sat-Sun, 3pm (also Sept 5, 3pm). Through Oct 3. Shotgun Players present a unique take on the Iliad, written and directed by ian tracy.

Macbeth Bruns Ampitheater, 100 California Shakespeare Way, Orinda; (510) 548-9666, www.calshakes.org. $34-70. Previews Wed/18-Fri/20, 8pm. Opens Sat/21, 8pm. Runs Fri-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 4pm (also Sept 11, 2pm). California Shakespeare Theater presents the tale of unbridled ambition and its consequences, directed by Joel Sass.

Trouble in Mind Aurora Theatre, 2081 Addison, Berk; (510) 843-4822, www.auroratheatre.org. $10-55. Previews Fri/20-Sat/21 and Tues/24, 8pm; Sun/22, 2pm. Opens August 26, 8pm. Run Wed-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2 and 7pm; Tues, 7pm. Through Sept 26. Aurora Theatre presents Alice Childress’ look at racism through the lens of theater.

 

ONGOING

Abigail: The Salem Witch Trials Temple SF, 540 Howard; www.templesf.com. $10. Thurs/19, August 26, 9pm. Through August 26. Buzz Productions, with Skycastle Music and Lunar Eclipse Records, presents an original rock opera based on the Salem witch trials.

Divalicious New Conservatory Theatre Center, 25 Van Ness; 861-8972, www.nctcsf.org. $22-28. Wed-Sat, 8 p.m.; Sun, 2pm. Through Sun/22. Leanne Borghesi takes on the music of legends ranging from Garland to Midler.

Don’t Ask New Conservatory Theatre Center, 25 Van Ness; 861-8972; www.nctcsf.org. $24-36. Wed-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. Through Sept 19. New Conservatory Theatre Center presents the West Coast premiere of Bill Quigley’s play about the affair between a Private and his superior.

Gilligan’s Island: Live on Stage! The Garage, 975 Howard; (800) 838-3006, www.brownpapertickets.com. $15-20. Sun, 8pm. Through August 29. Moore Theatre and SAFEhouse for the Performing Arts brings the TV show to the stage, lovey.

Party of 2 Shelton Theater, 533 Sutter; (800) 838-3006, www.partyof2themusical.com. $25-29. Sun, 3pm. Through Sept 12. A new show written by Morris Bobrow.

Peter Pan Threesixty Theater, Ferry Park (on Embarcadero across from the Ferry Bldg); www.peterpantheshow.com. $30-125. Tues and Thurs, 7pm; Fri-Sat, 7:30pm (also Sat, 2pm); Wed, 2pm; Sun, 1 and 5pm. Through August 29. JM Barrie’s tale is performed in a specially-built 360-degree CGI theater.

*Posibilidad, or Death of the Worker Dolores Park and other sites; 285-1717, www.sfmt.org. Free. Sat-Sun, 2pm; also Sept 6, 2pm; Sept 17, 8pm. Through Sept 17. It may have been just a coincidence, but it certainly seems auspicious that the San Francisco Mime Troupe, itself collectively run since the 1970’s, would preview their latest show Posibilidad on the United Nations International Day of Cooperatives. The show, which centers around the struggles of the last remaining workers in a hemp clothing factory (“Peaceweavers”), hones in on the ideological divide between business conducted as usual, and the impulse to create a different system. Taking a clip from the Ari Lewis/Naomi Klein documentary The Take, half of the play is set in Argentina, where textile-worker Sophia (Lisa Hori-Garcia) becomes involved in a factory takeover for the first time. Her past experiences help inform her new co-workers’ sitdown strike and takeover of their own factory after they are told it will close by their impossibly fey, new age boss Ernesto (Rotimi Agbabiaka). You don’t need professional co-op experience to find humor in the nascent collective’s endless rounds of meetings, wince at their struggles against capitalistic indoctrination, or cheer the rousing message of “Esta es Nuestra Lucha” passionately sung by Velina Brown, though in another welcome coincidence, the run of Posibilidad also coincides with the National Worker Cooperative conference being held in August, so if you get extra inspired, you can always try to join forces there. (Gluckstern)

Sex Tapes for Seniors Victoria Theatre, 2961 16th; (800) 838-3006. $20-40. Fri-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. Through Sun/22. Older people have sex. It’s a revelation, incredibly, for the new, blandly do-goody yoga instructor (Erin Reis) at a retirement village called Shambhala Springs in the premiere of Mario Cossa’s sweet, sassy, but somewhat sterile and long-winded new musical. It’s maybe an eye-opener too for anyone in the audience too young to remember doing it in the Sixties—let alone in your sixties—and by eye-opener we mainly mean the ability to keep at least one eye open the entire show. Older audiences may find more to appreciate here. The odd cast of characters includes three couples—one straight (Charmaine Hitchcox and Terry Stokes), two gay (Phillipe Coquet and John Hutchinson; Rebecca Mills and Carolyn Zaremba), and a single widow (Nancy Helman Shneiderman) who dates but keeps another marriage at bay. (I promised myself I wouldn’t use the word feisty, but she is, as are several of the others.) They come up with a plan to make and sell the titular product, much to the horror of relatives and some other residents. But the storyline has more do to with individual relationships and the challenges of aging gracefully and living well. Performances are uneven, entrances routinely late, but there’s a built-in charm to that. Tyler Flanders’ music, however, generally limps along (despite dutiful treatment by a three-piece band) and Cossa’s lyrics only rarely stir. Although at least once all hell breaks loose: in the rousing, if not exactly arousing, number devoted to the fellatic benefits of dentures. Indeed, this play should probably have an NC-71 rating. (Avila)

*Show and Tell Thick House, 1695 18th St; (800) 838-3006, www.symmetrytheatre.com. Thurs-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 5:30 pm. Through Sun/22. $25. Symmetry Theatre Company, an impressive new group dedicated to addressing gender disparity in the casting of professional actors, makes a memorable debut with this expertly crafted, sinuous drama about the psychological aftermath—and tangled social roots—of a bombing in a small-town schoolroom from playwright (and former SF rez) Anthony Clarvoe (Control+Alt+Delete). The sole survivor of the horrific and mysterious attack is the stunned, deeply perplexed teacher (an affecting, quietly intense Chloe Bronzan), soon surrounded by grief-stricken parents demanding their childrens’ remains and a tight-knit, jaded forensics team led by a gradually smitten FBI agent (a suavely imposing Robert Parsons). Julia Brothers, Wylie Herman, Jessica Powell, and Erika Salazar round out a strong ensemble under the assured direction of Laura Hope, whose engaging production leaves much to think about in the realm of private turmoil and public chaos—including the nature of grief, modernity’s systemic violence, and the disorder generated and managed by the self-same state. Kate Boyd’s lush, strikingly ambiguous video design (featuring a set of evocative childrens’ drawings) and Cliff Caruthers’ beautifully spare and haunted sound (featuring a delicate stream of child voices) add measurably to the expanse of the play’s existential and political universe. (Avila)

Skin Tight CounterPULSE, 1310 Mission; www.counterpulse.org. $20 ($35 for gala opening). Thurs-Sat, 8pm. Through August 28. Rapid Descent Physical Performance Company presents the SF premiere of Gary Henderson’s play.

*Streetcar Named Desire Boxcar Playhouse, 505 Natoma; 776-1747, www.boxcartheatre.org. $15-25. Wed-Sat, 8pm. Through Sept 4. It’s no small feat, creating a sultry southern summer circa 1940’s smack-dab in the middle of a typically frosty San Francisco summer circa right here right now, but Boxcar Theatre rises admirably to the challenge. Rebecca Longworth’s creative staging of Tennessee Williams’ “A Streetcar Named Desire” includes musical interludes, ghostly apparitions, and the clattering of a cleverly impersonated streetcar that shakes the walls of Matt McAdon’s simply-detailed tenement flat and the spirits of one Blanche DuBois (Juliet Tanner), while the deliberately-muted lighting (Stephanie Buchner) and period-appropriate sound (Ted Crimy), add the appropriate layers of southern discomfort to the unfolding action. Especially captivating to watch are the performances of supporting characters Stella (Casi Maggio) and Mitch (Brian Jansen), who seem to almost helplessly orbit the hot flame of Stanley Kowalski’s sun (Nick A. Olivero) and the grimly flickering satellite of Blanche’s waning moon. As he does in “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” Seth Thygesen stands in for one dearly-departed, in this case Blanche’s old beau, Allan Gray, whose abrupt suicide de-magnetized her moral compass. And in addition to a saucy turn as next-door neighbor Eunice, Linnea George tracks the fractured emotions of the main characters on her mournful violin. (Nicole Gluckstern)

*This Is All I Need NOHspace, 2840 Mariposa; www.mugwumpin.org. Thurs-Sun, 8pm. Through Sept 4. $15-20. In our obsession with possessions, just who possesses who? Mugwumpin’s inventive, hilarious and repeatedly surprising new work—captivated and captivating—reminds us that a possession isn’t just a thing but also a (colonized) state of being. But there’s no manifesto here, so much as a multifaceted, deftly staged exploration of a theme so central to this bare and incredibly cluttered existence that we hardly even notice it. The four person ensemble (Madeline H.D. Brown, Joe Estlack, Erin Mei-Ling Stuart, and Christopher W. White), sharply co-directed by Liz Lisle and Jonathan Spector, brings various states of being and relation to life with aplomb—amid swift transformations of time and place, provocative contrasts and parallels, dexterous vocalizations, and supple and satisfyingly offbeat choreography. I’m purposely leaving out the details of the vignettes and the sometimes-startling mise en scène because it’s better that way. All you really need now is the price of a ticket. (Avila)

This World Is Good Phoenix Theater, 414 Mason; 913-7272, www.sleepwalkerstheatre.com. Thurs-Sat, 8pm. Through August 28. $18-24. The 1990s are giving way to a millennial moment of anti-climax known as Y2K, but the anxiety and dread are real, and the bloodiest century in human history looks poised to be outdone by the doom-drones of the next. Making at least academic sense of all that angst is Ally (Dina Percia), a brilliant young Latina writing her doctoral dissertation on Grunge and its landscape of youth alienation. Her best friend and occasional lover is a smitten young English prof (Damian Lanahan-Kalish), a dork with a degree and the pet name Scrotum Face. But as she delves into the world of ideas, Ally loses track of her family: single mother Emmy (Tessa Koning-Martinez) and, more tragically, talented but emotionally tortured younger brother Sam (Shoresh Alaudini), whose battered mind and compassionate heart craft a graphic story around a new “super hero” with no costume, no parallel identity, and indeed no special powers. When her family collapses, Ally reassembles the pieces from a new vantage, outside the ivory tower, where she makes art from a sort of crystalline “ordinariness” that complements her brother’s all-too-ordinary super hero. This World Is Good is the opening gambit in a new trilogy by local playwright J.C. Lee called This World and After, all being presented by Sleepwalkers Theatre this season. Artistic director Tore Ingersoll-Thorp helms a competently acted production, which helps lend Lee’s ambitious scope its tangible human proportions, though in truth the characters do not always feel fully drawn. There’s a fine monologue from Sam, both chilling and exhilarating, but also a proclivity throughout for awkwardly poetical speeches over dialogue. Still, there’s subtlety and real humor in the best parts, and enough here to want to see more. (Avila)

What Mama Said About Down There Our Little Theater, 287 Ellis; 820-3250, www.theatrebayarea.org. $15-25. Thurs-Sun, 8pm. Through August 28. Writer-performer-activist Sia Amma presents this largely political, a bit clinical, inherently sexual, and utterly unforgettable performance piece.

BAY AREA

Blithe Spirit Live Oak Theatre, 1301 Shattuck, Berk; (510) 649-5999, www.aeofberkely.org. $12-15. Fri-Sat, 8pm; also Thurs/19, 8pm. Through Sat/21. Actors Ensemble of Berkeley essays the eternal Noel Coward comedy, about a (naturally) Coward-esque writer (Stanley Spenger) who for the purposes of research and any passing amusement it may provide invites over a celebrated medium (an amusingly puffed-up Chris Macomber), only to have her inadvertently summon the ghost of his ex-wife (Erin J. Hoffman), who mischievously begins to drive a wedge between him and his new wife (Shannon Veon Kase). Director Hector Correa’s not-always-fitting casting choices contribute to a drearily perfunctory tone at the outset, which makes the first scenes somewhat painful going. However, Spenger proves admirably dry and restrained in the lead, and things pick up measurably with the arrival of the titular ghost, played with playful, bounding energy and notable grace by Hoffman. (Avila)

*East 14th: True Tales of a Reluctant Player Marsh Berkeley, 2120 Allston, Berk; www.themarsh.org. $20-50. Dates and times vary. Through Sept 12. Don Reed’s solo play, making its Oakland debut after an acclaimed New York run, is truly a welcome homecoming twice over. (Avila)

*Machiavelli’s The Prince Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant, Berk; (510) 558-1381, www.centralworks.org. $14-25. Thurs-Sat, 8 p.m.; Sun, 5pm. Through Sun/22. Set in an intimate salon-space in the Berkeley City Club, this stage adaptation of one of the most famous documents on political power ever written gains a certain conversational quality. In fact, the script, penned by Gary Graves, is really just one long conversation—an imagined encounter between Nicolo Machiavelli and the man he dedicated his treatise to, Lorenzo de Medici II. Machiavelli (Mark Farrell) has been called by de Medici (Cole Alexander Smith) to possibly regain favor in his court after a long banishment. With him he brings a notebook of his musings on gaining and retaining political power, which he bestows on Lorenzo for him to read. As the Duke of Florence, Smith plays his character with the measured dignity and watchful countenance of a career mobster. He protests the extremism of his former teacher’s philosophy of rule even as he is casually seduced by its implications. Farrell’s Machiavelli tries to play his position with calculated Mephistopheles cool. However, he cannot escape the obvious taint of his own failures, and eventually, for all his talk of power, he is revealed to be ultimately powerless, though his ideas remain with de Medici, long after he himself is let go. (Gluckstern)

The Norman Conquests The Ashby Stage, 901 Ashby, Berk; (510) 841-6500, www.shotgunplayers.com. $20-25. Dates and times vary. Through Sept 5. Shotgun Players presents Alan Ayckbourn’s comic trilogy.

The Taming of the Shrew Forest Meadows Amphitheatre, 1475 Grand, San Rafael; (415) 499-4488, www.marinshakespeare.org. $20-25. Fri-Sun, 8pm; also Sun, 4pm and 5pm. Through Sept 26. Marin Theatre Company presents a swashbuckling version of the classic.

PERFORMANCE/DANCE

Bay Area Rhythm Exchange War Memorial and Performing Arts Center, Herbst Theatre, 401 Van Ness; 392-4400, www.stepology.com. Fri/20-Sat/21, 8pm. $17-25. Bay Area Tap Festival artists perform.

“Disoriented” Stage Werx Theater, 533, Sutter; www.brownpapertickets.com. Thurs/19, 8pm, $20. A trio of solo performances by Zahra Noorbakhsh, Colleen “Coke” Nakamoto, and Thao P. Nguyen.

“House Special” ODC Dance Commons, 351 Shotwell; www.odctheater.com. Sat/21, 8pm, $15. New work by Pearl Ubungun, Jesseilto Bie, and others.

Landscape With the Fall of Icarus Climate Theater, 470 Florida; www.brownpapertickets.com. Fri/20-Sat/21, 8pm, $15. Samauel Topiary presents an evening-length performance work.

“Sinners and Salivation-Themed Drag King Contest” DNA Lounge, 375 11th; www.sfdragkingcontest.com. Fri/20, 8pm (band) and 10pm (show), $20-35. The 15th annual contest, with special guest Jane Wiedlin, benefiting PAWS.

BAY AREA

“New Works Festival” Lucie Stern Theatre, 1355 Middlefield, Palo Alto; (650) 463-1960, www.theatreworks.org. Dates and times vary. Through August 22. $15-25 ($75 for festival pass). TheatreWorks presents its ninth annual festival.

On the Cheap Listings

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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On the Cheap listings are compiled by Paula Connelly. Submit items for the listings at listings@sfbg.com. For further information on how to submit items for the listings, see Picks.

WEDNESDAY 18

“El Grito de la Mission” Southern Exposure, 3030 20th St., SF; (415) 863-2141. 6pm, free. Join Southern Exposures and the youth, artists, and community partners who participated in the Mission Voices Summer program for a final exhibition featuring new work, installations, interactive performance, food, and refreshments.

Hear It Local 111 Minna Gallery, 111 Minna, SF; (415) 974-1719. 6:30pm, free. Celebrate the San Francisco launch of www.hearitlocal.com, which provides a community-building platform for the local, independent music scene. Featuring performances by the Nice Guy Trio, Quinn Deveaux, and Kelly MacFarling, a music photography exhibit by Niall David and Audra Marie Dewitt, and more.

NASA Space Telescope Randall Museum, 199 Museum Way, SF; (415) 554-9600. 7:30pm, free. Astrophysicist Bryan Mendez will tell all there is to know about NASA’s new Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) telescope, launched unmanned in 2009 to search for asteroids, stars, the origins of stellar and planetary systems, and anything else the galaxies could reveal.

THURSDAY 19

Chrome Chrome Retail, 580 4th St., SF; (415) 820-5070. Noon, free. All Chrome products will be 30% off all day while all proceeds from the Noon-3 BBQ and the 4pm-8pm dollar beer happy hour will benefit the San Francisco Bike Kitchen.

Drunken Dish Asian Art Museum, 200 Larkin, SF; (415) 581-3500. 5pm, $10. Head to this month’s installment of Matcha, the Asian Art Museum’s monthly late night discounted party, for a talk and demonstration on Shanghai cuisine, specifically, how to make drunken chicken. Also featuring special gallery tours, cocktails, DJ music, and more.

Jaws Hyde Street Pier, 2905 Hyde, SF; (415) 561-6662. 7:30pm, $5 suggested donation. If you thought Jaws was frightening to watch on land, see if you can survive watching it on the Eureka, “the longest floating wooden ship on Earth.” Part of the San Francisco Maritime Nat’l Park Association’s film series to raise money to benefit their education and preservation programs.

“Persistent Voices” Magnet, 4122 18th St., SF; (415) 581-1600. 8pm, free. Inspired by the anthology, Persistent Voices: Poetry by Writers Lost to AIDS, poets will read and perform works from the anthology in addition to some new pieces inspired by the book. Featured readers include Judy Grahn, Kevin Killian on Steve Abbott, Jaime Cortez, Thandiwe Thomas, and more.

SF Jazz Summerfest Union Square, Geary at Powell, SF; www.sfjazz.org. 6pm, free. Heat up your foggy summer blues with a free jazz concert in the park with Lavay Smith and Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers, known for performing classic jazz and blues mixed with big band, salsa grooves.

SATURDAY 21

Dahlias Hall of Flowers, 9th Ave. at Lincoln, SF; (415) 994-2448. Sat. 10am-5pm, Sun. 10am-4pm; free. Did you know that the Dahlia is San Francisco’s official flower? The Dahlia Society of California, responsible for the planting and upkeep of Golden Gate Park’s Dahlia Dell, is holding it’s annual show and exhibition of these fantastic flowers.

Hello Kitty Must Die San Francisco Public Library, Chinatown branch, 1135 Powell, SF; (415) 355-2888. 2:30pm, free. Hear author Angela S. Choi read from and discuss her new book, that rips into stereotypes about the well-groomed, well-behaved Asian wife with a tale about a serial killer happy to teach others how to get rid of unwanted fiancés and bosses.

Hot Glass Cold Beer Public Glass, 1750 Armstrong, SF; (415) 671-4916. 6pm; $25 donation, includes glass and beer. Take in an evening of glassblowing demonstrations by artists Paul DeSomma, Marsha Blaker, and Jeff Rogers while listening to live music and enjoying cold beer in your new one-of-a-kind, hand blown drinking glass.

SF Street Food Fest Folsom between 25th and 26th St., SF; (415) 824-2729 ext. 303. 11am-7pm, free. Enjoy some casual, affordable, delicious food made by San Francisco food entrepreneurs. Hosted by La Cocina, this Street Food Festival aims to further advocate for the creation of policies that support the formalization of mobile food vending to connect communities to a food from all classes and cultures.

BAY AREA

Art and Soul Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, City Center, 14th St. and Broadway, Oakl.; (510) 444-CITY. Sat.-Sun. noon-6pm, $10. Celebrate the past, present and future music of Oakland at this two-day concert and marketplace featuring music performances by Cake, En Vogue, Tony! Toni! Toné!, MC Hammer, Pete Escovedo, The Bittersweets, Lenny Williams, and more. Also featuring an Artisan Marketplace, with crafts and art for purchase, food vendors offering multicultural menus, dance performances, and activities.

SUNDAY 22

Sunday Streets John F. Kennedy Drive and MLK Drive, Golden Gate Park, SF; Great Highway from Lincoln to SF Zoo, SF; www. sundaystreetssf.com. 10am-3pm, free. Take to the streets for a day of healthy, family-friendly activities. This month’s street closure is “Penguins to penguins,” or Golden Gate Park to the SF Zoo.

TUESDAY 24

“Microscopic Giant” Space Gallery, 1141 Polk, SF; www.bucktoothmechanics.blogspot.com. 8pm, free. A night of local creativity with spoken word performances, storytelling, and poetry by Tracy Jones, April Wolfe, Steven Gray, Charlie Getter, and the host of NPR’s Snap Judgment Glynn Washington, open mic, live painting by artists Aaron Lawrence, Nolan Yelonek, and Noa- , and live music by DigDug.

Music Listings

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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0

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

WEDNESDAY 18

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Black Francis, Roy Zimmerman Great American Music Hall. 9pm, $21.

Bodeans, Dan Navarro Independent. 8pm, $20.

Brothers Comatose, Escalator Hill, We Is Shore Determined Hotel Utah. 9pm, $6.

Casiokids, Light Pollution, K. Flay, Einar Stokka Café Du Nord. 9pm, $10.

Greg Davis, Aures, Mololy-Nagy Hemlock Tavern. 9pm, $7.

Ha Ha Tonka, Red Light Mind, Buxter Hoot’n Elbo Room. 9pm, $8.

Craig Horton Biscuits and Blues. 8 and 10pm, $15.

Brian McKnight Yoshi’s San Francisco. 8 and 10pm, $35-45.

Rantouls, Lateenos, Larry and the Angriest Generation, Jinxes Thee Parkside. 8pm, $8.

Wavves Amoeba, 1855 Haight, SF; www.amoeba.com. 6pm, free.

Wavves Rickshaw Stop. 7:30pm, $14.

Woven Bones, Sandwitches, Splinters Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $10.

DANCE CLUBS

Booty Call Q-Bar, 456 Castro, SF; www.bootycallwednesdays.com. 9pm. Juanita Moore hosts this dance party, featuring DJ Robot Hustle.

Breezin Koko Cocktails, 1060 Geary, SF; (415) 885-4788. 9:30pm, free. With DJs Amy A and Brynnie Mac spinning rock and 70s.

45 Club Knockout. 9pm, $6. Rock n’ soul with Honey, Blasted Canyons, and DJs dX the Funky Granpaw, Dirty Dishes, and English Steve.

Hands Down! Bar on Church. 9pm, free. With DJs Claksaarb, Mykill, and guests spinning indie, electro, house, and bangers.

Jam Fresh Wednesdays Vessel, 85 Campton, SF; (415) 433-8585. 9:30pm, free. With DJs Slick D, Chris Clouse, Rich Era, Don Lynch, and more spinning top40, mashups, hip hop, and remixes.

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.

THURSDAY 19

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Abriel, Imperfect Deity, To Memory and Me DNA Lounge. 5:30pm, $12. With the Light Iris, Our Living Memory, Falling to Pieces, Mirros, Apothesary, and A Moment of Clarity.

Catholic Radio, Smile Brigade, Spiral Agnew Kimo’s. 9pm.

Clipd Beaks, Moccretro, Hollow Hearth, Hans Keller Café Du Nord. 9pm, $10.

Darker My Love, Sonny and the Sunsets Independent. 8pm, $14.

Brandon Flowers Slim’s. 9pm, $27.50.

Grand Lodge, Lijie Hotel Utah. 8pm, $7.

Hot Hot Heat, 22-20s, Hey Rosetta! Rickshaw Stop. 8pm, $15.

Hunx and His Punx, Shannon and the Clams, Okmoniks, Goochi Boiz, Miss Chain and the Broken Heels Thee Parkside. 9pm, $10.

Ida, Michael Hurley, Westwood and Willow Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $12.

Lickets, Odd Owl, Tied to the Branches Hemlock Tavern. 9pm, $7.

Brian McKnight Yoshi’s San Francisco. 8 and 10pm, $35-45.

Darrell Scott, Elliot Randall Great American Music Hall. 8pm, $21.

Wild Things, Lens, Greg Ashley Knockout. 9:30pm, $7.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

Estamos Ensemble New Frequencies, YBCA Sculpture Court, 701 Mission, SF; (415) 978-2787. 8pm, $25

Hot Club of Cowtown, Whiskey Richards, B Stars Amnesia. 8:30pm, $10.

Claudio Santomé and Marcello Puig Red Poppy Art House. 8pm, $12-15.

Steel Pulse Fillmore. 9pm, $35.

Tipsy House Plough and Stars. 9pm.

DANCE CLUBS

Afrolicious Elbo Room. 9:30pm, $5-7. 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 Som., 2925 16th St, SF; (415) 558-8521. 10pm, free. With DJs spinning R&B, Hip hop, classics, and soul.

Jivin’ Dirty Disco Butter, 354 11th St., SF; (415) 863-5964. 8pm, free. With DJs spinning disco, funk, and classics.

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.

Nightvision Harlot, 46 Minna, SF; (415) 777-1077. 9:30pm, $10. DJs Danny Daze, Franky Boissy, and more spinning house, electro, hip hop, funk, and more.

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.

SOL Club 525, 525 Harrison, SF; www.sol2010.eventbrite.com. 9pm, $15. With DJs Andy P., Skander and Sohrab, Rhetoric, Sepehr, and more spinning house, tech, and tribal.

Solid Thursdays Club Six. 9pm, free. With DJs Daddy Rolo and Tesfa spinning roots, reggae, dancehall, soca, and mashups.

Tropicana Madrone Art Bar. 9pm, $5. With DJs Don Bustamante, Apocolypto, Sr. Saenz and guests spinning salsa, cumbia, reggaeton, and merengue.

FRIDAY 20

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Blisses B, Be Brave Bold Robot, Grownup Noise Kimo’s. 9pm.

Crooked Still, Jesse DeNatale Great American Music Hall. 8pm, $16.

Excuses for Skipping, Cliks, Killola, Hunter Valentine Milk. 8:30pm, $10.

Gentleman Jesse and His Men, Personal and the Pizzas, Barreracudas, Wrong Words, Meercaz Thee Parkside. 9pm, $10.

Ghostland Observatory Warfield. 9pm, $25.

Jogger, We Are the World, Shlohmo, Matthewdavid Rickshaw Stop. 8:30pm, $12.

Morlocks, Hot Lunch Hemlock Tavern. 9:30pm, $10.

New Orleans Bingo! Show, Kim Boekbinder Independent. 9pm, $15.

Persephone’s Bees, Soft White Sixties, Angel Island, DJ Omar Café Du Nord. 9:30pm, $12.

Pinkerton, Hot Toddies, As A People Bottom of the Hill. 10pm, $10.

Polkacide, Khi Darag, Loop Station, Space Blaster Blue Macaw, 2565 Mission, SF; (415) 920-0577. 9pm, $10.

Johnny Rawls Biscuits and Blues. 8 and 10pm, $20.

Still Time, Shamblers, John Howland Slim’s. 9pm, $15.

Ttotals, Diego Gonzalez Hemlock Tavern. 6pm, $5.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

Audium 9 1616 Bush, SF; (415) 771-1616. 8:30pm, $15.

Black Market Jazz Orchestra Top of the Mark. 9pm, $10.

David Belove Trio Art Tap, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission, SF; (415) 978-2787, www.ybca.org. 6pm, free.

Eleven Eyes Coda. 10pm, $10.

Jacqui Naylor Quartet Rrazz Room, Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason, SF; www.therrazzroom.com. 9pm, $35.

Lisa Engelken Band Red Poppy Art House. 9pm, $12-20.

Marlena Teich and group Savanna Jazz. 7:30pm, $8.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

Charanga Habanera Yoshi’s San Francisco. 8 and 10pm, $20-26.

“Cuba Afro Rock Revolution” Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission, SF; (415) 978-2787. 8pm, $28-$50. With X Alfonso, Osamu, and special guest Pedro Calvo.

Toshio Hirano Mercury Café, 201 Octavia, SF; (415) 252-7855. 7:30pm, free.

Hot Club of Cowtown, Lady A and the Heel Draggers, Betty Soo Amnesia. 9pm, $10.

Lagos Roots Afrobeat Ensemble Elbo Room. 9:30pm, $12. With DJ Shawna, Tribal Fusion Bellydance, and Deb Rubin.

Summer Samba Party Il Pirata, 2007 16th St., SF; (415) 626-2626. 10pm, $10. With Pagode de Mesa, Jorge Alabe, Claudinho Sorriso, Brian Moran, and guests.

Bucky Walters, Snap Jackson, The Knock on Wood Players Plough and Stars. 9pm.

DANCE CLUBS

Afrobeat No Go Die Madrone Art Bar. 9:30pm, $5. With DJs Jeremiah and the Afrobeat Nation and Jose Rivera.

Club Dragon Club Eight, 1151 Folsom, SF; www.eightsf.com. 9pm, $8. A gay Asian paradise. Featuring two dance floors playing dance and hip hop, smoking patio, and 2 for 1 drinks before 10pm.

Dirty Bird Mezzanine, 444 Jessie, SF; (415) 625-8880. 9pm, $20. With DJs Claude Von Stroke, Juston Martin, Christian Martin, and Worthy.

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.

Episco Disco Grace Cathedral, 1100 California, SF; (415) 869-7817. 7pm, free. With live music by Coconut, Paradise Now, and Aero-Mic’d and art by Land and Sea and Sean McFarland.

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 B-Cause, Vinnie Esparza, Mr. Robinson, Toph One, and Slopoke.

Fubar Fridays Butter, 354 11th St., SF; (415) 863-5964. 6pm, $5. With DJs spinning retro mashup remixes.

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.

Oldies Night Knockout. 9pm, $2-4. One-hit wonders and scratchy soul with DJs Primo, Daniel, and Lost Cat.

Radioactivity 222 Hyde, SF; (415) 440-0222. 6pm. Synth sounds of the cold war era.

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.

“SF Drag King Contest” DNA Lounge. 9pm, $25-35. With MCs Fudgie Frottage and Sister Roma, plus special guest Jane Wiedlin.

Sisters of the Underground Club Six. 9pm, $5. With DJs Shortee, Lady Fingaz, Pony P, Celskii and Deeandroid, and many more spinning hip hop.

Some Thing The Stud. 10pm, $7. VivvyAnne Forevermore, Glamamore, and DJ Down-E give you fierce drag shows and afterhours dancing.

SATURDAY 21

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Chris Cain Band Biscuits and Blues. 8 and 10pm, $20.

Cool Water Canyon, Vintage Music Collective Independent. 9pm, $15.

Hepcat, Inciters, Selecter DJ Kirk Slim’s. 9pm, $23.

“Joe Strummer Tribute” Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $10. With Armagideons, Hooks, Monkey, Sistas in the Pit, Stigma 13, and Interecords.

Man/Miracle, Slang Chickens, Yellow Dress Hemlock Tavern. 9:30pm, $7.

No Alternative, VKTMS Bender’s, 806 S. Van Ness, SF; www.bendersbar.com. 10pm, $5. Benefit for the Haight Ashbury Homeless Youth Alliance.

Nobunny, Mean Jeans, Anomalys, Charlie and the Moonhearts Thee Parkside. 9pm, $10.

Return to Mono, Foreign Cinema, Sentinel, Bring the Tiger Red Devil Lounge. 8pm, $10.

Sons of Doug, Steve Pile Band, Jeremy D. Antonio Hotel Utah. 9pm, $7.

Sputterdoll, Pedro Gil, Skyflakes, Rocking Kids Sing-A-Long, Keenwild Thee Parkside. 3pm, free.

Tussle, Sword and Sandals, ASSS Amnesia. 9pm, $5.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

Audium 9 1616 Bush, SF; (415) 771-1616. 8:30pm, $15.

Ensemble Mik Nawooj Red Poppy Art House. 9pm, $15-20.

Eric Kurtzrock Trio Ana Mandara, Ghirardelli Square, 891 Beach, SF; (415) 771-6800. 8pm, free.

Giovenco Project Coda. 7pm, free.

Jacqui Naylor Quartet Rrazz Room, Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason, SF; www.therrazzroom.com. 9pm, $35.

Lucky Stars, B Stars Verdi Club, 2424 Mariposa, SF; www.oldtimey.net. 9:30pm, $12.

Suzanna Smith and group Savanna Jazz. 7:30pm, $8.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

Charanga Habanera Yoshi’s San Francisco. 8 and 10pm, $20-26.

“Cuba Afro Rock Revolution” Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission, SF; (415) 978-2787. 8pm, $28-$50. With X Alfonso, Osamu, and special guest Pedro Calvo.

Maurice Tani, Jenn Courtney, 77 El Deora, Misispi Rider Noe Valley Ministry, 1021 Sanchez, SF; (415) 454-5238. 8:15pm, $17.

Tito Garcia y su Orquesta Internacional The Ramp, 855 Terry Francois, SF; (415) 621-2378. 5pm.

Tornotics Plough and Stars. 9pm, $6-$10 sliding scale.

Craig Ventresco and Meredith Axelrod Atlas Café. 4pm, free.

DANCE CLUBS

Bar on Church 9pm. Rotating DJs Foxxee, Joseph Lee, Zhaldee, Mark Andrus, and Nuxx.

Bootie DNA Lounge. 9pm, $6-12. Mash-ups with DJ Ajax vs. Ryan Lendt, plus residents Adrian and Mysterious D.

Booty Bassment Knockout. 10pm, $5. Hip-hop with DJs Ryan Poulsen and Dimitri Dickenson.

Club 1994 Paradise Lounge. 10pm, $10. Presented by Jeffery Paradise and Ava Berlin, featuring 90’s music, themed photo booth, fashion show, and more.

Cock Fight Underground SF. 9pm, $7. Gay locker room antics galore with electro-spinning DJ Earworm.

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.

Fringe Madrone Art Bar. 9pm, $5. With DJs Blondie K and subOctave spinning indie music videos.

Full House Gravity, 3505 Scott, SF; (415) 776-1928. 9pm, $10. With DJs Roost Uno and Pony P spinning dirty hip hop.

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.

Non Stop Bhangra Rickshaw Stop. 9pm, $15. Bhangra beats with Dholrhythms Dance Troupe.

Paint Factory Club Six. 9pm, $5. With DJs Romanowski, Centipede, and Mr. Robinson spinning house, downtempo, and hip hop and live painting by Nome Edonna and Ian Ross.

Prince vs. Michael Madrone Art Bar. 8pm, $5. With DJs Dave Paul and Jeff Harris battling it out on the turntables with album cuts, remixes, rare tracks, and classics.

Rock City Butter, 354 11th St., SF; (415) 863-5964. 6pm, $5 after 10pm. With DJs spinning party rock.

Saturday Night Soul Party Elbo Room. 10pm-2am, $5. DJs Lucky, Paul Paul, and Phengren Oswald spin butt-shakin’ ’60s soul.

Spirit Fingers Sessions 330 Ritch. 9pm, free. With DJ Morse Code and live guest performances.

Wet and Wild Club 8, 1151 Folsom, SF; (415) 431-1151. 10pm, $8. With DJs Techminds and Kipp Glass.

SUNDAY 22

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

“Battle of the Bands” DNA Lounge. 5:30pm, $12. With Boondock Squad, Thanks for Leaving, Out for Blood, and more.

“Bay Vibes Summer Musicfest 3” Café Cocomo. Noon-2am, $35. Two stages of music with Isabella, Native Elements, Dogman Joe, My Peoples, Afrolicious, and more.

Butlers, Only Sons, Burnt House Bottom of the Hill. 5:30pm, $8.

Mike Coykendall and the Golden Shag, Brian Belknap, Tom Heyman Make-Out Room. 8pm, $8.

Horde and the Harem, Aimless Never Miss, Buttercream Gang, And I Was Like, What? Rickshaw Stop. 7pm, $10.

Sarah Jaffe, Glassines, Kristy Kruger Hemlock Tavern. 8pm, $8.

Lazy Loper, Con Brio, Shake Well Amnesia. 9:30pm, $8-10.

Moonlight Orchestra, Stormy California Thee Parkside. 8pm, $7.

“Rock Make Street Festival” Treat and 18th St, SF; www.rockmake.com. 11am-6pm, free. With Tartufi, AB and the Sea, Still Flyin’, Leopold and His Fiction, and more.

Summer Twins, Twinks, Danger Babes, Omni, DJ Neil Martinson Knockout. 9pm.

They Might Be Giants, Rogue Wave Sigmund Stern Grove, 19th Ave at Sloat, SF; www.sterngrove.org. 2pm, free.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

Ernie Small Memorial Big Band Savanna Jazz. 7:30pm, $5.

Sunday Sessions Madrone Art Bar. 6pm, free. With organist Will Blades leading a jazz jam session.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTY

Annete A. Aguilar and Stringbeans Coda. 8pm, $10.

Back 40, Carburetors Thee Parkside. 4pm, free.

Charanga Habanera Yoshi’s San Francisco. 6 and 8pm, $20.

Charity and the JAMband, Elizabeth Mitchell Park Chalet, 1000 Great Highway, SF; (415) 386-8439. 3pm, free. An outdoor family concert.

Crow Quail Night Owls Amnesia. 6-9pm, $8-10.

Gente do Samba The Ramp, 855 Terry Francois, SF; (415) 621-2378. 5pm.

Queen Makedah Café Cocomo. 5pm, $25-$60.

John Sherry, Kyle Thayer and friends Plough and Stars. 9pm.

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 DJs Sep, Ludachris, and guest Bella.

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.

Swing Out Sundays Rock-It Room. 7pm, free (dance lessons $15). DJ BeBop Burnie spins 20s through 50s swing, jive, and more.

MONDAY 23

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Crowded House, Lawrence Arabia Warfield. 8pm, $45-62.50.

Decapitated, Faceless, All Shall Parish, Red Chord, Veil of Maya, Cephanic Carnage Fillmore. 3:30pm, $25. With Decrepit Death, Carnifex, Animals as Leaders, and Vital Remains.

Girl in a Coma, Gringo Star, Agent Ribbons Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $12.

DANCE CLUBS

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.

Karaoke Killed the Cat Elbo Room. 9pm, $5. Karaoke.

Krazy Mondays Beauty Bar. 10pm, free. With DJs Ant-1, $ir-Tipp, Ruby Red I, Lo, and Gelo spinning hip hop.

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.

Musik for Your Teeth Revolution Café, 3248 22nd St., SF; (415) 642-0474. 5pm, free. Soul cookin’ happy hour tunes with DJ Antonino Musco.

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 24

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Alvon Biscuits and Blues. 8 and 10pm, $15.

Audacity, Todd C and the Clown Sound, Mill Valley’s Most Honest Men Hemlock Tavern. 6pm, $5.

Bad Brains, Broun Fellinis Slim’s. 9pm, $26.

La Corde, Cat Party, Dadfag, DJs Deadbeat and Yule Be Sorry Knockout. 9:30pm, $5.

Eastern Conference Champs, Voxhaul Broadcast Hemlock Tavern. 9pm, $6. Grand Lake, It’s for Free Grace, Sean Smith and the Present Moment, James and Evander Café Du Nord. 9pm, $10. Psalm One, Open Mike Eagle, League510 Elbo Room. 9pm, $8. Scene of Action, Paper Sons, Pebble Theory Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $8. Shaimus, Star Anna and the Laughing Dogs Hotel Utah. 8pm, $8. Something Corporate Warfield. 8:30pm, $30. DANCE CLUBS Alcoholocaust Presents Argus Lounge. 9pm, free. With DJ D-runk and D. Jake. Eclectic Company Skylark, 9pm, free. DJs Tones and Jaybee spin old school hip hop, bass, dub, glitch, and electro. 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

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