Mission Archives — Page 56 of 201 — San Francisco Bay Guardian Archive 1966

Stage Listings

Andrew Lam

-

October 30, 2012

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

THEATER

OPENING

Carmelina Eureka Theatre, 215 Geary, SF; www.42ndstmoon.org. $25-75. Previews Wed/31, 7pm; Fri/1-Sat/2, 8pm. Opens Sat/3, 6pm. Runs Wed, 7pm; Thu-Fri, 8pm; Sat, 6pm (family matinee Nov 10, 1pm); Sun, 3pm. Through Nov 18. 42nd Street Moon performs the “forgotten musical” that inspired the Broadway hit Mamma Mia!

“ReOrient 2012 Festival and Forum” Z Space, 450 Florida, SF; www.goldenthread.org. $20. Series A opens Thu/1, 8pm. Runs Thu-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 7pm. Through Nov 18. Series B runs Nov 16-17, 8pm. Golden Thread presents this annual festival of innovative, throught-provoking short plays from the Middle East, plus a related forum with artistic dialogue, performances, and more.

BAY AREA

Toil and Trouble La Val’s Subterranean, 1834 Euclid, Berk; www.impacttheatre.com. $10-20. Previews Thu/1-Fri/2, 8pm. Opens Sat/3, 8pm. Runs Thu-Sat, 8pm (no show Nov 22). Through Dec 8. Impact Theatre presents Lauren Gunderson’s world premiere comedy inspired by Macbeth.

Wilder Times Aurora Theatre, 2081 Addison, Berk; www.auroratheatre.org. $32-60. Previews Fri/2-Sat/3 and Nov 7, 8pm; Sun/4, 2pm; Tue/6, 7pm. Opens Nov 8, 8pm. Runs Tue, 7pm; Wed-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2 and 7pm. Through Dec 9. Aurora Theatre performs a collection of one-acts by Thornton Wilder.

ONGOING

And That’s What Little Girls Are Made Of Tides Theatre, 533 Sutter, SF; www.whatgirlsaremadeof.com. $20-30. Thu/1-Sat/3, 8pm; Sun/4, 2pm. Jennifer Wilson’s multimedia play chronicles her attempts to break into the male-dominated world of venture capital funds.

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

Elektra Geary Theater, 415 Geary, SF; www.act-sf.org. $20-110. Opens Wed/31, 8pm. Runs Wed-Sat and Nov 13, 8pm (also Sat/3, Nov 7, 10, and 17, 2pm); Sun, 2pm (also Sun/4, 7pm). Through Nov 18. Academy Award winner Olympia Dukakis stars in Sophocles’ Greek tragedy.

Fat Pig Boxcar Theatre Studio, 125A Hyde, SF; www.brownpapertickets.com. $20. Thu-Sat, 8pm. Through Nov 10. Theater Toda presents Neil LaBute’s dark comedy about a man who faces scrutiny from his friends when he falls for a plus-sized woman.

Foodies! The Musical Shelton Theater, 533 Sutter, SF; www.foodiesthemusical.com. $30-34. Fri-Sat, 8pm (no show Nov 17). Open-ended. AWAT Productions presents Morris Bobrow’s musical comedy revue all about food.

Geezer Marsh San Francisco, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. $30-100. Sat, 8pm; Sun, 7pm. Through Nov 18. Geoff Hoyle’s popular solo show about aging returns.

The Hundred Flowers Project Thick House, 1695 18th St, SF; www.crowdedfire.org. $10-35. Wed-Sat, 8pm. Through Nov 17. Crowded Fire Theater presents the world premiere of Christopher Chen’s election-year drama about a theater company who get carried away while working on a play about Mao Tse Tung and the birth of modern China.

Lost Love Mojo Theatre, 2940 16th St, Ste 217, SF; www.mojotheatre.com. $28. Wed-Sat, 8pm. Through Nov 17. Peter Papadopoulos directs the West Coast premiere of his climate-change comic tragedy at Mojo Theatre.

Phaedra’s Love Bindlestiff Studios, 185 Sixth St, SF; www.doitliveproductions.com. $15. Wed-Sat, 8pm. Through Nov 17. Although she didn’t make it into the 21st century herself, British playwright Sarah Kane (1971-1999) left behind a small group of plays that continue to test the complacency of an age lulled into thinking itself ultimately rational and civilized. In Kane’s cutting, brutally funny reworking of Seneca’s play (itself an adaptation of Euripides’ Hippolytus), the titular lovelorn queen (an amiably tormented Whitney Thomas) throws herself shamelessly at her stepson, royal slob Hippolytus (a sharp yet low-key Michael Zavala, channeling mumblecore nihilism) despite, or because of, his pungent contempt for everyone around him. The play’s main action, however, takes place after Phaedra has killed herself, leaving a note accusing Hippolytus of rape and setting in motion a downfall that is his own perverse salvation. Despite occasionally flagging momentum, director Ben Landmesser and newcomers Do It Live! (in their second outing since last season’s debut, an agile staging of Sam Shepard’s Suicide in B Flat) deliver a worthy production of this clever gem. While a sporadic, low-murmuring sound design (by Hannah Birch Carl) infuses the atmosphere with a muffled libidinal menace, the thrust stage brings us close to the action, rubbing our noses in the fetid whisperings and fumblings of royal parasites and their dialectical kin, the infantilized, desensitized masses. Kane’s Hippolytus, meanwhile, turns from a sort of repellent Hamlet without motive to a Genet-like criminal-saint whose martyrdom is a solitary ecstasy of stark perception. (Avila)

The Rainmaker Shelton Theater, 533 Sutter, SF; www.sheltontheater.org. $38. Fri-Sat, 8pm. Through Dec 22. Shelton Theatre preforms N. Richard Nash’s classic drama.

Roseanne: Live! Rebel, 1760 Market, SF; www.brownpapertickets.com. $25. Wed, 7 and 9pm (no shows Wed/31). Through Nov 14. Lady Bear, Heklina, D’Arcy Drollinger, and more star in this tribute to the long-running sitcom.

Shocktoberfest 13: The Bride of Death Hypnodrome, 575 10th St, SF; www.thrillpeddlers.com. $25-35. Thu-Sat, 8pm. Through Nov 17. Thrillpeddlers’ seasonal assortment of yeasty Grand Guignol playlets is a mixed bag of treats, but it all goes so nicely with the autumnal slink into early nights and dark cravings. Fredrick Whitney’s Coals of Fire is lightly amusing, if far from smoking, as a two-hander about a blind older matron (Leigh Crow) who discovers her young companion (Zelda Koznofski, alternating nights with Nancy French) has been secretly schtupping her husband. I’m a Mummy is a short, not very effective musical interlude by Douglas Byng, featuring the bright pair of Jim Jeske and Annie Larson as Mr. and Mrs., respectively. The titular feature, The Bride of Death, written by Michael Phillis and directed by Russell Blackwood, proves a worthy centerpiece, unfolding an intriguing, well-acted tale about a reporter (Phillis) and his photographer (Flynn DeMarco) arriving at a stormy castle to interview a strangely youthful Grand Guignol stage star (Bonni Suval) making her film debut. After another, this time more rousing musical number, Those Beautiful Ghouls (with music and lyrics by Scrumbly Koldewyn; directed and choreographed by D’Arcy Drollinger), comes the evening’s real high point, The Twisted Pair by Rob Keefe, acted to the bloody hilt by leads Blackwood and DeMarco as the titular duo of scientists driven mad by an experimental batch of ‘crazy’ glue. All of it comes capped, of course, by the company’s signature lights-out spook show. (Avila)

“Strindberg Cycle: The Chamber Plays in Rep” Exit on Taylor, 277 Taylor, SF; www.cuttingball.com. $10-50 (festival pass, $75). Previews Thu/1, 7:30pm and Fri/2, 8pm (part three). Opens Sat/3, 8pm (part three). Runs Thu, 7:30pm; Fri-Sat, 8pm (also Sat, 2pm); Sun, 5pm. Through Nov 18. Cutting Ball performs a festival of August Strindberg in three parts: The Ghost Sonata, The Pelican and The Black Glove, and Storm and Burned House.

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

BAY AREA

Acid Test: The Many Incarnations of Ram Dass Marsh Berkeley, 2120 Allston, Berk; www.themarsh.org. $15-50. Thu-Fri, 8pm; Sat, 5pm. Through Nov 24. Lynne Kaufman’s new play stars Warren David Keith as the noted spiritual figure.

Assassins Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby, Berk; www.shotgunplayers.org. $20-30. Wed/31-Thu/1, 7pm; Fri/2-Sat/3, 8pm; Sun/4, 5pm. Shotgun Players interrupts this season of dreary electoral debates with an important announcement about the country you live in, as the sure and provocative 1990 musical by Stephen Sondheim (music and lyrics) and John Weidman (book) stitches together American history’s odd assortment of successful and failed presidential assassins to explore the darker recesses of the national mythos. Through an eclectic score of deft period-specific songs and the narrative framework of a feverish carnival shooting gallery — overseen by a nefarious proprietor (Jeff Garrett) — a pageant of kooks and rebels parades, beginning with pioneer assassin John Wilkes Booth (an aptly imposing Galen Murphy-Hoffman). He, in turn, acts as a sort of patron saint to those that follow in his footsteps — including Charles Guiteau (Steven Hess), Leon Czolgosz (Dan Saski), Giuseppe Zangara (Aleph Ayin), John Hinckley (Danny Cozart), Sam Byck (Ryan Drummond), Sara Jane Moore (Rebecca Castelli), Squeaky Fromme (Cody Metzger), and of course Lee Harvey Oswald (Kevin Singer, in a part that doubles with that of the Balladeer). Throughout, director Susannah Martin’s strong cast and musical director David Möschler’s lively eight-piece band insure a raucous, thoughtful, and intimate American fever dream. (Avila)

An Iliad Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Roda Theatre, 2015 Addison, Berk; www.berkeleyrep.org. $14.50-77. Tue and Thu-Sat, 8pm (also Sat, 2pm); Wed and Sun, 7pm (also Sun, 2pm). Through Nov 11. Director Lisa Peterson and actor Denis O’Hare’s adaptation of the Homeric epic poem (in Robert Fagles’ translation) puts the narrative of the Trojan War in the hands of a Homeric storyteller (played by an indefatigable but somewhat histrionic Henry Woronicz) who, finding himself backstage before an audience, reluctantly warms to yet another retelling of the ninth year of the ten-year battle. The narrative comes underscored by bassist Brian Ellingsen (as a shy hipster Muse, arriving late to the theater on his bicycle), and comes peppered with contemporary analogies to drive home, in a rather stock and limited way, the “timeliness” of such a timeless story. This can be heavy-handed (as in a long chronological listing of foreign wars from ancient to modern delivered with a strained intensity) or even jarringly banal (as when entry into battle is described with reference to everyday road rage). Indeed, the whole production is likely to bring to mind one of those special-assembly days in grade school, where a traveling actor delivers an accessible amount of good-for-you classics to a half-bored auditorium of children. Meanwhile, the story’s over-the-top patriarchal and class biases and general authoritarianism mostly get a pass. The complacency of it all simply belies the war-is-hell message. (Avila)

The Kipling Hotel: True Misadventures of the Electric Pink ’80s Marsh Berkeley, 2120 Allston, Berk; www.themarsh.org. $20-50. Sat, 8:30pm; Sun, 7pm. Extended through Dec 16. This new autobiographical solo show by Don Reed, writer-performer of the fine and long-running East 14th, is another slice of the artist’s journey from 1970s Oakland ghetto to comedy-circuit respectability — here via a partial debate-scholarship to UCLA. The titular Los Angeles residency hotel was where Reed lived and worked for a time in the 1980s while attending university. It’s also a rich mine of memory and material for this physically protean and charismatic comic actor, who sails through two acts of often hilarious, sometimes touching vignettes loosely structured around his time on the hotel’s young wait staff, which catered to the needs of elderly patrons who might need conversation as much as breakfast. On opening night, the episodic narrative seemed to pass through several endings before settling on one whose tidy moral was delivered with too heavy a hand, but if the piece runs a little long, it’s only the last 20 minutes that noticeably meanders. And even with some awkward bumps along the way, it’s never a dull thing watching Reed work. (Avila)

Richard the First: Part One, Part Two, Part Three Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant, Berk; www.centralworks.org. $14-25. Thu-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 5pm (three-part marathon Sundays, Nov 11 and 18, 2, 5, 8pm). Through Nov 18. This Central Works Method Trilogy presents a rotating schedule of three plays by Gary Graves about the king known as “the Lionheart.”

Richard III Live Oak Theatre, 1301 Shattuck, Berk; www.aeofberkeley.org. $12-15. Fri-Sat, 8pm. Through Nov 17. Actors Ensemble of Berkeley performs the Shakespeare classic.

Sex, Slugs and Accordion Marsh Berkeley, 2120 Allston, Berk; www.themarsh.org. $10. Wed, 8pm. Through Nov 14. Jetty Swart, a.k.a. Jet Black Pearl, stars in this “wild and exotic evening of song.”

The Sound of Music Julia Morgan Theatre, 2640 College, Berk; www.berkeleyplayhouse.org. $15-35. Thu-Sat, 7pm (also Sat, 2pm); Sun, noon and 5pm. Through Dec 2. Berkeley Playhouse opens its fifth season with the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical.

Within the Wheel Live Oak Park, 1301 Shattuck, Berk; www.raggedwing.org. Free. Wed/31-Sat/3, 6pm (last entry 7:30pm). Ragged Wing Ensemble presents an immersive performance experience inspired by the Tibetan Book of the Dead.

The World’s Funniest Bubble Show Marsh Berkeley, 2120 Allston, Berk; www.themarsh.org. $8-50. Sun, 11am; Nov 23-25, 11am. Through Nov 25. Louis “The Amazing Bubble Man” Pearl brings his lighter-than-air show back to the Marsh.

PERFORMANCE/DANCE

“Betty’s Big Vegas Variety Show” Stage Werx Theatre, 446 Valencia, SF; picklewaterclowncabaret.bpt.me. Mon/5, 8pm. $15. Picklewater Clown Cabaret performs.

“Comedy Bodega” Esta Noche Nightclub, 3079 16th St, SF; www.comedybodega.com. Thu, 8pm. Ongoing. No cover (one drink minumum). This week: Marga Gomez, Colleen Watson, Matt Leib, and Stefani Silverman.

“Día de los Muertos Community Concert” Davies Symphony Hall, 201 Van Ness, SF; www.sfsymphony.org. Sat/3, 2pm. $15-68. The San Francisco Symphony presents its fifth annual Day of the Dead concert, a family-friendly event featuring the SF Symphony’s Chorus and Youth Orchestra, plus narration by Chicano theater pioneer Luis Valdez, Mexico’s Mariachi Nuevo Tecalitlán, and more.

“Halloween! The Ballad of Michele Myers” CounterPULSE, 1310 Mission, SF; michelemyers2012.eventbrite.com. Wed/31, 8pm. $25. Drag superstar Raya Light returns in the seasonally-appropriate horror musical.

“Halloween Super Scene” Bayfront Theater, B350 Fort Mason Center, SF; www.improv.org. Wed/31, 8pm. $20. BATS Improv performs a special Halloween-themed show.

“Palau’an Bird Call: Huni Ng Tandikan” Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission, SF; www.ybca.org. Fri/2-Sat/3, 8pm (also Sat/3, 2pm). $21. Kularts commissioned this world premiere by Philippine master choreographer Jay Loyola.

“Private Life” Counterpulse, 1310 Mission, SF; www.counterpulse.org. Fri/2-Sat/3, 8pm; Sun/4, 2pm. $18-25. Deborah Slater Dance Theater’s latest work is inspired by a dancer who is also a soldier.

RAWdance ODC Theater, 3153 17th St, SF; www.rawdance.org. Fri/2-Sat/3, 8pm; Sun/4, 3pm. $20-25. The company’s fall 2012 season includes a world premiere duet, Double Exposure.

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

“Shift Happens” Rrazz Room, Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason, SF; www.carlyozard.com. Sun/4, 4pm; Mon/5, 8pm. $20 (plus a two-drink minumum). Carly Ozard performs her cabaret show.

“To Bury a Cat: Clown Show” Shotwell Studios, 3252-A 19th St, SF; facebook.com/clownsonastick. Fri/2-Sat/3, 8pm. $12-20. Clowns on a Stick perform a lighthearted (but macabre!) Halloween show.

“Touching Up” Mint Plaza, Mint at Fifth St. between Market and Mission, SF; www.bandaloop.org. Thu/1, 12:30pm. Also Sat/3, 1pm, Great Wall of Oakland, West Grand at Valley, Oakl. Both shows free. Vertical dance company Bandaloop performs choreography while suspended from climbing ropes.

Music Listings

Andrew Lam

-

October 30, 2012

0

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

WEDNESDAY 31

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Astrozombies Hemlock Tavern. 8:30pm, $5.

Bob Saggeth Amnesia. 10pm, $7-$10.

Boys Like Girls, All American Rejects, Parachute Regency Ballroom. 7:30pm, $27.

Tia Carroll Biscuits and Blues. 8 and 10pm, $15.

First Church of the Sacred Silversexual Boxcar Theatre, 125A Hyde, SF; www.sacredsilversexual.com. 9pm, $7.

Glitter Wizard, Twin Steps, Meat Market, Parmesans Thee Parkside. 8pm, $8.

Greensky Bluegrass, Arann Harris and the Farm Band Independent. 9pm, $17.

Liz O Halloween Show 50 Mason Social House, SF; www.50masonsocialhouse.com 8pm.

"Monster Mash Halloween Party" Rite Spot Cafe. 9pm, free. With the Barneys.

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

Nobunny, Shannon and the Clams, POW!, Eeries Brick and Mortar Music Hall. 9pm, $7-$10.

Planet Booty, Double Duchess Cafe Du Nord. 9pm, $15.

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

Skeleton Television, Hate Crime El Rio. 9pm, $8.

Tartufi, Battlehooch Knockout. 10pm, $5.

Trainwreck Riders, Tiny Television, Rare Animals Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $10.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

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

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

Nguyen Le feat. Charged Particles, Vanessa Vo Yoshi’s SF. 8pm, $18.

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

DANCE CLUBS

All Hallows Eve DNA Lounge. 9pm, $13, 18+. Pop, new wave, dark electronica, gothic, and industrial.

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

Coo-Yah! Slate Bar, 2925 16th St, SF; www.slate-sf.com. 10pm, free. With Vinyl Ambassador, DJ Silverback, DJs Green B and Daneekah.

Dead Celebrities Wish, 1539 Folsom, SF; www.wishsf.com. 9pm, free. With DJ Shorkut, Carey Kopp, and Fran Boogie.

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

Icee Hot Elbo Room. 10pm, $5-$10. Halloween edition with Jackmaster, Ghosts on Tape, Shawn Reynaldo, and Rollie Fingers.

Mad Hatters Ball 103 Harriet, SF; www.1015.com. 10pm. With Flosstradamus, Pantha Du Prince, Ana Sia, and more.

Obey the Kitty vs Base: Halloween Special Vessel, 85 Campton Place, SF; www.vesselsf.com. 10pm, $7-$15. With Heidi, Justin Milla.

THURSDAY 1

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP.

Bowerbirds, Strand of Oaks Great American Music Hall. 8pm, $17-$19.

Groundation, Trevor Hall Independent. 9pm, $25.

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

Mochipet Mezzanine. 9pm, $25.

Mr. Kind, River Shiver, Marqiss Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $10.

New Cassettes, Apollo Run, Amusia Amnesia. 8pm, $10.

Nova Albion, Hyena, Trims, popscene DJs Rickshaw Stop. 9pm, $7-$9.

Prize, Bring the Tiger, Collective W, Comet Empire Rockit Room. 8pm, $7.

Rare Monk, Horrorscopes, Coast Jumper, Roosevelt Radio Brick and Mortar Music Hall. 9pm, $5-$8.

Titan Ups, JL Stiles, Prairie Dog, Nightgown Cafe Du Nord. 7:30pm, $10-$12.

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

Violent Change, Pandiscordian Necrogenesis, Love Devotion Hemlock Tavern. 8:30pm, $6.

Wacka Flocka Flame, Wooh Da Kid Fillmore. 8pm, $29.50.

Matt Werz Swedish American Hall. 7:30pm, $18-$20.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

"A Soulful Night of Keys" Yoshi’s SF. 8pm, $28. With Lonnie Liston Smith, Mark Adams, and Brian Jackson.

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

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

Shareef Ali and the Radical Folksonomy Red Poppy Art House. 6:30pm, $10.

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

DANCE CLUBS

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

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

Supersonic Lookout, 3600 16th St., SF; www.lookoutsf.com. 9pm. Global beats paired with food from around the world by Tasty. Resident DJs Jaybee, B-Haul, amd Diagnosis.

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

FRIDAY 2

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

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

Big Mittens, Command Control, When the Broken Bow, Rural Hemlock Tavern. 9pm, $7.

Mark Eitzel, Paula Frazer, Goldring and Thomson Bottom of the Hill. 9:30pm, $15.

Chilly Gonzales Swedish American Hall. 8pm, $17-$20.

Good Gravy, Dead Winter Carpenters Amnesia. 6pm.

Heartsounds, Anchors, Jason Cruz and Howl, Backmaster Thee Parkside. 9pm, $7.

Human Animation Lab, Thieves of Malta, Scarlet Stonic, Hollowell Rockit Room. 8pm, $6.

Kinto Sol Elbo Room.10pm, $25. With Reporte Ilega, DJ Juan Data.

Nneka, Raw-G, Earth Amplified Brick and Mortar Music Hall. 9pm, $12-$15.

Prok and Fitch Vessel, 85 Campton Place, SF; www.vesselsf.com. 10pm, $20-$30.

Saint Etienne Fillmore. 9pm, $29.50.

Soft White Sixties, Strange Vine, Taxes Slim’s. 9pm, $13-$15.

Stone Foxes, Silent Comedy, Mahgeetah Great American Music Hall. 8pm, $15.

White Fence, Twerps, Mallard Rickshaw Stop. 9pm, $10.

Woodkid, Pacific Air Bimbo’s. 9pm, $20.

X-Static Johnny Foley’s. 9pm, free.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

"A Soulful Night of Keys" Yoshi’s SF. 8pm, $28; 10pm, $22. With Lonnie Liston Smith, Mark Adams, and Brian Jackson.

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

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

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

Canyon Johnson Plough and Stars. 9pm, free.

Mike James St. Cyperian’s Episcopal Church, 2097 Turk, SF; www.cyperianscenter.org. 7pm, $6.

La Quilombera, Manicato, DJ Stepwise Rockit Room. 9pm, $12.

Eddy Navia, Chuchito Valdes Pena Pachamama, 1630 Powell, SF; www.penapachamama.com. 7:30 and 9pm, $20.

DANCE CLUBS

Anti-Halloween DNA Lounge. 9pm, $15. Masquerade ball with Russian Solution, DJ Wizard, Henry Pollux, and more.

DJ Harvey Public Works. 10pm, $10-$15.

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

Nickie’s Flashback featuring Cheb i Sabbah Bissap Baobab Village, 3372 19th St, SF; (415) 826-9287. 10pm, $10-$20.

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

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

SATURDAY 3

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Big Blu Soul Revue Giordano Bros, 303 Columbus, SF; (415) 397-2767. 9pm, free.

Big Eyes, Switftumz, Bad Liar, Courtney and the Crushers Knockout. 8pm, $7.

Dance Gavin Dance, A Lot Like Birds, I, the Mighty, Orphan, Poet Fillmore. 6:30pm, $20.

Dark Dark Dark, Emily Wells, Little Teeth Bottom of the Hill. 9:30pm, $15.

Donna the Buffalo, David Gans Slim’s. 9pm, $18.

Evolution: Tribute to Journey Regency Ballroom. 9pm, $27.

Guverment, Run Amok, Rocha Thee Parkside. 3pm, free.

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

Maus Haus, Sister Crayon, Radiation City Rickshaw Stop. 8pm, $10-$12.

Sex with No Hands 50 Mason Social House, SF; www.50masonsocialhouse.com. 8pm, $10.

Sila, Boca Do Rio Brick and Mortar Music Hall. 9:30pm, $7-$10.

Thee Merry Widows Riptide Tavern. 9:30pm, free.

Ticket to Ride Johnny Foley’s. 9pm, free.

Walken, Asada Messiah, Fear the Fiasco Hemlock Tavern. 9:30pm, $7.

Fred Wesley and the New JBs, Lyrics Born Mezzanine. 9pm.

Zammuto, AU Independent. 9pm, $15.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

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

Kindred the Family Soul Yoshi’s SF. 8pm, $32; 10pm, $24.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

Beth Custer Ensemble Red Poppy Art House. 8pm, $12-$20.

DANCE CLUBS

Bootie SF DNA Lounge. 9pm, $15. Masquerade ball with Russian Solution, DJ Wizard, Henry Pollux, and more.

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

Foundation Som., 2925 16th St, SF; (415) 558-8521. 10pm, $5-$10. DJs Shortkut, Apollo, Mr. E, Fran Boogie spin Hip-Hop, Dancehall, Funk, Salsa.

Go Bang Stud. 9pm, $7; free before 10pm. Atomic dancefloor disco action with Lester Temple, Glenn Rivera, Steve Fabus, and Sergio Fedasz.

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

Mighty Real Mighty. 10pm. With Timmy Regisford and David Harness.

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

Saturday Night Soul Party Elbo Room. 10pm, $5-$10. With DJs Lucky, Paul Paul, and Phengren Oswald.

Session Victim (live) Public Works Loft. 10pm, $13-$15.

Swank Vessel, 85 Campton Place, SF; www.vesselsf.com. 10pm, $20-$30. With Pheeko Dubfunk, Kada, Lorentzo, and David Paul.

West City Three-Year Anniversary Qi Ultralounge, 917 Folsom, SF; westcity3.eventbrite.com. 9pm, $15-$20. With J Paul Ghetto.

SUNDAY 4

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Butlers and Cyril Jordan, Overwhelming Colorfast, Field Trip Bottom of the Hill. 3pm, $10.

Con Bro Chill Cafe Du Nord. 8:30pm, $10.

Deiphago, Ritual Combat, Black Fucking Cancer, Old Coven, Rotten Funeral DNA Lounge. 8pm, $13, all ages.

Devil Makes Three Fillmore. 8pm, $22.50.

Fake Your Own Death, Trims, Spanish Cannons Hemlock Tavern. 6pm, 6.

Justice Warfield. 8pm, $40-$50.

Kid Koala 12 Bit Blues Vinyl Vaudeville, Adira Amram and the Experience Independent. 9pm, $20.

Lecrae, Trip Lee, Tedashii, KB, Pro, Andy Mineo Regency Ballroom. 7:30pm, $23.

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

Themes, Not To Reason Why, Survival Guide, Sim Castro Thee Parkside. 8pm, $7.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

Ken Berman and Kai Eckhardt Bliss Bar, 4026 24th St, SF; www.blissbarsf.com. 4:30pm, $10.

Kally Price Old Blues and Jazz Band Amnesia. 8pm, $5.

Dwight Trible Yoshi’s SF. 7pm, $18.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

David Broza Kanbar Hall, JCCSF, 3200 California, SF; www.jccsf.org. 4pm, $30-$50.

"Twang Sunday" Thee Parkside. 3pm, free. With Country Casanovas.

DANCE CLUBS

Dub Mission Elbo Room. 9pm, $6. With DJ Sep, Ludichris, J. Boogie.

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

MONDAY 5

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Damir Johnny Foley’s. 9pm, free.

Dunwells Cafe Du Nord. 7:30pm, $10.

Jens Lekman, Taken By Trees Fillmore. 8pm, $25.

Metz, Tiger High, One Hundred Percent Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $12.

MV and EE, Vestals Hemlock Tavern. 7pm, $6.

Sea Wolf, Hey Marseilles, Amys Independent. 8pm, $15.

Luke Sweeney and Wet Dreams, Dry Magic, Sea Dramas, Betsy and Beau Brick and Mortar Music Hall. 9pm, $7-$10.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

"Hope Uncorked: Lorca Hart Trio and Group Falso Baiano" Yoshi’s SF. 7pm, $55-$65.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

Belle Monroe and Her Brewglass Boys Amnesia. 9pm.

DANCE CLUBS

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

Dub Face Elbo Room. 9pm, $12. With Sleazemore, Ryury.

Death Guild DNA Lounge. 9:30pm, $3-$5. Gothic, industrial, and synthpop.

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

Soul Cafe John Colins Lounge, 138 Minna, SF; www.johncolins.com. 9pm. R&B, Hip-Hop, Neosoul, reggae, dancehall, and more with DJ Jerry Ross.

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

TUESDAY 6

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Belgrado, Bellicose Minds, Ruleta Rusa, Die Hard Knockout. 9:30pm, $8.

Brother Pacific, Wilser Maker, BIrdseye Hemlock Tavern. 8:30pm, $6.

Coles Whalen, Mental 99, Bang Bang El Rio. 7pm.

Mr. Gnome, Eighteen Individual Eyes, Bruises Thee Parkside. 8pm, $8.

Murzik, James Apollo and His Sweet Unknown Hotel Utah. 9pm, $8.

Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band, Gypsy Moonlight Band, Anju’s Pale Blue Eyes Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $10.

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

Kelley Stoltz Amnesia. 9pm, $7-$10.

On the Cheap Listings

Andrew Lam

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October 30, 2012

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

WEDNESDAY 31

Hacienda Halloween Peralta House Museum of History and Community, 2465 34th Ave., Oakl. (510) 532-9142, www.peraltahacienda.org. 5:30-7:30pm, free. Halloween events can be educational too! The Peralta House Museum would like to invite you to come brush up on your California history and learn how the early settlers of the Golden State celebrated Halloween. There will be snacks (from the on-site garden, no less!)

THURSDAY 1

“When We Were Young and Dumb” Make-Out Room, 3225 22nd St., SF. (415) 863-8688, www.booksmith.com. 6-9pm, free. Watch writers from the Believer and Seattle’s alt-weekly The Stranger get embroiled in a no-holds-barred reading ranging from religion to LSD to virginity. Buy Bethany Jean Clement, Christopher Frizzelle, and Lindy West’s latest book How to be a Person, and you’ll get a free drink.

“Conversations With Artists” Contemporary Jewish Museum, 736 Mission, SF. (415) 655-7800, www.thecjm.org. 6:30-8:30pm, free–$5. The quest for social justice via documentation of the marginalized are at the heart of artist Rachel Schreiber’s and UCSC professor Martin Berger’s work. Both will be on hand to discuss their progressive-themed photo exhibits that document the crossroads of people and place in the Bay Area.

“Fluorescent Virgins: Contemporary Alters and Offerings for the Dead” The Art Gallery at the Cesar Chavez Student Center, SFSU, 1650 Holloway, SF. (415) 338-2580, www.sfsustudentcenter.com/artgallery. Through Nov/8. Reception: 5-8pm, free. Witness the rich cultural tradition steeped in Latino folklore that is this exhibit, which shows a broad display of vibrant and artful altars associated with Dia de los Muertos.

FRIDAY 2

“Entrippy” D-Structure, 520 Haight, SF. (718) 938-0678, www.drewmorrison.com. Through Dec/5. Opening reception: 6-10pm, free. Brooklyn artist Drew Morrison wants you to come get all metaphysical with him at his first West Coast exhibit. The paintings in this new exhibit delve in the perceptions of mass and tangible matter and shifting identity of elemental beings

Hendrix on Hendrix Diesel, A Bookstore, 5433 College, Oakl. (510) 653-9965, www.dieselbookstore.com. 7pm, free. If you fancy yourself a Jimi Hendrix enthusiast, then you should cancel whatever you have going on this Friday night and rush over to Diesel, A Bookstore where local author and all-around Hendrix maven Steven Roby will be promoting his new book Hendrix on Hendrix: Interviews and Encounters with Jimi Hendrix. Falling on what would have been Hendrix’s 70th birthday, at this event Roby will playing clips from interviews with the guitar great. Some are calling his book the closest thing we’ll get to a Hendrix autobiography, come see why.

Dia de los Muertos North Berkeley procession and altars Shattuck and Rose, Berk. Community altars: 5-7:30pm; candle-lit procession 7:45-9pm, free. Bay Area Day of the Dead: not just for the Mission anymore. This year, you can play La Catrina in the burgeoning restaurant district of North Berkeley — or, if you’re not just looking for an excuse to wear facepaint, view altars and mourn those who have recently passed with a candle and your community in the somber night-time processional.

SATURDAY 3

Potrero Hill History Night International Studies Academy, 655 De Haro, SF. (415) 863-0784. 5:30pm, free. A can’t-miss for a proud Potrero Hill dweller, or anyone who enjoys a good barbecue and live music. The Potrero Hill Archives project is producing this 13th installment of its annual Potrero Hill History night. In addition to eats and beats, take in stories from readers like Chronicle columnist Carl Nolte about growing up in this neighborhood.

“Birding for Everyone” Meet at SF Botanical Garden bookstore, Golden Gate Park, SF. (415) 387-9160, www.sfnature.org. 10am-noon, free–$10. In the mood for some flights of fancy? Join naturalists Nancy DeStefanis and Bill Milestone as they take you on a hike through the SF botanical garden, while educating you on the richly-colored avian flocks present in the garden.

“Slow it! Spread it! Sink it!” SFPUC Headquarters, 525 Golden Gate, SF. (415) 554-3289, www.sfwater.org. 1-4pm, free with RSVP to jwalsh@sfwater.org. For dwellers in a city that stays dry most of the year, it might come as a shock to hear that SF’s annual rainfall equals 9.5 billion gallons. For more interesting facts about the city’s infrastructure, join the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission for a tour of the city’s latest green infrastructure installations.

SUNDAY 4

Winter Art Festival San Francisco Art Institute, 800 Chestnut, SF. (415) 749-4508, www.sfai.edu/SFAIwinterartfest. 11am-4pm, free. A month and a half before the actual start of winter, the SFAI will preview the season with an exhibit and art sale of pieces from over 200 alumni and students. Rounding out this extravagant affair will be live music, interactive installations, and the omnipresent food trucks — this time, you’ll dine on Happa Ramen and Le Truc.

One fish, two fish

Andrew Lam

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October 30, 2012

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virginia@sfbg.com

APPETITE Sushi bars proliferate around SF, with two more brand new spots opening on Russian Hill and down in the Mission.

ELEPHANT SUSHI

Think of Elephant Sushi as on “island time” (read: chilled out) and you’ll enjoy your experience all the more. Reminiscent of early days at the original Sushi Bistro in the Inner Richmond when it first opened, dreadlocked wait staff and reggae tunes set a relaxed, island vibe at Elephant. It’s soft opening was in late August in the former Sushi Groove space, so Elephant is still in its infancy. Besides the Japan-meets-Jamaica spirit of the cozy space, the restaurant sets itself apart at first glance with real wasabi (which I love eating on its own), housemade soy sauce, and pots of intense, pickled ginger.

Winning points for doing what so few sushi restaurants do, even in our eco-conscious region, Elephant sources mostly wild or sustainably farmed fish, going the funky-fun route in their rolls and appetizers without sacrificing freshness and precision. Walu (Hawaiian term for escolar, the fish occasionally known to cause potentially unpleasant side effects in the… ahem… bathroom) is succulent and buttery here ($5 nigiri/$11 for five-piece sashimi), among the best walu I’ve ever tasted. Sizzling mango seabass ($12) wins on presentation, arriving on fire in a mini-cast iron skillet, thanks to sake and vodka, doused in masago aioli, Japanese chilis, and scallion. Unfortunately, the dish was bland, a let down after the flashy flame of its presentation.

Sipping sake and Sapporo on draft, I ordered crudo ($14) served in four spoons, two of young yellowtail in truffle oil, ponzu sauce, garlic chips and scallions, two of seared scallop in heirloom tomato, pickled wasabi stem, and a tangy yuzu vinaigrette.

If not quite the exquisite bites served at Bar Crudo, this crudo still pops with fresh flavor. Though varying in taste, maki (rolls) seems to be where their whimsical ethos best shines. Spicy king salmon ($9) rolled with cucumber, orange peel, and masago roe in chili sauce is heavy on the orange notes, while the White Out ($15) is a mix of hamachi and avocado draped in more of that luscious walu (seared in this case — I prefer it raw.)

The roll that stayed with me is the Boom Box ($10). I adore raw scallop, served here with avocado, crunchy garlic chips and English cucumber. A ripe banana drape with a sweet soy glaze sets it apart, a spanking fresh, of-the-sea dessert. The banana theme continues in neighboring Swensen’s banana ice cream ($3), all-in-all leaving Elephant Sushi firmly placed in the sleepy Hyde Street ‘hood, a welcome addition that I look forward to watching come into its own.

916 Hyde, SF. (415) 440-1905, www.elephantsushi.com

SUGOI SUSHI

The building formerly housing Spork and pop-up Rice Broker was too cool to stay empty for long. In August, Sugoi Sushi opened in the space serving nigiri ($4.25–$7 for two pieces), five-piece sashimi ($12-15), sushi rolls/maki ($6–$13), and a quite reasonable omakase tasting menu of roughly $40 for a few rounds of sushi. Mini-two person booths remain intact, while red walls, pillows of lime green and red brighten the space.

Friendly staff bring out plates that border on works of art — as fine sushi tends to do. In this case, the artistry goes a step beyond. Case in point: a sashimi platter as part of the omakase arrives on a stone slab with a bundle of twigs covered in shredded daikon radish and draped with cuts of fish: masaba, Japanese mackerel ($6); toro. blue fin fatty tuna ($10); and kanpachi, baby yellowtail ($6). Another trio — raw scallops, escolar dotted with lemon seed mustard, and albacore belly bin toro — is presented three ways: in a cup, on a shell, on a pile of daikon.

While presentation immediately impresses, on each of my visits there’s been a funky piece of fish or two, though the restaurant emphasizes sourcing fresh daily. Japanese mackerel on one visit was almost unbearably salty, while Japanese red snapper with truffle oil and sea salt was nearly gummy. Yakitori ($3) at times disappoints, namely the hot dog-like spicy pork sausage. Tender chicken thigh fares better.

Rolls are filling and bright, like the Golden Mountain ($14) packed with toasted salmon, scallop, crab, and avocado, in curry tempura, or the Hot and Cold Tuna ($12), deep-fried spicy tuna covered with maguro roe and seaweed salad. Sashimi-like slices of seared blue fin toro ($18) are a bit salty, but fresh in chili sesame sauce and curry onion tempura, which adds a rich, savory layer to the fish.

While Sugoi is still clearly on the hunt for its identity, suffering from consistency issues, the funky, relaxed space on Valencia Street and the artful eye of its sushi chefs hold promise — it’s still steps beyond the other sushi restaurants lining the street.

1058 Valencia, SF. (415) 401-8442, www.sugoisushisf.com

Subscribe to Virgina’s twice-monthly newsletter, The Perfect Spot, www.theperfectspotsf.com

Birds of pray

Andrew Lam

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October 30, 2012

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arts@sfbg.com

DANCE In the continental United States, the Filipino population is mostly concentrated in California, and it’s a good bet that most are settled in the Bay Area. Still, their voices are not as present in dance — outside the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival — as they should be.

Perhaps that’s why Alleluia Panis, executive director of Kularts, a presenter of Filipino art and culture, and Jay Loyola, artistic director of the American Center of Philippine Arts, decided to collaborate two years ago. The new work would not include the ever-popular tinikling, the country’s national dance in which performers nimbly try to avoid clashing bamboo poles that threaten to chop off their feet.

Palau’an Bird Call – Huni Ng Tandikan does, however, include bamboo poles, fashioned into the type of blowguns that so terrified invaders of Palawan, a long, skinny island in the Western Philippines that is settled by the country’s most ancient inhabitants.

As a former member of Bayanihan National Folk Dance Company of the Philippines and creator of over 40 folkloric style choreographies, Loyola got involved in studying the Palawan through some of his students.

“The people are not a very colorful tribe, and they are not very well known, but they have a spirituality that really drew my attention. They don’t even have an exact translation for war,” he explained. Though profoundly Islamic, the Palawan also connect with Buddhism, using in their ceremonies, for instance, the sacred chakras which are supposed to open the body to positive energies.

Because of his commitment to the Palawan culture Loyola was eventually adopted into the Tagbanua tribe, whose members live on the island’s northern section. Their leader told him, “Nobody has ever been interested in us the way you have. You are like a son to me.”

So on a Monday night, when the rest of the US was glued to the tube watching the battle between two men who claimed to be able to restore the country back to health, 16 Filipino dancers, chosen by audition, were rehearsing an ancient ritual about healing the ill head of their tribe.

They were evoking a story based on Francisco Baltazar’s Ibong Adarna, a Philippine epic about the mythic adarna bird — the only creature in the universe that could return both health and peace of mind to a leader. Loyola freely adapted this tale to the Palawan, replacing, for instance, the adarna with the tandikan, a secretive and rarely seen peacock that resides in the forests. He also explored Palawan spirituality that even today is deeply grounded in nature myths. It’s the tandikan’s movements and its song that call the deities into action.

Watching these dancers embody the spirits of water, fire, wind, and the earth, it was striking to note the elegance and power that both men and women poured into their leaps, twirls, and strides. When they descended, they planted their feet as if the ground had reached up to grab them. The steps may be based on traditional patterns — especially a vertical skipping phrase for some of the village women — but these were contemporary artists with strong physical training. If some of the choreography looked influenced by martial arts, it was no accident.

“Because of an ancient land-bridge to Borneo, Palawan culture includes elements of martial arts practices as prevalent on the Indonesian archipelago,” explains Loyola. Perhaps the fiercest dancing — she ended by standing on her head — belonged to Metem Sumpa, danced by Alexandria Diaz de Fato. As a Spirit of Darkness, she almost succeeded in disrupting the healing process.

In contrast to the strong gender differentiation still prevalent in many Western practices, Palawan spirit dancers have to be gender neutral, otherwise the deities will not manifest themselves. So, Loyola says, female performers may be dressed as men.

Another notable element of Loyola’s choreography is that the blowgun, when used on the chakras, is transformed into a tool of healing. So perhaps it was not surprising to find that, after watching this work in progress, a huge storm had washed away the city’s soot — leaving Market Street’s formerly grimy sidewalks positively glistening. *

PALAU’AN BIRD CALL – HUNI NG TANDIKAN

Fri/2-Sat/3, 8pm (also Sat/3, 2pm), $21-26

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

701 Mission, SF

www.kularts.org

Economic cleansing, part two

Andrew Lam

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October 30, 2012

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EDITORIAL Over the next two years, tens of thousands of San Franciscans will face the loss of their homes. If the current tech boom is anything like the last one, the impact on the city will be the economic equivalent of a massive earthquake, with displacement transforming entire neighborhoods and low-income tenants, artists, writers, musicians, small merchants, cheap restaurants, and nonprofits getting chucked aside to make way for an influx of wealthier people and the businesses that serve them.

That’s why the supervisorial races are so critically important — and why groups like the Association of Realtors, which wants to limit tenant protections, is throwing such a huge amount of money into two district races.

San Francisco in the late 1990s was a terrible place for anyone who wasn’t making a lot of money. Housing prices quadrupled in just a few years. Evictions doubled and tripled as dot-com money flowed in and young white people with pockets full of cash forced older, low-income people out of “hip” neighborhoods like the Mission, Soma and Bernal Heights. Families were driven out of town. Community-serving businesses and nonprofits were displaced as landlords sought higher-end tech companies who paid wildly inflated commercial rents. In a famous essay, writer Paulina Borsook denounced “how the Internet is ruing San Francisco.”

We called it “economic cleansing.” And it’s starting to happen again.

When reporters talk about candidates like David Lee, who’s challenging Sup. Eric Mar in district 1, supporting “rent control,” they’re missing the point. Nobody running for office in this city is going to call for a repeal of the city’s weak rent-stabilization law. Even the realtors aren’t talking about that.

And for good reason: Rent control only applies to units built before 1979 and applies only to the current occupant. Once the place is vacated, for whatever reason, rents can go up to market rate. And market rate in this city is far beyond what most people who work in San Francisco can pay.

Meanwhile, it’s perfectly legal under state law for a landlord to clear every tenant out of a multi-unit building and sell the place to buyers who want tenancies in common — a backdoor way of doing a condo conversion. It’s the worst kind of class struggle, often pitting working-class renters against somewhat better-off people who want to buy but can’t afford a single-family home.

So rent control isn’t the issue; it’s eviction protections, condo conversion limits, rent subsidies, affordable housing funding, taxes and fees that discourage speculation, and other policy measures that seek to protect and preserve vulnerable communities — before allowing any new development.

Mayor Ed Lee has made it clear whose side he’s on in this coming battle for the city’s future. He’s about bringing in tech companies, cutting their taxes, and hell with the consequences. He’s doing it in the name of “jobs,” although seriously: How many unemployed young people in Southeast San Francisco who lack college degrees is Twitter going to hire? And what exactly are the new tech giants doing to help the public schools and City College? (Very, very little).

No, Lee’s creating jobs for people who don’t live here, who will force out people who do. Just as his old pal Willie Brown did during the last boom.

And the only possible check is a progressive majority on the Board of Supervisors that can attempt to control, at least a little bit, the insanity of the next gold rush and make sure that there’s still at least some chance for an economically diverse San Francisco.

The realtors have poured close to $100,000 into Districts 1 and 5, supporting David Lee in D1 and London Breed in D5. The Alliance for Jobs and Sustainable Growth, a real-estate industry front group, has spent another $68,000 helping Lee. The people who stand to make the most off a real-estate boom that will hurt the poor, the seniors, and the working class have made it clear where they stand.

Remember that when you vote Nov. 6.

Good Vibes Sex Summit takes the Marriott, and not without controversy

Andrew Lam

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October 30, 2012

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To be completly morbid about a really positive event: had Hurricane Sandy catacylsmically materialized in the Marriot Marquis Club Room on Saturday, half of the Bay Area’s sex nerd population would have been wiped out, and a good portion of the national sex educator community would be in mourning. The Good Vibrations Sex Summit was taking place, and health professionals, sex educators, TV personalities, surrogate parents, and laypeople interested in where sexuality stands in our society today were assembled for a day of panels and lectures.

Much-needed, sex-positive analysis of current events abounded. Schism, perhaps, was inevitable. All in all, it was a day of real talk.

We were present for the second half of the summit — the previous night’s erotic short film festival at the Castro Theatre left us a little early-morning averse. We managed to catch two panels, “Pill, Profits, and Pleasure: Sexual Health and Pharmaceuticals” and “Sexual Stargazing: Sex and Pop Culture,” and a closing keynote address by host of MSNBC’s six-part series on American sexuality, America Unzipped, Brian Alexander.

SEX AND PILLS

Chatting “Pill, Profits, and Pleasure,” Yoseñio Lewis, an SF-based transgender advocate who works with the Center of Excellence for Transgender Health, made the obvious connection between the health industry and sexuality for the trans community. He talked about the endless rounds of “permission slips” that are necessary for those undergoing hormone and other kinds of treatment. “High school never ends for us,” he said. “The permission is always there – the permission for it can all be taken away at a moment’s notice.”

For Debby Herbenick, director of the Center for Sexual Health Promotion at Indiana University and sex educator at the Kinsey Insitute, the medical industry influences our sex through a variety of ways — the way libido-enhancers are developed and promoted, for example. She discussed concern over a general lack of knowledge of sexual health among doctors, causing an audible gasp from the audience when she mentioned that medical doctors only recieve 10 hours of instruction on the topic in med school.

Other panelists included Heather Corrina, executive director of online sex guide for teens Scarleteen and Liz Canner, whose film Orgasm, Inc. focused on the marketing campaigns based around sexual desire pharmeceuticals, and their place in the medical industry.

SEX IN THE MAINSTREAM

If there was one thing on which the panelists of the Sex Summit’s final discussion on sex and pop culture agreed, it was that there should be more of themselves. Emily Morse from Bravo’s Miss Advised show on sexperts told a story of a young woman who wanted to be a sex educator, but couldn’t find anything to say that hadn’t been said already. “Be the pop culture you want to see in the world,” quipped panel moderator Reid Milhalko to this call for more sex-positive voices in mainstream media.

It can be a double-edged sword, this getting famous in the sex world. Panelist Abiola Abrams was an indie adult film director (her release 2007 Afrodite Superstar, which explored sexual constructs in the hip-hop industry was nominated for seven AVN Awards) before she made the switch to become a writer. Now she blogs for Yahoo on sexuality topics — but also on celebrity news, which pays her bills. “Be very clear with yourself going forward on what your mission is,” Abrams counseled budding sex writers. “Make sure you have your own media.” You can always control the message your blog puts out, after all, regardless of how editors and producers change your pieces done for larger media sources.

Tellingly, all the panelists — which also included Las Vegas Weekly columnist-University of Las Vegas faculty Lynn Comella and Salon writer Tracy Clark-Flory — on the pop culture panel could pinpoint some of their earliest lessons on sex as having come from mass media. Dear Abby’s lessons on masturbation, 1990s AOL chat rooms, Judy Blume, Emmanuelle, Robin Byrd, were all cited. So can you change the perception of sexuality by working in mainstream media? The answer here was a resounding yes.

WE WON — NOW, MAKE FRIENDS

“While all of [our speakers] might identify as sex-positive — representing sexuality from a pleasure-inclusive, non-shame-based, and pro-information point onf view — their perspectives and the topics on which they focus are diverse,” wrote Good Vibes staff sexologist Carol Queen in her intro to the program for the event.

Receiving slightly less than a resounding yes was the day’s last speaker, Brian Alexander, who Good Vibrations might have known would stir up some healthy debate for the day-end cocktail hour that followed his talk.

Starting premise of Alexander’s lecture: “Sex as a cultural issue is no longer relevant.”

The journalist offered up incredibly amusing stories from his traipse through the heartland for his MSNBC series on American sexuality. King Arthur, a Bill O’Reilly and bondage enthusiast Alexander interviewed at a Tampa kink convention, figured prominently.

“Middle America is no longer as sexually repressed as we think,” Alexander concluded from his voyages into Missouri sex toy parties. And so, this culture war over sexual liberties, reproductive health? A political construct, he suggested, created to distract us from the fear that breaking the social construct has created.

“What will you do with the victory?” was his question to the room of sex educators before him. His suggestion was to “make friends.” He said King Arthur was down with sexual freedom, just not with Pride parades marching down his block. “People are generally happy to let people create their own sexual stories. You can enjoy sexual freedom, and do it ethically, but still be responsible. Freedom requires more self discipline, not less.” The line was echoed around Twitter.

But not everyone resonated with his assertion that sex-positivity now rules the day.

“To tell those of us who are on the front lines of supporting and educating the most vulnerable populations, [the assertion] that we’ve won because privileged people are kinky too fell a little flat,” commented Oakland sex-positive parenting educator Airial Clark, who attended the summit as an observer, in an email to the Guardian.

“We live in a culture where sex is used as a weapon in myriad ways,” she continued. “Faux outrage isn’t my concern. Girls getting sexually harassed in school and taking their own lives is a far more effective measurement of where we stand as culture in regards to human sexuality than anything Mr. Alexander suggested in his keynote.”

CONGRATS

A hearty congratulations to our local sex toy kingpins. The summit’s first go-round was exciting, and fractious, and heartwarming, and informative, pretty much everything you’d expect of a gathering of professionals in a field as rapidly developing and under attack as sexuality studies. Plus, it provided a well-appreciated chance for local and not-so-local sex educators to build their networks. More sex in hotel conference rooms!

Heads Up: 7 must-see concerts this week

Tony Robles

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October 29, 2012

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The Giants World Series sweep, Halloween endless, worrying about our East Coast brethren. It feels like everyone has ADD right about now, our Twitter feeds overfloweth, and we’re all being stretched in a million different directions. The world may indeed be coming to an end. But AU and Zammuto are coming to SF, as are Woodkid, Dark Dark Dark, and R. Kelly’s bedroom ballads. Already on our soil we have the SF Symphony’s Dia de los Muertos concert, Halloween tricks at Thee Parkside, and even more Nobunny.

So despite all of those other things taking up space in our minds, or perhaps because of them, this much I know: the earth is going to keep on spinning, this week at least. And with each day, comes another concert, live show, musical extravaganza from which you won’t be able to peel your eyes off.

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

Hallorager at Thee Parkside
There was a pretty sizable chunk of paper last week dedicated to the eye-popping range of spooky/trashy/candy-coated Halloween events out there for you to dig into. Though on this night, I throw my vote to the tribute band. It’s just fun to see local bands dressed as other bands, rocking a catalogue they likely researched on Wikipedia and/or Youtube. That’s why I doff my cat-eared hat to Thee Parkside’s lineup: Glitter Wizard as the Seeds, Twin Steps and the Cramps, Meat Market as G.G. and the Jabbers, and the Parmesans as the Kinks. Plus, some monster mashups via DJ Dahmer, MOM’s spook booth, tarot card readings, and (creepy?) silent film projections.
Wed/31, 8pm, $8
Thee Parkside
1600 17th St., SF
www.theeparkside.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpyyXFmlzJo

Nobunny
Alright, just one more Halloween show – because it’s trash hero Nobunny! And it’s tradition! And that growl sends crowds into frenzies!
With Shannon and the Clams, POW!, Eeries, DJ Al Love
Wed/31, 9pm, $7–$10
Brick and Mortar Music Hall
1710 Mission, SF
www.brickandmortarmusic.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9D9Yl3VDfE

R. Kelly
He’s certainly had his share of creepy indiscretions, and is at this point nearly a parody of himself, but R. Kelly is the undisputed master of weirdly mesmerizing train-wreck storytelling through velvety R&B vocal stylings. How many chapters of “Trapped in the Closet” are there now? (There are 23 chapters of “Trapped in the Closet” now.) Plus, he’s got this new record, Write Me Back, and he’s already working on another, recently telling TIME “I decided to go back and do an old-school R. Kelly album like 12 Play. That’s pretty much what it’s going to be, focusing on more of the bedroom ballads. I like to give people variety and I just gave them two years of romance albums and soul.”
Wed/31-Thu/1, $57-$102
Paramount
2025 Broadway, Oakl.
www.paramounttheatre.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCsvHarRSd4

Woodkid (CANCELLED)
French composer-artist Woodkid (a.k.a Yoann Lemoine) creates sounds that bloom like live-action role-playing background music. Or, video game music using entirely classical orchestration, strings, and Lemoine’s low octave, accented pipes. (You could easily picture Link chasing after Zelda during “Iron.”) Each track builds like a page-turning epic, which make his two EPs feel like brief odysseys. That’s right, he’s yet to release a full-length, but that record — The Golden Age — is coming. Though you might have seen his stylish videos for Agyness Deyn-featuring “Iron” or “Run Boy Run.” Or hell, you may know him from his other life as a music video director: Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream,” anyone? With Pacific Air.
Fri/2, 9pm, $20
Bimbo’s
1025 Columbus, SF
www.bimbos365club.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmc21V-zBq0

SF Symphony Dia de los Muertos community concert
“Is a skeleton a xylophone or a marimba? You can bet your sweet sugar skull there’ll be an ocean of chromatic bones, dancing akimbo, at the vibrant annual celebration of the afterlife. The family favorite boasts performances from the SF Symphony Youth Orchestra (playing Aaron Copland’s El Salón México and Jose Pablom Moncayo’s Huapango), dance company Los Lupeños de San José, Mariachi Nuevo Tecalitlán, and more, all narrated by the twinkling Luis Valdez, “father of Chicano theater.” Face painting, paper flower-making, tons of colorful art, and a pre-show by the Mixcoatl Anahuac Aztec dancers, the 30th Street Chorus, and the Solera singers boost the fun — but really they had us at cinnamon-infused Mexican hot chocolate and pan de muerto.” — Marke B.
Sat/3, 2pm, $17.50–$68
Davies Symphony Hall
401 Van Ness, SF.
www.sfsymphony.org
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byZiNaeY6QA

Dark Dark Dark with Emily Wells, Little Teeth
Another great lineup, of swirling, piano-driven Minneapolis Americana (Dark Dark Dark), meeting looping violin prodigy (Emily Wells) meeting snappy local freak-folk (Little Teeth). Headliner Dark Dark Dark – known for effortlessly incorporating European folk, New Orleans jazz, and superlative global influences into its sound – is probably the biggest draw, having just released its third full-length Who Needs Who Oct. 2 on Supply & Demand Music; but the openers are very much worth showing up early for.
Sat/3, 9:30pm, $15
Bottom of the Hill
1233 17th St., SF
www.bottomofthehill.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFdCInn7OtQ

AU
“In my younger and more vulnerable years, certain music videos left definitive scars on my brain. Faith No More’s “Epic” — seemingly an over-the-top ode by Mike Patton to drowning fish and exploding pianos — taught me the meaning of the word in a way that no amount of Greek literature could. Things have largely remained that way until listening to the latest adventurous pop album from Portland’s AU, which opens with another “Epic” — an instrumental soundscape where technical, Hella-tight drumming is joined by impossibly high rising GY!BE guitars as part of a larger Tim-Riggins-winning-the-big-game-triumphant structure. The lexographically challenging track is only the first surprise on the record, and demands a live rendition.” — Ryan Prendiville
With Zammuto
Sat/3, 9pm, $15
Independent
628 Divisadero, SF
www.theindependentsf.com

Giants sweep the World Series, city goes buck

Andrew Lam

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October 29, 2012

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Praise Scutaro, the Giants swept the World Series last night. And San Franciscans, loose after a brilliant sunny day in the city, with ample practice from the Giants’ victory two years ago, and half dressed in their Halloween costumes, acted accordingly. Photographer Charles Russo was on hand to capture everything from the cheers in Civic Center Plaza to the fires that were lit on Mission Street late last night. Not pictured: champagne geysers, the orange-and-black celebration of choice in 2012.

Win tickets: Killing My Lobster does not fear the end

Maria Poblet

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October 26, 2012

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Win tickets: Killing My Lobster does not fear the end

KML turns to a subject that’s in the back of everyone’s mind: the end of the world. The irrepressible comedic stars of KML do not plan on going gentle into that good night. They plan on going out doubled over with laughter, and they want to take as many of us with them as possible. For three weeks in November, they’ll be performing what may very well be the last sketch comedy show on Earth in a fortified concrete bunker at the Intersection for the Arts. And they’re inviting you to have the last laugh with them!

Zombies, the Rapture, bucket lists, and the finer points of post-apocalyptic cuisine are just a few of the subjects this gritty, ragtag band of renegade Lobsters will resurrect from the ashes of our once-proud civilization.

For more information visit this link. Click here to purchase tickets.

To win a pair of tickets to an opening weekend performance, email your full name and preferred show (Fri/2 or Sat/3) to sfbgpromos@sfbg.com by Monday, October 29 at noon. Winners will be notified via email that day.

Thursday, November 1 thru Sunday, November 18 | Thursdays, Fridays & Saturdays at 8pm and Sundays at 7pm; Two shows on November 17 (7pm & 10pm) @ Intersection for the Arts, 925 Mission, SF

Profiling those who rely on HANC, which the city is evicting (VIDEO)

Sasha Cuttler

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October 25, 2012

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Profiling those who rely on HANC, which the city is evicting (VIDEO)

The Haight Ashbury Neighborhood Council’s (HANC) Recycling Center has fought for the past decade to stay in its tiny corner of Golden Gate Park, behind Kezar stadium, and it may be days from closing. It’s been served with eviction notices from the city and weathered political tirades from politicians on pulpits, and most recently, saw its eviction appeal denied by California’s Supreme Court.

The recycling center, which has been in operation since 1974, wouldn’t be the only loss to the Haight either. Both a community garden and San Francisco native plant nursery are on the site, under the umbrella name of Kezar Gardens. After an eviction for the recycling center, all three would go.

So in what may be their last days, the Guardian decided to take a look at who is a part of the recycling center’s community. What keeps them coming back – even in the face of eviction? While the final eviction date is nebulous, the reasons for it are not: as the Haight gentrified, more and more neighbors complained about the site’s surrounding homeless population, the noise the recycling center makes, and every other NIMBY complaint in the book.

Contrary to the usual complaints of the recycling center and gardens attracting numerous homeless people, the people detailed in the stories below reflect a diverse community. And there were far more stories that we didn’t include: the busy head of a nonprofit who gardens to keep his sanity, or the two brothers who bring in their recyclables every week as a way for their parents to teach them responsibility. And they’re not the only people who depend on the recycling center and gardens.

“One of the problems [with evicting HANC] is that the small businesses in the area depend on the service of the center,” Sup. Christina Olague, who representing the area, told us. “We don’t want to see it relocated out of the area.”

Olague said that although ideas for a mobile recycling center or a relocation have been batted around, nothing is concrete yet. The Mayor’s Office, the Recreations and Parks Department, and HANC were all going to have more meetings and try to come to a solution that would benefit all sides, she said.

The recycling center and gardens aren’t going down without their supporters making a clamor. They developed a feature documentary about their struggles, titled 780 Frederick. Directed by Soumyaa Kapil Behrens, the film will play at the San Francisco International Film Festivals “Doc Fest” on Nov. 11.

Until then, here’s a glimpse at some of the people who make up the community at the HANC Recycling Center and Kezar Gardens.

Greg Gaar, Native Plant Nursery Caretaker

Longtime groundskeeper and recycling guru Greg Gaar will soon be out of a job, only a year after single-handedly starting a native plant nursery in the Haight Ashbury that serves more than 100 people.

Gaar is the caretaker of the Kezar Garden nursery. He raises Dune Tansy, Beach Sagewort, Coast Buckwheat and Bush Monkey – all plants originally born and bred from the dunes of old San Francisco.

“I do it because I worship nature, to me that’s god,” Gaar said. He spoke of the plants reverently.

The native plants aren’t as bombastically colorful as the rest of Golden Gate Park, he said, which Gaar calls “European pleasure gardens,” but they’re hearty and durable, like Gaar himself.

Gaar has a weathered face from years of working in the open air, and he grinned large as he talked about his plants. His grey beard comes down a few inches, giving him the look of a spry Santa Claus. Gaar has a history of embracing the counterculture, much like the Haight itself. In 1977, he made his first foray into activism.

At the time, wealthy developers in the city wanted to develop buildings and houses on Tank Hill, one of the few remaining lands of San Francisco with native growth. “Two percent of the city right now has native plants,” he said. It’s a travesty to him, but he did his part to prevent it.

Gaar led the charge against the redevelopers by putting up posters and flyers, and fighting them tooth and nail for the land through old fashioned San Francisco rallying.

In the end, the counterculture activists won, and the city of San Francisco bought the land back from the developers, keeping it for the public trust. The long-ago battle over Tank Hill was a victory, but the fight for the Haight Ashbury Recycling Center may already be lost.

Gaar has deep ties to the recycling center. Among his friends are two ravens, Bobbie and Regina, who recognize Gaar since the first time he fed them 16 years ago. Occasionally, he says, they’ll accompany him on his rounds around the park. The ravens aren’t the only friends he’s made through the recycling center.

They have many patrons looking to make a few bucks off of cans and bottles, many of which are poverty-struck or homeless. Gaar darkened as he spoke of them, because over the years he has lost many friends he’s made through work. The recycling center is a community, and those that are lost are often memorialized in the garden that Gaar grew with his own hands.

In the San Francisco Chronicle, columnist C. W. Nevius frequently calls out the nursery as a “last ditch effort” on the part of the recycling center to stave off closure and legitimize its own existence. In reality, the nursery was brainstormed years before the controversy through Gaar’s inspiration.

Though Nevius may not agree with the ethos Gaar has brought to the recycling center, the city of San Francisco must trust him. The Recreation and Parks Department has offered him a job planting native plants around Golden Gate Park, which is Gaar is welcome to after the recycling center closes. But taking care of native plants is more than a job to Gaar, it’s a calling.

“Isn’t it amazing that we exist on one of the sole planets we know of that supports life?” Gaar said with wide eyes. He sees his job as preserving the natural order, working to keep alive the plants that were part of the city before the first arrival of the spaniards.

Gaar, much like his plants, is part of a shrinking population of the city: the San Francisco native. When the recycling center closes, he’ll be able to spread native plants across Golden Gate Park, another rebel cause in a life of green activism.

Kristy Zeng, loyal daughter

Kristy Zeng, 30, talked about everything she does for her family in a matter of fact tone, as if none of it took effort, patience or loyalty.

As she talked, Zeng unloaded over six trash cans worth of recyclables into colored bins. At home, she has two young girls waiting for her, ages three and one, she said. The money she gets from the recyclables is small, but necessary – not for herself, but for her mother.

“My mom’s primary job is this one,” she said. Zeng’s mother is 62 and speaks no English. In the eight years she’s been in San Francisco since immigrating from China, she hasn’t been able to find a job.

“People look at her and say she’s too old,” Zeng said. “She’s too near retirement age.”

So Zeng’s mother hauls cans in her shopping cart every day to earn her keep. She’s one of the folks you can spot around town foraging in bins outside people’s homes, collecting recyclables from picnic-goers in parks, and asking for empties from local bars. The money she earns is just enough to pay for her food.

Even between her husband’s two jobs, Zeng said her family doesn’t have quite enough to fully support her mother. The recyclable collecting is vital income, Zeng said. She and her extended family all live in the Sunset and Outer Richmond, though she wishes they could find a place big enough to live together.

The Haight Ashbury Recycling Center is just close enough to make the chore worth the trip. Zeng was surprised to hear that the center was near closure.

“I would have to find a job,” she said. She usually watches her infant and toddler while her husband is at work. “Mom can’t babysit them, her back isn’t so good. It’s too hard.”

It’s not so bad though, she said, because at 30 years old, Zeng is still young and can handle the extra work. But if the recycling center closed, Zeng and her mom would both have to find a new way to make ends meet.

Steven and Brian Guan learn responsibility

At about five feet tall, wearing an oversized ball-cap and dwarfed by the man-sized jacket he wore, Brian Guan, 12, definitely stood out at the Haight Ashbury Recycling Center. All around him, grisly old men hauled bins full of cans and bottles – but he didn’t pay them any mind.

Brian had his older brother Steven Guan, 14, to look out for him. Together they hauled in four bags worth of recyclables in plastic bags, walking straight to the empty bins as if it were a routine they’d done a dozen times before.

Which, of course, they had.

“I’ve been doing this for at least a year,” Steven said. Though he looks totally comfortable, the chore definitely introduced him to a different crowd than he’s used to.

The recycling center’s clientele of homeless folks, and people generally older than 14, don’t really bother him, he said. “It’s kinda weird, but it’s no big deal.” Besides, he said, he’s happy to help out his family, who spend a lot of time working.

“My mom works in a hotel, and she collects the cans and stuff there.” His dad does the same.

Their mom is a maid, and dad is a bellhop, working in separate hotels downtown. Steven didn’t know if the money they collect each week was vital for his family’s income, but he does know that the haul isn’t very much.

“It’s usually only like $10,” he said.

So was it even worth the trip? Steven said that if he wasn’t helping out his parents by bringing in recyclables, he’d probably be “at home doing nothing.” A Washington High School student, he doesn’t play on any sports teams and isn’t in any clubs. He spends the majority of his time helping out his family.

The way he figures it, he said, the chore is meant to teach him responsibility.

It looks like it worked.

Dennis Horsluy, a principled man

A lot of the patrons haul cans and bottles to the Haight Ashbury Recycling Center out of need: to feed themselves, clothe themselves, and live. Dennis Horsluy, 44, does not count himself as one of those people.

“It’s pocket change,” Horsluy said. But despite the cost, he’s going to get every red penny back from the government that he’s owed through the California Redemption Value charges on cans and bottles. “It’s just the right thing to do.”

Horsluy said that Sunset Scavenger, now known as Recology, has a stranglehold on San Francisco’s recycling and trash.

“If you leave your recyclables on the curb, it’s like taxation without representation,” he said. You pay for it whether you want to or not. In his own version of “sticking it to the man,” Horsluy makes sure his recycling dollars get back into his hands.

Horsluy is a displaced auto-worker who has only just recently found work again. “I made plenty, and now I make nothing,” he said.

A family man, he has a daughter at Lowell High School, and a son at Stuart Hall High School. He thinks San Francisco has problems much weightier than closing the recycling center, such as the school lottery system that almost had him sending his kids far across town for school.

Horsluy wasn’t surprised that some of the Haight locals had managed to finally oust the recycling center, considering they’ve been complaining for years about how it attracts many of the local homeless population to the area. “I’m sure it’s a problem for the neighbors with their million-dollar homes,” he said.

But the homeless were a problem long before the Haight Ashbury Recycling Center, Horsluy said. San Francisco has a history of generosity, and so it draws more of the needy. Horsluy will be fine without the recycling center, he said, but the more poverty stricken patrons of the center may not be.

“They’re just trying to survive.”

Chris Dye, gardening his troubles away

Some people drink to forget. Chris Dye, 44, does something similar — he gardens to forget.

While watering the plot of greens he calls his own, Dye spun a yarn that sounded like a San Francisco version of a country song. His ex-wife bleeds his paychecks dry, and he had to leave his dream job at the National Parks Service to make ends meet in Information Technology, a job he pictures as the last place he’d like to be.

He regained a bit of peace in his ordeals through a hardcore passion for San Francisco native plants. “I found a rare kind of phacelia clinging to life in the cement at City College,” Dye said. “You know, down by the art building? When I saw it, I sketched it.”

A day later though it was gone, he said. He fell silent in what was almost a reverent moment for the rare native plant he spotted. Dye is on a personal mission to revive native San Franciscan plants.

The Kezar Gardens give Dye a chance to grow for himself all the interesting native plants he’s interested in. Inspired by the native plant nursery’s caretaker, Greg Gaar, he rattles off all the near-extinct species he’s been able to see and raise. “For me, it’s a personal experiment to figure all this out.”

It’s not all about leafy activism though. Sometimes, it’s just about a good meal. Dye snapped off a leaf and crushed it with his fingers. “This is Hummingbird Sage,” he said, holding it up to his nose for a sniff. “Mix this into a little olive oil, and rub it all over your pot roast, or whatever. It’s fucking amazing.”

Lael and Genevieve Dasgupta

Four-year-old Genevieve marched around the table by the garden, watching as a woman carves a pumpkin for Halloween.

Genevieve and her mother, Lael Dasgupta, recycle there in the Haight once a week, as part of Dasgupta’s hope to get her to learn at a young age about eco-responsibility. They don’t use one of the garden plots in the community garden, because they have a communal backyard at home. They do use some of Greg Gaar’s native plants in their garden, for decoration.

Dasgupta has mostly practical reasons for recycling. “It brings us about $40 to $50 a week… That’s a lot of money,” Dasgupta said.

But despite the location of several other recycling centers in the city, why does Dasgupta bring Genevieve here?

“Dirt, dirt dirt,” she said. “Its just good for her to play in the dirt, and build a healthy immune system. The other recycling centers aren’t as charming.”

Dasgupta said that if Kezar Gardens and the Haight Ashbury Recycling Center were to close, she wouldn’t relish taking her daughter out to the Bayview recycling center. She’s been there, and didn’t enjoy the experience. It’s easy to see that the two are comfortable at Kezar Gardens. Folks around the gardens all seem to know Genevieve, who marches around the place without fear.

The woman who was carving the pumpkins handed one to Genevieve for her to play with. The young girl promptly set to the pumpkin with a marker, making what could be either a set of incomprehensible squiggly lines, or the Milky Way galaxy, depending on your perspective.

Get in free: Smithsfits’ Hateful of Hallow-ween Edition Feat. Gary War!

Maria Poblet

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October 25, 2012

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Get in free: Smithsfits’ Hateful of Hallow-ween Edition Feat. Gary War!

This is the time of year Smithsfits was made for: Halloweenn, duh. Musically and for dancing, it’s a perfect amalgamation of The Smiths and Misfits. In general, it is one of the best dance parties in the Mission. DJ Yulebesorry serves up all the hits and then some, and this time around there will be a costume contest with a $100 prize and a Hamm Job (note: a Hamm Job is a can of Hamms and a shot. Further note: be there no later than 11pm to sign up for costume contest).

Gary War (Sacred Bones, Spectrum Pools) will be opening the evening, and then it’s off to Seattle so catch him while you can. He will most certainly liven up the evening with his brand of video game music mixed with warm fuzz and spooky vocoded vocals. Check it out, fans of Futureworld-era Trans Am and John Maus:

The Guardian has a few guest list spots to give away. To win, like the Guardian on Facebook and write “I want to see Gary War at Smithsfits for free.” Winners will be chosen on Friday at noon.

Saturday, October 27 at 9pm-2am @ The Knockout, 3223 Mission, SF | $6

This week in sex events: Free Internet anti-porn and sex nerd heaven

Andrew Lam

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October 25, 2012

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What to do when Halloween rolls around, but you’re already slutty 365 days a year? Up the ante with one of this week’s sex events, because you’re more than just an awkwardly-gender-coded bag of crap from Spirit.

Quickies Indie Erotic Short Film Festival

Once a year, locally-born sex toy behemoth Good Vibrations gives us an opportunity to don a Halloween costume, kick back in a historic theater, and watch ourselves have sex. This would be Good Vibes’ annual erotic short film competition, which welcomes sensual submissions featuring sexualities of all stripes, vanilla and kink alike, and all manner of core, rock-hard to whisper-soft. This year, sexologist-about-town Carol Queen and drag cinenova Peaches Christ host the affair, whose audience-selected winner will take home a cool $1,500.

Pre-party 7pm, $10; screening 8pm, $10

Castro Theatre

429 Castro, SF

(415) 621-6120

www.castrotheatre.com

Australian animated genitals await you at Quickies

Good Vibrations Sex Summit

And the fun need not end in the Castro. “Sex nerd” is becoming one of those that’s-so-San-Francisco identities, right up there with “proud wearer of cock rings.” Bawdy Storytelling based an entire show ‘n’ tell session around the concept this year, and now you can spend an entire Saturday (bonus if it’s bright and sunny out) getting into the nitty-gritty of desire, lecture style! Good Vibes hosts this day of panels and keynote talks by all kinds of sexperts. Topics up for discussion include “Regulating Pleasure: Sex, Politics and Censorship,” “Outspoken/Unsaid: Sex and Media,” “Pills, Profits and Pleasures: Sexual Health and Pharmaceuticals,” and “Sexual Stargazing: Sex and Pop Culture.” Attendees get in free to Friday night’s erotic film festival at the Castro. Make a weekend of it, nerd!

Sat/27 8:30am-9pm, $69-99

Marriot Marquis Hotel

www.goodvibessexsummit.com

XXX Apocalypse Funhouse

This Halloween season, hightail to the one haunted house where you don’t have to be embarassed about getting the pants scared off you (and yes, this is the perfect opportunity to look at those photos again.) Kinky Salon hosts a spooky, two-night edition of its vampire kink orgy (all orientations, all the time.) This weekend look for zombie strippers, Satanic rituals gone sexy, and tunes by DJ Fact 50.

Fri/26 Sat/27, 10pm, $25-35

Mission Control

2519 Mission, SF

www.missioncontrolsf.org

Poetry class for sex workers

Poet Zhayra Palma is teaching four sessions (they started Oct. 23) of writing workshops for people in the sex industry, because really who has better stories than them? (Sorry, Muni drivers.) Come if you’d like your poetry demystified, your voice unleashed, your writing workshops taking place in the most amazing library of sex lit in San Francisco.

Tuesdays through Nov. 13, 4-6pm, free

Center for Sex and Culture

1349 Mission, SF

www.sexandculture.org

As this trailer of Somebody’s Daughter clearly shows, when women become sex workers they become mice.

White Ribbon Against Pornography Week

Through some odd vagary in conservative PR-think, I am on the press list for Morality in Media, a batshit crazy anti-porn organization who sends me important tidings like the fact that adult filmmakers are voting for Obama. Thusly, I have been alerted to the fact that next week will be chockful of free livestreams of sure-to-be-hilarious-if-you’re-not-terrified anti-porn flicks (like this documentary of a real-life pastor’s son who “felt a call from God” to marry a sex worker. Lucky her), seminars on how to spy on your child/limit their ability to access information, and psuedo scientific talks on porn addiction. I suggest masturbating to all of it.

Various online events, Sun/28-Nov.4, free

www.pornharms.com

Protest the Weiner bill

Though public nudity is currenty legal in our fair city, your right to strut like a peacock may be in danger — Supervisor Scott Weiner has submitted an anti-nudity piece of legislation that woud make everyone put their clothes on. Should that rub you the wrong way, join this protest in the middle of the city to show your true colors. Clothing very much optional. After the chanting, head to the Center for Sex and Culture to estatic dance the night away with Seattle DJ Jules O’Keefe.

Protest: Tue/30, noon, free

City Hall

1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett

After-party: Tue/30, 7pm, free (all-ages)

Center for Sex and Culture

1349 Mission, SF

www.mynakedtruth.tv

Skipping Bridge School: a happenstance Saturday in San Francisco

Tony Robles

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October 24, 2012

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For me, things usually go better when the unexpected happens, like this past weekend when my half-assed plans to attend Saturday’s installment of Neil Young’s Bridge School Benefit Concert fell through. Instead of seeing Axl, as he reportedly flubbed the lyrics to “Welcome to the Jungle,” I stayed local to witness part of a San Francisco tradition and later, one of the more sensory provoking and delightfully weirdo art performances I’ve seen in a while. This surprise night out-on-the town turned out to be a success.

First, I headed to the 20th Annual Clarion Alley Block Party (much later than I had intended) after taking note that both Swiftumz and Apogee Sound Club had daytime sets. By the time I got there, it was nightfall. Most of the bands had already played and I missed the only acts I was familiar with.

In a rush to catch whatever I could, I whizzed by the famously muraled alley’s perimeter so I could enter from Valencia Street. I was surprised to hear what sounded like 1990s grunge leaking from the crevices between crammed houses; I entered the free event and joined the crowd for what was apparently an unannounced performance by Two Gallants.

People perched on a rooftop, much like the audience below, were treated to songs I recognized from their first album in five years, The Bloom and the Blight. I’ve been told their live shows are really good and after listening to them deliver a heavy, yet melodic set for my first time, I too was convinced. The guy standing next to me said it was cool for the duo to come back and play Clarion for free after blowing up, considering they’re both so symbolic of San Francisco.

This, however, would be a mere snack before the main course that was to come. Sure, I stopped off at Arinell’s for a slice, but that’s not even what I’m talking about. My next stop would be The Lab on 16th Street for night two of San Diego performance project Cathedral X’s weekend residency. My only frame of reference was that I was in for some eerie frequencies and that there was the potential for nudity.

Since I was already in the Mission, I headed to the art space at 9:30 (that unfashionable time when it’s too early for people to go to a show). Right off the bat, I heard ESG rotating from a chic Lucite turntable stand and took it as a good sign of where the night would go. Next to the DJ was a young woman in what looked like a witches hat giving tarot readings. I had time to kill and the vibe was already awkward, so I figured, why the hell not?

I sat down and trusted that the oracle would have some kind of mystical wisdom for me. I ended up paying a hefty price (I didn’t see her $20 suggested donation sign until halfway through the reading) but definitely got some good feedback on how to look into my past in order to move forward. That may sound generic, but it’s because I’m sparing you the in-depth details of what virtually ended up being a therapy session.

Oakland’s Straight Crimes opened; both the drummer and guitarist did a fine job, but I couldn’t help but notice how out of place the duo seemed in such a sterile environment. They admitted it felt like being an art installment (in a sense they were) and said just the night before they’d played a squat in the East Bay; which I assumed matched their punk aesthetic far better. But the night’s theme was experimentation and by stepping out of those pre-conceived constructs, the event pushed boundaries – and with Cathedral X, that’s exactly what we got.

The spirit of Yoko Ono records from some 40 years ago were recalled when jarring shrieks coming from a blindfolded woman entered the room. She was joined by her fellow blindfolded performers, a man and another woman, as they stumbled around the room while the audience politely moved out of harm’s way. Meanwhile, an unassuming man dressed quite plainly in jeans played drone synthesizer and aforementioned eerie tones from the sidelines.

It took me a while to get into it and I thought I was in for a night of performance art clichés, but once I noticed there was substance to the music and that the interpreters were more than just props going through the motions and were integral to the group’s overall sound, I started to enjoy myself.

Highlights included the climactic moment when two women emerged bare-chested, faces obscured by hoods, but connected by bondage. Music every bit as moody as Tangerine Dream’s soundtrack to Firestarter played in the background while they attempted to separate from one another silently, but the chains would not relent. Ultimately they failed and collapsed out of exhaustion accepting a fate of sensory deprivation and togetherness for what could be eternity.

If it takes a visit from a San Diego group to help keep San Francisco weird, then I’m all for supporting this. The audience seemed to like it too.

Rep Clock

Andrew Lam

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October 23, 2012

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Schedules are for Wed/24-Tue/30 except where noted. Director and year are given when available. Double and triple features marked with a •. All times pm unless otherwise specified.

ARTISTS’ TELEVISION ACCESS 992 Valencia, SF; www.atasite.org. $6-10. "Fragile Memories: Images of Japan," with Ute Aurand in person, Thu, 7:30. More info on this event at www.sfcinematheque.org. "Emergent Phenomena: The Computational Cinema of Gregg Biermann," Fri, 8. "Other Cinema:" "Divine’s Secrets of the Paranormal," with Christian Divine in person, Sat, 8:30. More info on this event at www.othercinema.com.

BALBOA 3630 Balboa, SF; www.cinemasf.com. $7.50-15. "City Scenes 7:" The Wiz (Lumet, 1978), with live performance by Harry and the Hitmen, Thu, 9 (music at 8). Halloween (Carpenter, 1978), Tue/30 and Oct 31, 10pm. New HD transfer; screens with a short doc about the film’s impact.

BERKELEY COMMUNITY MEDIA 2239 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way, Berk; www.betv.org. $5-10. "BCM Horror Film Festival," featuring works by local indie filmmakers, Sat, 7.

BERKELEY FELLOWSHIP OF UNITARIAN UNIVERSALISTS’ HALL 1924 Cedar, Berk; www.heist-themovie.com. $5-10. Heist: Who Stole the American Dream? (Causey and Goldmacher, 2011), Fri, 7.

CASTRO 429 Castro, SF; (415) 621-6120, www.castrotheatre.com. $8.50-11. •Cosmopolis (Cronenberg, 2012), Wed, 2, 7, and Fight Club (Fincher, 1999), Wed, 4, 9:10. •Dracula (Badham, 1979), Thu, 2:30, 7, and Cat People (Schrader, 1982), Thu, 4:35, 9:05. "Good Vibrations’ Seventh Annual Quickies Short Erotic Film Competition," Fri, 8. More info on this event at www.goodvibesquickies.com. "An Evening with Alton Brown," Sat, 7pm. This event, $35; more info at www.bayareascience.org. Contagion (Soderbergh, 2011), Sun, 7. Sign up for free tickets at contagion.eventbrite.com. •The Cabin in the Woods (Goddard, 2011), Tue, 7:30, and House of 1,000 Corpses (Zombie, 2002), Tue, 9:25.

CHRISTOPHER B. SMITH RAFAEL FILM CENTER 1118 Fourth St, San Rafael; (415) 454-1222, www.cafilm.org. $6.75-$10.25. Fat Kid Rules the World (Lillard, 2012), Wed-Thu, call for times. "Science on Screen: Math = Magic: How Science Powers Pixar’s Animation," Sun, 7. This event, $12.

CITY COLLEGE OF SAN FRANCISCO Ocean Campus, 50 Phelan, SF; concert@ccsf.edu. Free. Salaam Dunk (Fine, 2011), Wed, 7. With filmmaker David Fine in person.

DAVIES SYMPHONY HALL 201 Van Ness, SF; www.sfsymphony.org. $20-60. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Wiene, 1920) with "Camera Man’s Revenge" (Starewicz, 1912), Tue, 7. With a mini-recital and live accompaniment by organist Cameron Carpenter.

EMBARCADERO One Embarcadero Center, SF; www.sffs.org. $12-13. "French Cinema Now:" Camille Rewinds (Lvovsky, 2012), Wed, 6:30 and Sat, 3:30; Donoma (Carrenard, 2011), Wed, 9:15 and Sun, 1:30; Aliyah (Wajeman, 2012), Thu, 6:30 and Mon, 9; My Worst Nightmare (Fontaine, 2011), Thu, 8:45 and Sat, 6:30; All Together (Robelin, 2011), Fri, 4 and Sat, 1:15; Mobile Home (Pirot, 2012), Fri, 6:30 and Sun, 9; A World Without Women (Brac, 2011) with "Stranded" (Brac, 2009), Fri, 9:15 and Sun, 6:30; Hors Satan (Dumont, 2011), Sat, 9 and Mon, 6:15; Louise Wimmer (Mennegun, 2011), Sun, 4:30 and Tue, 9; Sister (Meier, 2011), Tue, 6:15.

HUMANIST HALL 390 27th St, Oakl; www.humanisthall.net. $5. Genetic Roulette (Smith, 2012), Wed, 6:30. With a pre-film potluck and post-film discussion with Dr. Michelle Perro.

PACIFIC FILM ARCHIVE 2575 Bancroft, Berk; (510) 642-5249, bampfa.berkeley.edu. $5.50-9.50. "Alternative Visions:" "Intimate Portraits: Films of Ute Aurand" (2011), with Ute Aurand in person, Wed, 7. "Life is Short: Nikkatsu Studios at 100:" The Young Rebel (Suzuki, 1963), Thu, 7; Elegy to Violence (Suzuki, 1966), Sat, 8:10. "Grand Illusions: French Cinema Classics, 1928-1960:" Remorques (Grémillon, 1941), Fri, 7; Lumière d’été (Grémillon, 1943), Fri, 8:45; Le ciel est à vous (Grémillon, 1944), Sun, 5. "An Army of Phantoms: American Cinema and the Cold War:" Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Siegel, 1956), Sat, 6:30. "LA Rebellion: Creating a New Black Cinema:" "Black Arts, Black Artists: Short Films" (1971-78), Sun, 7; Child of Resistance (Gerima, 1972), plus short films, Tue, 7.

ROXIE 3117 and 3125 16th St, SF; (415) 863-1087, www.roxie.com. $6.50-10. "Not Necessarily Noir III:" Peur sur la ville (a.k.a. Night Caller/Fear Over the City) (Verneuil, 1975), Wed, 6:10, 10:15; The Burglars (Verneuil, 1971), Wed, 8; White of the Eye (Cammell, 1987), Thu, 6, 10:45; Manhunter (Mann, 1986), Thu, 8:15; Eyes of Laura Mars (Kershner, 1978), Fri, 6, 10:30; Body Double (De Palma, 1984), Fri, 8:15; Something Wild (Demme, 1986), Sat, 1, 5:15, 9:30; Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (Black, 2005), Sat, 3:15, 7:30; Cisco Pike (Norton, 1972), Sun, 1, 5:15, 9:40; Who’ll Stop the Rain (Reisz, 1978), Sun, 2:45, 7:15; Night of the Following Day (Cornfield, 1968), Mon, 6:30, 10; After Dark My Sweet (Foley, 1990), Mon, 8; Sugar Hill (Maslansky, 1974), Tue, 6:10, 10; Ganja and Hess (Gunn, 1973), Tue, 8. Bel Borba Aqui (Sun and Costantini, 2012), Wed-Thu, 6:45, 8:40.

TANNERY 708 Gilman, Berk; berkeleyundergroundfilms.blogspot.com. Donations accepted. "Berkeley Underground Film Society:" •The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Wiene, 1921), and Nosferatu (Murnau, 1922), Sun, 7:30.

"UNITED NATIONS ASSOCIATION FILM FESTIVAL" Various Bay Area venues; www.unaff.org. $10-75. Documentary films about human rights and social justice issues, through Sun/28.

VORTEX ROOM 1082 Howard, SF; Facebook: The Vortex Room. $7. "Don’t Fear the Vortex:" •Bad Ronald (Kulik, 1974), Thu, 9, and Who Killed Teddy Bear (Cates, 1965), Thu, 11.

WAR MEMORIAL COMMUNITY CENTER 6655 Mission, Daly City; facinefest.wordpress.com. Free-$5. "Facine/19," festival of films from the Philippines and the Filipino diaspora, Fri-Sat.

YERBA BUENA CENTER FOR THE ARTS 701 Mission, SF; www.ybca.org. $6-10. "Bullets and Bikinis: Three by Andy Sidaris:" Savage Beach (1989), Thu, 7:30; •Hard Ticket to Hawaii (1987), Sat, 7:30, and Picasso Trigger (1988), Sat, 9:30. Cage/Cunningham (Caplan, 1991), Sun, 2. Free admission. *

Stage Listings

Andrew Lam

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October 23, 2012

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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.

THEATER

OPENING

Elektra Geary Theater, 415 Geary, SF; www.act-sf.org. $20-110. Previews Thu/25-Sat/27 and Tue/30, 8pm (also Sat/27, 2pm). Opens Oct 31, 8pm. Runs Wed-Sat and Nov 13, 8pm (also Nov 3, 7, 10, and 17, 2pm); Sun, 2pm (also Nov 4, 7pm). Through Nov 18. Academy Award winner Olympia Dukakis stars in Sophocles’ Greek tragedy.

The Hundred Flowers Project Thick House, 1695 18th St, SF; www.crowdedfire.org. $10-35. Previews Thu/25-Fri/26, 8pm. Opens Mon/29, 8pm. Runs Wed-Sat, 8pm. Through Nov 17. Crowded Fire Theater presents the world premiere of Christopher Chen’s election-year drama about a theater company who get carried away while working on a play about Mao Tse Tung and the birth of modern China.

Lost Love Mojo Theatre, 2940 16th St, Ste 217, SF; www.mojotheatre.com. $28. Opens Wed/24, 8pm. Runs Wed-Sat, 8pm. Through Nov 17. Peter Papadopoulos directs the West Coast premiere of his climate-change comic tragedy at Mojo Theatre.

Phaedra’s Love Bindlestiff Studios, 185 Sixth St, SF; www.doitliveproductions.com. $15. Opens Sat/27, 8pm. Runs Wed-Sat, 8pm. Through Nov 17. Do It Live! Productions presents Sarah Kane’s reinvention of the Phaedra myth.

The Rainmaker Shelton Theater, 533 Sutter, SF; www.sheltontheater.org. $38. Opens Fri/26, 8pm. Runs Fri-Sat, 8pm. Through Dec 22. Shelton Theatre preforms N. Richard Nash’s classic drama.

BAY AREA

The Sound of Music Julia Morgan Theatre, 2640 College, Berk; www.berkeleyplayhouse.org. $15-35. Previews Thu/25, 7pm; Sat/27, 2pm. Opens Sat/27, 7pm. Runs Thu-Sat, 7pm (also Sat, 2pm); Sun, noon and 5pm. Through Dec 2. Berkeley Playhouse opens its fifth season with the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical.

ONGOING

And That’s What Little Girls Are Made Of Tides Theatre, 533 Sutter, SF; www.whatgirlsaremadeof.com. $20-30. Thu-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. Through Nov 4. Jennifer Wilson’s multimedia play chronicles her attempts to break into the male-dominated world of venture capital funds.

Bound By Blood Boxcar Theatre Playhouse, 505 Natoma, SF; www.ianiroproductions.com. $20. Thu/25-Sat/27, 8pm. Opening on the heels of ACT’s production of The Normal Heart, local theater-maker Eric Inman’s Bound By Blood also explores the devastating human fallout of the AIDS crisis as experienced by the two families — one of blood relations and one of chosen friends — of a young gay man, whose death affects them all. Appearing onstage both as a ghost and in a series of flashbacks, Justin Walker (played by Inman) deals with his fear of dying by ditching his meds in favor of drink, and his fear of coming out to his conservative family by postponing the inevitable until it’s too late, leaving his friends holding the burden of his inconvenient truth in their unwilling hands. Awkward moments abound as Justin’s buddies ponder the ethics of outing him posthumously, as his mother (Sally Hogarty) and sister (CC Sheldon) bicker incessantly and his erstwhile "beard" Alice (Abigail Edber) pluckily spearheads the funeral planning. This is Inman’s first full-length play, which helps to explain the often-clunky dialogue and under-developed characters that unfortunately obscure the play’s dramatic potential, but the ideals he champions within — tolerance, self-acceptance, integrity, loyalty, love — are ones well worth exploring, even imperfectly. (Gluckstern)

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

Fat Pig Boxcar Theatre Studio, 125A Hyde, SF; www.brownpapertickets.com. $20. Thu-Sat, 8pm. Through Nov 10. Theater Toda presents Neil LaBute’s dark comedy about a man who faces scrutiny from his friends when he falls for a plus-sized woman.

Fierce Love: Stories From Black Gay Life New Conservatory Theatre Center, 25 Van Ness, SF; www.nctcsf.org. $25-37. Wed/24-Sat/27, 8pm; Sun/28, 2pm. Josie’s Cabaret and Juice Joint, the storied Castro club and venue (which closed in 1999), helped give rise to many celebrated Bay Area and national acts but among those to travel furthest from the nest was Pomo Afro Homos, the queer black trio of Djola Branner, Brian Freeman, and the late Eric Gupton, whose debut piece, Fierce Love: Stories from Black Gay Life, was a groundbreaking mélange of sketch comedy, musical numbers, and poignant stories. The group disbanded in 1995, but New Conservatory Theater Center and AfroSolo are presenting the local debut of its revival and update, helmed by original member Freeman, who also performs in the piece alongside a very sharp trio of younger actors: Duane Boutté, Rashad Pridgen, and Thandiwe Thomas De Shazor. True, not every component in this basic but inspired variety show has aged well — for instance, "Men on Mens," a once-timely spoof of In Living Color‘s then-controversial "Men on&ldots;" sketch series, feels tired, in not downright obscure — but it is impressive how much vitality and charm the show maintains. Whether as entertainment or activism, Fierce Love (Remix) connects to a past and present invigorated by its humor, honesty, and grit. (Avila)

The Fifth Element: Live! Dark Room Theater, 2263 Mission, SF; www.darkroomsf.com. Fri/26-Sat/27, 8pm. Comedic adaptation of the 1997 Luc Besson sci-fi epic.

Foodies! The Musical Shelton Theater, 533 Sutter, SF; www.foodiesthemusical.com. $30-34. Fri-Sat, 8pm (no show Nov 17). Open-ended. AWAT Productions presents Morris Bobrow’s musical comedy revue all about food.

Geezer Marsh San Francisco, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. $30-100. Sat, 8pm; Sun, 7pm. Through Nov 18. Geoff Hoyle’s popular solo show about aging returns.

Love in the Time of Zombies Café Royale, 800 Post, SF; sftheaterpub.wordpress.com. Free ($5 donation suggested). Mon/29-Tue/30, 8pm. San Francisco Theater Pub performs Kirk Shimano’s "rom-zom-com."

The Real Americans Marsh San Francisco, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. $25-50. Fri/26, 8pm; Sat/27, 8:30pm. Dan Hoyle’s hit show, inspired by the people and places he encountered during his 100-day road trip across America in 2009, continues.

Roseanne: Live! Rebel, 1760 Market, SF; www.brownpapertickets.com. $25. Wed, 7 and 9pm (no shows Oct 31). Through Nov 14. Lady Bear, Heklina, D’Arcy Drollinger, and more star in this tribute to the long-running sitcom.

The Scotland Company Exit Theatre, 156 Eddy, SF; www.thunderbirdtheatre.com. $15-25. Thu/25-Sat/27, 8pm. Scotland might be all heroin and acid house à la Irvine Welsh these days (or perhaps not), but back in the beginning, that is to say roughly 1897, it simply didn’t exist at all. Invented whole kilt from the barren region formerly known as "North England" by Queen Victoria’s bumbling Diamond Jubilee committee chair Henry Scot (Austin Madison), Scot-land is ushered onto the map by a band of misfits with outrageous accents, puppet dignitaries, and one incredibly resourceful and underappreciated woman, Wilhemina Pennycandy (Xanadu Bruggers). At least that’s the premise of Thunderbird Theatre’s latest offering The Scotland Company, by Jake Rosenberg. You probably haven’t heard of Jake Rosenberg before, since he’s still a high school student in Marin, but if he’s able to churn out a two-hour historical comedy at the tender age of 16, chances are good that you will hear from him again in the future. True, one hopes that by then he’ll have learned to tone down the boys’ club bellicosity a bit, but where Rosenberg’s dialogue falters, the mostly solid cast — including a flexibly manic Max Bernstein, a buffoonish Jason Topolski, and a deftly gender-bending Rik Lopes — buoys up the pace and births a nation. Also, bagpipes. (Gluckstern)

Shocktoberfest 13: The Bride of Death Hypnodrome, 575 10th St, SF; www.thrillpeddlers.com. $25-35. Thu-Sat, 8pm. Through Nov 17. Thrillpeddlers’ seasonal assortment of yeasty Grand Guignol playlets is a mixed bag of treats, but it all goes so nicely with the autumnal slink into early nights and dark cravings. Fredrick Whitney’s Coals of Fire is lightly amusing, if far from smoking, as a two-hander about a blind older matron (Leigh Crow) who discovers her young companion (Zelda Koznofski, alternating nights with Nancy French) has been secretly schtupping her husband. I’m a Mummy is a short, not very effective musical interlude by Douglas Byng, featuring the bright pair of Jim Jeske and Annie Larson as Mr. and Mrs., respectively. The titular feature, The Bride of Death, written by Michael Phillis and directed by Russell Blackwood, proves a worthy centerpiece, unfolding an intriguing, well-acted tale about a reporter (Phillis) and his photographer (Flynn DeMarco) arriving at a stormy castle to interview a strangely youthful Grand Guignol stage star (Bonni Suval) making her film debut. After another, this time more rousing musical number, Those Beautiful Ghouls (with music and lyrics by Scrumbly Koldewyn; directed and choreographed by D’Arcy Drollinger), comes the evening’s real high point, The Twisted Pair by Rob Keefe, acted to the bloody hilt by leads Blackwood and DeMarco as the titular duo of scientists driven mad by an experimental batch of ‘crazy’ glue. All of it comes capped, of course, by the company’s signature lights-out spook show. (Avila)

"Strindberg Cycle: The Chamber Plays in Rep" Exit on Taylor, 277 Taylor, SF; www.cuttingball.com. $10-50 (festival pass, $75). Previews Thu/25, 7:30pm and Fri/26, 8pm (part two); Nov 1, 7:30pm and Nov 2, 8pm (part three). Opens Sat/27, 8pm (part two) and Nov 3, 8pm (part three). Runs Thu, 7:30pm; Fri-Sat, 8pm (also Sat, 2pm); Sun, 5pm. Through Nov 18. Cutting Ball performs a festival of August Strindberg in three parts: The Ghost Sonata, The Pelican and The Black Glove, and Storm and Burned House.

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

BAY AREA

Acid Test: The Many Incarnations of Ram Dass Marsh Berkeley, 2120 Allston, Berk; www.themarsh.org. $15-50. Thu-Fri, 8pm; Sat, 5pm. Through Nov 24. Lynne Kaufman’s new play stars Warren David Keith as the noted spiritual figure.

Assassins Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby, Berk; www.shotgunplayers.org. $20-30. Wed-Thu, 7pm; Fri-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 5pm. Through Nov 4. Shotgun Players interrupts this season of dreary electoral debates with an important announcement about the country you live in, as the sure and provocative 1990 musical by Stephen Sondheim (music and lyrics) and John Weidman (book) stitches together American history’s odd assortment of successful and failed presidential assassins to explore the darker recesses of the national mythos. Through an eclectic score of deft period-specific songs and the narrative framework of a feverish carnival shooting gallery — overseen by a nefarious proprietor (Jeff Garrett) — a pageant of kooks and rebels parades, beginning with pioneer assassin John Wilkes Booth (an aptly imposing Galen Murphy-Hoffman). He, in turn, acts as a sort of patron saint to those that follow in his footsteps — including Charles Guiteau (Steven Hess), Leon Czolgosz (Dan Saski), Giuseppe Zangara (Aleph Ayin), John Hinckley (Danny Cozart), Sam Byck (Ryan Drummond), Sara Jane Moore (Rebecca Castelli), Squeaky Fromme (Cody Metzger), and of course Lee Harvey Oswald (Kevin Singer, in a part that doubles with that of the Balladeer). Throughout, director Susannah Martin’s strong cast and musical director David Möschler’s lively eight-piece band insure a raucous, thoughtful, and intimate American fever dream. (Avila)

An Iliad Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Roda Theatre, 2015 Addison, Berk; www.berkeleyrep.org. $14.50-77. Tue and Thu-Sat, 8pm (also Sat, 2pm); Wed and Sun, 7pm (also Sun, 2pm). Through Nov 11. Berkeley Rep performs Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare’s Homer-inspired tale.

The Kipling Hotel: True Misadventures of the Electric Pink ’80s Marsh Berkeley, 2120 Allston, Berk; www.themarsh.org. $20-50. Sat, 8:30pm; Sun, 7pm. Extended through Dec 16. This new autobiographical solo show by Don Reed, writer-performer of the fine and long-running East 14th, is another slice of the artist’s journey from 1970s Oakland ghetto to comedy-circuit respectability — here via a partial debate-scholarship to UCLA. The titular Los Angeles residency hotel was where Reed lived and worked for a time in the 1980s while attending university. It’s also a rich mine of memory and material for this physically protean and charismatic comic actor, who sails through two acts of often hilarious, sometimes touching vignettes loosely structured around his time on the hotel’s young wait staff, which catered to the needs of elderly patrons who might need conversation as much as breakfast. On opening night, the episodic narrative seemed to pass through several endings before settling on one whose tidy moral was delivered with too heavy a hand, but if the piece runs a little long, it’s only the last 20 minutes that noticeably meanders. And even with some awkward bumps along the way, it’s never a dull thing watching Reed work. (Avila)

Richard the First: Part One, Part Two, Part Three Berkeley City Club, 2315 Durant, Berk; www.centralworks.org. $14-25. Thu-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 5pm (three-part marathon Sundays, Nov 11 and 18, 2, 5, 8pm). Through Nov 18. This Central Works Method Trilogy presents a rotating schedule of three plays by Gary Graves about the king known as "the Lionheart."

Richard III Live Oak Theatre, 1301 Shattuck, Berk; www.aeofberkeley.org. $12-15. Fri-Sat, 8pm. Through Nov 17. Actors Ensemble of Berkeley performs the Shakespeare classic.

Sex, Slugs and Accordion Marsh Berkeley, 2120 Allston, Berk; www.themarsh.org. $10. Wed, 8pm. Through Nov 14. Jetty Swart, a.k.a. Jet Black Pearl, stars in this "wild and exotic evening of song."

33 Variations TheatreWorks at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro, Mtn View; www.theatreworks.org. $23-73. Wed/24, 7:30pm; Thu/25-Sat/27, 8pm (also Sat/27, 2pm); Sun/28, 2 and 7pm. TheatreWorks performs Moisés Kaufman’s drama about a contemporary musicologist struggling to solve one of Beethoven’s greatest mysteries, and a connecting story about the composer himself.

Within the Wheel Live Oak Park, 1301 Shattuck, Berk; www.raggedwing.org. Free. Thu-Sat, 6pm (last entry 7:30pm; special Halloween show Oct 31). Through Nov 3. Ragged Wing Ensemble presents an immersive performance experience inspired by the Tibetan Book of the Dead.

The World’s Funniest Bubble Show Marsh Berkeley, 2120 Allston, Berk; www.themarsh.org. $8-50. Sun, 11am; Nov 23-25, 11am. Through Nov 25. Louis "The Amazing Bubble Man" Pearl brings his lighter-than-air show back to the Marsh.

PERFORMANCE/DANCE

Alonzo King LINES Ballet Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater, 700 Howard, SF; www.ybca.org. Wed/24-Thu/25, 7:30pm; Fri/26-Sat/27, 8pm; Sun/28, 5pm. $30-65. The company celebrates 30 years with its fall home season.

BATS Improv Bayfront Theater, B350 Fort Mason Center, SF; www.improv.org. Fri/26, 8pm: "This Just In!," $20. Sat/27, 8pm: "Improvised Horror Musical," $20.

"Comedy Bodega" Esta Noche Nightclub, 3079 16th St, SF; www.comedybodega.com. Thu, 8pm. Ongoing. No cover (one drink minumum). This week: Marga Gomez, Natasha Muse, David Hawkins, and Cara Tramantano.

"Dream Queens Revue" Aunt Charlie’s Lounge, 133 Turk, SF; www.dreamqueensrevue.com. Wed/24, 9:30pm. Free. Drag with Collette LeGrande, MC Ruby Slippers, Sophilya Leggz, and more.

"Faces of Nature" Dance Mission Theater, 3316 24th St, SF; www.dancemission.com. Sun/28, 7pm. $15. Solo dance work by Rosangela Silvestre.

"Halloween! The Ballad of Michele Myers" CounterPULSE, 1310 Mission, SF; michelemyers2012.eventbrite.com. Fri-Sun and Oct 31, 8pm. Through Oct 31. $25. Drag superstar Raya Light returns in the seasonally-appropriate horror musical.

"The Hula Show 2012" Palace of Fine Arts, 3301 Lyon, SF; www.naheihulu.org. Fri/26-Sat/27, 8pm; Sun/28, 8pm (children’s matinee Sun/28, noon). $35-90. Na Lei Hulu I Ka Wekiu performs its annual show, featuring a hula satirizing President Obama’s birth certificate controversy.

"An Intimate Evening With Mary Wilson" Venetian Room, Fairmont San Francisco, 950 Mason, SF; www.bayareacabaret.org. Sun/28, 7pm. $40-75. The legendary Motown singer performs her cabaret show.

"John Cage Centennial Celebration" Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission, SF; www.ybca.org. The late, groundbreaking composer is honored with a concert of his Constructions works, Thu/25, 8pm, $10-30; a lecture, "John Cage’s Queer Silence," by scholar Jonathan D. Katz, Sat/27, 2pm, $10; "Musicircus," a performance marathon of close to 40 Cage works, Sun/28, 1-5pm, free; and a screening of the 1991 doc Cage/Cunningham, Sun/28, 2pm, free.

"The Rita Hayworth of This Generation" Marsh, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. Wed/24, 7:30pm, $10-15. Tina D’Elia performs her acclaimed solo show.

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

"Seeking Resolve" Studio B, ODC Commons, 351 Shotwell, SF; www.ziruproductions.com. Fri/26, 8:30pm; Sat/27-Sun/28, 8pm. $20. Philein/ZiRu Productions presents its fifth home season, with new works by Philein Wang, Charles Anderson, Liu Yi Feng, Scott Putman, and Sunny Shen.

"Spiral Dance Ritual" Kezar Pavilion, 755 Stanyan, SF; www.reclaimingspiraldance.org. Sat/27, 7:30pm. $10-100 (sliding scale). The 33rd annual Spiral Dance Ritual is an interactive event using art, music, poetry, and dance to honor the dead and celebrate the "Witches’ and Pagans’ New Year."

"To Bury a Cat: Clown Show" Shotwell Studios, 3252-A 19th St, SF; facebook.com/clownsonastick. Fri-Sat, 8pm. Through Nov 3. $12-20. Clowns on a Stick perform a lighthearted (but macabre!) Halloween show.

*

Music Listings

Andrew Lam

-

October 23, 2012

0

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

WEDNESDAY 24

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Action Jackson, Megaflame Elbo Room. 9pm, $9.

Anadel, Sunrunners El Rio. 9pm, $8.

Cabin Project, Buster Blue, Goat and Feather Hotel Utah. 8pm.

Collie Buddz, New Kingston, Holdup, Los Rakas Fillmore. 8pm, $25.

Crime and the City Solution, Cairo Gang Slim’s. 7:30pm, $28.

Hunter Valentine, Queen Caveat, Echo Twins Cafe Du Nord. 8pm, $8-$10.

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

Jukebox the Ghost, Now, Now Rickshaw Stop. 7:30pm, $12.

Keith Crossan Blues Showcase with Curtis Lawson Biscuits and Blues. 8pm, $15.

Lord Huran, Night Moves Independent. 8pm, $14.

Lost in the Trees, Midtown Dickens, Dana Buoy Bottom of the Hill. 8pm, $12.

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

Rita Ora, Iggy Azalea, Havana Brown Regency Ballroom. 8pm, $30.

Perfume Genius Swedish American Hall. 7:30pm, $15.

Rasputina, Faun Fables Great American Music Hall. 8pm, $16.

White Arrows, Young Digerati, Trails and Ways, Miles the DJ Brick and Mortar Music Hall. 9pm, $10.53-$13.

White Manna, Midday Veil Hemlock Tavern. 8:30pm, $7.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

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

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

Shirley Jones Rrazz Room. 8pm, $40-$45.

Natalie Macmaster Yoshi’s SF. 8pm, $30; 10pm, $25.

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

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

Sofia Talvik Cafe Royale, 800 Post, SF; www.caferoyale-sf.com. 8:30pm, free.

DANCE CLUBS

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

Coo-Yah! Slate Bar, 2925 16th St, SF; www.slate-sf.com. 10pm, free. With Vinyl Ambassador, DJ Silverback, DJs Green B and Daneekah.

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

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

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

THURSDAY 25

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP.

Apogee Sound Club, Bobby Joe Ebola and the Children McNuggits, Love Songs Hemlock Tavern. 8:30pm, $6.

Brother Ali, Blank Tape Beloved, Homeboy Sandman Fillmore. 8pm, $20.

Brother Pacific, Cool Ghouls, Troubadour Dali El Rio. 8pm, $6.

Chum Boom Boom Room. 8pm, $10.

Conspiracy of Beards, Beauty Operators String Band, Condorosa Brick and Mortar Music Hall. 9pm, $7-$10.

Crazy Squeeze, Re-Volts Thee Parkside. 9pm, $7.

Dig, French Cassettes, We Shared Milk, Wild Kindness Cafe Du Nord. 9pm, $10.

Hip Hatchet, Brendan Thomas, Brooke D, Alexis Stevens Amnesia. 9pm, $7-$10.

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

Light Asylum, popscene DJs Rickshaw Stop. 10pm, $13-$15.

Rolando Morales Biscuits and Blues. 8 and 10pm, $15.

Peelander-Z, Electric Eel Shock, Electric Sister Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $10.

Public Image, Ltd. Regency Ballroom. 8:30pm, $42.

Leon Russell Yoshi’s SF. 8pm, $35.

Staff Benda Bilili Slim’s. 8pm, $16-$18.

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

Z-Man, BPos, DJ Troubleman John Colins, 138 Minna, SF; www.johncolins.com. 9pm, $5 after 10pm.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

“John Cage Centennial Celebration” Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission, SF; www.ybca.org. 8pm, $10-$30. “Constructions” for percussion ensemble.

Michael McIntosh Rite Spot Cafe. 9pm, free.

Shirley Jones Rrazz Room. 8pm, $40-$45.

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

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

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

DANCE CLUBS

Afrolicious Elbo Room. 9:30pm, $5-$7. With DJ-hosts Pleasuremaker and Senor Oz.

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

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

FRIDAY 26

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Converge, Torche, Nails, Kvelertak Slim’s. 8pm, $16-$18.

Further Seems Forever, Chris Conley Bottom of the Hill. 9:30pm, $26.

Goodnight, Texas, Elliot Randall and the Deadmen, Jesse Thomas Cafe Du Nord. 9pm, $10-$12.

Lights, Arkells Great American Music Hall. 8pm, $20.

Lila Rose, Birdseye, Emily Moldy, BELI3VER Brick and Mortar Music Hall. 9pm, $12-$15.

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

Mitchel and Manley, Head Boggle, Bad Bad, Abyss of Fathomless Light Bluxome Point, 63 Bluxome, SF; www.bluxomepoint.com. 9pm, $5.

Night of the Living Crreature Thee Parkside. 9pm, free.

Pickwick, Fox and Woman, Black Cobra Vipers Rickshaw Stop. 9pm, $13-$15.

Slough Feg, Skelator, Midnight Chaser Hemlock Tavern. 9:30pm, $10.

Toadies, Helmet, UME Independent. 9pm, $25.

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

Von Goat, Dispirit, Atriach, Altar de Fey Elbo Room. 9pm, $10.

Glenn Walters and the Hoodoo Rhythm Devils Biscuits and Blues. 8Pm, $20.

Wooster Boom Boom Room. 8pm, $10.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

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

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

Shirley Jones Rrazz Room. 8pm, $40-$45.

Allison Lovejoy Rite Spot Cafe. 9pm, free.

Wooden Fish Ensemble San Francisco Public Library, Main Branch, 100 Larkin, SF; (415) 557-4400. 3pm, free.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

Baxtolo Drom Amnesia. 9pm, $7-$10.

DANCE CLUBS

Fedorable Queer Dance Party El Rio. 9pm, free.

Flashback Fridays Mezzanine. 9pm, $30. Halloween 1980s party with Wonder Bread 5, and DJs Omar, Damon Boyle, and Billy Vidal.

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

David Jones Vessel, 85 Campton Place, SF; www.vesselsf.com. 10pm. $20-$30.

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

Trannyshack: Halloween DNA Lounge. 9:30pm, $15. With Heklina, Peaches Christ, Exhibit Q, Elijah Minnelli, Raya Light, and more.

SATURDAY 27

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Asteroids Galaxy Tour Fillmore. 9pm, $20.

Bay Area Heat Johnny Foley’s. 9pm, free.

Nicki Bluhm and the Gramblers, Brothers Comatose Independent. 9pm, $17.

Clamhawk Manorm My Parade Thee Parkside. 3pm, free.

Cult of Youth Hemlock Tavern. 8:30pm, $10.

Fast Times Maggie McGarry’s, 1353 Grant, SF; (415) 339-9020. 10pm, free.

Forrest Day, Ghost and the City, DJ Brother Grimm Rickshaw Stop. 9pm, $10-$12.

Foreverland’s Thriller Halloween Ball Bimbo’s. 9pm, $22.

Wolfgang Gartner, Pierce Fulton and Popeska Regency Ballroom. 9pm, $32-$38.

Here We Go Magic Preservation Hall West at the Chapel, 777 Valencia, SF; www.ticketfly.com. 9pm, $18.

Live Evil Riptide Tavern. 9pm, free.

Mister Loveless, Transfer, Hustle and Drone Thee Parkside. 9pm, $8.

Rod Piazza and the Mighty Flyers Biscuits and Blues. 8 and 10pm, $22.

Red Fang, Black Tusk, Lord Dying Slim’s. 9pm, $15.

Rin Tin Tiger, Doe Eye, Steelwells, Wes Lesley and His Deadly Medley Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $10.

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

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

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

Shirley Jones Rrazz Room. 8pm, $40-$45.

Mr. Lucky and the Cocktail Party Rite Spot Cafe. 9pm, free.

“Not in Our Name: Dia de los Muertos Concert” Brava Theatre, 2781 24 St., SF; www.brava.org. 8pm, $35. With John Santos Sextet.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

Jascha Hoffman sings Caetano Veloso Red Poppy Art House. 8pm, $10.

Will Magid’s World Wide Dance Party: Ethiopique Extravaganza! Cafe Du Nord. 9pm, $15.

Temple Bhajan Band Integral Yoga Institute, 770 Dolores, SF; (415) 821-1117. 6-8pm, $15.

DANCE CLUBS

Blow Up Halloween Special Vessel, 85 Campton Place, SF; www.vesselsf.com. 10pm. $5.

Club 1994 Halloween Bash Vessel, 85 Campton, SF; www.club1994.com. 10pm, $18.

Devil Made Me Do It: Drag, Devils, Dancing El Rio.10pm, $10; $5 with costume.

Halloween Boooootie DNA Lounge. 9pm. $30. A Plus D, Dada, Smash-Up Derby, with a midnight costume contest.

Mango El Rio. 3-8:30pm, $8-$10.

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

120 Minutes Elbo Room. 10pm.

Temptation vs Fringe Cat Club. 9:30pm, $5-$8. With DJs Blonde K, subOctave, and more.

Vinyl Boom Boom Room. 8pm, $15. With Sonnyboy, DJ K-os.

SUNDAY 28

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Casy and Brian, Future Twin, Deep Teens Thee Parkside. 8pm, $7.

Earth, Fontanelle, Stebmo Great American Music Hall. 8pm, $16.

Godwaffle Noise Pancakes: Medicine Cabinet, Lycanthropic Legions of Noise, Arachnid Archade Lab, 2948 16 St, SF; www.thelab.org. noon, $5-$10.

“Golden Gate Blues Society Presents: IBC Challenge Final” Biscuits and Blues. 5pm, $20.

Harold Ray Dead in Concert, Gregors, Outlaw Hemlock Tavern. 6pm, $6.

Indubious Rockit Room. 9pm, $10.

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

SLIG Hotel Utah. 8pm, $6.

Timeflies Presents: One Night Tour, DJ Ev Slim’s. 8pm, $16-$18.

Mary Wilson Venetian Room at the Fairmont, 950 Mason, SF; www.bayareacabaret.org. 7pm, $40-$75.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

Lua Hadar and Francofonia Bliss Bar, 4026 24th St, SF; www.blissbarsf.com. 4:30pm, $10.

“John Cage Centennial Celebration” Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission, SF; www.ybca.org. 8pm. “Musicircus,” 40 Cage works.

Shirley Jones Rrazz Room. 5pm, $40-$45.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

Heel Draggers, West Nile Ramblers Amnesia. 8pm, $5-$10.

Brian Stevens Brainwash Cafe. 7pm, free.

“Twang Sunday” Thee Parkside. 4pm, free. With Bar Fight, Tough Brothers.

DANCE CLUBS

Dub Mission Elbo Room. 9pm, $6. With DJ Sep, Vinnie Esparza, and J. Boogie.

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

MONDAY 29

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Balmorhea, Young Moon Bottom of the Hill. 9:30pm, $10.

Cadence Weapon Brick and Mortar Music Hall. 9:30pm, $8-$10.

Damir Johnny Foley’s. 9pm, free.

Daughter, Choir of Young Believers Independent. 8pm, $12.

Jenni and the Jerks, Wicked Mercies, Whoa Nellies Elbo Room. 9pm, $8; $5 in costume.

One F, NVS, Mean Faces El Rio. 7pm, $5; $3 with costume.

“SFRMA.org performs Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ and Portishead’s ‘Dummy'” Great American Music Hall. 8pm, $15.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

Mike Burns Rite Spot Cafe. 8:30pm, free.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

Front Country Amnesia. 8pm.

TUESDAY 30

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

All Time Low, Summer Set, Downtown Fiction, Hit the Lights Fillmore. 7pm, $25.

Sophie Barker Yoshi’s SF. 8pm, $14.

Disclosure, DJ Dials, Sleazemore Independent. 9pm, $20.

Dysrhythmia, Dog Shredder, Burmese, Dimesland Elbo Room. 9pm, $10.

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

Hannah Georgas Cafe Du Nord. 7:30pm, $12.

New Spell, Treehouse Orchestra, St. Tropez Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $10.

Other Lives, Indians Great American Music Hall. 8pm, $16.

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

Sweat Lodge, No Bone, Standard Poodle Knockout. 9:30pm, $6.

Tiger High, Some Days, Flytraps Hemlock Tavern. 8:30pm, $7.

Wave Commission, Redwood Wires, Phone Sex Operators El Rio. 7pm, $3.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

Toshio Hirano Rite Spot Cafe. 9pm, free.

Sofia Talvik, Arcadio Amnesia. 9:30pm, $7.

Rum tales

Andrew Lam

-

October 23, 2012

3

virginia@sfbg.com

FEAST Rum has had a rough and tumble history. It was the Royal Navy’s spirit of choice, and on a grim note, benefited from association with the slave trade. Consider the story of Admiral Horatio Nelson, whose body was preserved in a cask of rum after his death in the Battle of Trafalgar en route back to England. Upon arrival, the cask was empty of liquid, the rumor being his crew drank it in hopes of ingesting Nelson’s courageous spirit. From this comes one of rum’s many nicknames, “Nelson’s blood.” The act of imbibing it is often dubbed “tapping the admiral.”

Despite its dark days, rum thrives as the spirit of the Caribbean where, along with Latin America, the majority of the world’s supply is produced. The liquor is associated with island breezes, relaxation, the good life. From airy white rum to the sweet, spiced variety, there’s more complex rum variances than one might initially suspect.

Though no hard and fast rules apply to all rum, here’s a quick rundown of categories:

Light/silver/white rums are often smooth, sometimes sweet, mixable rums ideal for cocktails, made from both sugarcane and molasses. Typically aged briefly, they maintain a colorless look from being aged in stainless steel or neutral oak, or from having their color filtered out.

Gold/amber rums are typically medium-bodied, generally aged in wood barrels. They are the halfway point between light and dark rums.

Dark rums are molasses-based, aged in charred barrels. They are at times quite sweet and silky, at other times complex, best for mixing or sipping.

And there is a wealth of other categories. Spiced rums have, yes, spices and even caramel added. Flavored rums are infused with a wide range of tastes. Overproof rums are high proof spirits that exceed the standard 40 percent ABV. Premium rums are essentially a more refined category of sipping rums. Cachaça is, more or less, a Brazilian rum made solely from sugarcane juice.

In addition to styles, regions determine rum characteristics. The Spanish-speaking Caribbean (namely Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico) and South and Central America are most highly regarded for their smooth añejo style. English-speaking islands (like Barbados, Belize, Jamaica, Saint Kitts, Trinidad) are best known for full, dark rums, including demerara rums made from natural, unrefined demerara sugar. French-speaking Caribbean islands (including Haiti, Guadeloupe, Saint Martin, Martinique) are famed for agricultural rums (rhum agricole), produced solely from sugar cane juice, which are refined, complex, even grassy and funky.

RUM BARS

Where to find good rum in the Bay Area? One of the greatest selections available anywhere, the standard-setting menu at Smuggler’s Cove offers over 200 rums, with flights and pours grouped by style and region. The bar even has a Rumbustion Society encouraging (and rewarding) exploration. Smuggler’s honors the roots of tiki (Don the Beachcomber and Trader Vic’s paraphernalia abound) in its intimate, three-level layout. The cocktail menu is extensive, with sections on Cuban cocktail favorites from Havana’s glory days to modern interpretations of tiki drinks.

650 Gough, SF. (415) 869-1900, www.smugglerscovesf.com

Newly-opened Tradition offers booths (called “snugs”) with themes like New Orleans, Pre-Prohibition, and Scotland, each boasting vintage ads, signs, and barware in keeping with the motif. An artistic menu is likewise themed around each category. One theme is exotic/tiki, that page bearing mostly rum-based cocktails. For a unique rum experience, there’s an extensive house-blended and barrel-aged spirits program, including all manner of spirits finished in house barrels, like Flor de Caña rum in pinot noir or sweet vermouth barrels, imparting unexpected wine notes to the rum.

441 Jones, SF. (415) 474-2284, www.tradbar.com.

Though not a rum bar per se, Bar Agricole, with its impressive modern design and a bar flanked with dramatic photography, is named after French Caribbean rums and boasts a strong rum selection. Agricole perfects classic rum drinks — chat with bartenders about which version of the classic daiquiri you might want to try, they’re well-versed on each. Imbibe lesser-seen classics like a Martinique Crusta from Charles Baker’s Gentleman’s Companion, this particular recipe dating back to 1840 of agricole, lemon, bitters, and Maraska, a Croatian maraschino liqueur.

355 11th St., SF. (415) 355-9400, www.baragricole.com.

For dive bar rum and cheap rum punch, try Hobson’s Choice in Haight-Ashbury (www.hobsonschoice.com). Other notable tiki bars include the transporting East Bay classics, Forbidden Island (www.forbiddenislandalameda.com) and Oakland’s Conga Lounge (www.congolounge.com), not to mention out-of-the-way Tiki Haven (www.tikihavensf.com) in SF’s Outer Sunset.

BEST RUM COCKTAILS THIS YEAR

Brand new to the bar’s fall menu is frothy, light beer and rum beauty, Jasper’s Rum Shaker (a cheeky reference to the 1990s rap song, “Rump Shaker”): Bacardi 8 Rum, Shipyard Pumpkin Ale, lime, pumpkin syrup, cream, egg white, and orange flower water recall a classic Ramos Gin Fizz. Also new to the menu is bartender Taylor White’s Haymaker, which allows Appleton Reserve Rum to shine in a fabulously musty, spiced way with Combier orange liqueur, chai tea infused Punt Mes vermouth, Angostura, and orange bitters.

401 Taylor, SF. (415) 775-7979, www.jasperscornertap.com

An after dinner sipper this summer was AQ’s Senegal at Dusk ($10), a mixture of Lemon Hart rum, coffee and a blissful cardamom banana cream. At Tradition, Kona Kope stands out from an entire book of cocktails. Sweet Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva rum and barrel-aged spiced rums intermingle with coffee syrup and a touch of coconut cream, evoking lively coffee-tinged tropical breezes. For a milky rum stunner, try Smuggler’s Cove’s Jamaican Milk Punch, reminiscent of traditional Brandy Milk Punch, smooth, frothy, spiced.

1085 Mission, SF. (415) 341-9000, www.aq-sf.com

The Lower Haight joint might not be a rum bar, but Maven’s Nauti’ Mermaid is a winner, mixing Jamaican rum, lime, orange, coconut, and housemade hazelnut orgeat, substituting orgeat’s typical almond base for hazelnuts.

598 Haight, SF. (415) 829-7982, www.maven-sf.com

In downtown Berkeley, Comal’s Black Daiquiri is a refreshingly unique expression, mixing Pampero Aniversario rum, Averna, lime, sugar, and Chiapan coffee tincture for a tart, bitter, sweet, and robust imbibement. Coffee notes don’t dominate, but add a hint of earth and body.

2020 Shattuck, Berk. (510) 926-6300, www.comalberkeley.com

RECOMMENDED RUMS

One of my all-around favorite rums is Brugal 1888 ($54.99), from five generations of family distillers in the Dominican Republic. First aged in American white oak barrels, then finished in Spanish oak, it’s a blend of rums aged five to 14 years that hits the nose with spice, coffee, dried fruits. Tasting it yields notes of bourbon-like caramel, wood, spice, a hint of earth, a complex finish. An affordable sipping rum is Appleton Estate Reserve 12 year ($34.99) from Jamaica, blended by female master blender Joy Spence. It’s bright and bold, but also nutty and buttery. If you can get your hands on Appleton 21 year, it’s a beauty. Fascinating grassy notes, nuts, orange blossom, molasses.

Ron Zacapa 23 year ($37) is a Guatemalan classic, smooth with toffee and spice and crafted by a female master blender Lorena Vasquez. Diplomatico Reserva Exclusiva ($35) is lushly sweet with caramelized brown sugar, a spice-redolent Venezuelan dark rum. Botran Solera 1893 Gran Reserva ($24), a Guatemalan añejo rum, is an affordable, different side of the sweet coin. A blend of five to 14 year old rums, is balanced, not cloying. It tastes of caramelized banana and coconut.

Shellback is a new release of two affordable ($17 per bottle) Barbados-blended rums, ideal for cocktails. The silver is clean, with vanilla smoothness and whispers of tropical fruit, while the spiced is medium-bodied with cinnamon bark, ginger and clove oils, nutmeg, cassia.

Possibly my top white rum, Banks Five Island ($25.99) is rife with character, funk, and elegance — a blend of rums from five islands (hence the name), it’s reminiscent of the Asian-Indonesian sugarcane spirit Batavia Arrack. Banks recently released Banks 7 Golden Age Blend ($30), 23 rums sourced from seven places. It’s a complex as that would imply, dry, nutty, tropical, and rich.

Rhum agricole is my favorite style of rum — it’s often funky, grassy, complex, elegant. I adore the floral, fresh spirit of Clement Martinique Rhum Blanc ($30) and its VSOP ($35), which exhibits spice, coconut, apple, earth. I’m already a fan of the brand’s elegant rhum agricoles from Martinique, and they just released a fresh, smoky six year old ($56), not to mention a cinnamon, wood, and vanilla-inflected 10 year ($73). For a splurge, I adore the unique, cask strength (though still reasonably under 100 proof) 10 year Rhum J.M. Millesime 1997 ($130), which unfolds with toasted nut, lemon, sage, cinnamon.

FURTHER EDUCATION

Started by rum expert and all-around great guy Ed Hamilton, Ministry of Rum is a key resource for all things rum. Find reviews and discussions on just about every rum in existence, plus glossaries, rum basics, and rum events worldwide, including the annual Ministry of Rum tasting held in the Bay Area.

www.ministryofrum.com.

Rum For All is a project started by F. Paul Pacult (publisher-editor of Spirits Journal) and industry expert Sean Ludford. Their website is an online resource of rum primers, select producer profiles, and cocktail recipes. I recently went to their touring seminar when it was in SF, which offered an impressive range of rums to sample side-by-side — which is, of course, the best way to get educated.

www.rumforall.com.

Subscribe to Virgina’s twice-monthly newsletter, The Perfect Spot, www.theperfectspotsf.com

Fresh

Andrew Lam

-

October 23, 2012

0

AFFORDABLE

Aria Korean American Snack Bar (932 Larkin, SF. (415) 292-6914)

Cat Head’s BBQ (1665 Folsom, SF. (415) 861-4242, www.catsheadbbq.com)

Craftsman and Wolves (746 Valencia, SF. (415) 913-7713, www.craftsmen-wolves.com)

Gioia Pizzeria (2240 Polk, SF. (415) 359-0971, www.gioiapizzeria.com)

Hot Press (2966 Mission, SF. (415) 814-3814, www.hotpresssf.com)

Ice Cream Bar (815 Cole, SF. (415) 742-4932, www.theicecreambarsf.com)

Marcella’s Lasagneria and Cucina (1099 Tennessee, SF. (415) 920-2225, www.marcellaslasagneria.com)

Market and Rye (68 West Portal, SF. (415) 564-5950; 300 De Haro, SF. (415) 252-7455, www.marketandrye.com)

Mission Bowling Club (3176 17th St., SF. (415) 863-2695, www.missionbowlingclub.com)

903 (903 Cortland, SF. (415) 678-5759)

MID-RANGE

Abbott’s Cellar (742 Valencia, SF. (415) 626-8700, www.abbotscellar.com)

The Corner Store (5 Masonic, SF. (415) 359-1800, www.thecornerstore-sf.com)

Elephant Sushi (1916 Hyde, SF. (415) 440-1905, www.elephantsushi.com)

FuseBOX (2311A Magnolia, Oakl. (510) 444-3100, www.fuseboxoakland.com)

Honor Kitchen and Cocktails (1411 Powell, SF. (510) 653-8667, www.honorbar.com)

Local’s Corner (2500 Bryant, SF. (415) 800-7945, www.localscornersf.com)

Machka (584 Washington, SF. (415) 391-8228, www.machkasf.com)

Namu Gaji (499 Dolores, SF. (415) 431-6268, www.namusf.com)

Orexi (243 West Portal, SF. (415) 664-6739, www.orexisf.com)

Pläj Scandinavian Restaurant and Bar (333 Fulton, SF. (415) 294-8925, www.plajrestaurant.com)

Rich Table (199 Gough, SF. (415) 355-9085, www.richtablesf.com)

Saru Sushi (3856 24th St., SF. (415) 440-4510)

State Bird Provisions (1529 Fillmore, SF. (415) 795-1272, www.statebirdsf.com)

St. Vincent (1270 Valencia, SF. (415) 285-1200, www.stvincentsf.com)

FOOD TRUCKS

Adam’s Grub Truck (428 11th St., SF. (650) 440-7956, www.adamsgrubtruck.com)

All Good Pizza (1605 Jerrold, SF. (415) 846-6960, www.allgoodpizza.com)

Casey’s Pizza (www.caseyspizza.com)

Cosmic American Voodoo Van (2250 Jerrold, SF. (415) 341-7203)

Del Popolo (www.delpopolosf.com)

Old World Food Truck (www.oldworldfoodtruck.com)

Truffle tour

Andrew Lam

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October 23, 2012

1

virginia@sfbg.com

FEAST 2012 Clearly, we can’t get enough chocolate. As chocolatiers continue to proliferate around the country, we are blessed with an endless wealth of fine sweets to choose from. Tirelessly sampling chocolates in every city and country I travel in, I’ve found standouts of all kinds. Some chocolatiers have perfected a certain truffle, others a pure bean-to-bar process. Many local greats produce treats in the city, like SF classic Recchiuti, single-minded Hooker’s Sweet Treats, playful Poco Dolce, and forward-thinking TCHO. Here are a few more, plus my notes on favorites, worldwide.

SAN FRANCISCO SHOPS

With a new Victorian-era mercantile on Haight Street, Buyer’s Best Friend has among the best gourmet food selections in the city in many categories – and it is slated to open its second shop in North Beach on October 26 (450 Columbus, SF). When it comes to chocolate, the shop often has samples from rarely-seen small chocolatiers from around the globe, for many of which they are the sole distributor. Start asking questions and you’ll discover a whole world of chocolates you never knew existed.

1740 Haight, SF. (415) 745-2130, www.bbfdirect.com

Eccentric and delightful, Noe Valley’s Chocolate Covered has long been the premier chocolate shop of SF, with a rare and varied selection. I lived directly across the street from it for six years — in dangerously close proximity.

4069 24th St., SF. (415) 641-8123, www.chocolatecoveredsf.com

Tiny but well-curated, Russian Hill’s shiny Candy Store has long been a source for rare and old fashioned chocolates and candies.

1507 Vallejo, SF. (415) 921-8000, www.thecandystoresf.com

BAY AREA CHOCOLATIERS

There’s chocolate and then there’s bean-to-bar chocolate. Whereas most chocolatiers start with already fermented cacao beans (yes, cacao beans go through fermentation), few oversee the entire process from sourcing to processing. Dandelion Chocolates was launched right here in SF by chocolate lovers whose experimentation with bean-to-bar as a hobby turned into a business. Purity of the cacao is their passion, so Dandelion makes chocolate with only bean and sugar, no cocoa butter.

Tasting their bars side-by-side is like sampling wines or coffee, with different nuances and terroir apparent in each. There’s the lush, malty notes of Rio Caribe, Venezuela (my favorite bar), bright citrus-strawberry expression in the Ambanja, Madagascar bar, and earthy, tannic notes from Elvesia, Dominican Republic. Already, Dandelion is easily one of the superior chocolates you’ll find in the Bay.

Visiting the company’s Dogpatch factory last month, I witnessed Dandelion’s entire process: roasting, cracking, sorting, winnowing, grinding, conching, tempering, molding, and packaging, all happening in one small space. Dandelion is moving to its new Mission location on Valencia (though it will keep its Dogpatch space), slated to be factory, tasting room, shop, and cafe all in one. Opening this month, it’s sure to be a hit. It’s inspiring to see passion lead to success — especially when your sweet tooth reaps the benefits.

740 Valencia, SF. (415) 349-0942, www.dandelionchocolate.com

Many artisan chocolatiers boast a couple of exceptional truffles, but none I’ve tried have the volume of Feve Artisan Chocolatier, formerly Au Coeur Des Chocolats, available in shops like Bi-Rite and on the company’s website. Owners Shawn and Kathryn Williams have traveled Europe extensively, visiting many of the world’s best chocolate makers. Besides artful, elegant, precise presentation, Shawn’s truffles succeed first and foremost in flavor.

Many chocolatiers promise flavors like curry or lemongrass or other excitement in their truffles, but often the flavor of truffles (at the standard, expensive $1.50–$3 a piece) is barely discernible or bland, leaving me disappointed, wishing I’d stuck with a straightforward piece of chocolate. Not so in Feve’s line of truffles, in which I struggle to name my favorite overall. There’s cherry-vanilla (dark chocolate and lemon ganache layered with cherry vanilla gelée), cardamom punchy with Scotch, sesame-vanilla crispy with praline, dreamy banana-caramel, pistachio-rosemary caramel with pistachio praline, and vivid passionfruit or yuzu. Each is exquisitely lush.

www.fevechocolates.com

MORE LOCAL FAVORITES

Chocolatier Blue’s truffles, served in its Berkeley shops are fresh and creative. Try the Ants on a Log, filled with celery seed, peanut butter, and currant, or the tart caramel apple or peanut brittle crunch with caramelized banana and creamy peanut butter.

www.chocolatierblue.com

Saratoga Chocolates’ Caramel Cin, a heart-shaped treat of dark chocolate oozing decadent cinnamon caramel.

www.saratogachocolates.com

Sixth Course Artisan Confections’ aromatic caramels, like rosemary, or sage and brown butter.

www.sixthcourse.com

Wine Country Chocolates’ Elvis truffle of peanut butter and banana ganache rules, while the cinnamon and clover honey oozes honey goodness.

www.winecountrychocolates.com

Maison Bouche’s Fleur de Sel is one of the Oakland producer’s elegant, French-spirited bars, a standout made using Brittany salt.

www.maisonbouche.com

NATIONAL FINDS

Alma Chocolates in Portland, Ore. makes an insanely good Thai peanut butter cup with ginger, Thai chile, lime, even red volcanic sea salt varieties. You can usually find it at Portland chocolate haven Cacao.

www.almachocolate.com

Antidote is a quality raw, NY-based bean-to-bar line made in Ecuador. It produces dark chocolate bars in flavors like banana-cayenne, lavender red salt, and almond fennel. Expect subtlety and a earth-like taste in each. Available locally at Buyer’s Best Friend.

www.antidotechoco.com

Chocolat Modern is a longtime New York favorite, making square “bistro bars” that are dark and filled with the tastes like banana and Cognac, pumpkin praline, apricot and Bas Armagnac, and zesty grapefruit. There’s a rotating selection available locally at The Candy Store.

store.chocolatmoderne.com

Responsible for some of the best local chocolates I’ve had from Los Angeles, Compartes creates dark chocolate truffles and bars, including the apricot and shichimi seven-spice chocolate bar ($8), and various truffles. Some of my favorites of these include smoked salt, peanut butter, and the pink peppercorn and Raspberry.

www.compartes.com

Fine & Raw is a Brooklyn-based raw chocolatier that creates treats with high dark chocolate content and cacao butter, managing to maintain creamy texture and flavor all the while. Its most interesting bars are its cacao and coconut, along with the lucuma and vanilla. Buy it in town at Buyer’s Best Friend.

www.fineandraw.com

Though I fear the healthy superfood label when it comes to pleasures like chocolate, Boise, Idaho-based Good Cacao creates “lemon ginger immunity” and coconut omega-3 bars that taste like a tropical vacation. Find it at Buyer’s Best Friend.

www.goodcacao.com

MarieBelle‘s elegant banana chocolate bar shines. The company is a New York favorite, with a Soho tea salon and cacao bar.

www.mariebelle.com

INTERNATIONAL TREATS

Dublin’s Cocoa Atelier makes the best chocolate I had in Ireland. It’s a chic outpost stocking drinking chocolate and elegant truffles that creates its delicacies using local specialties like pot still Irish whiskey.

www.cocoaatelier.ie

Coco Chocolate is my Edinburgh favorite, a darling shop focusing on handmade bars like its rose and black pepper, pink peppercorn and nutmeg, and a tropical-inflected lime and coconut. Coco creates invigorating flavors, embedded in dark chocolate.

www.cocochocolate.co.uk

Kopali Organics is marketed as vegan health food made by passionate founders who live off the grid in Costa Rica. Its fair trade dark chocolate-covered banana bites taste vivid and fresh, nothing at all like some dried, chocolate-covered fruits. Find it in San Francisco at Buyer’s Best Friend.

www.kopali.net

When in Bordeaux, don’t miss charming La Maison Darricau. The romantic shop sells chocolate and creative truffles made fresh daily, infused with flavors like wine-filled Médoc, basil, Szechuan pepper, curry-date, and an excellent blend of prune, almond paste, and Armagnac.

www.darricau.com

In London’s Borough Market, Rabot Estate is a rustic-hip shop with staff pouring cups of free dark hot chocolate and bars like chili with a lush Santa Lucia-grown dark chocolate.

www.rabotestate.com

Among the best chocolates I’ve had in the world are from Paul A. Young, one of the world’s best chocolatiers whose three London shops stock supreme examples of what fresh truffles and exotic bars should be. Go funky with Marmite truffles, or his herbaceous peppermint leaf. Whatever you do, when in London, don’t miss it. Young penned Adventures with Chocolate, a visually striking book that explores the ins and outs of chocolate making from the art of combining beans to yield the best flavor profiles, to making the perfect ganache. Primarily, it is a cookbook, utilizing chocolate in recipes from boozy drinks or teas to savory dishes and desserts.

www.paulayoung.co.uk

Subscribe to Virgina’s twice-monthly newsletter, The Perfect Spot, www.theperfectspotsf.com

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Wedge issues

Andrew Lam

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October 23, 2012

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caitlin@sfbg.com

FEAST 2012 It is a trip ill-suited for vegans and anyone with a phobia of fossil fuel. But no one said that the Sonoma Marin Cheese Trail was an endeavor for everyone. Certainly not the faint of belly — even our truncated voyage of five cheesemakers and 61 miles in a day is a lot, lactophilia notwithstanding.

To navigate the trail, we cut off a slice off the map of 27 cheeseries put together by kindly Marin and Sonoma curdmakers. (Check out www.cheesetrail.org for a SMCT map of your own.) Cheese trailing is the perfect excuse to traverse the backroads up north of the Bay Area. And with many producers within forty five minutes of the Golden Gate Bridge, it wasn’t long until we were filling our bellies with goat, sheep, cow, even water buffalo-made wheels.

Cheaply, too! Most producers on the map do tastings, and buying directly from the farm means you cut out the middle man price (Monterey) jack.

Tips before you begin: split samples with your co-pilots. Yes, that generous slice of pesto jack will look sensible when the day is young, but by the road’s end you won’t be able to countenance another slab — devastating.

Truck along a cooler for the ride. We will never forget the 80-degree day that saw us refusing Marin French Cheese Company’s two pounds of brie for $5 deal, for fear of curdle-skunk wafting from our Zipcar’s trunk.

And please: multiple cheeseheads told us that trail pioneers have the tendency to be free food hounds. Settle children, and ask nicely to be fed if samples aren’t forthcoming.

You may well arrive on a foggy morning at this easy-to-miss, munch-sized tasting room in the rolling hills of Marin County. All the better — Nicasio Valley Cheese Company (5300 Nicasio Valley Road, Nicasio. (415) 662-6200, www.nicasiocheese.com) earns rave reviews for its the spreadable, fresh Foggy Morning cheese. It is blessed with versatility (suggested serving methodologies include balsamic-dressed salads, sandwiches, even a baking pan full of pasta shells) and tang. The Swiss family’s cheeses are made from the organic milk of its organic Holsteins, whose herd it has been cultivating for 30 years.

The side yard at Marin French Cheese Company (7500 Red Hill Road, Petaluma. (707) 762-6001, www.marinfrenchcheese.com) is archetypal picnic territory. In the middle of yellowed fields of Marin farmland, its patch of green oasis has a lake, a lush lawn dotted with wooden tables, squawking Canadian geese.

Luckily, inside MFCC’s charming country store you have all the makings of a ur-nosh. Of course, there’s cheese — triple cream bries made on premise (although tours were paused for renovations when we visited, we could still peep hairnetted workers stacking and packing wheels through glass windows at the back of the store.) There are pre-made sandwiches, breads, and a wall of preserves from pineapple to jalapeño and back again. It is here we first learned of the magic of quark, or fresh, soft cheese made from curds that this shop stocks in flavors like strawberry

After sampling a pungent schloss cheese (made on-site since 1901), we were intrigued by the air-pocketed breakfast cheese, one of the first quesos to make its way to the City By the Bay. Marin French’s small wine cellar provides another glimpse into history, its glass case filled with sexy cheesemaker photos from the company’s 147-years.

Drive to Spring Hill Cheese (711 Western, Petaluma. (707) 762-9038, www.springhillcheese.com) and you will see lots of cows. This is a given on the cheese trail — between every sentence in this article there should be one that says “and then we saw cows,” for accuracy’s sake. The road also stocks a glimpse of downtown Petaluma, one of the Main Street-type towns that dot Sonoma County, and is blessed with big, tall trees lining quiet residential streets.

Spring Hill caters to wholesome tastes — in addition to a block of its veggie or pesto jack cheeses or a bag of the spicy Mike’s Firehouse curd, you can grab a slice of Spring Hill-topped pizza, or an icecream cone. We went for a vanilla blend studded with pink Mother’s animal cookies, which we’ve had as a fixin’ before, but mixed in the icecream itself? Revolutionary! And cheap. Our kid’s cup and a bottle of water ran a cool $2.50.

We sat outside the creamery contemplating Spring Hill’s grim-looking mascot cow suspended over its factory across the street, before making a quick stop at Alphabet Shop Thrift Store (217 Western, Petaluma) on our way out of town.

Don’t get to used to Americana simplicity on the trail, because after Petaluma — we go past more cows and a little bit of prefab homeland and — arrive in the town of Sonoma, upper class wine country hub anchored by historic barracks and Spanish mission on a graceful, green center square. Sonoma’s also home to a bakery that caters exclusively to dogs (www.threedog.com).

Here, Vella Cheese (315 Second St. East, Sonoma. (707) 938-3232, www.vellacheese.com) sits in a stone building, tucked away on a block that also hosts familial Sonoma houses and a dashing pair of Clydesdale horses. The edifice was built in 1904 to house a brewery that was unable to withstand Prohibition, for all its sturdy design. Gaetano “Tom” Vella moved in circa 1931. Today, Vella Cheese will sample you a flight of progressively-aged jack cheeses, proof that Gaetano’s cheesemaking spirit still infuses the place.

We flipped for Vella’s mezzo secco jack, pocketing a triangle while visions of red wine in the Sonoma heat traipsed through our dairy-crazed minds. Special kudos to the wink-cute design of the California Daisy cheddar for having the most adorable cheese packaging, ever.

Vella no longer offers tours of the cheesemaking floor, but cheery store staff will instruct you to spy on factory workers through the screen door off the parking lot.

We walked through Sonoma’s shady plaza park to our last stop on the cheese trail: Epicurean Connection (122 West Napa, Sonoma. (707) 935-7960, www.sheanadavis.com). Proprietor Sheana Davis has created a general store worthy of her gourmand town, with cheesemaking classes on second Saturdays and Saturday morning bacon waffle breakfasts. Though the walls are lined with (mostly) locally-made foodstuffs like Rancho Gordo beans, you’ll gravitate towards the refrigerator cases full of cheese and microbrews.

Davis herself makes a soft Delice de la Vallee spread made of goat’s milk and triple cream cow milk. She also coordinated a stellar beer-cheese pairing dinner we attended at this year’s SF Beer Week, so it came as no surprise that the suds offerings at her shop were superb.

What is also superlative is the lunchy dine-in menu at EC. To beat the heat, we made a perfect meal of a watermelon tomato gazpacho (served in a cute lil’ jar) and a tomato-greens salad with a burrata cheese that made us crazy. In a good way.

Bonus points for the doorside stack of Culture magazines (“the word on cheese”) we were able to browse as we ate, contemplating the end of the day’s trail — and the ample dinner options that lay in every direction from Epicurean Connection’s front door.

CELLSpace becomes Inner Mission

Andrew Lam

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October 23, 2012

1

steve@sfbg.com

For the last 17 years, CELLspace has been a hub for unique cultural, artistic, and community events in the heart of the Mission. The bad news is that CELLspace is losing its lease, but the good news is it’s being taken over by creative, resourceful people from its community who plan maintain and expand its mission.

In the process, CELLspace is undergoing a renovation and, beginning in early December, getting a new name: Inner Mission.

"We’re calling it an evolution, and we’re trying to hold to that because the CELLspace has an important history and community," says Eric Reid, one of the four new owners. "We’re drawing from a well that we didn’t dig, so we’re trying to keep the neighborhood involved."

So Inner Mission will continue to offer community-based classes such as tango, Aztec dance, and yoga; and evening gatherings by community groups. But along with its recently upgraded sound and lighting systems and well-done new bar, Inner Mission will draw from the creative projects of its new owners and become a nightclub available to host events by outside promoters.

Reid (who sometimes dons clown makeup as his alter ego Manaze) runs Mad Cap Productions, while co-owner Adrian Zelkski runs New Earth Music, co-owner Zach Carson directs the Sustainable Living Road Show, and co-owner Mike Gaines heads the Vau de Vire Society (see "Cue the clowns," 12/3/08), which has been rehearsing and performing at CELLspace in recent years.

"We want to be a constantly throbbing venue as far as the art is concerned, a place for people to explore their creativity," Gaines told us. "We’ve always had the intention of opening up a venue for ourselves, and we want to really accommodate the community as well."

They plan to activate the space for longer hours, including more active curation of the art gallery space in the front of the venue and adding a daytime smoothie and kombucha bar, while also making the overall venue a better nightclub with more regular events — including experimental dinner theater that Reid is excited about producing — rather than the isolated special events that CELLspace has generally done.

While Inner Mission won’t have the nonprofit designation that CELLspace does, the new owners have incorporated as a Certified B Corporation, or Benefit Corporation, a new designation that carries the expectation of greater environmental sustainability, stronger worker protections, and returning more profits and benefits to the community.

"We are going to be the first B Corporation nightclub in the country," Reid said. "We think this is the way things are going."

Gaines also cited the work that Carson does with Sustainable Living Road Show — entertainers and educators in an "old timey carnival road show" that tour in renewable fuel vehicles to teach sustainability — as a key part of their new ethos.

The stated mission of CELLspace is "to provide a safe and supportive public environment for the exploration of art, education, performance and community building. Through cooperative relationships, CELLspace encourages the celebration of intergenerational, cross-cultural collaborations and the promotion of social justice."

Reid and Gaines say they are committed to that same mission even as they seek to make the space more vibrant and accessible, and with a greater focus on the emerging new global consciousness.
Sup. David Campos, who represents the Mission, said CELLspace is an important community institution and he’s happy to hear the new owners plan to continue its current programming. "It sounds like it’s a positive thing, we’ll reach out to them and get more specifics and see how we can work with them."

Alerts

Andrew Lam

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October 23, 2012

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Wednesday 24

Senior and disability action Western Addition Senior Center, 1390 ½ Turk, SF; 415-546-2096. 9:30am-1:30pm, free. Senior and Disability Action University presents a workshop series on strengthening health care services for these populations in San Francisco. Learn about current health care services, how they could be improved, and the leadership and community organizing skills to get it done. This is the second to last session in the series, the last one is on Halloween, and it’s all free. The group also provides leadership and empowerment classes in several languages throughout the city.

Thursday 25

Take back the plaza Oakland City Hall, 14th and Broadway, Oakl; www.occupyoakland.org. 5pm, free. A year ago Oct. 25, the streets of downtown Oakland were the site of a historic event. Police had moved in on the Occupy camp next to City Hall, and the people there, and hundreds of supporters, resisted. In the dark, the fight raged on, and the tear gas clouds, bean bag bullets, and tear gas clouds would spread fear and radicalism throughout the crowd. In one infamous incident, Iraq war veteran Scott Olsen was hit in the head with a bean bag round, and his name spread throughout the country. Occupy Oakland will not let the anniversary of this day pass unmarked. Instead, they are calling for a night of protest.

Unite for prop A El Rio, 158 Mission, SF; Facebook: Community united for Prop A at El Rio. 6-9pm, $10-25. If fighting for a better world isn’t your thing this Thursday, try fundraising for one! Join Sups. John Avalos and David Campos, City College board members, and labor leadership for a event supporting Prop. A. The measure would create a much-needed parcel tax to keep City College serving students even as it faces the challenges of the accreditation process. You can also come to be entertained by MC Anna Conda and StormMiguel Florez, and leave decorated with the “I am City College” logo if you bring something to silkscreen.

Friday 26

SWOP happy hour El Rio, 158 Mission, SF; Facebook: SWOP Happy Hour Fundraiser — In the Name of Robyn Few! 4-6pm, free. Drink in the name of deceased sex workers rights and marijuana advocacy legend Robyn Few (see “Fierce, forceful, amazing: remembering Robyn Few,” 10-2-12.) The money raised at this happy hour benefit will go to Sew Workers Outreach Project Bay Area, the local branch of the international advocacy and action group that Few founded. There will also be a raffle with prizes like a pro massage, art and sex toys.

Sunday 28

ASWAT in concert Islamic Cultural Center, 1433 Madison, Oakl; www.mecaforpeace.org. 3-5:30pm, $10-50. ASWAT, whose name means “one voice,” will be performing songs that “represent our feelings towards occupation (the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem), the beauty of the land, our civil rights in this country, the Arab American experience and fighting hate and misinformation,” according to ASWAT’s founder Nabila Mango. This is the big annual benefit for the Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA), and this year the money goes to their Maia Project, which helps with “clean water for the children of Palestine. To date we’ve installed 37 water sanitation/purification systems in schools in Gaza, reaching 35,000 children and their families. The World Health Organization cites that 95 percent of the water in Gaza is unfit to drink.”

Tuesday 30

Ballot breakdown Alley Cat Books, 3036 24th St., SF; (415) 323-5768, theleaguesf.tumblr.com. 6:30pm, free. The League of Pissed-Off Voters is also known as the League of Young Voters. But frankly, it’s pissed off. Well, pissed off at some things, like California’s Prop. 32 that would screw unions, and District 1 candidate David Lee’s potential illegal coordination with Realtors, a problem that it hopes the Ethics Commission looks into after it filed a complaint about it this week. But the League is also very not pissed off about some things on this year’s ballot. Come to this event with questions, concerns, and a burning need to discuss the election with members of the League, from statewide propositions to city measures to local races.

‘Sup, Boo?

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October 23, 2012

1

>>See this guide on one page and/or print it here

WEDNESDAY 24

Hallow Screen! Walt Disney Museum, 104 Montgomery, SF. (415) 345-6800, www.waltdisney.org. Daily through Oct. 31. 11am, 1pm, 3pm, 5pm, free with museum admission. Freak out (just don’t forget the popcorn) at this all-ages-friendly lineup of animated boo-stories. The Skeleton Dance, Pluto’s Judgment Day, The Mad Doctober, and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow all get their moment in the Disney Museum’s very own screening room.

Haunted Haight Walking Tour www.hauntedhaight.com. Daily through Oct. 31, with some dates through December. 7pm, $20. Let the SF Ghost Society scare the living bejeezus out of you on this guided scramble through Haight-Ashbury’s most spirited sites. The tour’s meant to be all-ages, but guides caution that those under 13 years may want to sit out this scare. You’ll wind up at a haunted pub, so the adult beverage capable, at least, will get a chance to drink away thoughts of the dead among us.

THURSDAY 25

Castro Theatre double-features 439 Castro, SF; www.castrotheatre.com. $8.50-11, also Tue/30. Big-screen terrors with Dracula (1979) and Cat People (1982) on Thu/25 (screenings begin at 2:30pm) and The Cabin in the Woods (2011) and House of 1,000 Corpses (2002) on Tue/30 (screenings begin at 7:30pm).

Masquerade Arc Gallery, 1246 Folsom, SF. (415) 861-3504, www.arc-sf.com. Through Nov.18. Opening reception: noon-5pm, free. Harvest some last-minute costume inspiration from this art exhibition of 40 selected masks, revolving around the theme “the obfuscation of truth.” With works by Michelle Peckham, Michal Wisniowski, Courtney Murphy, and more.

Popscream with Light Asylum, Popscene DJs Rickshaw Stop. 10pm, $13–$15, 18+. A modest Hallo-pun on the youthful weekly Popscene parties, with the creepy, bright-light-in-the-dark music duo Light Asylum.

Provocations 1015 Folsom, SF; www.facebook.com/RAWSanFrancisco. 7pm-midnight, $15 ($5 for after party with Slayers Club DJs). “A little bit of bite. A little bit of lust. And 100 percent deliciously wicked.” Plus aerialists, burlesque, body painting, treats, and tons of art, fashion, and music at monthly party RAW SF’s tribute to desire.

Unmasked: GLBT History Society Gala Green Room, War Memorial, 401 Van Ness, SF; www.unmaskedgala.org 7-9pm, $60–$100. This annual masquerade-themed hoot celebrates the out, proud, and essential historical society with a tribute to local queer filmmakers, yummy food, hosted bar, glamour galore, and dazzling entertainment from hunky baritone Zachary Gordin, Cello Street Quartet, Glamamore, and the soulful Hard French DJs.

Zombie NightLife Cal Academy of Sciences, 55 Music Concourse Drive, SF; www.calacademy.org. 6pm, $10–$12. Zombies return to the museum with Peaches Christ’s Dead Drag Queen Review and costume contest, DJs S4NtA-MU3rTE and Chauncey CC of 120 Minutes, zombie lectures, a zombie cocktail tour, and undead makeovers.

FRIDAY 26

As You Like It Freaky Friday Costume Party Beatbox, 314 11th St., SF; www.ayli-sf.com. 10pm-late, $10–$25. The frightfully good monthly quality techno party plays dress up, with special guests Morgan Geist (his name means ghost!) from NYC, Safeword from SF, Conore, Rich Korach, and MossMoss.

Audiopharmacy’s 4th Annual Halloween Prescription hOMevolution, 1255 26th St., Oakl. (415) 728-7149, www.brownpapertickets.com. 10pm-6am, $40-60. Satisfies your ghoulish desires at this huge party with a fashion show featuring 13 macabre models, live music, photobooth, open bar, and aerial silk performance. And if you manage to survive the night, join what’s left of the affair for a sunrise tea ceremony.

Flashback Fridays Mezzanine, 444 Jessie, SF; www.mezzaninesf.com. 9pm, $30. 1980s-style Halloween party with Wonder Bread 5, and DJs Omar of Popscene, Damon Boyle of 1984, and “video mashups master” Billy Vidal.

Freakers’ Ball Two-Day Halloween Costume Bash Party Public Works, 161 Erie, SF; www.publicsf.com. Also Sat/27, 9pm-5am. $24 single day, $45 two-day pass. This is the 18th annual Freakers Ball, with performances by underground dance music superstars Addison Groove, Benoit and Sergio (they killed it last time they were here), and Eprom on Friday, and Claude Vonstroke, Otto Von Schirach, and Justin Martin on Saturday. Too much!

Halloween! The Ballad of Michele Myers CounterPulse 1310 Mission, SF; michelemyers2012.eventbrite.com. 8pm, $20–$25, Thru Wed/31. What do you get when you cross all your favorite retro teen slasher flicks with TV’s “Thw Facts of Life”? This hilarious, horrifically entertaining musical from twisted drag queen Raya Light and a cast of loony club luminaries.

“In Heaven, Everything is Fine” Public Works, 161 Erie, SF. www.publicsf.com. Through Nov. 7. Opening reception: Fri/26 5-9pm, free. A group exhibition of never-before-seen works inspired by the weird world of TV and movie director David Lynch. Gaze upon a replica of Twin Peaks’ Black Lodge in superlative, becostumed form, and you might just win a prize — the exhibition is hosting its very own costume contest.

Lights Down Low Halloween Monarch, 101 Sixth St., SF; www.monarchsf.com. 9pm-3am, $12. The bonkers regular club night gets all the way low — TO DARKEST HELL. But with great upbeat, trippy UK bass music from L-Vis 1990, SFV Acid, Urulu, and many more.

Murder Ballads Bash Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck, Berk; www.starryploughpub.com. 9pm, $8–$10. This 11th annual murder ballads bash includes Orange Jews, Flaming Telepaths, Luther Monday and Karry Walker, Val Esway, Happy Clams, and more.

Roller Disco Costume Party Cellspace, 2050 Bryant, SF. www.sfindie.com. 8pm-2am, $10. Rollerskates plus costumes equal a match made in disco heaven, especially with burner-friendly Black Rock Roller Disco at the helm. All proceeds go to nonprofit SF IndieFest, whisch, we should stress, is not liable for any hilarious alcohol-related accidents.

Seance 222 Hyde, SF; www.222hyde.com. 10pm, $7 Excellent local electronic duo Pixel Memory guide you toward ethereal realms on the dancefloor.

Some Thing: There’s a Monster in My Costume! The Stud, 399 Ninth St., SF; wwwthestudsf.com. 9pm-late, $8. Weekly party Some Thing always presents a freakish host of dramatic drag queens getting wild — this time there will be a costume contest!

“To Bury a Cat: Clown Show” Shotwell Studios, 3252-A 19th St, SF; www.facebook.com/clownsonastick, 8pm. Also Sat and through Nov 3. $12-20. Comedy troupe Clowns on a Stick perform a lighthearted (but macabre!) Halloween show.

Total Trash Halloween Bash New Parish, 579 18th St., Oakl.; www.thenewparish.com. 7pm, $12. Total Trash usually throws a messy-spirited party. It’s got three Halloween shows this year, this one is not yet sold out: Nobunny, Shannon and the Clams, Audacity, Uzi Rash, and more.

Trannyshack Halloween: A Party! DNA Lounge, 375 11th St., SF; www.trannyshack.com. 9:30pm-3am, $15. Every year the drag ghouls known as Heklina and Peaches Christ join forces to birth something something so awful, so hideous, so wonderfully faaascinating, you simply have to be there to believe it. With performances by dozens of horrifying queens and electrically eclectic music from DJ MC2.

Von Goat, Dispirit, Atriach, Altar de Fey Elbo Room, 647 Valencia, SF; www.elbo.com. 9pm, $10. A hard rocking, long-hair night billed as “metalween.”

Zombie Prom: Circus of Horrors Verdi Club, 2424 Mariposa, SF; www.verdiclub.net. 8pm, $20. A swinging rock’n’roll dead can dance party with live music by Slim Jenkins, a haunted ballroom, and costume contests.

SATURDAY 27

120 Minutes Elbo Room, 647 Valencia, SF; www.elbo.com. 10pm, $15. The witch house-based goth night nabbed a Salem DJ set and Brooke Candy, along with resident DJs S4NtA_MU3rTE and CHAUNCEY_CC.

Berkeley Community Media Horror Film Festival Berkeley Community Media, 2239 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Berk; www.betv.org. 7pm. $5-10. Sixth annual fest featuring spooky films by local independent filmmakers.

Boo at the Zoo San Francisco Zoo Sloat and Great Highway, SF. www.sfzoo.org. 10am-4pm, $9-15. The zoo bewitches all comers with its Halloween family day. The animals will be munching holiday-themed treats, and you will too at the candy stations located throughout the park. Make spooky crafts, sing along with a witch at the event stage, and see the new “Masters of the Night” bat exhibit in the elephant building. OoOoOoOo….

Club 1994 Halloween Bash Vessel, 85 Campton, SF; www.club1994.com. 10pm, $18. Halloween, the ’90s TRL way, with a costume contest, DJ battles, Vin Sol and Jeffrey Paradise on decks, a themed photobooth, and more.

Dark Room First Annual Dark Cadavaret Hot Spot, 1414 Market, SF. 9:30pm, $5–$7. One of the city’s best dark and scary electronic dance music monthly parties outdoes itself with a blast of deathly entertainment guaranteed to unravel your goth socks. With outrageous drag performers Phatima, Lady Bear, Dia Dear, VivvyAnne ForeverMORE, Elijah Minnelli, and Vain Hein and a live set by San Cha.

“Divine’s Secrets of the Paranormal” Artists’ Television Access, 992 Valencia, SF; www.othercinema.com. 8:30pm. $7. Genre archivist Christian Divine unspools a night of psychotronic cinema clips, with topics to include UFOs, Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, and ghosts.

Halloween at the Lex Lexington Club, 3464 19th St., SF; www.lexingtonclub.com. 9pm, free. Nobody knows how to celebrate All Hallow’s Eve more than the dykes and queers, honey. Hang out at the Mission’s favorite queer bar for rockin’ DJs Ms. Jackson and China G., special (g)hosts Ajai and Kat, a costume party at midnight, drink specials, and a whole lotta love.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers Pacific Film Archive, 2575 Bancroft, Berk; bampfa.berkeley.edu. 6:30pm. $5.50–$9. The PFA wraps up its “An Army of Phantoms: American Cinema and the Cold War” with the 1956 commies-are-everywhere classic.

Foreverland’s Thriller Halloween Ball Bimbo’s, 1025 Columbus, SF; www.bimbos365club.com. 9pm, $22. Premiere 14-piece Michael Jackson tribute act Foreverland plays MJ’s spooky exponentially platinum record.

Ghost Ship 2012: Apocalypse on Treasure Island Treasure Island, SF; www.ghostshiphalloween.com. 9pm-4am, $50. Every Burning Man fan worth her salt will be out for this annual mega-blast. With DJs from Space Cowboys, Distrikt, Seismic, Janky Barge, and a zillion other camps.

Halloween at Aquarium of the Bay Pier 39, SF; www.aquariumofthebay.org. 9am-8pm, through October 31. Kids in costume get in free through Halloween — and the whole family will enjoy activities like the “freaky fish scavenger hunt,” and underwater pumpkin carving. Adults can indulge in a scary good bad movie, Piranha 3-D, on Halloween night at 6pm. All this, and brainless jellies, too!

Halloween Boooootie DNA Lounge, 375 11th St., SF; www.bootiesf.com. 9pm. $30. A spooky installment of this weekly mashup party night, with A Plus D, Dada, Smash-Up Derby, four rooms of dancing, a midnight costume contest. And probably a boatload of pirates!

Halloween Costume Contest Party at Playland-Not-at-the-Beach 10979 San Pablo, El Cerrito. (510) 592-3002, www.playland-not-at-the-beach.org. 10am-5pm; Sun/28, 10am-5pm, $10-15. Show your scary stuff for prizes at the awesomely fun and wacky-cute amusement park. Check out the creepy Dark Mystery exhibition and the 5000-year-old mummy, too.

Halloween Freakout Monarch, 101 Sixth St., SF; www.monarchsf.com. 10pm-4am, $7–$15. Terroriffic underground house and techno madness from the Honey Sopundsystem and No Way Back crews, for those who like deep tunes as much as daring costumes.

Halloween Massive: Superheros and Villains Westin San Francisco, 50 Third St., SF; So big you won’t get over it — like 20,000 square feet big. Expand your Halloween horizons with DJs J Espinoza, J Trip, Johnny Sin and more playing crowd-friendly tunes for a very big crowd.

Haunted Hill 5-10k West Portal Playground, 131 Lenox, SF. (510) 681-6181, www.tinyurl.com/hauntedhillwestportal. 5-8pm, free. Assemble a team of up to five of the most adventurous people you know, slip on some comfy shoes, and hit the trail of this scavenger hunt in the West Portal neighborhood. It’s like trick-or-treating for adults.

Rin Tin Tiger, Doe Eye, Steelwells, Wes Lesley and His Deadly Medley Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., SF; www.bottomofthehill.com. 9pm, $10. The third annual “Haunted Hoedown” brings a hayride-full of rock goodness.

Safety Meeting Club Six, 66 Sixth St., SF; www.clubsix1.com. 10pm-4am, $10. before you go trick or treating, you need a safety meeting — a dangerous local techno safety meeting, that is, with DJs Robot Hustle, Doc Sleep, Taco Tuesday, Justime, Cindy99, and a live performance from Exillon and Dabecy.

Spiral Dance Kezar Stadium, 755 Stanyan, SF; www.reclaimingspiraldance.org. Doors 6pm, dance 7:30, $20-100. The Reclaiming Collective holds Spiral Dances all year round, but the Halloween dance is their biggest hit. But the dance isn’t for Halloween — as the collective explains, “The holiday popularly known as Halloween is the time of year known to witches as Samhain, when the veil is thin between the worlds of the living and the dead.” Celebrate the Beloved Dead and get lost in the dance with hundreds of others in Kezar Stadium.

Trap City: Hell’s Eve Edition Icon, 1192 Folsom, SF; www.facebook.com/trapcitysf. 9pm, $10. The purple swag and gold chainz hip-hop party gets fiendish with Heroes X Villains, Hi Topz, Bogl, Ultraviolet, Napsty, Facemelter, more.

True Blood Halloween Herbst Pavilion, Fort Mason Center, SF; truebloodhalloween-solyluna.eventbrite.com. 9pm, $30–$80. Massive Halloween club night in the 30,000 square foot space, with EC Twins, Dorman Doray, and Sex Panther, along with vampires, werewolves, zombies, and probably lots of sexy nurses.

The Uptown’s Halloween Bash 2012 Uptown, 1928 Telegraph Ave, Oakl; www.uptownnightclub.com. 9pm, $12–$15. Titillating terrors are promised at this burlesque of happy horrors, with the gorgeous Hubba Hubba Revue in full undressed effect, music by the Deadlies, and much more surf-goth fun.

SUNDAY 28

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Nosferatu Tannery, 708 Gilman, Berk; berkeleyundergroundfilms.blogspot.com. 7:30pm, donations accepted. The two biggest silent horror films (from 1921 and 1922, respectively) in a double-feature that’ll haunt your nightmares.

Haunted Honey Holy Cow, 1535 Folsom, SF; www.honeysoundsystem.com. 9pm, $5. The naughty queer underground house boys of Honey Soundsystem throw one of the best weekly parties in SF. And tonight they’ll do it in costume. You can do it in costume, too!

Spooktacular Halloween Party & Trick or Treat in Japantown Japantown Peace Plaza, Post and Buchanan, SF. (415) 567-4573, www.sfjapantown.org. Noon-4pm, free, all ages. Halloween, Japanese-style, with unique arts and crafts, a bounce house, and trick or treating at the East and West malls.

Sunset Halloween Costume Boat Party Pier 3, SF; www.tinyurl.com/sunsetcostume. 5-11pm, $20. Tech-house superstars Lee Curtis, Thugfucker, and Pillowtalk headline this wild annual blast on the bay from the gore-ious Sunset rave crew.

Supernatural Beatbox, 214 11th St., SF; www.beatboxsf.com. 10pm-4am, $5–$10. Late night Sunday dancing at an otherworldly techno costume party, with DJs Jason Kendig, P-Play, Brian Bejarano, Jeniluv, Mozaic, more.

TUESDAY 30

Bob Saggeth Amnesia, 853 Valencia, SF; www.amnesiathebar.com. Also Wed/31, 10pm, $7–$10. The world’s best female-led, San Francisco-based Black Sabbath cover band plays this two-day Halloween bash.

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari Davies Symphony Hall, 201 Van Ness, SF; www.sfsymphony.org. Tue/30, 7pm. $20-50. Organist Cameron Carpenter provides live, improvised accompaniment to a screening of Robert Wiene’s 1920 silent chiller, plus 1912 stop-motion short “Camera Man’s Revenge.”

Halloween Balboa Theatre, 3630 Balboa, SF; www.cinemasf.com. Also Oct 31, 10pm. $7.50-10. John Carpenter’s groundbreaking 1978 slasher is presented in a new HD transfer, accompanied by a new documentary: You Can’t Kill the Boogeyman: 35 Years of Halloween.

WEDNESDAY 31

Astrozombies Hemlock Tavern, 1131 Polk Street, SF; www.hemlocktavern.com. 8:30pm, $7. Astrozombies will pay tribute to everyone’s favorite Halloween cover act, the Misfits, hopefully in devil-locks.

Blasthaus Halloween Mezzanine, 444 jessie, SF; www.blasthaus.com. 9pm, $12–$15. The party promotions powerhouse packs a punch with this party: Headliners Etienne de Crécy and Sinden blast French house and UK Bass — you’ll be bouncing off the walls.

Booty Call Halloween QBar, 456 Castro, SF; www.bootycallwednesdays.com. 9pm, $5. Who knows if the Castro will be crazy this year, but it’ll be nuts up in this too-cute weekly queer party. $100-prize costume contest, electro-pop DJ Guy Ruben, photos in the back room, lots of sexy.

Glitter Wizard, Twin Steps, Meat Market, the Parmesans, and DJ Dahmer Thee Parkside, 1600 17th St., SF; www.theeparkside.com. 8pm, $8. The local bands will be portraying the Seeds, the Cramps, G.G. and the Jabbers, and the Kinks, respectively.

Green Gorilla Halloween Anniversary Bash Monarch, 101 Sixth St., SF; www.monarchsf.com. 9pm-3am, $5–$15. The venerable (and slightly insane — in a good way) party crew celebrates 16 years of local madness with DJs M3, Anthony Mansfield, Sharon Buck, Kimmy LeFunk, and very special guest Woolfy, who is woofy.

Housepitality Halloween Icon, 1192 Folsom, SF; www.housepitalitysf.com 6pm-2am, $5–$10. Wonderful family-style house music weekly party brings in classic Detroit techno DJ Dan Bell for a full night of sweaty insanity.

Icee Hot Halloween Elbo Room, 647 Valencia, SF; www.facebook.com/iceehot. 10pm, $10. Awesomely eclectic bass party brings in hard-driving househead Jackmaster for a night of fright and funky grooves.

Mad Hatter’s Ball 1015 Folsom, SF; madhattersball-2012.eventbrite.com. 10pm, $20–$25. With trap-style Chicago DJ duo Flosstradamus, experimental Hamburg native Pantha Du Prince, local acid crunker AN-TEN-NAE, Anna Sia and more.

Nobunny, Shannon and the Clams, POW!, Eeries, DJ Al Love Brick and Mortar Music Hall, 1710 Mission, SF; www.brickandmortarmusic.com. 9pm, $7–$10. Nobunny is always in costume anyway. Rock with him, and the beloved Clams (with Shannon of course), garage-style.

Planet Booty, Double Duchess Cafe Du Nord, 2170 Market, SF; www.cafedunord.com. 9pm, $15. It’ll be a Halloween dance party with sci-fi space-funk meeting queer electro-hop on the floor.

Stay Gold Halloween Public Works, 161 Erie, SF; www.facebook.com/staygoldsf 10pm, $3–$5 Queer hip-hop and style never felt so absolutely, unnervingly amazing — especially when it’s dressed to kill. With DJs Pink Lightning and Rapid Fire.