Progressive

Music Listings: Sept. 25-Oct. 1, 2013

Tony Robles
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WEDNESDAY 25

ROCK

Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. Books on Fate, Ghost Town Jenny, River Shiver, 8:30 p.m., $10.

Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. The Love Dimension, Electric Magpie, Mario Delia, DJs Joel Gion & Al Lover, 9 p.m., $5.

Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. Bell Witch, Badr Vogu, Larvae, Abstracter, 8 p.m., $8.

The Independent: 628 Divisadero, San Francisco. Blue Sky Black Death, Sister Crayon, Real Magic, 8 p.m., $12-$14.

Milk Bar: 1840 Haight, San Francisco. Joshua Cook / The Key of Now, The Jacktones, Jam, 8:30 p.m., $2.

Slim’s: 333 11th St., San Francisco. Cellar Doors, Sandy’s, Eagle, 8 p.m., $10.

DANCE

The Cafe: 2369 Market, San Francisco. “Sticky Wednesdays,” w/ DJ Mark Andrus, 8 p.m., free.

Cat Club: 1190 Folsom, San Francisco. “Bondage A Go Go,” w/ DJs Damon, Tomas Diablo, & guests, 9:30 p.m., $5-$10.

Club X: 715 Harrison, San Francisco. “Electro Pop Rocks: Animalistic – A Wild Things Jungle,” 18+ dance party, 9 p.m., $10-$20.

DNA Lounge: 375 11th St., San Francisco. Mount Kimbie, Jonwayne, D33J, 9 p.m., $17.50-$20.

Edinburgh Castle: 950 Geary, San Francisco. “1964,” w/ DJ Matt B & guests, Second and Fourth Wednesday of every month, 10 p.m., $2.

Elbo Room: 647 Valencia, San Francisco. “Bodyshock,” w/ Mark Pistel, Ben Stokes, Blk Rainbow, DJ Crackwhore, 9 p.m., $7.

F8: 1192 Folsom St., San Francisco. “Housepitality,” w/ Dwynn, Carlos Souffront, Miguel Solari, Stacey Hotwaxx Hale, 9 p.m., $5-$10.

Harlot: 46 Minna, San Francisco. “Qoöl,” w/ Mark Slee, 5 p.m.

Infusion Lounge: 124 Ellis, San Francisco. “Indulgence,” 10 p.m.

Lookout: 3600 16th St., San Francisco. “What?,” w/ resident DJ Tisdale and guests, 7 p.m., free.

Madrone Art Bar: 500 Divisadero, San Francisco. “Rock the Spot,” 9 p.m., free.

MatrixFillmore: 3138 Fillmore, San Francisco. “Reload,” w/ DJ Big Bad Bruce, 10 p.m., free.

Q Bar: 456 Castro, San Francisco. “Booty Call,” w/ Juanita More, Joshua J, guests, 9 p.m., $3.

HIP-HOP

Cigar Bar & Grill: 850 Montgomery, San Francisco. BPos, 9 p.m., free.

Double Dutch: 3192 16th St., San Francisco. “Cash IV Gold,” w/ DJs Kool Karlo, Roost Uno, and Sean G, 10 p.m., free.

Skylark Bar: 3089 16th St., San Francisco. “Mixtape Wednesday,” w/ resident DJs Strategy, Junot, Herb Digs, & guests, 9 p.m., $5.

ACOUSTIC

Bazaar Cafe: 5927 California, San Francisco. Acoustic Guitar Showcase, w/ Jeff Titus, Doug Young, and host Teja Gerken, 7 p.m.

Cafe Divine: 1600 Stockton, San Francisco. Craig Ventresco & Meredith Axelrod, 7 p.m., free.

Club Deluxe: 1511 Haight, San Francisco. Happy Hour Bluegrass, 6:30 p.m., free.

Fiddler’s Green: 1333 Columbus, San Francisco. Terry Savastano, Every other Wednesday, 9:30 p.m., free/donation.

Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. Chris Trapper, Robert Gillies, 8 p.m., $10.

Plough & Stars: 116 Clement, San Francisco. The Toast Inspectors, Last Wednesday of every month, 9 p.m.

JAZZ

Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. Gaucho, Eric Garland’s Jazz Session, The Amnesiacs, 7 p.m., free.

Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. Bjelde & Bros., Fourth Wednesday of every month, 9:30 p.m., $5.

Burritt Room: 417 Stockton St., San Francisco. Terry Disley’s Rocking Jazz Trio, 6 p.m., free.

Jazz Bistro At Les Joulins: 44 Ellis, San Francisco. Charles Unger Experience, 7:30 p.m., free.

Le Colonial: 20 Cosmo, San Francisco. The Cosmo Alleycats featuring Ms. Emily Wade Adams, 7 p.m., free.

Martuni’s: 4 Valencia, San Francisco. Tom Shaw Trio, Last Wednesday of every month, 7 p.m., $7.

Oz Lounge: 260 Kearny, San Francisco. Hard Bop Collective, 6 p.m., free.

Pier 23 Cafe: Pier 23, San Francisco. Macy Blackman, 6 p.m., free.

Revolution Cafe: 3248 22nd St., San Francisco. Michael Parsons Trio, Every other Wednesday, 8:30 p.m., free/donation.

Savanna Jazz Club: 2937 Mission, San Francisco. “Cat’s Corner,” 9 p.m., $10.

Sheba Piano Lounge: 1419 Fillmore, San Francisco. Sebastian Parker Trio, 8 p.m.

Top of the Mark: One Nob Hill, 999 California, San Francisco. Ricardo Scales, Wednesdays, 6:30-11:30 p.m., $5.

United Nations Plaza: Market, San Francisco. Ben Goldberg, Sheldon Brown, and Vijay Anderson, presented by the Center for New Music, noon, free.

Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Jason Marsalis Vibes Quartet, 8 p.m., $21-$25.

Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Chris Duggan, 7:30 p.m., free.

INTERNATIONAL

BeatBox: 314 11th St., San Francisco. “Salsa-XS,” queer salsa night, 8 p.m.

Bissap Baobab: 3372 19th St., San Francisco. Timba Dance Party, w/ DJ WaltDigz, 10 p.m., $5.

Cafe Cocomo: 650 Indiana, San Francisco. “Bachatalicious,” w/ DJs Good Sho & Rodney, 7 p.m., $5-$10.

Pachamama Restaurant: 1630 Powell, San Francisco. “Cafe LatinoAmericano,” 8 p.m., $5.

Ruth’s Table: 580 Capp St., San Francisco. Ka-Hon Ensemble, 7 p.m., free.

BLUES

Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. Craig Horton, 8 & 10 p.m., $15.

The Royal Cuckoo: 3202 Mission, San Francisco. Big Bones & Chris Siebert, 7:30 p.m., free.

The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. Little Jonny & The Giants, 9:30 p.m.

EXPERIMENTAL

The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. “Trance Mutations #5,” w/ Black Thread, Bonus Beast, Jungle Jim, Chasms (DJ set), Caitlin Denny, 10 p.m., $5.

THURSDAY 26

ROCK

Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. “Mods v. Rockers,” w/ The Fadeaways, The Ogres, DJs Russell Quan & Dutch Crunch, 9 p.m., $5.

Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. Acorn Project, Feral Fauna, 9:30 p.m., $8-$10.

Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. The Burning of Rome, B. Hamilton, Once & Future Band, 9 p.m., $10.

The Chapel: 777 Valencia St., San Francisco. Suzanne Sundfør, Big Eagle, 9 p.m., $12-$15.

S.F. Eagle: 398 12th St., San Francisco. Thursday Nite Live: Folsom Weekend Kickoff Party, w/ The Ethel Merman Experience, Lucky Jesus, The Whoa Nellies, 9 p.m., $8.

Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. White Cloud, Fine Points, Dylan Shearer, 8:30 p.m., $6.

The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. Wild Eyes, Occult Wisdom, Heavy Action, 9:30 p.m., $7.

Milk Bar: 1840 Haight, San Francisco. The Hangover Brigade, The Moonlight Orchestra, Cassandra Farrar & The Left Brains, 8:30 p.m., $8.

Rickshaw Stop: 155 Fell, San Francisco. Breakdown Valentine, Flaamingos, I Am Animal, 8 p.m., $10.

Thee Parkside: 1600 17th St., San Francisco. Sweat Lodge, Industrial Priest Overcoats, Snit, 9 p.m., $7.

DANCE

1015 Folsom: 1015 Folsom St., San Francisco. “A Light in the Attic,” w/ Desert Dwellers, Govinda, David Starfire, Saqi, Le Portal, Jocelyn, Beli3ver, Aire Redtree, more, 10 p.m., $10-$15.

Abbey Tavern: 4100 Geary, San Francisco. DJ Schrobi-Girl, 10 p.m., free.

Asiento: 2730 21st St., San Francisco. Charlie Prowler, benefit for Mutiny Radio, 9 p.m., free.

Audio Discotech: 316 11th St., San Francisco. “Phonic,” w/ Joachim Garraud, Tall Sasha, 9:30 p.m.

Aunt Charlie’s Lounge: 133 Turk, San Francisco. “Tubesteak Connection,” w/ DJ Bus Station John, 9 p.m., $5-$7.

BeatBox: 314 11th St., San Francisco. “Jukebox,” w/ DJ Page Hodel, 9 p.m., $10.

The Cafe: 2369 Market, San Francisco. “¡Pan Dulce!,” 9 p.m., $5.

Cat Club: 1190 Folsom, San Francisco. “Throwback Thursdays,” ‘80s night with DJs Damon, Steve Washington, Dangerous Dan, and guests, 9 p.m., $6 (free before 9:30 p.m.).

The Cellar: 685 Sutter, San Francisco. “XO,” w/ DJs Astro & Rose, 10 p.m., $5.

Club X: 715 Harrison, San Francisco. “The Crib,” 9:30 p.m., $10, 18+.

Elbo Room: 647 Valencia, San Francisco. “Afrolicious,” w/ DJs Pleasuremaker, Señor Oz, and live guests, 9:30 p.m., $5-$8.

Infusion Lounge: 124 Ellis, San Francisco. “I Love Thursdays,” 10 p.m., $10.

Lone Star Saloon: 1354 Harrison, San Francisco. Raunch: Folsom Weekend Kickoff Party, DJ Brian Maier spins beats for bears., 9 p.m.

Lookout: 3600 16th St., San Francisco. “Cub Camp S.F.,” w/ DJs Scooter, Taco Tuesday, and Guy Ruben, 9 p.m., $5.

Madrone Art Bar: 500 Divisadero, San Francisco. “Night Fever,” 9 p.m., $5 after 10 p.m.

Q Bar: 456 Castro, San Francisco. “Throwback Thursday,” w/ DJ Jay-R, 9 p.m., free.

Raven: 1151 Folsom St., San Francisco. “1999,” w/ VJ Mark Andrus, 8 p.m., free.

Ruby Skye: 420 Mason, San Francisco. “Awakening,” w/ Norin & Rad, Maor Levi, 9 p.m., $15-$20 advance.

The Stud: 399 Ninth St., San Francisco. “Porno: Folsom Edition,” w/ DJs Hotwire & Kidd Sysko, 8 p.m., $10-$15.

Temple: 540 Howard, San Francisco. “Solid,” w/ Mancub, Influence, Kimba, Sychosis, 10 p.m., $10.

The Tunnel Top: 601 Bush, San Francisco. “Tunneltop,” DJs Avalon and Derek ease you into the weekend with a cool and relaxed selection of tunes spun on vinyl, 10 p.m., free.

Underground SF: 424 Haight, San Francisco. “Bubble,” 10 p.m., free.

Vessel: 85 Campton, San Francisco. “Base: Local Label Night,” w/ Bardia F, ThuyVu, Mac Vaughn, DJ Playdoughboy, Rishi K, Andrew Shatnyy, Ray Kang, Fabian Campos, Konam, 10 p.m., free with RSVP.

HIP-HOP

Eastside West: 3154 Fillmore, San Francisco. “Throwback Thursdays,” w/ DJ Madison, 9 p.m., free.

The EndUp: 401 Sixth St., San Francisco. “Cypher,” w/ resident DJ Big Von., 10 p.m., $5-$10.

John Colins: 138 Minna, San Francisco. “#Quattro,” w/ DJ Dino, Fourth Thursday of every month, 9 p.m.

Park 77 Sports Bar: 77 Cambon, San Francisco. “Slap N Tite,” w/ resident Cali King Crab DJs Sabotage Beats & Jason Awesome, free.

Skylark Bar: 3089 16th St., San Francisco. “Peaches,” w/lady DJs DeeAndroid, Lady Fingaz, That Girl, Umami, Inkfat, and Andre, 10 p.m., free.

ACOUSTIC

Atlas Cafe: 3049 20th St., San Francisco. Bluegrass & Old-Time Music Jam Session, Last Thursday of every month, 8-10 p.m., free.

Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. Open Mic with K.C. Turner, 7:30 p.m., $5.

Cigar Bar & Grill: 850 Montgomery, San Francisco. The Neckbeard Boys, 8 p.m.

Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. Addie & The Subtrax, Amy Matarazzo, Seapora & Mikus, 9 p.m., $10.

Plough & Stars: 116 Clement, San Francisco. John Caufield & Friends, 9 p.m.

SFSU Campus/Cesar Chavez Student Center: 1650 Holloway, San Francisco. “Strung Out,” acoustic showcase with Tino Drima, Dovetail, Ariana Tibi, Karli Helm, Honeyfingers, 6 p.m., free.

JAZZ

Blush! Wine Bar: 476 Castro, San Francisco. Doug Martin’s Avatar Ensemble, 7:30 p.m., free.

Bottle Cap: 1707 Powell, San Francisco. The North Beach Sound with Ned Boynton, Jordan Samuels, and Tom Vickers, 7 p.m., free.

Cafe Claude: 7 Claude, San Francisco. Nova Jazz, 7:30 p.m., free.

Le Colonial: 20 Cosmo, San Francisco. Steve Lucky & The Rhumba Bums, 7:30 p.m.

Pier 23 Cafe: Pier 23, San Francisco. Ned Boynton & Friends, 7 p.m., free.

The Royal Cuckoo: 3202 Mission, San Francisco. Chris Siebert, 7:30 p.m., free.

Savanna Jazz Club: 2937 Mission, San Francisco. Savanna Jazz Jam with Eddy Ramirez, 7:30 p.m., $5.

Top of the Mark: One Nob Hill, 999 California, San Francisco. Stompy Jones, 7:30 p.m., $10.

Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Jeff Lorber Fusion, 8 p.m., $25.

Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Barbara Ochoa, 7:30 p.m., free.

INTERNATIONAL

Bissap Baobab: 3372 19th St., San Francisco. “Pa’Lante!,” w/ Juan G, El Kool Kyle, Mr. Lucky, 10 p.m., $5.

Cafe Cocomo: 650 Indiana, San Francisco. La Fuerza Gigante, DJ Good Sho, 8 p.m., $12.

Pachamama Restaurant: 1630 Powell, San Francisco. “Jueves Flamencos,” 8 p.m., free.

Red Poppy Art House: 2698 Folsom, San Francisco. Dúo del Sol, 7:30 p.m., $10-$15.

Sheba Piano Lounge: 1419 Fillmore, San Francisco. Latin Breeze, 8 p.m.

Verdi Club: 2424 Mariposa, San Francisco. The Verdi Club Milonga, w/ Christy Coté, DJ Emilio Flores, guests, 9 p.m., $10-$15.

REGGAE

Pissed Off Pete’s: 4528 Mission St., San Francisco. Reggae Thursdays, w/ resident DJ Jah Yzer, 9 p.m., free.

BLUES

Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. Tommy Odetto Group, 8 & 10 p.m., $15.

Jazz Bistro At Les Joulins: 44 Ellis, San Francisco. Bohemian Knuckleboogie, 7:30 p.m., free.

Lou’s Fish Shack: 300 Jefferson St., San Francisco. Jo Jo Diamond, 8:30 p.m.

The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. T-Wrex & The Primitive Rhythm, 4 p.m.; Cathy Lemons, 9:30 p.m.

EXPERIMENTAL

The Luggage Store: 1007 Market, San Francisco. Fred Frith & Phillip Greenlief Duo, Eat the Sun, 8 p.m., $6-$10.

FRIDAY 27

ROCK

Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. Finish Ticket, Holychild, Ghost (tet), 9:30 p.m., $12-$14.

Cafe Du Nord: 2170 Market, San Francisco. The Inciters, Rue ‘66, The Invisible Cities, 9 p.m., $10.

The Chapel: 777 Valencia St., San Francisco. The Autumn Defense, Bart Davenport, 9 p.m., $15.

El Rio: 3158 Mission, San Francisco. Friday Live: The Galloping Sea, DJ Emotions, 10 p.m., free.

Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. Synthetic ID, Manatee, Cold Beat, The Riflemen, 8:30 p.m., $7.

Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. Pebble Theory, On Telegraph, Jimbo Scott & The Hot Mess, 9 p.m., $9.

The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. The Fadeaways, The Dukes of Hamburg, 7 p.m., $5.

Mezzanine: 444 Jessie, San Francisco. Peter Hook & The Light (performing New Order’s Movement and Power, Corruption & Lies), Slaves of Venus, 8 p.m., $25.

Neck of the Woods: 406 Clement St., San Francisco. Mister Loveless, Cannons & Clouds, The Hundred Days, Mammoth Life, Danyolsan, Miles the DJ, 8 p.m., free.

Thee Parkside: 1600 17th St., San Francisco. Acid King, Black Cobra, Buffalo Tooth, 9 p.m., $12-$14.

DANCE

1015 Folsom: 1015 Folsom St., San Francisco. Lapalux, Evian Christ, Kode9, DJ Rashad, Ikonika, Brap Dem DJs, 10 p.m., $17-$22.50 advance.

4Fourteen: 414 Mason, San Francisco. “Helix 4th Fridays,” Progressive techno tunes spun by resident DJs Means+Function, David Gropper, Derek Ryan, and rotating guests, Fourth Friday of every month, 10 p.m., $20.

BeatBox: 314 11th St., San Francisco. “Haus of Stiel,” w/ DJ Shane Stiel, 10 p.m., $15-$20.

Cafe Flore: 2298 Market, San Francisco. “Kinky Beats,” w/ DJ Sergio, 10 p.m., free.

The Cafe: 2369 Market, San Francisco. “Boy Bar,” w/ DJ Matt Consola, 9 p.m., $5.

Cat Club: 1190 Folsom, San Francisco. “Dark Shadows,” w/ DJs Daniel Skellington, Sage, Melting Girl, and Skarkrow, 9:30 p.m., $7 ($3 before 10 p.m.).

The Cellar: 685 Sutter, San Francisco. “F.T.S.: For the Story,” 10 p.m.

Elbo Room: 647 Valencia, San Francisco. “120 Minutes,” w/ Pharmakon, DBC, DJs Santa Muerte & Chauncey CC, 10 p.m., $8-$15.

The EndUp: 401 Sixth St., San Francisco. “Fever,” 10 p.m., free before midnight.

F8: 1192 Folsom St., San Francisco. “Vintage,” w/ DJ Toph One & guests, 5 p.m., free; “Hidden Measure,” w/ Splatter, Daya, Alex Xipit, Worker/Parasite, Nackt, Petko Nikolov, 9 p.m., $5 advance.

The Factory: 525 Harrison, San Francisco. Recon Full Fetish, Official Folsom Street Fair dance party with DJ Gordon John, presented by gay fetish hookup site Recon.com., 10 p.m., $30-$40.

The Grand Nightclub: 520 4th St., San Francisco. “We Rock Fridays,” 9:30 p.m.

Infusion Lounge: 124 Ellis, San Francisco. “Escape Fridays,” 10 p.m., $20.

Lookout: 3600 16th St., San Francisco. “HYSL,” 9 p.m., $3.

Madrone Art Bar: 500 Divisadero, San Francisco. “I ♥ the ‘90s,” w/ DJs Samala, Teo, Mr. Grant, & Sonny Phono, Fourth Friday of every month, 9 p.m., $5.

Manor West: 750 Harrison, San Francisco. “Fortune Fridays,” 10 p.m., free before 11 p.m. with RSVP.

MatrixFillmore: 3138 Fillmore, San Francisco. “F-Style Fridays,” w/ DJ Jared-F, 9 p.m.

Mighty: 119 Utah, San Francisco. Dusty Rhino After Burn, w/ The Scumfrog, Zach Moore, DJ Loomer, DJ Dane, Nugz, Alvaro Bravo, Clarkie, Mystr/Htcht, DJMK, 10 p.m., $15-$17.50 advance.

Milk Bar: 1840 Haight, San Francisco. Planet Booty, 8th Grader, dudha.us, 9:30 p.m., $10.

Monarch: 101 6th St., San Francisco. Âme, Solar, DJ M3, Job Jobse, 9:30 p.m., $15-$20.

OMG: 43 6th St., San Francisco. “Release,” 9 p.m., free before 11 p.m.

Powerhouse: 1347 Folsom, San Francisco. Steam Does Folsom, DJ Harry Cross brings a bathhouse vibe to a nightclub setting., 9 p.m., $8.

Project One: 251 Rhode Island, San Francisco. “Rouge,” w/ DJ Mike Parsons, R&D, and Danny Firpo, 9 p.m., $5.

Public Works: 161 Erie, San Francisco. Bearracuda: Folsom Street Friday, Bear dance party with DJs Hifi Sean, P-Play, Mark Louque, Ryan Smith, and Bil Todd., 9 p.m., $20 advance.

Q Bar: 456 Castro, San Francisco. “Pump: Worq It Out Fridays,” w/ resident DJ Christopher B, 9 p.m., $3.

Truck: 1900 Folsom, San Francisco. “Satisfucktory,” w/ DJ Brower, 9 p.m., free.

Underground SF: 424 Haight, San Francisco. “Bionic,” 10 p.m., $5.

Vessel: 85 Campton, San Francisco. “Project X,” w/ DJs Mario Mar, Rufio, and Elvi, 10 p.m., $10-$30.

Wish: 1539 Folsom, San Francisco. “Bridge the Gap,” w/ resident DJ Don Kainoa, Fridays, 6-10 p.m., free.

HIP-HOP

EZ5: 682 Commercial, San Francisco. “Decompression,” Fridays, 5-9 p.m.

John Colins: 138 Minna, San Francisco. “#Flow,” w/ The Whooligan & Mikos Da Gawd, Fourth Friday of every month, 10 p.m., free befoe 11 p.m.

ACOUSTIC

Bazaar Cafe: 5927 California, San Francisco. The Shut-Ins, 7 p.m.

Plough & Stars: 116 Clement, San Francisco. Culann’s Hounds, 9 p.m.

The Sports Basement: 610 Old Mason, San Francisco. “Breakfast with Enzo,” w/ Enzo Garcia, 10 a.m., $5.

JAZZ

Beach Chalet Brewery & Restaurant: 1000 Great Highway, San Francisco. Johnny Smith, 8 p.m., free.

Bird & Beckett: 653 Chenery, San Francisco. Chuck Peterson Quintet, Fourth Friday of every month, 5:30 p.m.

Jazz Bistro At Les Joulins: 44 Ellis, San Francisco. Charles Unger Experience, 7:30 p.m., free.

The Rite Spot Cafe: 2099 Folsom, San Francisco. Project: Pimento, 9 p.m., free.

The Royal Cuckoo: 3202 Mission, San Francisco. Jules Broussard, Danny Armstrong, and Chris Siebert, 7:30 p.m., free.

Savanna Jazz Club: 2937 Mission, San Francisco. Carol Luckenbach, 7:30 p.m., $8.

Top of the Mark: One Nob Hill, 999 California, San Francisco. Black Market Jazz Orchestra, 9 p.m., $10.

Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Nick Colionne, 8 & 10 p.m., $21-$26.

Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Joyce Grant, 8 p.m., free.

INTERNATIONAL

Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. Baxtalo Drom, International shimmying for lovers of Balkan music, bellydancers, and burlesque., Fourth Friday of every month, 9 p.m., $5-$10.

Bissap Baobab: 3372 19th St., San Francisco. “Paris-Dakar African Mix Coupe Decale,” 10 p.m., $5.

Cafe Claude: 7 Claude, San Francisco. Trio Garufa, 7:30 p.m., free; Trio Garufa, 7:30 p.m., free.

Cafe Cocomo: 650 Indiana, San Francisco. Taste Fridays, featuring local cuisine tastings, salsa bands, dance lessons, and more, 7:30 p.m., $15 (free entry to patio).

Cigar Bar & Grill: 850 Montgomery, San Francisco. Montuno Swing, 8 p.m.

Pachamama Restaurant: 1630 Powell, San Francisco. Cuban Night with Fito Reinoso, 7:30 & 9:15 p.m., $15-$18.

The Ramp: 855 Terry Francois, San Francisco. “Samba Soirée,” w/ Sambaxé, DJ Alfie1Bateria, 6 p.m.

Red Poppy Art House: 2698 Folsom, San Francisco. Claudio Santome, 7:30 p.m., $10-$15.

REGGAE

Gestalt Haus: 3159 16th St., San Francisco. “Music Like Dirt,” 7:30 p.m., free.

BLUES

Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. Shane Dwight, 8 & 10 p.m., $20.

Cafe Royale: 800 Post, San Francisco. Allister’s Chicago Blues Jam, Last Friday of every month, 9 p.m.

Lou’s Fish Shack: 300 Jefferson St., San Francisco. Little Wolf & The HellCats, 8:30 p.m.

Pier 23 Cafe: Pier 23, San Francisco. Pugsley Buzzard, 8 p.m., free.

The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. Jan Fanucchi, Last Friday of every month, 4 p.m.; Ron Thompson, 9:30 p.m.

Sheba Piano Lounge: 1419 Fillmore, San Francisco. Adrian Costa, 8 p.m.

EXPERIMENTAL

Center for New Music: 55 Taylor St., San Francisco. Happy Hour with A/B Duo, 6 p.m., $10-$20 (includes complimentary drinks & snacks).

FUNK

Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. Sophistafunk, Wicked Mercies, Trio Subtonic, 9:30 p.m., $10-$15.

Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. Angelo Moore & The Brand New Step, A Million Billion Dying Suns, Rondo Brothers, Vau de Vire Society, Heart Touch, 9 p.m., $12-$15.

Make-Out Room: 3225 22nd St., San Francisco. “Loose Joints,” w/ DJs Centipede, Damon Bell, & Tom Thump, 10 p.m., $5.

SOUL

Edinburgh Castle: 950 Geary, San Francisco. “Soul Crush,” w/ DJ Serious Leisure, 10 p.m., free.

Underground SF: 424 Haight, San Francisco. “Sissy Strut,” w/ The Handsome Young Men (DJs Ponyboy, Lil MC, Katie Duck, & Durt), Fourth Friday of every month, 10 p.m., $3-$5.

SATURDAY 28

ROCK

Bender’s: 806 S. Van Ness, San Francisco. Lost Puppy, Pineapple Princess, 10 p.m., $5.

Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. Teenage Bottlerocket, The Queers, The Copyrights, 9:30 p.m., $15.

The Chapel: 777 Valencia St., San Francisco. Kelley Stoltz, The Mantles, Sopwith Camel, 9 p.m., $12-$15.

El Rio: 3158 Mission, San Francisco. Dialectic, Tall Sheep, Kaizok, 9 p.m., $5-$10.

Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. The Wrong Words, Once & Future Band, City Deluxe, 9:30 p.m., $7.

Make-Out Room: 3225 22nd St., San Francisco. Victory, Blue-Eyed Son, 7:30 p.m., $8.

Neck of the Woods: 406 Clement St., San Francisco. Cold Fronts, The Jaded, The Wearies, Flaggs, 9 p.m., $8-$10.

Slim’s: 333 11th St., San Francisco. The Mermen, plus a screening of the surf documentary Discovering Mavericks, 9 p.m., $20.

Thee Parkside: 1600 17th St., San Francisco. Electric Shepherd, El Topo, Sweet Chariot, 3 p.m., free.

DANCE

111 Minna Gallery: 111 Minna St., San Francisco. “Barracuda,” 10 p.m., $5.

Audio Discotech: 316 11th St., San Francisco. Droog, Pedro Arbulu, MFYRS, 9:30 p.m.

Balancoire: 2565 Mission St., San Francisco. Raime, Josh Cheon, Austin Cesear, TDM, 10 p.m., $12-$15 advance.

Cafe Du Nord: 2170 Market, San Francisco. “Dark Room,” w/ High-Functioning Flesh, Lady Bear & Her Dark Drag Dolls, DJs Justin Anastasi & Le Perv, 9:30 p.m., $15.

Cafe Flore: 2298 Market, San Francisco. “Bistrotheque,” w/ DJ Ken Vulsion, 8 p.m., free.

Cat Club: 1190 Folsom, San Francisco. “Villainy: The Dance Club with a Dark Side,” w/ DJs Tomas Diablo, Chris Zachos, Donimo, Saint James, and Andy T, 9:30 p.m., $5-$8.

Club X: 715 Harrison, San Francisco. Aftershock, Magnitude after-party with DJ Abel (starts 4 a.m. Sunday morning)., $20-$40.

DNA Lounge: 375 11th St., San Francisco. “Bootie S.F.,” w/ Smash-Up Derby; A+D; DJ Dada; DJ ShyBoy; Freddy, King of Pants; more, 9 p.m., $10-$15.

S.F. Eagle: 398 12th St., San Francisco. “Sadistic Saturdays,” Fourth Saturday of every month, 10 p.m., free.

Elbo Room: 647 Valencia, San Francisco. “The Revival: 25 Years of Acid Jazz,” w/ Tom Dick & Harry, Julius Papp, The Selecter DJ Kirk, 10 p.m., $10-$15.

The EndUp: 401 Sixth St., San Francisco. Shangri-La, Asian queer dance party., Fourth Saturday of every month, 10 p.m., $15-$20 (free before 11 p.m.).

F8: 1192 Folsom St., San Francisco. Luther: Folsom 2013, The “roving fetish party and secret supergroup” presents DJs Harry Cross and Aaron Clark., 10 p.m., $15-$20 advance.

The Factory: 525 Harrison, San Francisco. Magnitude, Folsom Street Fair’s biggest — and admittedly priciest — nightlife event, featuring DJs Tony Moran, Jack Chang, Phil B, and Russ Rich (also includes DJs next door at Terra, 511 Harrison)., 9 p.m., $90 advance.

Infusion Lounge: 124 Ellis, San Francisco. “Set,” Fourth Saturday of every month, 10 p.m., $20.

Lexington Club: 3464 19th St., San Francisco. “10th Annual Infamous Uniform Party,” w/ DJs Jenna Riot & Rapid Fire, 9 p.m., free.

Lone Star Saloon: 1354 Harrison, San Francisco. “Bearometer: Leather Edition,” w/ DJ Eur-O-Steve, 9 p.m.

Lookout: 3600 16th St., San Francisco. “Bounce!,” 9 p.m., $3; “Pop the Zipper!: Pre-Folsom Party,” w/ DJ Chi Chi LaRue, 9 p.m., $5.

Madrone Art Bar: 500 Divisadero, San Francisco. “Blunted Funk,” w/ resident DJs Sneak-E Pete & Chilipino, Fourth Saturday of every other month, 9 p.m., $5 (free before 10 p.m.).

Mezzanine: 444 Jessie, San Francisco. Falcon & Raging Stallion Studios Annual VIP Party, The gay porn filmmakers present a free Folsom weekend party with DJ Ricky Sinz., 8 p.m., free.

Milk Bar: 1840 Haight, San Francisco. “Spilt Milk,” w/ The Beat Broker, C.L.A.W.S., Taylor Fife, Shaky Premise, 7 p.m., $5.

Monarch: 101 6th St., San Francisco. “Lights Down Low,” w/ Waze & Odyssey, Locked Groove, South London Ordnance, Sleazemore, Richie Panic, 10 p.m., $15-$20.

Public Works: 161 Erie, San Francisco. “Indian Summer Block Party,” w/ Speedy J, Henrik Schwarz, Tiger & Woods, Midland, Woolfy, Solar, Galen, Rich Korach, Mossmoss, Bells & Whistles, 2 p.m., $20-$40.

Qi Ultra Lounge: 917 Folsom St., San Francisco. V Is for … Virgins in Leather, Lesbian leather party with DJs China G and Saratonin., 9 p.m.

Rickshaw Stop: 155 Fell, San Francisco. “Club 1994,” w/ DJs Vin Sol & Jeffrey Paradise, 10 p.m., $10-$20.

The Stud: 399 Ninth St., San Francisco. “Growl: Official Bearwww Leather Party,” w/ DJ Mike Biggz, 9 p.m., $5.

Temple: 540 Howard, San Francisco. “Life,” w/ The Schmidt, Sk0step, That Sound, J Funk, Omar Johnson, Eddie House, more, 10 p.m., $20.

Truck: 1900 Folsom, San Francisco. “Throttle,” 9 p.m., free.

HIP-HOP

Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. Black Milk, 9 p.m., $15.

John Colins: 138 Minna, San Francisco. “Nice,” w/ DJ Apollo, Fourth Saturday of every month, 10 p.m., $5.

ACOUSTIC

Atlas Cafe: 3049 20th St., San Francisco. Craig Ventresco & Meredith Axelrod, Saturdays, 4-6 p.m., free.

Center for New Music: 55 Taylor St., San Francisco. Mobius Trio, 8 p.m., $10-$15.

Exit Theatre: 156 Eddy, San Francisco. “Songwriter Saturdays,” hosted by Melissa Lyn, Last Saturday of every month, 8:30 p.m., free/donation.

Plough & Stars: 116 Clement, San Francisco. Old Belle, 9 p.m.

JAZZ

Alfred’s Steakhouse: 659 Merchant, San Francisco. “The Best Is Yet to Come: A Tribute to Tony Bennett,” w/ Mark Robinson & Trio de Swing, 8 p.m., $25.

Cafe Claude: 7 Claude, San Francisco. Vijay Anderson Quartet, 7:30 p.m., free.

Jazz Bistro At Les Joulins: 44 Ellis, San Francisco. Bill “Doc” Webster & Jazz Nostalgia, 7:30 p.m., free.

The Rite Spot Cafe: 2099 Folsom, San Francisco. Mr. Lucky & The Cocktail Party, 9 p.m., free.

Savanna Jazz Club: 2937 Mission, San Francisco. Bryan Girard/Wayne Fettig Quartet, 7:30 p.m., $8.

Sheba Piano Lounge: 1419 Fillmore, San Francisco. The Robert Stewart Experience, 9 p.m.

Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Anne O’Brien, Last Saturday of every month, 8 p.m., free.

INTERNATIONAL

1015 Folsom: 1015 Folsom St., San Francisco. “Pura,” 9 p.m., $20.

Bissap Baobab: 3372 19th St., San Francisco. “Paris-Dakar African Mix Coupe Decale,” 10 p.m., $5.

Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. La Gente, Non Stop Bhangra DJ Jimmy Love, 9:30 p.m., $10-$15.

Cafe Cocomo: 650 Indiana, San Francisco. Avance, DJ Luis Medina, 8 p.m., $15.

Cigar Bar & Grill: 850 Montgomery, San Francisco. Conjunto Picante, 8 p.m.

El Rio: 3158 Mission, San Francisco. “Mango,” Fourth Saturday of every month, 3 p.m., $8-$10.

The Emerald Tablet: 80 Fresno St., San Francisco. Beaucoup Chapeaux, 8 p.m., $10.

Make-Out Room: 3225 22nd St., San Francisco. “El SuperRitmo,” w/ DJs Roger Mas & El Kool Kyle, 10 p.m., $5.

Pachamama Restaurant: 1630 Powell, San Francisco. Peña Eddy Navia & Pachamama Band, 8 p.m., free.

The Ramp: 855 Terry Francois, San Francisco. Orquesta Borinquen, 5:30 p.m.

Red Poppy Art House: 2698 Folsom, San Francisco. Sol Tevél, 7:30 p.m., $10-$15.

Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. The Arsenio Rodriguez Project: Las Estrellas de Arsenio, 8 & 10 p.m., $25-$45.

BLUES

Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. Earl Thomas & The Blues Ambassadors with Tia Carroll, 7:30 & 10 p.m., $24.

Lou’s Fish Shack: 300 Jefferson St., San Francisco. Willie G, 8:30 p.m.

The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. Dave Workman, Fourth Saturday of every month, 4 p.m.; Ron Hacker, Last Saturday of every month, 9:30 p.m.

FUNK

The Independent: 628 Divisadero, San Francisco. Monophonics, AM & Shawn Lee, DJ B.Cause, 9 p.m., $20.

SOUL

Edinburgh Castle: 950 Geary, San Francisco. “Nightbeat,” w/ DJs Primo, Lucky, and Dr. Scott, Fourth Saturday of every month, 9 p.m., $3.

The Royal Cuckoo: 3202 Mission, San Francisco. Freddie Hughes & Chris Burns, 7:30 p.m., free.

SUNDAY 29

ROCK

Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. Youth Code, Night Sins, Intimatchine, 9 p.m., $10-$12.

Cafe Du Nord: 2170 Market, San Francisco. Hand of the Hills, Great Apes, 8 p.m., $10-$12.

El Rio: 3158 Mission, San Francisco. 3 Cards Down, Evil Beaver, Kittenhead, 8 p.m., $6.

Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. Life Leone, Kongos, Hello Echo, 8 p.m., $6.

The Independent: 628 Divisadero, San Francisco. Savages, Duke Garwood, 8 p.m., sold out.

Make-Out Room: 3225 22nd St., San Francisco. Night Drives, Little Heart, Windham Flat, 7:30 p.m., $8.

Rickshaw Stop: 155 Fell, San Francisco. Zorge, Tinavie, Kiwi Time, 7 p.m., $35-$45.

DANCE

440 Castro: 440 Castro, San Francisco. “Sunday Furry Sunday,” Last Sunday of every month, 4-10 p.m., $1.

BeatBox: 314 11th St., San Francisco. Climaxx: Folsom After Hours, DJ Tristan Jaxx plays late-late-night tunes for Folsom leathermen who don’t wanna let the weekend end (starts 3 a.m. Monday morning)., $20-$25; Deviants: Adult Arcade, Official closing party of the Folsom Street Fair with DJ Boris, Matrixxman, Olga T, and Aaron Clark., 4:30 p.m., $25-$35.

The Cellar: 685 Sutter, San Francisco. “Replay Sundays,” 9 p.m., free.

The Edge: 4149 18th St., San Francisco. “’80s at 8,” w/ DJ MC2, 8 p.m.

Elbo Room: 647 Valencia, San Francisco. “Dub Mission,” w/ Blaze Kulcha vs. No Dough Dub, DJ Sep, Ludichris, 9 p.m., $6 (free before 9:30 p.m.).

The EndUp: 401 Sixth St., San Francisco. “T.Dance,” 6 a.m.-6 p.m.; “Strictly Soul,” w/ Gene Hunt, Stephen Rigmaiden, Bryan Boogie, Steve Madera, Jaclyn Marie, M.D. Mayes, 8 p.m.

F8: 1192 Folsom St., San Francisco. “Stamina Sundays,” w/ guest DJ Robin Weber, 10 p.m., free.

Holy Cow: 1535 Folsom, San Francisco. “Honey Sundays,” w/ Honey Soundsystem & guests, 9 p.m., $5-$10.

The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. “Sweater Funk,” 10 p.m., free.

Lookout: 3600 16th St., San Francisco. “Jock,” Sundays, 3-8 p.m., $2.

MatrixFillmore: 3138 Fillmore, San Francisco. “Bounce,” w/ DJ Just, 10 p.m.

Monarch: 101 6th St., San Francisco. “Reload,” w/ Michael Perry, Sharon Buck, Adam Beyer, Prehistoric Reptiles, 9 p.m., $5-$10.

Ocean Beach: Great Highway, San Francisco. “Silent Frisco: Ocean Beach,” w/ Mark Farina, J-Boogie, Motion Potion, Shouts!, Derek Hena, Black 22s, NVO, 1 p.m., $25.

Otis: 25 Maiden, San Francisco. “What’s the Werd?,” w/ resident DJs Nick Williams, Kevin Knapp, Maxwell Dub, and guests, 9 p.m., $5 (free before 11 p.m.).

The Parlor: 2801 Leavenworth, San Francisco. DJ Marc deVasconcelos, 10 p.m., free.

Q Bar: 456 Castro, San Francisco. “Gigante,” 8 p.m., free.

Qi Ultra Lounge: 917 Folsom St., San Francisco. Drtybtch, DJs Ms. Jackson and Kidd Sysko spin electro, trap, hip-hop, and other booty beats at this “music, sex, and fashion experience.,” 7 p.m., $10.

The Stud: 399 Ninth St., San Francisco. Massive: Folsom 2013 Edition, Tea dance for bears at the legendary South of Market gay bar., 6 p.m., $5.

Temple: 540 Howard, San Francisco. “The Gift,” w/ DJ Holiday, Ruby Red I, 9 p.m., $20-$40.

HIP-HOP

Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. “Return of the Cypher,” 9:30 p.m., free.

SOMA StrEat Food Park: 428 11th St., San Francisco. “The Beat Down: Summer Beats & Eats,” w/ resident DJ Mr. E, Last Sunday of every month, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. continues through Oct. 27, free.

ACOUSTIC

Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. Emily Jane White, Spectre Spectre, King Woman, 9 p.m., $7-$10.

Bazaar Cafe: 5927 California, San Francisco. The Hill People, Cara Sarelli, 6 p.m.

The Lucky Horseshoe: 453 Cortland, San Francisco. Sunday Bluegrass Jam, 4 p.m., free.

Madrone Art Bar: 500 Divisadero, San Francisco. “Spike’s Mic Night,” Sundays, 4-8 p.m., free.

Neck of the Woods: 406 Clement St., San Francisco. “iPlay,” open mic with featured weekly artists, 6:30 p.m., free.

Plough & Stars: 116 Clement, San Francisco. Seisiún with John Sherry & Kyle Thayer, 9 p.m.

St. Luke’s Episcopal Church: 1755 Clay, San Francisco. “Sunday Night Mic,” w/ Roem Baur, 5 p.m., free.

JAZZ

Jazz Bistro At Les Joulins: 44 Ellis, San Francisco. Bill “Doc” Webster & Jazz Nostalgia, 7:30 p.m., free.

Madrone Art Bar: 500 Divisadero, San Francisco. “Sunday Sessions,” 10 p.m., free.

Red Poppy Art House: 2698 Folsom, San Francisco. Terrence Brewer Trio with Dmitri Matheny, 7:30 p.m., $10-$15.

Revolution Cafe: 3248 22nd St., San Francisco. Jazz Revolution, 4 p.m., free/donation.

The Royal Cuckoo: 3202 Mission, San Francisco. Lavay Smith & Chris Siebert, 7:30 p.m., free.

Union Square Park: 333 Post, San Francisco. Darren Johnston & The Trans-Global People’s Chorus: “Letters to Home,” 2 p.m., free.

Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Lisa Lindsley, 7:30 p.m., free.

INTERNATIONAL

Atmosphere: 447 Broadway, San Francisco. “Hot Bachata Nights,” w/ DJ El Guapo, 5:30 p.m., $10 ($15-$20 with dance lessons).

Bissap Baobab: 3372 19th St., San Francisco. “Brazil & Beyond,” 6:30 p.m., free.

The Ramp: 855 Terry Francois, San Francisco. BrazilVox, 5:30 p.m.

Thirsty Bear Brewing Company: 661 Howard, San Francisco. “The Flamenco Room,” 7:30 & 8:30 p.m.

Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Rana Farhan, 7 p.m., $30-$35.

REGGAE

Il Pirata: 2007 16th St., San Francisco. “Ragga Ragga,” w/ DJs Vinny Ras, Kure All, & Theory, Last Sunday of every month, 7 p.m., free.

BLUES

Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. Golden Gate Blues Society IBC Regional Final, 5 p.m., $20.

Lou’s Fish Shack: 300 Jefferson St., San Francisco. Phil Berkowitz & The Dirty Cats, 4 p.m.

Revolution Cafe: 3248 22nd St., San Francisco. HowellDevine, 8:30 p.m., free/donation.

The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. Blues Power, 4 p.m.; Takezo, 9:30 p.m.

Sheba Piano Lounge: 1419 Fillmore, San Francisco. Bohemian Knuckleboogie, 9 p.m., free.

EXPERIMENTAL

San Francisco Community Music Center: 544 Capp, San Francisco. T.D. Skatchit & Company, 8 p.m., $10-$20.

SOUL

Delirium Cocktails: 3139 16th St., San Francisco. “Heart & Soul,” w/ DJ Lovely Lesage, 10 p.m., free.

Pier 23 Cafe: Pier 23, San Francisco. Feelosophy, 5 p.m., free.

MONDAY 30

ROCK

Elbo Room: 647 Valencia, San Francisco. The Secret Secretaries, Saturn Cats, CIVC, 9 p.m., $6.

The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. CCR Headcleaner, Life Stinks, 9 p.m., $5.

DANCE

DNA Lounge: 375 11th St., San Francisco. “Death Guild,” 18+ dance party with DJs Decay, Joe Radio, Melting Girl, & guests, 9:30 p.m., $3-$5.

Q Bar: 456 Castro, San Francisco. “Wanted,” w/ DJs Key&Kite and Richie Panic, 9 p.m., free.

Underground SF: 424 Haight, San Francisco. “Vienetta Discotheque,” w/ DJs Stanley Frank and Robert Jeffrey, 10 p.m., free.

ACOUSTIC

Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. The Earl Brothers, 9 p.m., free.

The Chieftain: 198 Fifth St., San Francisco. The Wrenboys, 7 p.m., free.

Fiddler’s Green: 1333 Columbus, San Francisco. Terry Savastano, 9:30 p.m., free/donation.

Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. Open mic with Brendan Getzell, 8 p.m., free.

Milk Bar: 1840 Haight, San Francisco. S.F. Acoustic Sessions #3, w/ Scott Mickelson, Dan Coyle, Jordan Carp, Ash Thursday, 7 p.m.

Osteria: 3277 Sacramento, San Francisco. “Acoustic Bistro,” 7 p.m., free.

The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. Peter Lindman, 4 p.m.

JAZZ

Le Colonial: 20 Cosmo, San Francisco. Le Jazz Hot, 7 p.m., free.

Sheba Piano Lounge: 1419 Fillmore, San Francisco. City Jazz Instrumental Jam Session, 8 p.m.

The Union Room at Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. The Session: A Monday Night Jazz Series, pro jazz jam with Mike Olmos, 7:30 p.m., $12.

Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Nora Maki, 7:30 p.m., free.

REGGAE

Skylark Bar: 3089 16th St., San Francisco. “Skylarking,” w/ I&I Vibration, 10 p.m., free.

BLUES

Jazz Bistro At Les Joulins: 44 Ellis, San Francisco. Bohemian Knuckleboogie, 7:30 p.m., free.

The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. The Bachelors, 9:30 p.m.

SOUL

Madrone Art Bar: 500 Divisadero, San Francisco. “M.O.M. (Motown on Mondays),” w/ DJ Gordo Cabeza & Timoteo Gigante, 8 p.m., free.

TUESDAY 1

ROCK

Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. Major Powers & The Lo-Fi Symphony, 9 p.m. Starts . continues through Oct. 29.

Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. Sweat Lodge, Balms, The Cairn, 9 p.m., $8.

Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. “Wood Shoppe,” w/ Holly Miranda, There’s Talk, Evil Eyes, Different Fur DJs, 9 p.m., free.

Elbo Room: 647 Valencia, San Francisco. Down & Outlaws, Down Dirty Shake, Wag, 9 p.m., $6.

Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. Peach Kelli Pop, Meat Market, The Shanghais, 8:30 p.m., $7.

Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. The Del-Lords, 8 p.m., $12-$15.

The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. Permanent Collection, Useless Eaters, Mane, DJ Ack Ack Ack, 9:30 p.m., $7.

Rickshaw Stop: 155 Fell, San Francisco. Young Galaxy, Mister Lies, Silver Swans, 8 p.m., $12.

DANCE

Aunt Charlie’s Lounge: 133 Turk, San Francisco. “High Fantasy,” w/ DJ Viv, Myles Cooper, & guests, 10 p.m., $2.

Laszlo: 2532 Mission, San Francisco. “Beards of a Feather,” Enjoy classy house records, obscuro disco, and laid-back late-’80s jams with DJ Ash Williams and guests, First Tuesday of every month, 9 p.m., free.

Monarch: 101 6th St., San Francisco. “Soundpieces,” 10 p.m., free-$10.

Q Bar: 456 Castro, San Francisco. “Switch,” w/ DJs Jenna Riot & Andre, 9 p.m., $3.

Underground SF: 424 Haight, San Francisco. “Shelter,” 10 p.m., free.

Wish: 1539 Folsom, San Francisco. “Tight,” w/ resident DJs Michael May & Lito, 8 p.m., free.

HIP-HOP

Skylark Bar: 3089 16th St., San Francisco. “True Skool Tuesdays,” w/ DJ Ren the Vinyl Archaeologist, 10 p.m., free.

ACOUSTIC

Bazaar Cafe: 5927 California, San Francisco. Songwriter-in-Residence: Olivia Clayton, 7 p.m. Starts . continues through Oct. 29.

Cafe Du Nord: 2170 Market, San Francisco. Jesse Ruben, Caitlin Crosby, 8 p.m., $8-$10.

Plough & Stars: 116 Clement, San Francisco. Seisiún with Suzanne Cronin, 9 p.m.

JAZZ

Beach Chalet Brewery & Restaurant: 1000 Great Highway, San Francisco. Gerry Grosz Jazz Jam, 7 p.m.

Blush! Wine Bar: 476 Castro, San Francisco. Kally Price & Rob Reich, 7 p.m., free.

Burritt Room: 417 Stockton St., San Francisco. Terry Disley’s Rocking Jazz Trio, 6 p.m., free.

Cafe Divine: 1600 Stockton, San Francisco. Chris Amberger, 7 p.m.

Jazz Bistro At Les Joulins: 44 Ellis, San Francisco. M.B. Hanif & The Sound Voyagers, 7:30 p.m., free.

Le Colonial: 20 Cosmo, San Francisco. Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers, 7 p.m.

Oz Lounge: 260 Kearny, San Francisco. Emily Hayes & Mark Holzinger, 6 p.m., free.

Revolution Cafe: 3248 22nd St., San Francisco. West Side Jazz Club, 5 p.m., free; Conscious Contact, First Tuesday of every month, 8 p.m., free.

Verdi Club: 2424 Mariposa, San Francisco. “Tuesday Night Jump,” w/ Stompy Jones, 9 p.m., $10-$12.

Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Tommy Igoe Big Band, 8 p.m., $22; Dayna Stephens Quartet, Pascal’s Triangle, 8 p.m., $24-$28.

INTERNATIONAL

Cafe Cocomo: 650 Indiana, San Francisco. “Descarga S.F.,” w/ DJs Hong & Good Sho, 8 p.m., $12.

The Cosmo Bar & Lounge: 440 Broadway, San Francisco. “Conga Tuesdays,” 8 p.m., $7-$10.

F8: 1192 Folsom St., San Francisco. “Underground Nomads,” w/ rotating resident DJs Cheb i Sabbah, Amar, Sep, and Dulce Vita, plus guests, 9 p.m., $5 (free before 9:30 p.m.).

REGGAE

Milk Bar: 1840 Haight, San Francisco. “Bless Up,” w/ Jah Warrior Shelter Hi-Fi, 10 p.m.

BLUES

The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. Lisa Kindred, First Tuesday of every month, 9:30 p.m., free.

FUNK

Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. Fat Tuesday Band, 7 & 9 p.m., $15.

Madrone Art Bar: 500 Divisadero, San Francisco. “Boogaloo Tuesday,” w/ Oscar Myers & Steppin’, 9:30 p.m., free.

SOUL

Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. The JRo Project, First Tuesday of every month, 9:30 p.m., $5.

Make-Out Room: 3225 22nd St., San Francisco. “Lost & Found,” w/ DJs Primo, Lucky, and guests, 9:30 p.m., free.

Tim’s San Francisco

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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11
Tim’s San Francisco

steve@sfbg.com

Longtime Bay Guardian editor Tim Redmond, who left the paper in June, is launching a new media project, continuing more than 30 years of work as one of San Francisco’s premier progressive voices by starting an online publication under a new nonprofit organization.

The San Francisco Progressive Media Center promises to deliver original news, arts, and cultural reporting on a daily basis, differentiating itself from local blogs that serve mostly to aggregate stories written by other media outlets and offer commentary on that reporting.

“Democracy can’t survive without reporters and I want to have reporters out there covering the news everyday. San Francisco has always needed a liberal daily newspaper,” Redmond told us, predicting that online reporting outlets representing various perspectives will eventually rise to compete with the limited local coverage offered by the San Francisco Chronicle and Examiner.

“I will focus on all the things I care about in San Francisco,” Redmond told us, listing land use issues, housing costs, and media criticism as some examples of his interests.

Redmond has remained remarkably upbeat and positive since his clash with the San Francisco Print Media Co. — whose purchase of the Guardian he engineered last year to save the financially troubled, locally owned newspaper — ended his long run with the Guardian (see “On Guard,” June 19).

“I’m just moving on and doing my own thing. I’m excited about my new project and I’m raising a lot of money for it,” Redmond said. “I’m getting a tremendous amount of community support. I hope to have 50-60 grand on hand by the end of the month.”

To help reach that goal, Redmond and his supporters will throw a fundraiser on Sept. 26 at the El Rio. Despite being a stalwart of the left, Redmond said he’s getting support from across the ideological spectrum. “I have spent 30 years building a reputation in town as someone who doesn’t take cheap shots and I’m fair,” was how Redmond explained his broad support.

Although he’s still awaiting IRS approval of his nonprofit status, Redmond has already assembled a board of notable progressive luminaries to help him, including Eric Weaver, Laura Fraser, Calvin Welch, Alicia Garza, Gen Fujioka, Gabriel Haaland, and Giuliana Milanese.

“I wanted a board that reflects the diversity of San Francisco’s left,” Redmond said, noting that board explicitly has no editorial control.

Haaland said that Redmond has long been an important progressive voice in San Francisco and he’s happy to see that voice continue, particularly under the new nonprofit model that he’s creating.

“Having an independent, progressive media is more important than ever, and being a nonprofit takes it to another level of independence,” Haaland told us.

Welch said the new publication is arriving just in time to help expose important issues that will affect the future of San Francisco.

“I think we’re at a critical point in this city’s history,” Welch told us, citing the growing public unease with intensified waterfront development and other economic and sociopolitical trends. “The timing is impeccable and people would be interested to read online what Tim and others’ takes are on what’s happening in the city.”

San Francisco Progressive Media Center will be the latest effort to expand the city’s media landscape amid the downsizing of the once-dominant Chronicle and Examiner (see “Media experiments,” 5/25/10). Those ventures have included the San Francisco Public Press, SF Appeal, and the Bay Citizen, which had a high-profile launch in 2009 followed by being folded into the Center for Investigative Reporting last year (see “Compressing the press,” 2/22/12).

Redmond is finalizing details of his new project and has yet to announce the name for his new publication, which he plan to launch next month. [UPDATE: At the Sept. 26 event, Redmond announced that his new publication will be called 48 Hills: The Secrets of San Francisco.” There are 47 named hills in San Francisco – and as those of us who have spent their lives fighting for social and economic justice know, there’s always one more hill to climb.“]

In the meantime, he’s been blogging at Tim’s San Francisco (timssanfrancisco.blogspot.com) and preparing to teach an investigative reporting class at City College of San Francisco. On the new site, Redmond plans to feature some video and other multimedia content, but he said “this is not a techie venture, this is a content-driven venture.” And while seeking to showcase a variety of voices, Redmond will set the tone for the publication, telling us, “I’m interested in working with anyone in this city, but I’m the editor.”

Redmond said he still supports the Guardian, even if he has concerns about its parent company’s growing list of media holdings, which also includes the San Francisco Examiner, SF Weekly, and a large share of the Bay Area Reporter. Redmond said that media consolidation works for the community only when there is a diversity of other voices.

“I’m glad Todd [Vogt, CEO of San Francisco Print Media Co.] bought the Guardian and kept it going, and I’m glad the Guardian is still alive,” Redmond said. “I’ve been working for someone else my whole life…and it’s time for me to move on and do something new.”

Press Up! San Francisco Progressive Media Center fundraiser and launch party. Fiery speeches, refreshments, music. Sept. 26, 6-9pm, El Rio, 3158 Mission, SF. Donations of $25, $50, $100, or $250 can be made at the door or at tinyurl.com/SFPMCcontribute.

Alerts: September 25 – October 2, 2013

Michael Redmond
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0

WEDNESDAY 25

Radical archiving and cataloging as social history 518 Valencia, SF. 518valencia.org. The Shaping San Francisco public talks series continues with a discussion defining a “radical archive,” exploring the role that nontraditional archives play in the interpretation and preservation of peoples’ history, the role of ordinary people in the preservation of these archives and more. Joining the discussion will be Lincoln Cushing of Docs Populi, as well as Claude Marks and Nathaniel Moore, both of the Freedom Archives.

 

Solar Energy Panel Discussion David Brower Center, 2150 Allston, Berk. https://solarenlightenment.eventbrite.com. 6-9pm, free. Andreas Karelas, the Executive Director of Revolv, and Jackson Koeppel of Soulardarity will lead a panel discussion on the use of solar energy and how it works. They will also attempt to clear up a few common misconceptions about solar power. Doors open at 5:30pm. Those who can’t attend can tune in on Ustream.

 

THURSDAY 26

 

Press up! El Rio, 3158 Mission, SF. 6pm, donations $25 and up. tinyurl.com/sfpmccontribute. An independent press is crucial. Join Tim Redmond, former editor-publisher of the Bay Guardian, as he launches the nonprofit San Francisco Progressive Media Center, dedicated to publishing a new online news source and keeping local journalism alive and independent of corporate, non-local interests. Co-hosts include Tom Ammiano, David Campos, Alicia Garza, Giuliana Milanese and Gabriel Haaland.

Syria: Secrets and lies Unitarian Universalist Center, 1187 Franklin, SF. sanfranpda@aol.com. 7-9pm, free. Dr. Steven Zunes, a professor of politics and international studies at the University of San Francisco and Middle Eastern studies program chair, will examine whether the US is about to go to war again on unverifiable or perhaps false pretexts; why the Administration is so committed to this conflict, and how can we understand the actual facts behind the recently documented atrocities in Syria. Sponsored by the Progressive Democrats of American and Unitarian Universalists for Peace, SF.

 

SATURDAY 28 14th Annual World Veg Festival San Francisco County Fair Building, Lincoln & Ninth, Golden Gate Park, SF. http://worldvegfestival.com. 10am-6:30pm, $10 suggested donation. This festival will feature cooking demonstrations, speakers and live entertainment, including an eco-fashion show. Visitors will have the opportunity to sample and purchase vegetarian cuisine. The event is presented by the SF Vegetarian Society and sponsored by Varnashram, In Defense of Animals and Friends of Animals. An organic vegan dinner will be available each night for $26; sign up online.

SATURDAY 29 Grito De Lares Celebration Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, 2868 Mission, SF. tinyurl.com/larescelebration. 4:30-7 p.m., free. Celebrate Grito De Lares, a holiday commemorating the birth of Puerto Rico as a nation, at the MCCLA on Sunday. 145 years ago this past Sept. 23, Puerto Rican revolutionaries entered the town of Lares to proclaim the birth of the Puerto Rican nation. At the bilingual event there will be a commemoration of the revolution, a discussion panel and a poetry reading in addition to Puerto Rican food and music.

Is Art Torres helping PG&E, helping his son’s political career, or both?

Sasha Cuttler
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54

As I’ve been reporting on how CleanPowerSF is being blocked by Mayor Ed Lee and his political appointees on the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, one piece of the puzzle that I couldn’t quite figure out was why SFPUC President Art Torres took the position he did, offering little public explanation for his stance.

“His opposition to the rate vote was strange because he didn’t give clear reasons,” Eric Brooks, who has been led the grassroots campaign in support of CleanPowerSF, told us. Torres also hasn’t returned Guardian calls on the issue, and he refused a formal request from Sup. John Avalos to explain his position.

As a former state senator and longtime former chair of the California Democratic Party, Torres certainly has connections to Pacific Gas & Electric and the array of politicians that support it, include Willie Brown. But that just didn’t seem like enough for a senior statesman with a decent environmental record to sabotage San Francisco’s only plan for building renewable energy projects.

But some of my political sources have clued me into another possible motive, and it seems to make sense. Art Torres’ son is Joaquin Torres, who works in the Mayor’s Office and who Lee in February appointed to the Housing Commission, where Torres now serves as president.

And here’s the kicker: those sources also say that Joaquin Torres has already started running for the District 9 seat on the Board of Supervisors, which is now held by Sup. David Campos, who is running for Tom Ammiano’s seat in the California Assembly. And if Campos wins that race next year, Mayor Lee will get to fill it, possibly naming Torres to one of the most progressive seats in the city.

So dad gets to score political points with some powerful friends, and help launch his son’s political career in the process. These motives are beginning to add up.

Joaquin Torres is now deputy director of the San Francisco Office of Economic and Workforce Development, “where he leads Mayor Lee’s Invest In Neighborhoods Initiative to leverage City resources across city departments to maximize positive economic and social impact in low-moderate income neighborhoods and throughout San Francisco’s commercial corridors,” the Mayor’s Office wrote in February when Torres got appointed to the Housing Commission.

Sounds like the perfect job for someone being groomed for the Board of Supervisors, where he could have a serious impact on this city’s political dynamic, tipping policies in the neoliberal to moderate direction of expanding corporate welfare programs and speeding up gentrification.

Neither Torres has returned our calls, but I’ll update this post when and if they do. And while this is clearly just political speculation and conjecture, I have a feeling that I’m onto something here. So remember where you read it first.  

Pelosi defies history and her district

Michael Redmond
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57

OPINION How is it that, despite deep congressional opposition to an American-led war on Syria, the representative for one of the nation’s most progressive districts, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, has been among President Obama’s most ardent backers of war?

While Russia’s deal for Syria to turn over its chemical weapons offers a temporary pause in the march to war, the arrangement is fragile and Obama — with support from Pelosi — continues to threaten military action that could lead to a disastrous widening of bloodshed and chaos in Syria and beyond.

What’s particularly outrageous about the pro-war push from Pelosi and US Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, also from the Bay Area, is their willful dismissal of history. Did they somehow miss the well-documented memos on US wars and interventions? You know, the ones that list American lies on Iraq’s WMDs, provocations in Vietnam’s Gulf of Tonkin, and the long, long list of CIA-backed coups of democratically elected leaders in Iran, Guatemala, Chile, and beyond?

The nightmare in Syria needs an international solution—but given our ugly track record, how can anyone place faith in American-led military intervention?

This history offers a distressingly reliable prologue to the present. In Afghanistan and Iraq, the US expended vast amounts of blood and treasure attacking brutal thugs it supported for years. How can we expect different results from the same military-security state apparatus that has, for decades, undermined democracies, aided thugs and dictators, and trumped up wars based on lies? How can anyone believe that the US military and security state complex has suddenly found a veracity and moral center it has always profoundly lacked?

There is no question that international pressure and diplomacy must be brought to bear on Bassar al-Assad’s sickening Syrian regime, and that chemical weapons, and nukes for that matter, must be wiped off the planet. But the US has an unrivaled record of using these tools of mass killing, and has zero credibility as a force for peacemaking.

The hypocrisies Pelosi chooses to ignore run deeper. The US refuses to enforce the chemical weapons ban on Israel, for instance. And remember the saber-rattling last year over Iran’s nuclear program? Not a word about Israel’s nukes, not to mention America’s. Yet both Israel and the US have a well-documented history of outright aggression, where Iran has none.

The San Francisco Chronicle explained Pelosi’s war support as part of her Democratic Party leadership duties, quoting UC Berkeley professor Eric Schickler: “One of the jobs of the party’s leader is to support the president of your party, except under the most extenuating circumstances. If she didn’t have such liberal credentials already, she would be in much more vulnerable position.”

While party leadership and allegiance may be a factor, consider also that Pelosi, Boxer, and Feinstein take in far more dollars from pro-Israel lobbies than do their counterparts (Boxer got more than twice the Senate average, and Pelosi roughly six times the congressional average, according to research by MapLight and Open Secrets).

Despite some loud and colorful protests by Code Pink and other groups, it’s sadly true that Pelosi hasn’t been very vulnerable: San Francisco’s political leadership has done little to let her know how deeply out of step she is with her district.

In years past, the Board of Supervisors has passed resolutions opposing US military interventions; now, they and the Democratic County Central Committee are silent. Where is the outrage and pushback within Pelosi’s district? Pelosi’s hawkish stance on Syria follows her lamentable defense in July of the NSA spying program. In both cases, these are policies that Pelosi opposed and so many progressives protested vigorously when they were enacted by President George W. Bush. Where is the mass outrage now?

On its fifth anniversary, Sunday Streets offers a lesson in urban experimentation

Sasha Cuttler
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48

It’s hard to believe that Sunday Streets — San Francisco’s version of the ciclovia, or temporary closure of streets to cars as a way of opening up more urban space for pedestrians, cyclists, skaters, performers, and loungers — is five years old. It’s even harder to believe that this family-friendly event was once controversial, especially feared by the businesses that now clamor to hold them in their neighborhoods.

But it was, and that’s a great reminder that ideas that disrupt the status quo and seem quite radical and unsettling can embody just what The City needs to feel like, well, a city, a place with people mix and mingle and get to know one another in the streets, strips that can become important social spaces and not simply conduits for cars.

“Sunday Streets provides the opportunity for recreation and activity in neighborhoods all across San Francisco,” Sunday Streets Director Susan King of Livable City told us. “Each community it’s in is helped with health and economic benefits and the easing of community cohesion.”

This Tuesday, Sept. 17, the folks from Sunday Streets will be hosting a fundraiser and celebration at Cityview, atop the Metreon, in honor of the hard work that has been put into various Sunday Streets events around the city throughout the years. The event will feature speeches, snacks, an open bar, a raffle, live entertainment, and other hoopla.

Among those being honored at the event will Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who as mayor worked with alternative transportation activists from Livable City (the event’s main sponsor), the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, and other groups — including a large contingent that attended the first ciclovia in the US, in Portland, during the Toward Carfree Cites conference in 2008 (which we at the Guardian covered) — to create Sunday Streets.

At the time, the business-friendly Newsom stood up to opposition from merchants in Fishermans Wharf and Pier 39, and both progressive and conservative supervisors looking for a way to tweak the mayor, to help become one of the first cities in the US adopt the ciclovia model that had been pioneered in Bogota, Columbia, and which has now spread to cities around the world.
“We really have to thank former Mayor Gavin Newsom for instigating Sunday Streets,” King said. “Without him, Sunday Streets in San Francisco wouldn’t exist.”

First hosted in the late summer of 2008, King has overseen Sunday Streets since its inception, hustling up fiscal sponsors and volunteer support like a whirling dervish the whole time. 

“There’s so much that goes into Sunday Streets,” King said. “I had no idea that it would get to where it is now.”

The anniversary event costs $50 and lasts from to 6 to 10 p.m. Proceeds will go to future Sunday Streets events.

This year there have been Sunday Streets in a handful of neighborhoods, making appearances in the Embarcadero, Mission, Bayview, Great Highway, Tenderloin, and Western Addition. There are two more Sunday Streets scheduled this year in the Excelsior (Sept. 29) and the Richmond (Oct. 27) districts.

 

Still secret

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22
Still secret

news@sfbg.com
A high-profile local civil rights ordinance passed last year to shine light on the San Francisco Police Department’s joint activities with the FBI has been undermined by the SFPD’s refusal to disclose its surveillance activities. This comes at a time when the public is learning more than ever about the federal government’s intrusion into the privacy of law-abiding US citizens.

In May 2012, the Board of Supervisors unanimously passed the Safe San Francisco Civil Rights Ordinance, which Mayor Ed Lee signed in a photo-op ceremony with Police Chief Greg Suhr and the activists who supported it. They claimed the board’s passage of the ordinance ushered in a new era of transparency over the SFPD’s previously secretive work with the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force.

“The ordinance basically requires three things,” Nasrina Bargzie, a civil rights attorney at the Asian Law Caucus who worked on the measure, told the Bay Guardian. “The first part requires that the Police Department work with the JTTF has to follow the California constitutional rights of privacy, so they’re not following the lax standards of the [US] Department of Justice. The second part is that they can no longer enter into any secret agreements with the FBI; it has to go before the Police Commission in a public setting. The final part of the ordinance exists to make sure the rules are being followed, so there is a requirement for a yearly report.”

At the time of its passage, activists told the Guardian that the ordinance was only as strong as the SFPD’s willingness to disclose its activities (see “Mayor Lee signs watered-down limits on SFPD spying,” 5/9/12). But the SFPD’s refusal to disclose even minimal, basic information calls into question the ordinance’s value.

After the release of multiple reports earlier this year that activists called inadequate, Suhr is now maintaining silence regarding the JTTF, while claiming the department is in full compliance with the ordinance. According to Bargzie, Suhr told her the FBI is barring him from disclosing the requested information.

Following multiple efforts by the Guardian to get a comment out of SFPD about the ordinance and whether the department was indeed taking a subservient role to the FBI, SFPD Sgt. Dennis Toomer told us, “We’re not talking about that at all.”

LACK OF RESPONSE

Activists have sparred with Chief Suhr over implementation of the ordinance and its required annual report since at least the beginning of 2013.

Deputy Chief John Loftus presented the first report to the Police Commission on Jan. 23, which claimed the SFPD was in “full compliance” with the ordinance without providing any details. Activists and the public quickly demanded a real response.

“The commission presented this short oral report, which was a little short of two minutes long,” Bargzie told us. “There was no data that we were not already aware of. It was just basic statements claiming that they were complying with the ordinance.”

Suhr apologized for the omissions while stating his department was still in compliance with the ordinance’s guidelines, pledging to be more forthcoming. At this time, SFPD Sgt. Michael Andraychak told the Guardian: “The Chief’s Office is in the process of scheduling meetings with Nasrina Bargzie [of the Asian Law Caucus] to develop a report with more detail so those concerned and the public can be as informed as possible. Chief Suhr is committed to remain in compliance with the ordinance.”

The Coalition for Safe San Francisco, an activist group consisting of Muslim Legal Fund of America, Asian Law Caucus, and dozens of other groups, met with Suhr to discuss setting up a template for the reports.

Suhr then released a second report, which contained more relevant information, stating that SFPD officers did not act as informants in 2012 and three full-time SFPD officers were assigned to the JTTF.

But the report still omitted key oversight information, such as whether any prosecutions resulted from JTTF and SFPD investigations, which would allow the Muslim Legal Fund of America and other groups to determine who the SFPD is arresting and why.

Last year, Suhr told a San Francisco Examiner reporter that his officers followed up on 2,000 tips regarding counterterrorism activities. However, this information curiously did not make it into the official report.

“We contacted the chief to let him know we were not okay with this. We had another meeting with him and he said he’d think about it and get back to us and now he is claiming he cannot honor a basic component of the ordinance,” Bargzie told us. “He asserts in writing this is because the FBI will not let him share the basic information.”

WEAKENED LEGISLATION

The weak efforts behind the implementation of the SSFCRO date back to Mayor Lee’s veto of a stronger ordinance in April 2012, which would have codified privacy protections and given the Police Commission more power to stop FBI-SFPD activities that did not comply with Department General Order (DGO) 8.10, the 1990 policy aimed at protecting First Amendment activities. After Lee’s veto, the Board of Supervisors passed a weaker version. Both were sponsored by Sup. Jane Kim.

John Crew, a former police practices expert with the Northern California American Civil Liberties Union, raised concerns to the Guardian about the weakened legislation. “It is a step in the right direction, there’s no doubt it’s progress,” Crew told us at the time. “But whether it’s real progress depends on the implementation. Ultimately, it will come down to political will at the Police Commission to enforce privacy protections.”

Much of the ordinance’s failure stems from the apparent lack of real intent to disclose what the activists sought. Critics painted the SSFCRO signing ceremony as a hollow symbolic act, a way for Mayor Lee and Chief Suhr to publicly promote civil rights and progressive ideals with an ordinance they purposefully weakened.

“My sense is that [the SFPD] is not taking this seriously,” Bargzie told us. “I think they probably believe that they are providing as much information as the FBI will let them and Chief Suhr thinks it’s fine that the FBI can tell him to share what they tell him to.”

The lack of transparency regarding the JTTF’s work with the SFPD requires the public to trust the federal government to safeguard civil liberties. But in the wake of whistleblower Edward Snowden’s leak exposing the expansive surveillance system by the National Security Agency and the SFPD’s notorious history of illegal surveillance and racial profiling, the public has little reason to trust the authorities.

HISTORY OF SPYING
The passage of the SSFCRO is the latest effort to counter a long history of racial profiling, spying on radical political groups, and other constitutional violations, episodes that have been followed by progressive reforms in San Francisco.
Prior to the passage of DGO 8.10 in 1990, the SFPD notoriously participated in the surveillance of non-criminal, pacifist political organizations. During the 1984 Democratic National Convention, the SFPD carried out surveillance on law-abiding organizations and, throughout the 1980s, it created files on civil, labor, and special interest groups in the Bay Area, revelations that led to the adoption of DGO 8.10.
But even after that, disclosures surfaced showing that the SFPD was blatantly violating its own rules. They included then-Police Chief Tony Ribera admitting that files on non-criminal political activity were not destroyed (as required by the ’90s reforms), the selling of confidential intelligence material to foreign governments and private entities, and the actions of SFPD Intelligence Officer Tom Gerad, who informed on local political groups for the FBI.
In the subsequent years following the Gerad scandal, San Francisco sought to strengthen DGO 8.10, requiring more transparency and oversight. But this progress was undercut in 2007 when the SFPD secretly signed a secret JTTF Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) undermining DGO 8.10.
San Francisco’s Human Rights Commission held hearings in which the community voiced concerns over illegal police and federal surveillance. In response, the SFPD said they were unable to discuss arrangements with the JTTF without the permission of the FBI.
In 2011, the previously secret MOU was unearthed by the ACLU (see “Spies in blue,” 4/26/11), prompting Suhr to issue Bureau Order #2011-07, which reinforced that SFPD personnel were under the jurisdiction of local and state privacy protections and did not spy on law-abiding groups. SFPD Public Information Officer Albie Esparza said the order reversed the language of the 2007 memo.
Part of Suhr’s amendment to SFPD policy at the time included the necessity of a predicate offense in all SFPD investigations. Thus, the SFPD could not investigate or spy on those who were not suspected of violating the California Penal Code or federal law.
Activists wanted those protections enshrined in city law, which resulted in last’s vetoed ordinance and passage of the watered down Safe San Francisco Civil Rights Ordinance in 2012, which activists now say they feel duped by.
“We have been extremely disappointed at the lack of information that has been included in the reports,” Summer K. Hararah, Regional Director for the Greater San Francisco Area Muslim Legal Fund of America told us. “If the SFPD is going to violate rights of Arab-Americans, the police chief has a responsibility to stand up to the FBI.”

POST 9/11 WORLD
Lax federal guidelines for counterterrorism have been building since the Bush Administration began implementing emergency measures after 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001. In San Francisco’s case, the FBI has subjected local law enforcement to these rules.
Since 9/11, both the ACLU of Northern California and the Human Rights Commission have publicized cases of racial profiling and surveillance of pacifist, non-criminal Muslim and Middle-Eastern groups in San Francisco. A 2007 FBI memorandum illustrated a prominent instance of this profiling in which FBI agents attended Ramadan Iftar dinners in San Francisco purportedly as part of the FBI’s mosque outreach program. Under this guise, the agents collected data on certain attendants, including names, the content of conversations, and other information covered by the First Amendment. According to the FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide, the JTTF is permitted to conduct surveillance of this nature, by identifying “locations of concentrated ethnic communities in the Field Office’s domain, if these locations will reasonably aid in the analysis of the potential threats and vulnerabilities, and, overall assist domain awareness for the purpose of performing intelligence analysis.” These policies directly contradict SSFCO, DGO 8.10, and the California Constitution’s privacy protections. In Portland, Ore., the local government successfully fought this issue by bifurcating local law enforcement from the JTTF after the public and the ACLU raised concerns over similar constitutional violations and racial profiling. This Portland model is now a precedent for activist groups nationwide, seeking to end the lack of oversight permeating their local police departments. “Portland has been a great model,” Hararah told us. “When the FBI began to interview Muslim men in mass after 9/11, Portland was one of the few that said ‘absolutely not.'” But in San Francisco, Lee (whose office also didn’t respond to our request for comment) and Suhr’s symbolic promotion of civil rights has diminished into a case of them basically bullshitting the public. “Civil rights is not a symbolic issue,” Hararah told us. “The mayor backed this legislation and we want to see that the commitment is put forth with global insurance. The first step is having info about what the JTTF is doing to be sure it abides by human rights protections and is appropriate.”

Forget the Willie Brown Bay Bridge

Michael Redmond
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73

EDITORIAL As the California Legislature prepares to wrap up before fall recess, a resolution is working its way through the approval process to rename the western span of the Bay Bridge the “Willie L. Brown Jr. Bridge.”

Brown, who formerly served as mayor of San Francisco and speaker of the California Assembly, is known for boasting about his hobnobbing with the rich and famous in his San Francisco Chronicle column, “Willie’s World.” But to longtime progressive San Franciscans who spent decades trying to stem the tide of gentrification, he was the powerful figure that rolled out the welcome mat for high-end developers and corporate interests, whose interests in San Francisco revolved around profit alone.

As mayor, Brown presided over land-use policies that resulted in high-end developments at a time when evictions were rampant, a trend that rings familiar in today’s tech-saturated San Francisco. Once, when pressed on the idea that his approach was making the city increasingly unaffordable, Brown’s famous retort was: “If you don’t make $50,000 a year in San Francisco, then you shouldn’t live here.”

It’s not just Brown’s insensitivity to struggling tenants, deep ties to corporate interests and high-end real-estate developers, or continued behind-the-scenes influence in San Francisco politics that cause us to squirm when we think about the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge bearing this politician’s name. There’s also the key question of whether Bay Area residents actually want to see this happen — and, given Brown’s historic role as a divisive figure, the idea that there is universal support for such an idea is laughable.

A legislative analysis presented to the Assembly Committee on Transportation a few weeks ago noted that lawmakers actually came up with ground rules for big decisions like whether a bridge ought to be named after someone, to “promote fairness.” The rules stipulate that such a proposal “must reflect a community consensus” — and guess what? Even Brown’s editors over at the Chronicle issued a June editorial opposing the idea.

Not only that, but proposals like this are only supposed to come from representatives of the district where the thing being renamed is located — yet this scheme came from Assemblymember Isadore Hall, a Democrat from Compton. But despite clear failure to adhere to these basic rules, only a single committee member voted against naming the bridge after Brown.

Interestingly enough, the bill even includes a request for Caltrans to determine the cost of posting signs commemorating Brown, which would evidently be funded by donations from unspecified private sources.

If the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge is going to be named after anyone, we agree that the honor should be reserved for beloved 19th-century San Francisco eccentric Joshua Abraham Norton, the Scotsman who proclaimed himself Emperor of the United States in 1859 and printed his own currency.

So far, a Change.org petition calling on Gov. Jerry Brown to name it the Emperor Norton Bay Bridge has garnered 1,800 signatures. “He was a champion of racial and religious unity, an advocate for women’s suffrage [and] a defender of the people,” the petition notes. That sounds more like something motorists can be proud of when they drive back and forth across the bay.

 

Stage Listings: August 28 – September 3, 2013

Michael Redmond
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0

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

THEATER

OPENING

Macbeth Fort Point, end of Marine Dr, Presidio of San Francisco, SF; www.weplayers.org. $30-60. Previews Fri/30-Sun/1, 6pm. Opens Sept 5, 6pm. Runs Thu-Sun, 6pm. Through Oct 6. We Players perform the Shakespeare classic amid Fort Point’s Civil War-era fortress.

Macbeth Main Post Parade Ground Lawn, Presidio of San Francisco, SF; www.sfshakes.org. Free. Opens Sat/31, 2pm. Runs Sat-Sun and Mon/2, 2pm. Through Sept 15. In its 31st season, Free Shakespeare in the Park also takes on one of the Bard’s major tragedies.

BAY AREA

After the Revolution Aurora Theatre, 2081 Addison, Berk; www.auroratheatre.org. $32-60. Previews Fri/30-Sat/31 and Sept 4, 8pm; Sun/1, 2pm; Tue/3, 7pm. Opens Sept 5, 8pm. Runs Tue, 7pm; Wed-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2 and 7pm. Through Sept 29. Aurora Theatre opens its 22nd season with the Bay Area premiere of Amy Herzog’s family drama.

ONGOING

American Dream New Conservatory Theatre Center, 25 Van Ness, SF; www.nctcsf.org. $35-45. Wed-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. Through Sept 15. A recently divorced and recently out architect falls in love with his Spanish teacher — and tries to bring him from Mexico to California — in this world premiere by Brad Erickson at the New Conservatory Theatre Center.

Can You Dig It? Back Down East 14th — the 60s and Beyond Marsh San Francisco, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. $15-50. Sat, 8:30pm; Sun, 7pm. Extended through Sept 8. (Runs Sept 14-Oct 27 at the Marsh Berkeley.) Don Reed’s new show offers more stories from his colorful upbringing in East Oakland in the 1960s and ’70s. More hilarious and heartfelt depictions of his exceptional parents, independent siblings, and his mostly African American but ethnically mixed working-class community — punctuated with period pop, Motown, and funk classics, to which Reed shimmies and spins with effortless grace. And of course there’s more too of the expert physical comedy and charm that made long-running hits of Reed’s last two solo shows, East 14th and The Kipling Hotel (both launched, like this newest, at the Marsh). Can You Dig It? reaches, for the most part, into the “early” early years, Reed’s grammar-school days, before the events depicted in East 14th or Kipling Hotel came to pass. But in nearly two hours of material, not all of it of equal value or impact, there’s inevitably some overlap and indeed some recycling. Reed, who also directs the show, may start whittling it down as the run continues. But, as is, there are at least 20 unnecessary minutes diluting the overall impact of the piece, which is thin on plot already — much more a series of often very enjoyable vignettes and some painful but largely unexplored observations, wrapped up at the end in a sentimental moral that, while sincere, feels rushed and inadequate. (Avila)

Foodies! The Musical Shelton Theater, 533 Sutter, SF; www.foodiesthemusical.com. $30-34. Fri-Sat, 8pm. Open-ended. AWAT Productions presents Morris Bobrow’s musical comedy revue all about food.

In Friendship: Stories By Zona Gale Z Below, 470 Florida, SF; www.zspace.org. $20-50. Wed-Thu, 7pm; Fri-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 3pm. Through Sept 8. Word for Word performs Zona Gale’s “comedy of American manners.”

God of Carnage Shelton Theater, 533 Sutter, SF; www.sheltontheater.com. $26-38. Thu-Sat, 8pm. Through Sept 7. Shelton Theater performs Yasmina Reza’s award-winning play about class and parenting.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch Boxcar Theatre, 505 Natoma, SF; www.boxcartheatre.org. $27-43. Thu-Sat, 8pm. Open-ended. John Cameron Mitchell’s cult musical comes to life with director Nick A. Olivero’s ever-rotating cast.

Oil and Water Dolores Park, 19th St at Dolores, SF; www.sfmt.org. Free (donations accepted). Mon/2, 2pm. It’s a rough year for mimes, or at any rate for the San Francisco Mime Troupe who, after presenting 53 seasons of free theater in the parks of San Francisco (and elsewhere), faced a financial crisis in April that threatened to shut down this season before it even started. The resultant show, funded by an influx of last-minute donations, is one cut considerably closer to the bone than in previous years. With a cast of just four actors and two musicians, plus a stage considerably less ornate then usual, even the play has shrunk in scale, from one two-hour musical to two loosely-connected one-acts riffing on general environmentalist themes. In Deal With the Devil, a surprisingly sympathetic (not to mention downright hawt) Devil (Velina Brown) shows up to help an uncertain president (Rotimi Agbabiaka) regain his conscience and win back his soul, while in Crude Intentions adorable, progressive, same-sex couple Gracie (Velina Brown) and Tomasa (Lisa Hori-Garcia) wind up catering a “benefit” shindig for the Keystone XL Pipeline giving them the opportunity to perpetrate a little guerrilla direct action on a bombastic David Koch (Hugo E Carbajal) with a “mole de petróleo” and a smartphone. Throughout, the performers remain upbeat if somewhat over-extended as they sing, dance, and slapstick their way to the sobering conclusion that the time to turn things around in the battles over global environmental protection is now — or never. (Gluckstern)

Priscilla Queen of the Desert the Musical SHN Orpheum Theatre, 1192 Market, SF; www.shnsf.com. $45-210. Wed/28-Sat/31, 8pm (also Wed/28 and Fri/30-Sat/31, 2pm). The Aussie movie-turned-musical about road-tripping drag queens rolls into San Francisco for a limited engagement.

Sex and the City: LIVE! Rebel, 1760 Market, SF; trannyshack.com/sexandthecity. $25. Wed, 7 and 9pm. Open-ended. It seems a no-brainer. Not just the HBO series itself — that’s definitely missing some gray matter — but putting it onstage as a drag show. Mais naturellement! Why was Sex and the City not conceived of as a drag show in the first place? Making the sordid not exactly palatable but somehow, I don’t know, friendlier (and the canned a little cannier), Velvet Rage Productions mounts two verbatim episodes from the widely adored cable show, with Trannyshack’s Heklina in a smashing portrayal of SJP’s Carrie; D’Arcy Drollinger stealing much of the show as ever-randy Samantha (already more or less a gay man trapped in a woman’s body); Lady Bear as an endearingly out-to-lunch Miranda; and ever assured, quick-witted Trixxie Carr as pent-up Charlotte. There’s also a solid and enjoyable supporting cast courtesy of Cookie Dough, Jordan Wheeler, and Leigh Crow (as Mr. Big). That’s some heavyweight talent trodding the straining boards of bar Rebel’s tiny stage. The show’s still two-dimensional, even in 3D, but noticeably bigger than your 50″ plasma flat panel. (Avila)

BAY AREA

All’s Well That Ends Well Forest Meadows Amphitheater, 890 Bella, Dominican University of California, San Rafael; www.marinshakespeare.org. $20-37.50. Presented in repertory Fri-Sun through Sept 28; visit website for performance schedule. Marin Shakespeare Company continues its outdoor season with the Bard’s classic romance.

A Comedy of Errors Forest Meadows Amphitheater, 890 Bella, Dominican University of California, San Rafael; www.marinshakespeare.org. $20-37.50. Presented in repertory Fri-Sun through Sept 29; visit website for performance schedule. Marin Shakespeare Company presents a cowboy-themed spin on the Bard’s classic.

Good People Marin Theatre Company, 397 Miller, Mill Valley; www.marintheatre.org. $37-58. Tue and Thu-Sat, 8pm (also Sat/31 and Sept 14, 2pm; Sept 5, 1pm); Wed, 7:30pm; Sun, 2 and 7pm. Through Sept 15. Marin Theatre Company performs the Bay Area premiere of David Lindsay-Abaire’s Broadway triumph about class and poverty.

Lady Windermere’s Fan Bruns Amphitheater, 100 California Shakespeare Theater Way, Orinda; www.calshakes.org. $35-62. Tue-Thu, 7:30pm; Fri-Sat, 8pm (also Sept 7, 2pm); Sun, 4pm. Through Sept 8. California Shakespeare Theater performs Oscar Wilde’s comedy.

No Man’s Land Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Roda Theatre, 2015 Addison, Berk; www.berkeleyrep.org. $35-135. Wed/28, 2 and 7pm; Thu/29-Sat/31, 8pm (also Sat/31, 2pm). A rare night at the theater unfurls with a bare, elusive minimum of plot and a maximum of subtlety as Harold Pinter’s snaky 1975 drama receives something like a perfect production in the hands of director Sean Mathias and a cast comprised of internationally renowned stage (and film) veterans Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart, flanked by theater stalwarts Billy Crudup and Shuler Hensley. Stewart is Hirst — an initially laconic and feeble, later voluble and hearty poet and man of letters — famous, world weary, and looked after by two forbidding caretakers, the principal (played by Crudup) an aspiring poet himself. McKellen is Spooner, a down-at-heel but lithe and self-aggrandizing poet himself, whom Hirst as invited into his home for an indeterminate stay that is a source of unrelieved tension between all four characters. Through two fascinating acts, the desperation, power plays, and badinage ensuing among them imbues the strange semi-circular room they exclusively inhabit with a giddy, forlorn, fractious atmosphere. The physical and vocal command of the actors, meanwhile, gorgeously underscores the play’s perverse tacking across an ocean of discourse and questionable memory, passed fear and mutual antagonism, toward the outer limits of language, where some inner landscape looms marked by a steady state of numbing, narcotic emptiness. Hunting down a ticket for the Broadway-bound UK production, now up at Berkeley Rep, may be a challenge but it’s well worth the effort, since not often can one catch a production this sure of Pinter’s language and theatrical imagination. (Avila)

Orlando Live Oak Theatre, 1301 Shattuck, Berk; www.theatrefirst.com. $10-30. Thu-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 5pm. Through Sept 15. TheatreFIRST performs Sarah Ruhl’s gender-shifting comedy, which takes place over a span of 300 years.

Other Desert Cities Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro, Mtn View; www.theatreworks.org. $19-73. Tue-Wed, 7:30pm; Thu-Sat, 8pm (also Sat, 2pm); Sun, 2 and 7pm. Through Sept 15. TheatreWorks performs Jon Robin Baitz’s family dramedy, a Broadway hit making its regional premiere here.

PERFORMANCE/DANCE

BATS Improv Bayfront Theater, B350 Fort Mason, SF; www.improv.org. Fri-Sat, 8pm. $20. The company’s 19th annual Summer Improv Festival continues with “Choose Your Own Adventure” (Fri/30-Sat/31).

Caroline Lugo and Carolé Acuña’s Ballet Flamenco Peña Pachamama, 1630 Powell, SF; www.carolinalugo.com. Sept 7, 15, 21, Oct 6, 12, 20, 26, 6:15pm. $15-19. Flamenco performance by the mother-daughter dance company, featuring live musicians.

“Dream Queens Revue” Aunt Charlie’s Lounge, 133 Turk, SF; www.dreamqueensrevue.com. Wed/28, 9:30-11:30pm. Free. Drag show with Collette LeGrande, Ruby Slippers, Sophilya Leggz, and more.

“Mission Position Live” Cinecave, 1034 Valencia, SF; www.missionpositionlive.com. Thu, 8pm. Ongoing. $10. Stand-up comedy with rotating performers.

“Okeanos Intimate” Aquarium of the Bay, Pier 39, SF; www.capacitor.org. Sat, 7pm. Through Sept 28. $20-30 (free aquarium ticket with show ticket). Choreographer Jodi Lomask and her company, Capacitor, revive 2012’s Okeanos — a cirque-dance piece exploring the wonder and fragility of our innate connection to the world’s oceans — in a special “intimate” version designed for the mid-size theater at Pier 39’s Aquarium of the Bay. The show, developed in collaboration with scientists and engineers, comes preceded by a short talk by a guest expert — for a recent Saturday performance it was a down-to-earth and truly fascinating local ecological history lesson by the Bay Institute’s Marc Holmes. In addition to its Cirque du Soleil–like blend of quasi-representational modern dance and circus acrobatics — powered by a synth-heavy blend of atmospheric pop music — Okeanos makes use of some stunning underwater photography and an intermittent narrative that includes testimonials from the likes of marine biologist and filmmaker Dr. Tierney Thys. The performers, including contortionists, also interact with some original physical properties hanging from the flies — a swirling vortex and a spherical shell — as they wrap and warp their bodies in a kind of metamorphic homage to the capacity and resiliency of evolution, the varied ingenuity of all life forms. If the movement vocabulary can seem limited at times, and too derivative, the show also feels a little cramped on the Aquarium Theater stage, whose proscenium arrangement does the piece few favors aesthetically. Nevertheless, the family-oriented Okeanos Intimate spurs a conversation with the ocean that is nothing if not urgent. (Avila)

“The Romaine Event Comedy Show” Make-Out Room, 3225 22nd St, SF; www.pacoromane.com. Wed/28, 8-10pm. $10. It’s an all-female line-up this time around, with stend-up by Mary-Alice McNab and Colleen Watson, sketch comedy by Monday Night Foreplays, and more.

“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.

“Union Square Live” Union Square, between Post, Geary, Powell, and Stockton, SF; www.unionsquarelive.org. Through Oct 9. Free. Music, dance, circus arts, film, and more; dates and times vary, so check website for the latest.

BAY AREA

“Stealing the Leads” Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby, Berk; www.shotgunplayers.org. Mon/2, 8pm. $15. Shotgun Cabaret’s “First Person Singular” series presents this evening of women reading Glengarry Glen Ross. *

 

Chronicle: Don’t question the City College takeover, just submit to the flawed ACCJC

Sasha Cuttler
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Chronicle: Don’t question the City College takeover, just submit to the flawed ACCJC

I have very low expectations from editorials in the San Francisco Chronicle, which generally share a worldview with the Chamber of Commerce and carry water for some powerful Establishment figure or another. But today’s editorial on City Attorney Dennis Herrera’s lawsuit defending City College is so bad and illogical that it reads like an Onion parody of a Chronicle editorial.

Clearly put up to it by some of the most reactionary figures in the Mayor’s Office, Chronicle Editorial Page Editor John Diaz or one his lackeys parrot the submissive stance that Mayor Ed Lee has taken toward outsiders with corporatist agenda that have seized control of City College and sought to make a high-profile example of it.

“The city’s leaders should be calling for tough love, not coddling dysfunction. Fortunately, Mayor Ed Lee has done just that – but, regrettably, the city attorney is going in the opposite direct [sic],” the Chronicle wrote.

And by “tough love,” they apparently mean obedient and unquestioning compliance with an obscure accrediting agency’s demand that City College slash community-based curriculum; close facilities relied on by both students and local nonprofit groups; rip up contracts with faculty and force instructors to live on part-time wages; distill course offerings down to just what serve corporations, universities, and banking interests; and other aspects of an educational agenda that hasn’t been properly vetted in public hearings or approved by any elected body.

Herrera is to be applauded for pointing out the overreach and conflicts-of-interest on the Accrediting Commission of Community and Junior Colleges, which were also recently criticized by the US Department of Education. And we’re excited to see what Herrera uncovers during the discovery process in his lawsuit against a secretive, corporate-connected, document-shredding agency that broke its own internal rules in its treatment of City College.

The Chronicle graciously refers to these unavoidable facts in a brief paragraph, writing that the ACCJC “is not without flaws. It’s secretive, and its internal policies drew a rebuke from the U.S. Department of Education after City College faculty filed complaints about its conduct.”

But then it dimisses that and shows a suspicious incuriosity about why the ACCJC is being so secretive and what its agenda might be, instead doubling down on criticizing City College in a way that is so over-the-top that this fine institution is unrecognizable to anyone who is actually familiar with it, which Diaz and company clearly aren’t.   

“The needed changes include hiring a comptroller to organize financial controls, making sure students pay for classes, and overhauling a loose-fit governance system that puts faculty, students and staff in charge of operations with inadequate administrative controls. Lee has strongly endorsed an overhaul of City College’s ramshackle operations,” the Chronicle writes.

Unlike us here at the Guardian, where I’ve written two recent editorials in support of democracy and local control and critical of Lee and others who have been too quick to cooperate with the toppling of the locally elected Board of Trustees, the Chronicle apparently believe in more authoritarian methods of governance.

“The first repairs are now under way. The powers of the elected community college board are on hold, and a special trustee dispatched by state Community College Chancellor Brice Harris is in charge,” the Chronicle writes.

And as we report in our upcoming issue, that special trustee also has no interest in questioning the ACCJC’s process or methods or even allowing the public to review internal communications. It’s a shame that bootlickers like Lee and the Chronicle have sold out such an important local institution to their corporate masters, but luckily for San Francisco, Herrera, the California Federation of Teachers, the Guardian, other progressive media voices, and hundreds of our community partners aren’t giving up so easily, instead pushing for an open, truthful, democratic, and transparent discussion about City College’s mission and its future.

Music Listings: August 21-27

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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WEDNESDAY 21
ROCK
Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. Bad Weather California, Sauna, Skating Polly, 9 p.m., $10.
Cafe Du Nord: 2170 Market, San Francisco. The Silent Comedy, Leopold & His Fiction, The Tropics, 8 p.m., $12.
Elbo Room: 647 Valencia, San Francisco. Rue ‘66, The Hampton Wicks, The Gregors, DJ Sid Presley, 9 p.m., $7.
Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. Origami Ghosts, Windham Flat, Modern Kicks, 8:30 p.m., $6.
The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. Tender Buttons, Ppls Tmpl, Jake, 10 p.m., $6.
Milk Bar: 1840 Haight, San Francisco. Emily & The Complexes, Settler, Amber Snider, DJ 2012, 8 p.m., $7.
DANCE
The Cafe: 2369 Market, San Francisco. “Sticky Wednesdays,” w/ DJ Mark Andrus, 8 p.m., free.
Cat Club: 1190 Folsom, San Francisco. “Bondage A Go Go,” w/ DJs Damon, Tomas Diablo, & guests, 9:30 p.m., $5-$10.
The Cellar: 685 Sutter, San Francisco. “Eye Candy Wednesdays,” 9 p.m., free.
Club X: 715 Harrison, San Francisco. “Electro Pop Rocks,” 18+ dance party with Audrey Napoleon, 9 p.m.
F8: 1192 Folsom St., San Francisco. “Housepitality,” w/ Max Essa, Cole, Mike Bee, Joel Conway, 9 p.m., $5-$10.
Harlot: 46 Minna, San Francisco. “Qoöl,” w/ SanedracHunter, Buckner, Dan Sherman, 5 p.m.
Infusion Lounge: 124 Ellis, San Francisco. “Indulgence,” 10 p.m.
Lexington Club: 3464 19th St., San Francisco. “Friends of Dorothy,” w/ DJ Sissyslap, 9 p.m., free.
Lookout: 3600 16th St., San Francisco. “What?,” w/ resident DJ Tisdale and guests, 7 p.m.
Madrone Art Bar: 500 Divisadero, San Francisco. “Rock the Spot,” 9 p.m., free.
Make-Out Room: 3225 22nd St., San Francisco. “Burn Down the Disco,” w/ DJs 2shy-shy & Melt w/U, Third Wednesday of every month, 9 p.m., free.
MatrixFillmore: 3138 Fillmore, San Francisco. “Innov8,” 8 p.m.
Monarch: 101 6th St., San Francisco. “Yes, We Still Play Vinyl,” w/ Soul Clap, Lisbona, Vlad Sinko, 9 p.m., $10-$20.
Q Bar: 456 Castro, San Francisco. “Booty Call,” w/ Juanita More, Joshua J, guests, 9 p.m., $3.
Showdown: 10 Sixth St., San Francisco. “Nokturnal,” w/ DJs Coyle & Gonya, Third Wednesday of every month, 9 p.m., free.
HIP-HOP
Double Dutch: 3192 16th St., San Francisco. “Cash IV Gold,” w/ DJs Kool Karlo, Roost Uno, and Sean G, 10 p.m., free.
Skylark Bar: 3089 16th St., San Francisco. “Mixtape Wednesday,” w/ resident DJs Strategy, Junot, Herb Digs, & guests, 9 p.m., $5.
ACOUSTIC
Cafe Divine: 1600 Stockton, San Francisco. Craig Ventresco & Meredith Axelrod, 7 p.m., free.
Johnny Foley’s Irish House: 243 O’Farrell St., San Francisco. Terry Savastano, Every other Wednesday, 9 p.m., free.
Plough & Stars: 116 Clement, San Francisco. Pat Hamilton, 9 p.m.
JAZZ
Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. Gaucho, Eric Garland’s Jazz Session, The Amnesiacs, 7 p.m., free.
Burritt Room: 417 Stockton St., San Francisco. Terry Disley’s Rocking Jazz Trio, 6 p.m., free.
Club Deluxe: 1511 Haight, San Francisco. Patrick Wolff, Every other Wednesday, 8:30 p.m., free.
Jazz Bistro At Les Joulins: 44 Ellis, San Francisco. Charles Unger Experience, 7:30 p.m., free.
Le Colonial: 20 Cosmo, San Francisco. The Cosmo Alleycats featuring Ms. Emily Wade Adams, 7 p.m., free.
Oz Lounge: 260 Kearny, San Francisco. Hard Bop Collective, 6 p.m., free.
Savanna Jazz Club: 2937 Mission, San Francisco. “Cat’s Corner,” 9 p.m., $10.
Sheba Piano Lounge: 1419 Fillmore, San Francisco. Michael Parsons Trio, 8 p.m.
Top of the Mark: One Nob Hill, 999 California, San Francisco. Ricardo Scales, Wednesdays, 6:30-11:30 p.m., $5.
Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Suzanna Smith, 7:30 p.m., free.
INTERNATIONAL
BeatBox: 314 11th St., San Francisco. “Salsa-XS,” queer salsa night, 8 p.m.
Bissap Baobab: 3372 19th St., San Francisco. Timba Dance Party, w/ DJ WaltDigz, 10 p.m., $5.
Cafe Cocomo: 650 Indiana, San Francisco. “Bachatalicious,” w/ DJs Good Sho & Rodney, 7 p.m., $5-$10.
Pachamama Restaurant: 1630 Powell, San Francisco. “Cafe LatinoAmericano,” 8 p.m., $5.
REGGAE
Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Rankin Scroo, 8 p.m., $15-$19.
BLUES
Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. HowellDevine, 8 & 10 p.m., $15.
Pier 23 Cafe: Pier 23, San Francisco. Wendy DeWitt, 6 p.m., free.
The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. Craig Horton, 9:30 p.m.
Union Square Park: 333 Post, San Francisco. Crosscut, 6 p.m., free.
COUNTRY
Union Square Park: 333 Post, San Francisco. Miko Marks, 12:30 p.m., free.
EXPERIMENTAL
Artists’ Television Access: 992 Valencia, San Francisco. Periwinkle Cinema: Sound and Image, The gay video series hosts a night of films and noises, including live soundtracks provided by Annah Anti-Palindrome, Nomy Lamm, Beastiary, and other soundmakers., 8:07 p.m., $7.
SOUL
Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. “Soul Train Revival,” w/ “Ziek” McCarter, Third Wednesday of every month, 9:30 p.m., $5.
The Cellar: 685 Sutter, San Francisco. “Color Me Badd,” w/ DJ Matt Haze, Wednesdays, 5-9 p.m.
The Royal Cuckoo: 3202 Mission, San Francisco. Freddie Hughes & Chris Burns, 7:30 p.m., free.

THURSDAY 22
ROCK
Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. Koobi Fora, Soul Pie, 9:30 p.m., $5 advance.
Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. Lemme Adams, Cool Ghouls, Black Cobra Vipers, 9 p.m., $10.
S.F. Eagle: 398 12th St., San Francisco. Thursday Nite Live: Scary Little Friends, Jail Weddings, Sweet Felony, 9 p.m., $8.
Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. Greater Sirens, 8:30 p.m., $6.
The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. Habibi, Dancer, Glitz, 10 p.m., $5.
Milk Bar: 1840 Haight, San Francisco. Electric Shepherd, Brent Amaker & The Rodeo, Fox & The Law, The Electric Magpie, 8 p.m.
Monarch: 101 6th St., San Francisco. The Hangover Brigade, Vela Eyes, Tall Sheep, Ultra Violent Rays, 8 p.m., $8.
Red Devil Lounge: 1695 Polk, San Francisco. Pharaohs, Sol Doc, The Shape, 8 p.m., $8-$10.
Slim’s: 333 11th St., San Francisco. Melvins, Honky, 9 p.m., $22.
DANCE
Abbey Tavern: 4100 Geary, San Francisco. DJ Schrobi-Girl, 10 p.m., free.
Audio Discotech: 316 11th St., San Francisco. “Phonic,” w/ EDX, G-Stav, 9:30 p.m.
Aunt Charlie’s Lounge: 133 Turk, San Francisco. “Tubesteak Connection,” w/ DJ Bus Station John, 9 p.m., $5-$7.
BeatBox: 314 11th St., San Francisco. “Jukebox,” w/ DJ Page Hodel, 9 p.m., $10.
The Cafe: 2369 Market, San Francisco. “¡Pan Dulce!,” 9 p.m., $5.
Cat Club: 1190 Folsom, San Francisco. “All ‘80s Thursdays,” w/ DJs Damon, Steve Washington, Dangerous Dan, and guests, 9 p.m., $6 (free before 9:30 p.m.).
The Cellar: 685 Sutter, San Francisco. “XO,” w/ DJs Astro & Rose, 10 p.m., $5.
Club X: 715 Harrison, San Francisco. “The Crib,” 9:30 p.m., $10, 18+.
Elbo Room: 647 Valencia, San Francisco. “Afrolicious,” w/ DJs Pleasuremaker, Señor Oz, and live guests, 9:30 p.m., $5-$8.
The EndUp: 401 Sixth St., San Francisco. EDMSF Thursdays, 10 p.m., $10 (free before midnight).
Infusion Lounge: 124 Ellis, San Francisco. “I Love Thursdays,” 10 p.m., $10.
Madrone Art Bar: 500 Divisadero, San Francisco. “Night Fever,” 9 p.m., $5 after 10 p.m.
MatrixFillmore: 3138 Fillmore, San Francisco. “Fusion,” w/ DJ Big Bad Bruce, 9 p.m., $5.
Public Works: 161 Erie, San Francisco. Official Bay Area Pre-Party for the Symbiosis Gathering, w/ Amirali, Droog, Ana Sia, Stephan Jacobs, Tony Inorbit, Sugarpill, Jobot, Smokovich, 9 p.m., $15-$20.
Q Bar: 456 Castro, San Francisco. “Throwback Thursday,” w/ DJ Jay-R, 9 p.m., free.
Raven: 1151 Folsom St., San Francisco. “1999,” w/ VJ Mark Andrus, 8 p.m., free.
Rickshaw Stop: 155 Fell, San Francisco. “Popscene,” w/ Ghost Beach, Strange Talk, 9:30 p.m., $14-$16.
Ruby Skye: 420 Mason, San Francisco. “Awakening,” w/ GTA, Vicetone, 9 p.m., $15-$20 advance.
Slide: 430 Mason, San Francisco. “Twerk,” w/ Meikee Magnetic, Degai, Kepik, Billy Horn, 9 p.m.
The Stud: 399 Ninth St., San Francisco. “Get Tickled,” fundraiser for Tim Rubel Human Shakes dance company, 8 p.m., donation.
The Tunnel Top: 601 Bush, San Francisco. “Tunneltop,” DJs Avalon and Derek ease you into the weekend with a cool and relaxed selection of tunes spun on vinyl, 10 p.m., free.
Underground SF: 424 Haight, San Francisco. “Bubble,” 10 p.m., free.
Vessel: 85 Campton, San Francisco. “Base,” w/ Jesse Rose, 10 p.m., $5-$10.
HIP-HOP
50 Mason Social House: 50 Mason, San Francisco. DLRN, JB Nimble, Knowmatik Soulz, Big Vic, One Werd, Pete Feliciano, 10 p.m., $5.
Eastside West: 3154 Fillmore, San Francisco. “Throwback Thursdays,” w/ DJ Madison, 9 p.m., free.
John Colins: 138 Minna, San Francisco. “#Quattro,” w/ DJ Dino, Fourth Thursday of every month, 9 p.m.
Park 77 Sports Bar: 77 Cambon, San Francisco. “Slap N Tite,” w/ resident Cali King Crab DJs Sabotage Beats & Jason Awesome, free.
The Parlor: 2801 Leavenworth, San Francisco. “Locals Night Out,” w/ DJ Illy D, 9 p.m., free.
Skylark Bar: 3089 16th St., San Francisco. “Peaches,” w/lady DJs DeeAndroid, Lady Fingaz, That Girl, Umami, Inkfat, and Andre, 10 p.m., free.
ACOUSTIC
50 Mason Social House: 50 Mason, San Francisco. The Usual Suspects Songwriter Showcase, w/ Russell Stafford & Chris Margolin, Bonnie Sun, Alex Jimenez, 7 p.m., free.
Atlas Cafe: 3049 20th St., San Francisco. JimBo Trout & The Fishpeople, 8 p.m., free.
The Lost Church: 65 Capp St., San Francisco. Sister Exister, Yard Sale, 8 p.m., $10.
Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Firefall, 8 p.m., $23-$27.
JAZZ
Blush! Wine Bar: 476 Castro, San Francisco. Doug Martin’s Avatar Ensemble, 7:30 p.m., free.
Bottle Cap: 1707 Powell, San Francisco. The North Beach Sound with Ned Boynton, Jordan Samuels, and Tom Vickers, 7 p.m., free.
Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. Kermit Ruffins & The BBQ Swingers, Bay Easy Brass Band, A Spirit Hustler, 9 p.m., $15-$20.
Cafe Claude: 7 Claude, San Francisco. Scott Larson Trio, 7:30 p.m., free.
Club Deluxe: 1511 Haight, San Francisco. Michael Parsons, 8:30 p.m., free.
Le Colonial: 20 Cosmo, San Francisco. Steve Lucky & The Rhumba Bums, 7:30 p.m.
The Royal Cuckoo: 3202 Mission, San Francisco. Chris Siebert, 7:30 p.m., free.
Savanna Jazz Club: 2937 Mission, San Francisco. Savanna Jazz Jam with Eddy Ramirez, 7:30 p.m., $5.
Sheba Piano Lounge: 1419 Fillmore, San Francisco. Gary Flores & Friends, 8 p.m.
Top of the Mark: One Nob Hill, 999 California, San Francisco. Stompy Jones, 7:30 p.m., $10.
Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Barbara Ochoa, 7:30 p.m., free.
INTERNATIONAL
Bissap Baobab: 3372 19th St., San Francisco. “Pa’Lante!,” w/ Juan G, El Kool Kyle, Mr. Lucky, 10 p.m., $5.
Pachamama Restaurant: 1630 Powell, San Francisco. “Jueves Flamencos,” 8 p.m., free.
Verdi Club: 2424 Mariposa, San Francisco. The Verdi Club Milonga, w/ Christy Coté, DJ Emilio Flores, guests, 9 p.m., $10-$15.
REGGAE
Pissed Off Pete’s: 4528 Mission St., San Francisco. Reggae Thursdays, w/ resident DJ Jah Yzer, 9 p.m., free.
BLUES
50 Mason Social House: 50 Mason, San Francisco. Bill Phillippe, 5:30 p.m., free.
Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. Frank Bey, 8 & 10 p.m., $15.
Jazz Bistro At Les Joulins: 44 Ellis, San Francisco. Bohemian Knuckleboogie, 7:30 p.m., free.
The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. Freddie Roulette, 4 p.m.; Wendy DeWitt, 9:30 p.m.
Tupelo: 1337 Green St., San Francisco. G.G. Amos, 9:30 p.m., free.
EXPERIMENTAL
The Luggage Store: 1007 Market, San Francisco. Elements Saxophone Ntet, The Voice of the Octagon, 8 p.m., $6-$10.

FRIDAY 23
ROCK
Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. The Go Ahead, The Shivers, CelloJoe, 9:30 p.m., $10-$12.
Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. Sunrunners, Curious Quail, Father President, 9:30 p.m., $10.
Cafe Du Nord: 2170 Market, San Francisco. Truth & Salvage Co., Song Preservation Society, Wes Sheffield, 9:30 p.m., $12.
The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. Youthbitch, Cyclops, Primitive Hearts, Elvis Christ, Pookie & The Poodlez, Dancer, plus DJ sets by Phil In, Carl, Stef, and Joe Bank$, 6 p.m., $5.
Make-Out Room: 3225 22nd St., San Francisco. Billy Cramer & Share the Land, Delmarva, 7:30 p.m., $8.
Milk Bar: 1840 Haight, San Francisco. The Swamees, The Horsmas, J.C. & The Loyal Groove, Huntinanny, 8:30 p.m., $10.
Neck of the Woods: 406 Clement St., San Francisco. The Chain Gang of 1974, Humans, Mighty Mouse, 9 p.m., $12-$15.
DANCE
1015 Folsom: 1015 Folsom St., San Francisco. “Re:Creation,” w/ Sons of the Morning (Teebs & Prefuse 73), The Underachievers, Kastle, Patrick Sexx, Astronautica, Co. Fee, more, 10 p.m., $20-$25.
4Fourteen: 414 Mason, San Francisco. “Helix 4th Fridays,” Progressive techno tunes spun by resident DJs Means+Function, David Gropper, Derek Ryan, and rotating guests, Fourth Friday of every month, 10 p.m., $20.
Audio Discotech: 316 11th St., San Francisco. DJ Nile, DJ Remeddy, 9:30 p.m.
BeatBox: 314 11th St., San Francisco. Stereogamous, Jason Kendig, Tatu Vuolteenaho, Mark Louque, Dr. Sleep, Trevor Sigler, 10 p.m., $5-$10.
Cafe Flore: 2298 Market, San Francisco. “Kinky Beats,” w/ DJ Sergio, 10 p.m., free.
The Cafe: 2369 Market, San Francisco. “Boy Bar,” w/ DJ Matt Consola, 9 p.m., $5.
Cat Club: 1190 Folsom, San Francisco. “Dark Shadows,” w/ resident DJs Daniel Skellington & Melting Girl, Fourth Friday of every month, 9:30 p.m., $7 ($3 before 10 p.m.).
The Cellar: 685 Sutter, San Francisco. “F.T.S.: For the Story,” 10 p.m.
DNA Lounge: 375 11th St., San Francisco. “Frequency 8,” w/ Scott Brown, Thomas Datt, Mars, Dyloot, Blix Cannon, Saphyre, Khromata, Chris the Junglist, Dr. Who, Adept, Anglerfish, more, 7 p.m., $15-$25.
Elbo Room: 647 Valencia, San Francisco. “120 Minutes: 3-Year Anniversary,” w/ Salva, Santa Muerte, Chauncey CC, guests, 10 p.m., $10-$15.
The EndUp: 401 Sixth St., San Francisco. “Fever,” 10 p.m., free before midnight.
F8: 1192 Folsom St., San Francisco. “Vintage,” w/ DJ Toph One & guests, 5 p.m., free.
The Grand Nightclub: 520 4th St., San Francisco. “We Rock Fridays,” 9:30 p.m.
Harlot: 46 Minna, San Francisco. “Beat Connect,” w/ Miguel Migs, Mauricio Aviles, MFR, 9 p.m., $10-$15 advance.
Infusion Lounge: 124 Ellis, San Francisco. “Escape Fridays,” 10 p.m., $20.
Lookout: 3600 16th St., San Francisco. “HYSL,” 9 p.m., $3.
Madrone Art Bar: 500 Divisadero, San Francisco. “I  the ‘90s,” w/ DJs Samala, Teo, Mr. Grant, & Sonny Phono, Fourth Friday of every month, 9 p.m., $5.
Manor West: 750 Harrison, San Francisco. “Fortune Fridays,” 10 p.m., free before 11 p.m. with RSVP.
MatrixFillmore: 3138 Fillmore, San Francisco. “F-Style Fridays,” w/ DJ Jared-F, 9 p.m.
Mezzanine: 444 Jessie, San Francisco. “Lights Down Low,” w/ Simian Mobile Disco (DJ set), Curses!, Egyptrixx, Richie Panic, Sleazemore, 9 p.m., $15-$20.
Mighty: 119 Utah, San Francisco. “Forward,” w/ Wolf + Lamb, DJ Tennis, Adnad Sharif, Shiny Objects, Papa Lu, more, 9 p.m., $15-$25.
OMG: 43 6th St., San Francisco. “Release,” 9 p.m., free before 11 p.m.
Public Works: 161 Erie, San Francisco. “Burner Bon Voyage,” w/ Nico Stojan, Uone, Mike Khoury, Nikita, 9 p.m., $5-$15.
Q Bar: 456 Castro, San Francisco. “Pump: Worq It Out Fridays,” w/ resident DJ Christopher B, 9 p.m., $3.
Ruby Skye: 420 Mason, San Francisco. Menno de Jong, DJ Taj, 9 p.m., $20 advance.
Sub-Mission Art Space (Balazo 18 Gallery): 2183 Mission, San Francisco. “Warm Leatherette,” w/ Chasms, plus DJs Justin Anastasi, Jason P, Dreamweapon, and Nihar, 10 p.m., $5.
Supperclub San Francisco: 657 Harrison, San Francisco. “The Shindig: Black & White,” w/ Jimmy Bell & Evie, Fortune Cookie, Jay Handles, Alchemind, 10 p.m., $10 advance.
Temple: 540 Howard, San Francisco. M.I.K.E., John Beaver, Niko Zografos, Bardia F, ThuyVu, Rishi K, Ray Kang, Fabian Campos, 10 p.m., $20.
Vessel: 85 Campton, San Francisco. “Night Lab,” w/ Feenixpawl, AndDrop!, 10 p.m., $10 advance.
Wish: 1539 Folsom, San Francisco. “Bridge the Gap,” w/ resident DJ Don Kainoa, Fridays, 6-10 p.m., free.
HIP-HOP
DNA Lounge: 375 11th St., San Francisco. Main Attrakionz, Friendzone, Chad Salty, 9 p.m., $10.
EZ5: 682 Commercial, San Francisco. “Decompression,” Fridays, 5-9 p.m.
John Colins: 138 Minna, San Francisco. “#Flow,” w/ The Whooligan & Mikos Da Gawd, Fourth Friday of every month, 10 p.m., free befoe 11 p.m.
Showdown: 10 Sixth St., San Francisco. “Fresh Greens,” w/ Doc Fu & Mr. Lucky, Fourth Friday of every month, 10 p.m., free.
ACOUSTIC
Bazaar Cafe: 5927 California, San Francisco. “Sing Out of Darkness,” American Foundation for Suicide Prevention benefit featuring She the Wolf, Bill Fried, Wesley Woo, Laynie Tzena, and host Julie Mayhew, 6:30 p.m.
The Chapel: 777 Valencia St., San Francisco. Rhett Miller, Nancarrow, 9 p.m., $20-$22.
The Independent: 628 Divisadero, San Francisco. Nahko & Medicine for the People, Saritah, 9 p.m., $15.
Plough & Stars: 116 Clement, San Francisco. Savannah Blu, 9 p.m.
Rickshaw Stop: 155 Fell, San Francisco. Naked Soul, La Gente, Robin Applewood, Sang Matiz, 8 p.m., $9-$12.
The Sports Basement: 610 Old Mason, San Francisco. “Breakfast with Enzo,” w/ Enzo Garcia, 10 a.m., $5.
Thee Parkside: 1600 17th St., San Francisco. The Parmesans, Before the Brave, Garden Party, Greg Downing, 9 p.m., $10.
JAZZ
Beach Chalet Brewery & Restaurant: 1000 Great Highway, San Francisco. Johnny Smith, 8 p.m., free.
Bird & Beckett: 653 Chenery, San Francisco. Chuck Peterson Quintet, Fourth Friday of every month, 5:30 p.m.
Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. Kermit Ruffins & The BBQ Swingers, Jazz Mafia, FatCat, 9 p.m., $15-$20.
Cafe Claude: 7 Claude, San Francisco. Steve Lucky & The Rhumba Bums, 7:30 p.m., free.
Cafe Royale: 800 Post, San Francisco. Robert Kennedy Organ Trio, 9 p.m.
Jazz Bistro At Les Joulins: 44 Ellis, San Francisco. Charles Unger Experience, 7:30 p.m., free.
Pier 23 Cafe: Pier 23, San Francisco. Jazz Gitan, 7 p.m., free.
The Royal Cuckoo: 3202 Mission, San Francisco. Jules Broussard, Danny Armstrong, and Chris Siebert, 7:30 p.m., free.
Savanna Jazz Club: 2937 Mission, San Francisco. Carol Luckenbach, 7:30 p.m., $8.
Sheba Piano Lounge: 1419 Fillmore, San Francisco. Sebastian Parker Quartet, 9 p.m.
Top of the Mark: One Nob Hill, 999 California, San Francisco. Black Market Jazz Orchestra, 9 p.m., $10.
Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Donald Byrd Acoustic & Electric Sessions featuring Gary Bartz, Nicholas Payton, and Kevin Toney 3, Aug. 23-24, 8 & 10 p.m., $26-$30.
Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Joyce Grant, 8 p.m., free.
INTERNATIONAL
Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. Baxtalo Drom, International shimmying for lovers of Balkan music, bellydancers, and burlesque., Fourth Friday of every month, 9 p.m., $5-$10.
Bissap Baobab: 3372 19th St., San Francisco. Trio Troubadour, Fourth Friday of every month, 7 p.m., free.
Cafe Cocomo: 650 Indiana, San Francisco. Taste Fridays, featuring local cuisine tastings, salsa bands, dance lessons, and more, 7:30 p.m., $15 (free entry to patio).
Cigar Bar & Grill: 850 Montgomery, San Francisco. Orquesta Borinquen, 8 p.m.
Little Baobab: 3388 19th St., San Francisco. “Paris-Dakar African Mix Coupe Decale,” 10 p.m.
Pachamama Restaurant: 1630 Powell, San Francisco. Cuban Night with Fito Reinoso, 7:30 & 9:15 p.m., $15-$18.
The Ramp: 855 Terry Francois, San Francisco. “Samba Soirée,” w/ Sambaxé, DJ Alfie1Bateria, 6 p.m.
Slate Bar: 2925 16th St., San Francisco. “Chevere: Jamaican Edition,” w/ DJs WaltDigz & Leydis, 10 p.m.
REGGAE
Gestalt Haus: 3159 16th St., San Francisco. “Music Like Dirt,” 7:30 p.m., free.
BLUES
Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. Mighty Mo Rodgers, 8 & 10 p.m., $22.
Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. Bill Phillippe, 6 p.m., free.
The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. West Coast Blues Revue, 4 p.m.; Mari Mack & Livin’ Like Kings, 9:30 p.m.
EXPERIMENTAL
Center for New Music: 55 Taylor St., San Francisco. Miniatures for Reed Quintet and Electronics, w/ Jorrit Dijkstra, Phillip Greenlief, Frank Gratkowski, Jon Raskin, and Kyle Bruckmann, 7:30 p.m., $10-$15.
Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. Sutekh Hexen, Blue Sabbath Black Cheer, Eye of Nix, 9:30 p.m., $7.
FUNK
Make-Out Room: 3225 22nd St., San Francisco. “Loose Joints,” w/ DJs Centipede, Damon Bell, & Tom Thump, 10 p.m., $5.
SOUL
Edinburgh Castle: 950 Geary, San Francisco. “Soul Crush,” w/ DJ Serious Leisure, 10 p.m., free.
El Rio: 3158 Mission, San Francisco. Friday Live: The Kofy Brown Band, DJ Emotions, 10 p.m., free.
Underground SF: 424 Haight, San Francisco. “Sissy Strut,” w/ The Handsome Young Men (DJs Ponyboy, Lil MC, Katie Duck, & Durt), Fourth Friday of every month, 10 p.m., $3-$5.

SATURDAY 24
ROCK
Bender’s: 806 S. Van Ness, San Francisco. Owl, Crag Dweller, 10 p.m., $5.
Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. O’Brother, Native, Daylight, 9:30 p.m., $12.
El Rio: 3158 Mission, San Francisco. The Loudmouths, Idiots, The Jack Saints, 10 p.m., $8.
Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. The Spyrals, Super 78!, 9:30 p.m., $8.
The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. “Shine On,” w/ Manatee, #1 Smash Hits, Nacho Business, DJs Jamie Jams & Josh Yule, 9 p.m., $7.
Mission Dispatch: 1975 Bryant St., San Francisco. “Dark Is the Night,” Official after-party of the 20th Street Block Party with The Glass Decade, OK FWY, Hot Einstein, 6 p.m., $5.
Rickshaw Stop: 155 Fell, San Francisco. Majical Cloudz, Moon King, Some Ember, 9 p.m., $10-$12.
Thee Parkside: 1600 17th St., San Francisco. MDC, Nihilist Cunt, Bum City Saints, The Judas Bunch, 9 p.m., $10.
DANCE
111 Minna Gallery: 111 Minna St., San Francisco. “Barracuda,” 10 p.m., $10.
Audio Discotech: 316 11th St., San Francisco. Traviswild, Tech Minds, 9:30 p.m.
BeatBox: 314 11th St., San Francisco. “I Just Wanna F*ckin Dance: 2-Year Anniversary Ball,” 10 p.m.
Cafe Flore: 2298 Market, San Francisco. “Bistrotheque,” w/ DJ Ken Vulsion, 8 p.m., free.
Cat Club: 1190 Folsom, San Francisco. “Villainy: The Dance Club with a Dark Side,” w/ DJs Tomas Diablo, MyKill, Starr, Melting Girl, and Low-Life, 9:30 p.m., $5-$8.
DNA Lounge: 375 11th St., San Francisco. “Bootie S.F.,” w/ Smash-Up Derby; DJ Freddy, King of Pants; DJ Tripp; DJ Dada; Gordo Cabeza; Timoteo Gigante; John!John!; more, 9 p.m., $10-$15.
S.F. Eagle: 398 12th St., San Francisco. “Sadistic Saturdays,” Fourth Saturday of every month, 10 p.m., free.
The EndUp: 401 Sixth St., San Francisco. “Shangri-La: Sailors & Seamen Cruise,” w/ DJs Byron Bonsall & Jack Rojo, 10 p.m., $20 (free before 11 p.m.).
F8: 1192 Folsom St., San Francisco. “Trap City,” w/ Antiserum, Nebakaneza, Johnny5, UltraViolet, Napsty, Thizz Markie, WolfBitch, Lé Swndle, Teleport, 10 p.m., $15 advance.
Harlot: 46 Minna, San Francisco. Le Youth, Tropicool, Pacific Disco, 9 p.m.
Infusion Lounge: 124 Ellis, San Francisco. “Set,” Fourth Saturday of every month, 10 p.m., $20.
Lookout: 3600 16th St., San Francisco. “Bounce!,” 9 p.m., $3.
Mezzanine: 444 Jessie, San Francisco. Flume, Touch Sensitive, 8:30 p.m., $20.
Mighty: 119 Utah, San Francisco. Verdugo Brothers, Revonoc, DJ Reflecta, 10 p.m., $10 advance.
Milk Bar: 1840 Haight, San Francisco. “Spilt Milk,” w/ Sepehr, Mountaincount, Taylor Fife, Mother DJs, Etcher/Engrave, 9 p.m., $5.
Monarch: 101 6th St., San Francisco. Bill Patrick, 10 p.m., $10-$15.
Public Works: 161 Erie, San Francisco. “Resonate,” w/ Benito, Dailon, The Hellas, DJ Pound, Gypsy Mamba, Ruff Draft, Mophono, Bdot, Citizen Ten, Tone, Muddbird (in the OddJob Loft), 9 p.m., $5-$10.
Ruby Skye: 420 Mason, San Francisco. Donald Glaude, 9 p.m., $20 advance.
Supperclub San Francisco: 657 Harrison, San Francisco. “Sunglasses at Night,” w/ Rokrida, Mikey Tan, Misha, Ks Thant, French Kiss, Travis, Tall Sasha, 10 p.m.
Temple: 540 Howard, San Francisco. “Life,” w/ Robot De Niro, El Cool J, Halloran, D.K. Watts, Ruby Valeros, Glade Luco, A2D, 10 p.m., $20.
Vessel: 85 Campton, San Francisco. Chris Garcia, John Beaver, 10 p.m., $10-$30.
HIP-HOP
Elbo Room: 647 Valencia, San Francisco. Masta Ace, Wordsworth, BPos, Otayo Dubb, Rebel Allianz, 9 p.m., $10-$15.
John Colins: 138 Minna, San Francisco. “Nice,” w/ DJ Apollo, Fourth Saturday of every month, 10 p.m., $5.
Madrone Art Bar: 500 Divisadero, San Francisco. “House Party,” w/ DJs Spank Bank & Ma Yeah, 9 p.m., $5.
Slate Bar: 2925 16th St., San Francisco. “So Fresh,” w/ DJs Twin Spin & Miles Green, 10 p.m.
ACOUSTIC
Atlas Cafe: 3049 20th St., San Francisco. Craig Ventresco & Meredith Axelrod, Saturdays, 4-6 p.m., free.
Bazaar Cafe: 5927 California, San Francisco. The Hill People, 7 p.m.
Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. Andrew Belle, Grizfolk, 8 p.m., $10-$12.
Cafe Du Nord: 2170 Market, San Francisco. Slow Motion Cowboys, Secret Town, The Silver Threads, Hang Jones, 9 p.m., $10-$12.
The Lost Church: 65 Capp St., San Francisco. Tin & Tambourine: Rockers Shout Out About Bullying, Cash Rogers Emergency Fund benefit with music by He Who Cannot Be Named, The Unfortunate Bastard, Jackie Strano, StormMiguel Florez, Kimberly Kenny, and more., 7:30 p.m., $15 advance.
Make-Out Room: 3225 22nd St., San Francisco. Mica Lee Williams, Joel Murach & The Low Rollers, 7:30 p.m., $8.
Pier 23 Cafe: Pier 23, San Francisco. The Barren Vines, 10 p.m., free.
Plough & Stars: 116 Clement, San Francisco. Steve Taylor-Ramírez Band, 9 p.m., $6.
JAZZ
Cafe Claude: 7 Claude, San Francisco. Nova Jazz, 7:30 p.m., free.
Cafe Royale: 800 Post, San Francisco. Anna Estrada, 9 p.m.
Club Deluxe: 1511 Haight, San Francisco. Saturday Afternoon Jazz, w/ Danny Brown, Danny Grewen, Eugene Warren, & Beth Goodfellow, 4:30 p.m., free.
Jazz Bistro At Les Joulins: 44 Ellis, San Francisco. Bill “Doc” Webster & Jazz Nostalgia, 7:30 p.m., free.
The Rite Spot Cafe: 2099 Folsom, San Francisco. Mr. Lucky & The Cocktail Party, 9 p.m., free.
The Royal Cuckoo: 3202 Mission, San Francisco. Jules Broussard, Danny Armstrong, and Chris Siebert, 7:30 p.m., free.
Savanna Jazz Club: 2937 Mission, San Francisco. Kelly Park Presents, 7:30 p.m., $8.
Sheba Piano Lounge: 1419 Fillmore, San Francisco. The Robert Stewart Experience, 9 p.m.
Verdi Club: 2424 Mariposa, San Francisco. Slim Jenkins, 29th Street Swingtet, Cole Walker & His Rhythm, 8 p.m., $10.
Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Donald Byrd Acoustic & Electric Sessions featuring Gary Bartz, Nicholas Payton, and Kevin Toney 3, Aug. 23-24, 8 & 10 p.m., $26-$30.
Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Lisa Lindsley, 8 p.m., free.
INTERNATIONAL
1015 Folsom: 1015 Folsom St., San Francisco. “Pura,” 9 p.m., $20.
The Chapel: 777 Valencia St., San Francisco. Sila, SambaDá, DJ Mpenzi, 9 p.m., $16-$18.
Cigar Bar & Grill: 850 Montgomery, San Francisco. Candela, 8 p.m.
El Rio: 3158 Mission, San Francisco. “Mango,” Fourth Saturday of every month, 3 p.m., $8-$10.
Little Baobab: 3388 19th St., San Francisco. “Paris-Dakar African Mix Coupe Decale,” 10 p.m.
Make-Out Room: 3225 22nd St., San Francisco. “El SuperRitmo,” Latin dance party with DJs Roger Mas & El Kool Kyle, 10 p.m., $5.
Pachamama Restaurant: 1630 Powell, San Francisco. Peña Eddy Navia & Pachamama Band, 8 p.m., free.
Public Works: 161 Erie, San Francisco. “Non Stop Bhangra,” w/ DJ Jimmy Love, Pavit Deol, DJ Amar, Dholrhythms dance troupe, 9 p.m., $10-$15.
BLUES
Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. Chris Cain, 7:30 & 10 p.m., $20.
The Riptide: 3639 Taraval, San Francisco. Mr. Chin’s Hot Sauce, 9 p.m., free.
The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. Dave Workman, Fourth Saturday of every month, 4 p.m.; Ron Thompson, 9:30 p.m.
SOUL
Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. Otis featuring Jesse Wagner, 9:30 p.m., $12 advance.
Edinburgh Castle: 950 Geary, San Francisco. “Nightbeat,” w/ DJs Primo, Lucky, and Dr. Scott, Fourth Saturday of every month, 9 p.m., $3.

SUNDAY 25
ROCK
Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. Fever Charm, Dangermaker, Koruscant Weekend, 9 p.m., $10.
Brick & Mortar Music Hall: 1710 Mission, San Francisco. Black Hole Oscillators, Jeffertiti’s Nile, Down Dirty Shake, DJ Neil Martinson, 8 p.m., $7-$10.
Cafe Du Nord: 2170 Market, San Francisco. Little Comets, Oceanography, Sea Knight, 7:30 p.m., $10-$12.
DNA Lounge: 375 11th St., San Francisco. Wintersun, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Arsis, Starkill, DJ Rob Metal, 6 p.m., $22-$25.
Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. Destruction Unit, Wax Idols, 8:30 p.m., $8.
Thee Parkside: 1600 17th St., San Francisco. Indie Mart DIY, Design, and Music Festival, At the latest installment of this popular hipster bazaar, homemade fashion and crafts vendors sell their wares on Wisconsin Street while bands like Doe Eye, Picture Atlantic, Hungry Skinny, Major Powers & The Lo-Fi Symphony, Cannons & Clouds, and the S.F. Rock Project take over the stage inside the club., noon, $3.
DANCE
440 Castro: 440 Castro, San Francisco. “Sunday Furry Sunday,” Last Sunday of every month, 4-10 p.m., $1.
The Cellar: 685 Sutter, San Francisco. “Replay Sundays,” 9 p.m., free.
The Edge: 4149 18th St., San Francisco. “’80s at 8,” w/ DJ MC2, 8 p.m.
Elbo Room: 647 Valencia, San Francisco. “Dub Mission,” w/ Citizen Zain, DJ Sep, Ludichris, 9 p.m., $6 (free before 9:30 p.m.).
The EndUp: 401 Sixth St., San Francisco. “T.Dance,” 6 a.m.-6 p.m.; “Local Love,” w/ DJ Taj, Kevin Kind, DJ Mes, Lyndsay, Hil Huerta, Pheeko Dubfunk, 8 p.m.
F8: 1192 Folsom St., San Francisco. “Stamina Sundays,” w/ DJs Lukeino, Jamal, and guests, 10 p.m., free.
Holy Cow: 1535 Folsom, San Francisco. “Honey Sundays,” w/ Honey Soundsystem & guests, 9 p.m., $5.
The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. “Sweater Funk,” 10 p.m., free.
Lookout: 3600 16th St., San Francisco. “Jock,” Sundays, 3-8 p.m., $2.
Mezzanine: 444 Jessie, San Francisco. Escort, Magic Touch, DJ Derrick Love, 8 p.m., $15-$18.
Otis: 25 Maiden, San Francisco. “What’s the Werd?,” w/ resident DJs Nick Williams, Kevin Knapp, Maxwell Dub, and guests, 9 p.m., $5 (free before 11 p.m.).
The Parlor: 2801 Leavenworth, San Francisco. DJ Marc deVasconcelos, 10 p.m., free.
Phoenix Hotel: 601 Eddy, San Francisco. Sunday Summer Series, w/ Mark Farina, 1-7 p.m., $10 advance.
Q Bar: 456 Castro, San Francisco. “Gigante,” 8 p.m., free.
The Stud: 399 Ninth St., San Francisco. “Cognitive Dissonance,” Fourth Sunday of every month, 6 p.m.
Temple: 540 Howard, San Francisco. “Sunset Arcade,” 18+ dance party with bar games and video arcade, 7 p.m., $5.
HIP-HOP
Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. “Return of the Cypher,” 9:30 p.m., free.
Slim’s: 333 11th St., San Francisco. Shwayze, Paul Couture, 8 p.m., $15-$18.
SOMA StrEat Food Park: 428 11th St., San Francisco. “The Beat Down: Summer Beats & Eats,” w/ resident DJ Mr. E, Last Sunday of every month, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. continues through Oct. 27, free.
ACOUSTIC
Club Deluxe: 1511 Haight, San Francisco. Musical Mayhem with the Dimestore Dandy, 5:30 p.m., free.
The Lucky Horseshoe: 453 Cortland, San Francisco. Sunday Bluegrass Jam, 4 p.m., free.
Madrone Art Bar: 500 Divisadero, San Francisco. “Spike’s Mic Night,” Sundays, 4-8 p.m., free.
Make-Out Room: 3225 22nd St., San Francisco. Sylvie Simmons’ I’m Your Man: The Life of Leonard Cohen Paperback Book Release Party, The S.F.-based music writer presents a night of Leonard Cohen history, home movies, and musical tributes by Ryan Auffenberg, Justin Frahm, Tom Heyman, Jeffrey Luck Lucas, Sarah Bethe Nelson, Hélène Renaut, Chris von Sneidern, Misisipi Mike Wolf, Michael Zapruder, and more., 7:30 p.m., $8.
Milk Bar: 1840 Haight, San Francisco. John Roy Zat & The Don’t Look Back String Band, Sauce Piquante, 4 p.m., free.
Neck of the Woods: 406 Clement St., San Francisco. “iPlay,” open mic with featured weekly artists, 6:30 p.m., free.
Plough & Stars: 116 Clement, San Francisco. Seisiún with Marla Fibish, 9 p.m.
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church: 1755 Clay, San Francisco. “Sunday Night Mic,” w/ Roem Baur, 5 p.m., free.
JAZZ
Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. Roberta Donnay, 7 & 9 p.m., $15.
Cafe Divine: 1600 Stockton, San Francisco. Mario Guarneri, Last Sunday of every month, 7 p.m.
Chez Hanny: 1300 Silver, San Francisco. Jazz Guitar Summit with John Stowell, Bill Moio, Rick Vandivier, and Ryan Meagher, 4 p.m., $20 suggested donation.
Club Deluxe: 1511 Haight, San Francisco. Jay Johnson, 9 p.m., free.
Jazz Bistro At Les Joulins: 44 Ellis, San Francisco. Bill “Doc” Webster & Jazz Nostalgia, 7:30 p.m., free.
Madrone Art Bar: 500 Divisadero, San Francisco. “Sunday Sessions,” 10 p.m., free.
Old First Presbyterian Church: 1751 Sacramento, San Francisco. Resonance Jazz Ensemble, 4 p.m., $17.
Revolution Cafe: 3248 22nd St., San Francisco. Jazz Revolution, 4 p.m., free/donation.
The Royal Cuckoo: 3202 Mission, San Francisco. Lavay Smith & Chris Siebert, 7:30 p.m., free.
Savanna Jazz Club: 2937 Mission, San Francisco. Vocal Jam with Eric Tillman, 7 p.m., $5.
Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Kitt Weagant, 7:30 p.m., free.
INTERNATIONAL
Atmosphere: 447 Broadway, San Francisco. “Hot Bachata Nights,” w/ DJ El Guapo, 5:30 p.m., $10 ($15-$20 with dance lessons).
Bissap Baobab: 3372 19th St., San Francisco. “Brazil & Beyond,” 6:30 p.m., free.
El Rio: 3158 Mission, San Francisco. “Salsa Sundays,” Second and Fourth Sunday of every month, 3 p.m., $8-$10.
Oasis Bar & Grill: 401 California Ave., San Francisco. “El Vacilón,” 4 p.m., $10.
The Ramp: 855 Terry Francois, San Francisco. Rolando Morales, 5:30 p.m.
St. Gregory’s Church: 500 De Haro, San Francisco. One Tribe, 6 p.m., $50.
Thirsty Bear Brewing Company: 661 Howard, San Francisco. “The Flamenco Room,” 7:30 & 8:30 p.m.
Union Square Park: 333 Post, San Francisco. Trio Garufa, 2 p.m., free.
REGGAE
Il Pirata: 2007 16th St., San Francisco. “Ragga Ragga,” w/ DJs Vinny Ras, Kure All, & Theory, Last Sunday of every month, 7 p.m., free.
Jane Warner Plaza: Market, San Francisco. The Rudicals, 1 p.m., free.
BLUES
Revolution Cafe: 3248 22nd St., San Francisco. HowellDevine, 8:30 p.m., free/donation.
The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. Blues Power, 4 p.m.; The Door Slammers, 9:30 p.m.
Sheba Piano Lounge: 1419 Fillmore, San Francisco. Bohemian Knuckleboogie, 9 p.m., free.
COUNTRY
Tupelo: 1337 Green St., San Francisco. “Twang Sunday,” w/ The Country Casanovas, 4 p.m., free.
EXPERIMENTAL
Center for New Music: 55 Taylor St., San Francisco. Addleds Sound Laboratory #1, w/ Horaflora, Bran(…)Pos, Addleds, 7:30 p.m., $5-$10.
The Lab: 2948 16th St., San Francisco. “Godwaffle Noise Pancakes,” w/ Tim Perkis, Mom, Daniel Blomquist, Black Thread, Cut, 7:30 p.m., $10.
SOUL
The Chapel: 777 Valencia St., San Francisco. “Mission Soul Sundays,” musical brunch with M.O.M. DJs Gordo Cabeza & Timoteo Gigante, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., free (food extra).
Delirium Cocktails: 3139 16th St., San Francisco. “Heart & Soul,” w/ DJ Lovely Lesage, 10 p.m., free.
The Independent: 628 Divisadero, San Francisco. Selah Sue, Bushwalla, 8 p.m., $15.
Pier 23 Cafe: Pier 23, San Francisco. Feelosophy, 5 p.m., free.
Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Swamp Dogg, 7 & 9 p.m., $19-$23.

MONDAY 26
DANCE
DNA Lounge: 375 11th St., San Francisco. “Death Guild,” 18+ dance party with DJs Decay, Joe Radio, Melting Girl, & guests, 9:30 p.m., $3-$5.
The Independent: 628 Divisadero, San Francisco. How to Dress Well, 8 p.m., $15.
Q Bar: 456 Castro, San Francisco. “Wanted,” w/ DJs Key&Kite and Richie Panic, 9 p.m., free.
Underground SF: 424 Haight, San Francisco. “Vienetta Discotheque,” w/ DJs Stanley Frank and Robert Jeffrey, 10 p.m., free.
ACOUSTIC
Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. The Pick Bluegrass Jam, Fourth Monday of every month, 6 p.m., free; The Earl Brothers, Fourth Monday of every month, 9 p.m., free.
The Chieftain: 198 Fifth St., San Francisco. The Wrenboys, 7 p.m., free.
Fiddler’s Green: 1333 Columbus, San Francisco. Terry Savastano, 9:30 p.m., free/donation.
Hotel Utah: 500 Fourth St., San Francisco. Open mic with Brendan Getzell, 8 p.m., free.
Osteria: 3277 Sacramento, San Francisco. “Acoustic Bistro,” 7 p.m., free.
The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. Peter Lindman, 4 p.m.
JAZZ
Le Colonial: 20 Cosmo, San Francisco. Le Jazz Hot, 7 p.m., free.
Sheba Piano Lounge: 1419 Fillmore, San Francisco. Eric Wiley, 8 p.m.
The Union Room at Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. The Session: A Monday Night Jazz Series, pro jazz jam with Mike Olmos, 7:30 p.m., $12.
Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Nora Maki, 7:30 p.m., free.
REGGAE
Skylark Bar: 3089 16th St., San Francisco. “Skylarking,” w/ I&I Vibration, 10 p.m., free.
BLUES
Jazz Bistro At Les Joulins: 44 Ellis, San Francisco. Bohemian Knuckleboogie, 7:30 p.m., free.
The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. The Bachelors, 9:30 p.m.
FUNK
Cafe Du Nord: 2170 Market, San Francisco. “Soul Bingo,” w/ Afrolicious, DJ I-Cue, 7:30 p.m., $5-$10.
SOUL
Madrone Art Bar: 500 Divisadero, San Francisco. “M.O.M. (Motown on Mondays),” w/ DJ Gordo Cabeza & Timoteo Gigante, 8 p.m., free.

TUESDAY 27
ROCK
Bottom of the Hill: 1233 17th St., San Francisco. Bad Bad, Nasty Christmas, 1906, 9 p.m., $8.
El Rio: 3158 Mission, San Francisco. Brent Amaker & The Rodeo, Fox & The Law, Thundercult, 7 p.m., $5.
Grant & Green Saloon: 1371 Grant, San Francisco. The West, Amalgamation, 9 p.m.
Hemlock Tavern: 1131 Polk, San Francisco. Sun Foot, Mike Donovan, Franklin’s Mint, 8:30 p.m., $7.
The Knockout: 3223 Mission, San Francisco. Tony Molina, Synthetic ID, Violent Change, Love Devotion, DJs Ack Ack Ack & Mike Harkin, 9:30 p.m., $7.
Sub-Mission Art Space (Balazo 18 Gallery): 2183 Mission, San Francisco. Global Affront, Moovalya, INFM, Elegant Trash, 8 p.m., $5.
DANCE
Aunt Charlie’s Lounge: 133 Turk, San Francisco. “High Fantasy,” w/ DJ Viv, Myles Cooper, & guests, 10 p.m., $2.
MatrixFillmore: 3138 Fillmore, San Francisco. “TRL,” w/ DJ Big Bad Bruce, 10 p.m.
Monarch: 101 6th St., San Francisco. “Soundpieces,” 10 p.m., free-$10.
Q Bar: 456 Castro, San Francisco. “Switch,” w/ DJs Jenna Riot & Andre, 9 p.m., $3.
Underground SF: 424 Haight, San Francisco. “Shelter,” 10 p.m., free.
Wish: 1539 Folsom, San Francisco. “Tight,” w/ resident DJs Michael May & Lito, 8 p.m., free.
HIP-HOP
Double Dutch: 3192 16th St., San Francisco. “Takin’ It Back Tuesdays,” w/ DJs Mr. Murdock and Roman Nunez, Fourth Tuesday of every month, 10 p.m., free.
Skylark Bar: 3089 16th St., San Francisco. “True Skool Tuesdays,” w/ DJ Ren the Vinyl Archaeologist, 10 p.m., free.
ACOUSTIC
Amnesia: 853 Valencia, San Francisco. Kacey Johansing, Sandy’s, Bill Baird, 9:15 p.m., $7.
Bazaar Cafe: 5927 California, San Francisco. Songwriter-in-Residence: Wilson Wong, 7 p.m. continues through.
Cafe Du Nord: 2170 Market, San Francisco. Open Mic with K.C. Turner, 7 p.m., $5.
Plough & Stars: 116 Clement, San Francisco. Song session with Cormac Gannon, Last Tuesday of every month, 9 p.m.
The Rite Spot Cafe: 2099 Folsom, San Francisco. Toshio Hirano, 8:30 p.m., free.
JAZZ
Beach Chalet Brewery & Restaurant: 1000 Great Highway, San Francisco. Gerry Grosz Jazz Jam, 7 p.m.
Blush! Wine Bar: 476 Castro, San Francisco. Kally Price & Rob Reich, 7 p.m., free.
Burritt Room: 417 Stockton St., San Francisco. Terry Disley’s Rocking Jazz Trio, 6 p.m., free.
Cafe Divine: 1600 Stockton, San Francisco. Chris Amberger, 7 p.m.
Club Deluxe: 1511 Haight, San Francisco. Eugene Warren Trio, 8:30 p.m., free.
Jazz Bistro At Les Joulins: 44 Ellis, San Francisco. M.B. Hanif & The Sound Voyagers, 7:30 p.m., free.
Oz Lounge: 260 Kearny, San Francisco. Emily Hayes & Mark Holzinger, 6 p.m., free.
Revolution Cafe: 3248 22nd St., San Francisco. West Side Jazz Club, 5 p.m., free.
Sheba Piano Lounge: 1419 Fillmore, San Francisco. Michael Parsons, 8 p.m.
Verdi Club: 2424 Mariposa, San Francisco. “Tuesday Night Jump,” w/ Stompy Jones, 9 p.m., $10-$12.
Yoshi’s San Francisco: 1330 Fillmore, San Francisco. Tommy Igoe Big Band, 8 p.m., $22.
Zingari: 501 Post, San Francisco. Amanda King, 7:30 p.m., free.
INTERNATIONAL
The Cosmo Bar & Lounge: 440 Broadway, San Francisco. “Conga Tuesdays,” 8 p.m., $7-$10.
F8: 1192 Folsom St., San Francisco. “Underground Nomads,” w/ rotating resident DJs Cheb i Sabbah, Amar, Sep, and Dulce Vita, plus guests, 9 p.m., $5 (free before 9:30 p.m.).
REGGAE
Milk Bar: 1840 Haight, San Francisco. “Bless Up,” w/ Jah Warrior Shelter Hi-Fi, 10 p.m.
BLUES
Biscuits and Blues: 401 Mason, San Francisco. Tia Carroll & Hard Work, 8 & 10 p.m., $15.
Boom Boom Room: 1601 Fillmore, San Francisco. Dr. Mojo, 9:30 p.m., free.
The Saloon: 1232 Grant, San Francisco. Powell Street Blues Band, 9:30 p.m.
EXPERIMENTAL
Center for New Music: 55 Taylor St., San Francisco. sfSoundSalonSeries, w/ Seth Cluett, sfSoundGroup, 7:49 p.m., $7-$10.
FUNK
Madrone Art Bar: 500 Divisadero, San Francisco. “Boogaloo Tuesday,” w/ Oscar Myers & Steppin’, 9:30 p.m., free.
SOUL
Make-Out Room: 3225 22nd St., San Francisco. “Lost & Found,” w/ DJs Primo, Lucky, and guests, 9:30 p.m., free.

Activists say a pair of Spades could beat culture and small business in the Mission

Sasha Cuttler
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94

[UPDATE: The Board of Appeals last night voted to 3-2 that Jack Spade should be considered a formula retail business, short of the four-vote supermajority that activists needed to sustain their appeal.]

Progressive activists and small business owners in the Mission are trying to draw the line against the creep the of corporate chain stores — with their homegeneity and tendency to drive up commercial rents — and they’re drawing that line at the old Adobe Bookstore where the Jack Spade corporate clothing chain was trying to quietly sneak in.

“I’m strongly opposed because of its potential to destroy the culture of this area,” Michael Katz, owner of Katz Bagels across 16th Street from the site, told the Guardian. “If they start allowing chains to come, it will be one chain store after another.”

Katz has already been experiencing the flipside of these economic boom times, recently forced to close his shop on Mission Street near 2nd in SoMa because of rising rents and competition from both food trucks and corporate-backed competitors. Now, he’s fighting to defend his Mission District turf against deep-pocketed competitors.

“This will change the special personality of the 16th and Valencia corridors,” Katz said. “It’s turning it into a commodity.”

Katz is among the dozens of people planning to show up tomorrow for the San Francisco Board of Appeals’ hearing (Wed/21, 5:00 PM, City Hall Room 416) on the Jack Spade store. The Valencia Corridor Merchants’ Association is organizing the challenge to the legal standing of a building permit issued to Jack Spade by the Planning Department in June.

Last week, that same group of activists experienced a minor setback when the Board of Appeals denied a late filing request. Tomorrow, however, they’ll get the opportunity they were seeking to argue that the store is “formula retail” and needs to submit to a public hearing before being sanctioned by the Zoning Administrator to open a new Mission location.

Mission resident Kyle Smeallie has been working with the VCMA to oppose the mens’ clothier’s advances on 16th street. In the case of Jack Spade, the Planning Department has enforced only the narrowest definition of “formula retail” as a business with 11 or more locations, while failing to defend the broader spirit of the law.

Since Jack Spade is owned by Fifth & Pacific (aka Liz Claiborne), according to Smeallie, it is a corporate chain store. Though it indeed has only 10 locations, Jack Spade “has a complete imbalance of power and resources, which is exactly what the formula retail legislation aimed to remedy in the first place,” said Smeallie.

Fifth and Pacific also makes clear on its website the Jack Spade is an expanding chain: “Under Fifth & Pacific, Jack Spade has begun to spread its wings and is now poised for broader expansion. Although management would not disclose a precise volume breakdown, Fifth & Pacific’s CEO William L. McComb said on an earnings call last year that Jack Spade ‘can be a $100 million men’s business with very high margins.’”

That’s “margins” as in profit margins, meaning that this corporate chain can has an economies of scale that allows it to buy goods for cheap and sell them for whatever people will pay, which is an ever-increasing amount in the rapidly gentrifying Mission.  

Experts have advised the activists that their best approach is to argue that Kate Spade and Jack Spade are essentially the same store, with well over 11 locations nationwide, since corporate parentage is not explicitly prohibited in the formula retail legislation approved by voters in 2006.

“We’re going to make the case that, since it’s named Spade, it has benefitted from the association with Kate Spade,” Smeallie explained. “Legally, we have a case to say a Spade is Spade and they should be considered one and same.”

In the past, this strategy was successful in thwarting an effort by “Black Fleece by Brooks Brothers” to open a neighborhood location by claiming that it was, effectively, just another Brooks Brothers. In that case, however, the full name of the large-scale retailer was present in the subsidiary’s label.

Theater Listings: August 21 – 27, 2013

Michael Redmond
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0

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

THEATER

OPENING

American Dream New Conservatory Theatre Center, 25 Van Ness, SF; www.nctcsf.org. $35-45. Previews Wed/21-Fri/23, 8pm. Opens Sat/24, 8pm. Runs Wed-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 2pm. Through Sept 15. A recently divorced and recently out architect falls in love with his Spanish teacher — and tries to bring him from Mexico to California — in this world premiere by Brad Erickson at the New Conservatory Theatre Center.

Priscilla Queen of the Desert the Musical SHN Orpheum Theatre, 1192 Market, SF; www.shnsf.com. $45-210. Opens Wed/21, 8pm. Runs Tue-Sat, 8pm (also Sat, Aug 28, and Aug 30, 2pm); Sun/25, 1 and 6:30pm. Through Aug 31. The Aussie movie-turned-musical about road-tripping drag queens rolls into San Francisco for a limited engagement.

BAY AREA

Good People Marin Theatre Company, 397 Miller, Mill Valley; www.marintheatre.org. $37-58. Previews Thu/22-Sat/24, 8pm; Sun/25, 7pm. Opens Tue/27, 8pm. Runs Tue and Thu-Sat, 8pm (also Aug 31 and Sept 14, 2pm; Sept 5, 1pm); Wed, 7:30pm; Sun, 2 and 7pm. Through Sept 15. Marin Theatre Company performs the Bay Area premiere of David Lindsay-Abaire’s Broadway triumph about class and poverty.

Other Desert Cities Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts, 500 Castro, Mtn View; www.theatreworks.org. $19-73. Previews Wed/21-Fri/23, 8pm. Opens Sat/24, 8pm. Runs Tue-Wed, 7:30pm; Thu-Sat, 8pm (also Sat, 2pm); Sun, 2 and 7pm. Through Sept 15. TheatreWorks performs Jon Robin Baitz’s family dramedy, a Broadway hit making its regional premiere here.

ONGOING

Can You Dig It? Back Down East 14th — the 60s and Beyond Marsh San Francisco, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. $15-50. Sat, 8:30pm; Sun, 7pm. Extended through Sept 8. (Runs Sept 14-Oct 27 at the Marsh Berkeley.) Don Reed’s new show offers more stories from his colorful upbringing in East Oakland in the 1960s and ’70s. More hilarious and heartfelt depictions of his exceptional parents, independent siblings, and his mostly African American but ethnically mixed working-class community — punctuated with period pop, Motown, and funk classics, to which Reed shimmies and spins with effortless grace. And of course there’s more too of the expert physical comedy and charm that made long-running hits of Reed’s last two solo shows, East 14th and The Kipling Hotel (both launched, like this newest, at the Marsh). Can You Dig It? reaches, for the most part, into the “early” early years, Reed’s grammar-school days, before the events depicted in East 14th or Kipling Hotel came to pass. But in nearly two hours of material, not all of it of equal value or impact, there’s inevitably some overlap and indeed some recycling. Reed, who also directs the show, may start whittling it down as the run continues. But, as is, there are at least 20 unnecessary minutes diluting the overall impact of the piece, which is thin on plot already — much more a series of often very enjoyable vignettes and some painful but largely unexplored observations, wrapped up at the end in a sentimental moral that, while sincere, feels rushed and inadequate. (Avila)

Foodies! The Musical Shelton Theater, 533 Sutter, SF; www.foodiesthemusical.com. $30-34. Fri-Sat, 8pm. Open-ended. AWAT Productions presents Morris Bobrow’s musical comedy revue all about food.

In Friendship: Stories By Zona Gale Z Below, 470 Florida, SF; www.zspace.org. $20-50. Wed-Thu, 7pm; Fri-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 3pm. Through Sept 8. Word for Word performs Zona Gale’s “comedy of American manners.”

God of Carnage Shelton Theater, 533 Sutter, SF; www.sheltontheater.com. $26-38. Thu-Sat, 8pm. Through Sept 7. Shelton Theater performs Yasmina Reza’s award-winning play about class and parenting.

Gold Rush! The Un-Scripted Barbary Coast Musical Un-Scripted Theater Company, 533 Sutter, Second Flr, SF; www.un-scripted.com. $10-20. Thu/22-Sat/24, 8pm. The Un-Scripted Theater Company performs an improvised musical about gold-rush era San Francisco.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch Boxcar Theatre, 505 Natoma, SF; www.boxcartheatre.org. $27-43. Thu-Sat, 8pm. Open-ended. John Cameron Mitchell’s cult musical comes to life with director Nick A. Olivero’s ever-rotating cast.

How to Make Your Bitterness Work for You Stage Werx Theatre, 446 Valencia, SF; www.stagewerx.org. $15-25. Mon/26-Tue/27, 8pm. Kent Underwood is a motivational speaker and self-help expert with some obvious baggage of his own in this solo play from former comedy writer and stand-up comedian Fred Raker (It Could Have Been a Wonderful Life). The premise, similar to that of Kurt Bodden’s Steve Seabrook: Better Than You (ongoing at the Marsh), has the audience overlapping with participants in an Underwood seminar. Underwood, however, two years on the seminar circuit and still unable to get his book published, deviates from the script to answer texts related to a possible career breakthrough. Meanwhile, with the aid of some bullet points and illustrative slides, he explains the premise of said manuscript, “How to Make Your Bitterness Work For You,” as the sad truth of his own underdog status emerges between the laugh lines. But where Bodden is careful to make his Seabrook a somewhat believable character despite the absurdity of it all (or rather, while firmly embracing the absurdity of the self-help industry itself), Raker and director Kimberly Richards put much more space between the playwright/performer and his character, which turns out to be a less effective strategy. Verisimilitude might not have mattered much if the comic material were stronger. Unfortunately, despite the occasional zinger, much of the humor is weak or corny and the narrative (interrupted at regular intervals by an artificial tone representing the arrival of a fresh text message) too contrived to sell us on the larger story. (Avila)

Marius Southside Theatre, Fort Mason Center, Bldg D, SF; www.generationtheatre.com. $20-35. Thu/22-Sat/24, 8pm; Sun/25, 3pm. GenerationTheatre performs R. David Valayre’s new English translation of Marcel Pagnol’s classic about a man who dreams of traveling the seas.

Oil and Water Dolores Park, 19th St at Dolores, SF; www.sfmt.org. Free (donations accepted). Sept 2, 2pm. It’s a rough year for mimes, or at any rate for the San Francisco Mime Troupe who, after presenting 53 seasons of free theater in the parks of San Francisco (and elsewhere), faced a financial crisis in April that threatened to shut down this season before it even started. The resultant show, funded by an influx of last-minute donations, is one cut considerably closer to the bone than in previous years. With a cast of just four actors and two musicians, plus a stage considerably less ornate then usual, even the play has shrunk in scale, from one two-hour musical to two loosely-connected one-acts riffing on general environmentalist themes. In Deal With the Devil, a surprisingly sympathetic (not to mention downright hawt) Devil (Velina Brown) shows up to help an uncertain president (Rotimi Agbabiaka) regain his conscience and win back his soul, while in Crude Intentions adorable, progressive, same-sex couple Gracie (Velina Brown) and Tomasa (Lisa Hori-Garcia) wind up catering a “benefit” shindig for the Keystone XL Pipeline giving them the opportunity to perpetrate a little guerrilla direct action on a bombastic David Koch (Hugo E Carbajal) with a “mole de petróleo” and a smartphone. Throughout, the performers remain upbeat if somewhat over-extended as they sing, dance, and slapstick their way to the sobering conclusion that the time to turn things around in the battles over global environmental protection is now — or never. (Gluckstern)

Sex and the City: LIVE! Rebel, 1760 Market, SF; trannyshack.com/sexandthecity. $25. Wed, 7 and 9pm. Open-ended. It seems a no-brainer. Not just the HBO series itself — that’s definitely missing some gray matter — but putting it onstage as a drag show. Mais naturellement! Why was Sex and the City not conceived of as a drag show in the first place? Making the sordid not exactly palatable but somehow, I don’t know, friendlier (and the canned a little cannier), Velvet Rage Productions mounts two verbatim episodes from the widely adored cable show, with Trannyshack’s Heklina in a smashing portrayal of SJP’s Carrie; D’Arcy Drollinger stealing much of the show as ever-randy Samantha (already more or less a gay man trapped in a woman’s body); Lady Bear as an endearingly out-to-lunch Miranda; and ever assured, quick-witted Trixxie Carr as pent-up Charlotte. There’s also a solid and enjoyable supporting cast courtesy of Cookie Dough, Jordan Wheeler, and Leigh Crow (as Mr. Big). That’s some heavyweight talent trodding the straining boards of bar Rebel’s tiny stage. The show’s still two-dimensional, even in 3D, but noticeably bigger than your 50″ plasma flat panel. (Avila)

So You Can Hear Me Marsh San Francisco, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. $15-50. Fri/23, 8pm; Sat/24, 5pm. A 23-year-old with no experience, just high spirits and big ideals, gets a job in the South Bronx teaching special ed classes and quickly finds herself in over her head. Safiya Martinez, herself a bright young woman from the projects, delivers this inspired accounting of her time not long ago in perhaps the most neglected sector of the public school system — a 60-minute solo play that makes up for its slim plot with a set of deft, powerful, lovingly crafted characterizations. These complex portraits, alternately hysterical and startling, offer their own moving ruminations on a violent but also vibrant stratum of American society, deeply fractured by pervasive poverty and injustice and yet full of restive young personalities too easily dismissed, ignored, or crudely caricatured elsewhere. An effervescent, big-hearted, and very talented performer, Martinez boasts a bounding personality and contagious passion for her former students (as complicated as that relationship was), and makes this deeply felt tribute all the more memorable. (Avila)

Steve Seabrook: Better Than You Marsh San Francisco, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. $15-50. Sat/24, 8:30pm. Self-awareness, self-actualization, self-aggrandizement — for these things we turn to the professionals: the self-empowerment coaches, the self-help authors and motivational speakers. What’s the good of having a “self” unless someone shows you how to use it? Writer-performer Kurt Bodden’s Steve Seabrook wants to sell you on a better you, but his “Better Than You” weekend seminar (and tie-in book series, assorted CDs, and other paraphernalia) belies a certain divided loyalty in its own self-flattering title. The bitter fruit of the personal growth industry may sound overly ripe for the picking, but Bodden’s deftly executed “seminar” and its behind-the-scenes reveals, directed by Mark Kenward, explore the terrain with panache, cool wit, and shrewd characterization. As both writer and performer, Bodden keeps his Steve Seabrook just this side of overly sensational or maudlin, a believable figure, finally, whose all-too-ordinary life ends up something of a modest model of its own. (Avila)

Sweet Bird of Youth Tides Theatre, 533 Sutter, Second Flr, SF; www.tidestheatre.org. $20-40. Wed/21-Sat/24, 8pm. Tides Theatre performs Tennessee Williams’ Gulf Coast-set drama about an improbable couple.

BAY AREA

All’s Well That Ends Well Forest Meadows Amphitheater, 890 Bella, Dominican University of California, San Rafael; www.marinshakespeare.org. $20-37.50. Opens Sat/24, 8pm. Presented in repertory Fri-Sun through Sept 28; visit website for performance schedule. Marin Shakespeare Company continues its outdoor season with the Bard’s classic romance.

A Comedy of Errors Forest Meadows Amphitheater, 890 Bella, Dominican University of California, San Rafael; www.marinshakespeare.org. $20-37.50. Presented in repertory Fri-Sun through Sept 29; visit website for performance schedule. Marin Shakespeare Company presents a cowboy-themed spin on the Bard’s classic.

Lady Windermere’s Fan Bruns Amphitheater, 100 California Shakespeare Theater Way, Orinda; www.calshakes.org. $35-62. Tue-Thu, 7:30pm; Fri-Sat, 8pm (also Sept 7, 2pm); Sun, 4pm. Through Sept 8. California Shakespeare Theater performs Oscar Wilde’s comedy.

No Man’s Land Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Roda Theatre, 2015 Addison, Berk; www.berkeleyrep.org. $35-135. Tue and Thu-Sat, 8pm (also Thu and Sat, 2pm; no matinee Aug 29); Wed, 7pm (also Aug 28, 2pm); Sun/25, 2pm. Through Aug 31. A rare night at the theater unfurls with a bare, elusive minimum of plot and a maximum of subtlety as Harold Pinter’s snaky 1975 drama receives something like a perfect production in the hands of director Sean Mathias and a cast comprised of internationally renowned stage (and film) veterans Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart, flanked by theater stalwarts Billy Crudup and Shuler Hensley. Stewart is Hirst — an initially laconic and feeble, later voluble and hearty poet and man of letters — famous, world weary, and looked after by two forbidding caretakers, the principal (played by Crudup) an aspiring poet himself. McKellen is Spooner, a down-at-heel but lithe and self-aggrandizing poet himself, whom Hirst as invited into his home for an indeterminate stay that is a source of unrelieved tension between all four characters. Through two fascinating acts, the desperation, power plays, and badinage ensuing among them imbues the strange semi-circular room they exclusively inhabit with a giddy, forlorn, fractious atmosphere. The physical and vocal command of the actors, meanwhile, gorgeously underscores the play’s perverse tacking across an ocean of discourse and questionable memory, passed fear and mutual antagonism, toward the outer limits of language, where some inner landscape looms marked by a steady state of numbing, narcotic emptiness. Hunting down a ticket for the Broadway-bound UK production, now up at Berkeley Rep, may be a challenge but it’s well worth the effort, since not often can one catch a production this sure of Pinter’s language and theatrical imagination. (Avila)

Orlando Live Oak Theatre, 1301 Shattuck, Berk; www.theatrefirst.com. $10-30. Thu-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 5pm. Through Sept 15. TheatreFIRST performs Sarah Ruhl’s gender-shifting comedy, which takes place over a span of 300 years.

The Wiz Julia Morgan Theater, 2640 College, Berk; www.berkeleyplayhouse.org. $17-60. Wed/21-Thu/22 and Sat/24, 7pm (also Sat/24, 2pm); Sun/25, noon and 5pm. The first time I saw the movie version of The Wiz with Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Richard Pryor, and Lena Horne (among others) it pretty much blew my young, Wizard of Oz-loving mind, swapping funky R&B for syrupy ballads, sophisticated silver pumps in place of the familiar sequined red ones, and mean city streets and subways in place of the more bucolic surroundings of the 1939 Victor Fleming film. Unfortunately, from a certain perspective, the 1970s feel just about as dated today as the 1930s, and consequently The Wiz doesn’t seem quite as innovative as it once did. And while there are some nods to the political climate of today made by the creative team behind the Berkeley Playhouse’s production (such as a pair of almost randomly-wielded rainbow flags, and a handful of t-shirts printed with peace-and-love messages), they mostly steer clear of making any kind of overt statements, even in regards to the all black casting (now thoroughly integrated). Similarly, many of the trappings of the “seventies” have also been axed in favor of more fanciful, almost cartoonish, costuming and choreography. It’s long for a children’s musical, clocking in at around two-and-a-half hours, but that seems no deterrent to the plucky Wiz Kidz youth ensemble who tread the floorboards as a pack of munchkins, a band of sweatshop laborers, and a groovy bunch of glammed-up citizens of the Emerald City. Grown-up voices of special note belong to Taylor Jones as Dorothy, Nicole Julien as Aunt Em/Glinda, Amy Lizardo as Addaperle, Reggie D. White as Tin Man, and Sarah Mitchell as Evillene. (Gluckstern)

PERFORMANCE/DANCE

“Bare Bones Butoh: Showcase #26” Studio 210, 3435 Cesar Chavez, SF; bobwebb20@hotmail.com. Fri/23-Sat/24, 8pm. $5-20 (no one turned away for lack of funds). Showcase of Butoh works-in-progress, improv, and more featuring Ronnie Baker, Shelley Cook, Martha Matsuda, Hannah Sim, Bob Webb, and others.

BATS Improv Bayfront Theater, B350 Fort Mason, SF; www.improv.org. Fri-Sat, 8pm. $20. The company’s 19th annual Summer Improv Festival continues with “Duoprov Championship” (Fri/23-Sat/24) and “Choose Your Own Adventure” (Aug 30-31).

Jason Brock Feinstein’s at the Nikko, Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason, SF; www.ticketweb.com. Thu/22, 8pm. $25. The X Factor finalist and Bay Area local performs his new show, “San Francisco Razzle-Dazzle.”

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

“Comikaze Lounge” Café Royale, 800 Post, SF; www.stefanisilvermancomedy.com. Wed/21, 8pm. Free. Comedy with Kate Willett, Greg Asdourian, Dhaya Lakshminarayanan, Kelly Annekan, Juan Carlos, Trevor Hill, and host Stefani Silverman.

“Cynic Cave” Cinecave, 1034 Valencia, SF; cyniccave.tumblr.com. Fri/23, 8 and 10pm. $12. Comedy with Sean O’Connor and Kevin O’Shea (both shows), plus George Chen (8pm) and Casey Ley (10pm).

Pablo Francisco Cobb’s Comedy Club, 915 Columbus, SF; www.cobbscomedyclub.com. Thu/22-Fri/23, 8pm (also Fri/23, 10:15pm); Sat/24-Sun/25, 7:30pm (also Sat/24, 9:45pm). $25. The comedian, noted for his impressions, performs his latest stand-up show.

“Mission Position Live” Cinecave, 1034 Valencia, SF; www.missionpositionlive.com. Thu, 8pm. Ongoing. $10. Stand-up comedy with rotating performers.

Chris Moran San Francisco Playhouse Theatre, 450 Post, SF; www.refertochristopher.com. Sun/25, 6pm, $5. Stand-up comedy special taping with opener Adrian McNair.

“ODC Theater Unplugged” ODC Theater, 3153 17th St, SF; www.odctheater.org. Sun/25, 6pm. $20. This work-in-progress performance by Pearl Marill and Hope Mohr marks the culmination of a two-week shared residency for the artists.

“Okeanos Intimate” Aquarium of the Bay, Pier 39, SF; www.capacitor.org. Sat, 7pm. Through Sept 28. $20-30 (free aquarium ticket with show ticket). Dance-circus company Capacitor presents a family-friendly series of performances inspired by the ocean. Each show features a pre-performance talk by a marine biologist or oceanographer.

“Performing Diaspora Festival” CounterPULSE, 1310 Mission, SF; www.counterpulse.org. Thu/22-Sun/25, 8pm. $20-30 sliding scale. With Jewlia Eisenberg, Muisi-kongo Malonga, and Nadhi Thekkek.

“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.

“Sneak Peek at the Fringe” Exit Theatre, 156 Eddy, SF; www.sffringe.org. Sat/24, 8pm. Free. The SF Fringe Festival is coming in September; here’s your chance to catch some excerpts of local entries in advance.

“Under the Influence” Emerald Tablet, 80 Fresno, SF; www.emtab.org. Fri/23, 7:30pm. $5 (no one turned away for lack of funds). Four artists perform work by one of their major influnces, followed by an original work inspired by that influence. Participants include Ariana Weckstein (influence: Jonathan Safran Foer) and Nathan Keele Springer (influence: Mark Linkous).

“Union Square Live” Union Square, between Post, Geary, Powell, and Stockton, SF; www.unionsquarelive.org. Through Oct 9. Free. Music, dance, circus arts, film, and more; dates and times vary, so check website for the latest.

BAY AREA

“My Own Fairytale” Marsh Berkeley, 2120 Allston, Berk; www.themarsh.org. Fri/23-Sat/24, 8pm. $15-30. Leslie Noel presents a workshop performance of her new musical about heartbreak, love, and betrayal.

“Pleasure and Pain Summer Pops Annual Fundraiser Concert” Odell Johnson Theater, Laney College, 900 Fallon, Oakl; www.oebgmc.org. Sat/24, 6:30pm. $50-75. The Oakland East Bay Gay Men’s Chorus performs pop selections from the 1920s to the present; proceeds benefit the chorus and its community outreach efforts. *

 

Theater Listings: August 14 – 20, 2013

Michael Redmond
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0

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

THEATER

OPENING

In Friendship: Stories By Zona Gale Z Below, 470 Florida, SF; www.zspace.org. $20-50. Previews Wed/14-Thu/15, 7pm; Fri/16, 8pm. Opens Sat/17, 8pm. Runs Wed-Thu, 7pm; Fri-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 3pm. Through Sept 8. Word for Word performs Zona Gale’s “comedy of American manners.”

BAY AREA

All’s Well That Ends Well Forest Meadows Amphitheater, 890 Bella, Dominican University of California, San Rafael; www.marinshakespeare.org. $20-37.50. Previews Fri/16, 8pm. Opens Aug 24, 8pm. Presented in repertory Fri-Sun through Sept 28; visit website for performance schedule. Marin Shakespeare Company continues its outdoor season with the Bard’s classic romance.

Lady Windermere’s Fan Bruns Amphitheater, 100 California Shakespeare Theater Way, Orinda; www.calshakes.org. $35-62. Previews Wed/14-Fri/16, 8pm. Opens Sat/17, 8pm. Runs Tue-Thu, 7:30pm; Fri-Sat, 8pm (also Sept 7, 2pm); Sun, 4pm. Through Sept 8. California Shakespeare Theater performs Oscar Wilde’s comedy.

Orlando Live Oak Theatre, 1301 Shattuck, Berk; www.theatrefirst.com. $10-30. Previews Thu/15, 8pm. Opens Fri/16, 8pm. Runs Thu-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 5pm. Through Sept 15. TheatreFIRST performs Sarah Ruhl’s gender-shifting comedy, which takes place over a span of 300 years.

ONGOING

Can You Dig It? Back Down East 14th — the 60s and Beyond Marsh San Francisco, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. $15-50. Sat, 8:30pm; Sun, 7pm. Through Aug 25. Don Reed’s new show offers more stories from his colorful upbringing in East Oakland in the 1960s and ’70s. More hilarious and heartfelt depictions of his exceptional parents, independent siblings, and his mostly African American but ethnically mixed working-class community — punctuated with period pop, Motown, and funk classics, to which Reed shimmies and spins with effortless grace. And of course there’s more too of the expert physical comedy and charm that made long-running hits of Reed’s last two solo shows, East 14th and The Kipling Hotel (both launched, like this newest, at the Marsh). Can You Dig It? reaches, for the most part, into the “early” early years, Reed’s grammar-school days, before the events depicted in East 14th or Kipling Hotel came to pass. But in nearly two hours of material, not all of it of equal value or impact, there’s inevitably some overlap and indeed some recycling. Reed, who also directs the show, may start whittling it down as the run continues. But, as is, there are at least 20 unnecessary minutes diluting the overall impact of the piece, which is thin on plot already — much more a series of often very enjoyable vignettes and some painful but largely unexplored observations, wrapped up at the end in a sentimental moral that, while sincere, feels rushed and inadequate. (Avila)

Foodies! The Musical Shelton Theater, 533 Sutter, SF; www.foodiesthemusical.com. $30-34. Fri-Sat, 8pm. Open-ended. AWAT Productions presents Morris Bobrow’s musical comedy revue all about food.

God of Carnage Shelton Theater, 533 Sutter, SF; www.sheltontheater.com. $26-38. Thu-Sat, 8pm. Through Sept 7. Shelton Theater performs Yasmina Reza’s award-winning play about class and parenting.

Gold Rush! The Un-Scripted Barbary Coast Musical Un-Scripted Theater Company, 533 Sutter, Second Flr, SF; www.un-scripted.com. $10-20. Thu-Sat, 8pm. Through Aug 24. The Un-Scripted Theater Company performs an improvised musical about gold-rush era San Francisco.

Gorgeous Hussy: An Interview With Joan Crawford Exit Theatre, 156 Eddy, SF; www.wilywestproductions.com. $15-35. Thu/15-Fri/16, 8pm. Running in repertory with Lawfully Wedded (below), this world premiere by Morgan Ludlow imagines a young writer’s encounter with the legendary movie star.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch Boxcar Theatre, 505 Natoma, SF; www.boxcartheatre.org. $27-43. Thu-Sat, 8pm. Open-ended. John Cameron Mitchell’s cult musical comes to life with director Nick A. Olivero’s ever-rotating cast.

How to Make Your Bitterness Work for You Stage Werx Theatre, 446 Valencia, SF; www.stagewerx.org. $15-25. Mon-Tue, 8pm. Through Aug 27. Kent Underwood is a motivational speaker and self-help expert with some obvious baggage of his own in this solo play from former comedy writer and stand-up comedian Fred Raker (It Could Have Been a Wonderful Life). The premise, similar to that of Kurt Bodden’s Steve Seabrook: Better Than You (ongoing at the Marsh), has the audience overlapping with participants in an Underwood seminar. Underwood, however, two years on the seminar circuit and still unable to get his book published, deviates from the script to answer texts related to a possible career breakthrough. Meanwhile, with the aid of some bullet points and illustrative slides, he explains the premise of said manuscript, “How to Make Your Bitterness Work For You,” as the sad truth of his own underdog status emerges between the laugh lines. But where Bodden is careful to make his Seabrook a somewhat believable character despite the absurdity of it all (or rather, while firmly embracing the absurdity of the self-help industry itself), Raker and director Kimberly Richards put much more space between the playwright/performer and his character, which turns out to be a less effective strategy. Verisimilitude might not have mattered much if the comic material were stronger. Unfortunately, despite the occasional zinger, much of the humor is weak or corny and the narrative (interrupted at regular intervals by an artificial tone representing the arrival of a fresh text message) too contrived to sell us on the larger story. (Avila)

Keith Moon: The Real Me Eureka Theatre, 215 Jackson, SF; www.brownpapertickets.com. $40. Thu/15-Sat/17, 8pm; Sun/18, 7pm. Was Keith Moon the greatest rock ‘n’ roll drummer ever? Veteran solo performer and drum stylist Mick Berry doesn’t exactly come out and say so, but his biographical play about Moon definitely makes a good case for the possibility. Keith Moon: The Real Me, written and performed by Berry, kicks off with a literal bang, a hi-octane cover of “Baba O’Riley,” featuring Berry’s exuberantly crashing cymbals layered over the iconic, rapid-fire synth riff that runs throughout the song. Though the characters of the play are all portrayed by Berry — with references to all the requisite sex, drugs, and self-destruction thrown into the mix — a full band stands at the ready behind two transparent screens to flesh out the show’s strongest element: the rock-and-roll. In order to channel Moon’s full-throttle drumming, Berry enlisted the assistance of Frank Simes, the music director of the Who’s 2012-2013 tour, while to channel Moon’s freewheeling but insecure personality, he enlisted local director Bobby Weinapple. The script itself is still ragged, and a couple of key moments, particularly when Moon’s car is attacked in early 1970, are presented in such a way that the context comes later, which is confusing if you don’t already know the history of the incident. But if you don’t mind a bit of chat with your rock concert, you’ll probably find this fusion of the two intriguing. Just remember, when the nice concessions people offer you complimentary earplugs, take them. (Gluckstern)

Lawfully Wedded: Plays About Marriage Exit Theatre, 156 Eddy, SF; www.wilywestproductions.com. $15-35. Sat/17, 8pm. Running in repertory with Gorgeous Hussy (above), this world premiere “collage of scenes and stories” by Morgan Ludlow, Kirk Shimano, and Alina Trowbridge takes on marriage equality.

Marius Southside Theatre, Fort Mason Center, Bldg D, SF; www.generationtheatre.com. $20-35. Thu-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 3pm. Through Aug 25. GenerationTheatre performs R. David Valayre’s new English translation of Marcel Pagnol’s classic about a man who dreams of traveling the seas.

Sex and the City: LIVE! Rebel, 1760 Market, SF; trannyshack.com/sexandthecity. $25. Wed, 7 and 9pm. Open-ended. It seems a no-brainer. Not just the HBO series itself — that’s definitely missing some gray matter — but putting it onstage as a drag show. Mais naturellement! Why was Sex and the City not conceived of as a drag show in the first place? Making the sordid not exactly palatable but somehow, I don’t know, friendlier (and the canned a little cannier), Velvet Rage Productions mounts two verbatim episodes from the widely adored cable show, with Trannyshack’s Heklina in a smashing portrayal of SJP’s Carrie; D’Arcy Drollinger stealing much of the show as ever-randy Samantha (already more or less a gay man trapped in a woman’s body); Lady Bear as an endearingly out-to-lunch Miranda; and ever assured, quick-witted Trixxie Carr as pent-up Charlotte. There’s also a solid and enjoyable supporting cast courtesy of Cookie Dough, Jordan Wheeler, and Leigh Crow (as Mr. Big). That’s some heavyweight talent trodding the straining boards of bar Rebel’s tiny stage. The show’s still two-dimensional, even in 3D, but noticeably bigger than your 50″ plasma flat panel. Update: new episodes began May 15. (Avila)

So You Can Hear Me Marsh San Francisco, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. $15-50. Fri, 8pm; Sat, 5pm. Extended through Aug 24. A 23-year-old with no experience, just high spirits and big ideals, gets a job in the South Bronx teaching special ed classes and quickly finds herself in over her head. Safiya Martinez, herself a bright young woman from the projects, delivers this inspired accounting of her time not long ago in perhaps the most neglected sector of the public school system — a 60-minute solo play that makes up for its slim plot with a set of deft, powerful, lovingly crafted characterizations. These complex portraits, alternately hysterical and startling, offer their own moving ruminations on a violent but also vibrant stratum of American society, deeply fractured by pervasive poverty and injustice and yet full of restive young personalities too easily dismissed, ignored, or crudely caricatured elsewhere. An effervescent, big-hearted, and very talented performer, Martinez boasts a bounding personality and contagious passion for her former students (as complicated as that relationship was), and makes this deeply felt tribute all the more memorable. (Avila)

Steve Seabrook: Better Than You Marsh San Francisco, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. $15-50. Sat, 8:30pm. Extended through Aug 24. Self-awareness, self-actualization, self-aggrandizement — for these things we turn to the professionals: the self-empowerment coaches, the self-help authors and motivational speakers. What’s the good of having a “self” unless someone shows you how to use it? Writer-performer Kurt Bodden’s Steve Seabrook wants to sell you on a better you, but his “Better Than You” weekend seminar (and tie-in book series, assorted CDs, and other paraphernalia) belies a certain divided loyalty in its own self-flattering title. The bitter fruit of the personal growth industry may sound overly ripe for the picking, but Bodden’s deftly executed “seminar” and its behind-the-scenes reveals, directed by Mark Kenward, explore the terrain with panache, cool wit, and shrewd characterization. As both writer and performer, Bodden keeps his Steve Seabrook just this side of overly sensational or maudlin, a believable figure, finally, whose all-too-ordinary life ends up something of a modest model of its own. (Avila)

Stories High XII: The Soma Edition Bindlestiff Studio, 185 Sixth St, SF; www.bindlestiffstudio.org. $10-20. Thu/15-Sat/17, 8pm. Four mini-plays about “living, working, playing, and struggling” in SoMa, written by Dianne Aquino Chui, Paolo Salazar, Cristal Fiel, and Conrad Panganiban.

Sweet Bird of Youth Tides Theatre, 533 Sutter, Second Flr, SF; www.tidestheatre.org. $20-40. Wed-Sat, 8pm. Through Aug 24. Tides Theatre performs Tennessee Williams’ Gulf Coast-set drama about an improbable couple.

BAY AREA

A Comedy of Errors Forest Meadows Amphitheater, 890 Bella, Dominican University of California, San Rafael; www.marinshakespeare.org. $20-37.50. Presented in repertory Fri-Sun through Sept 29; visit website for performance schedule. Marin Shakespeare Company presents a cowboy-themed spin on the Bard’s classic.

No Man’s Land Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Roda Theatre, 2015 Addison, Berk; www.berkeleyrep.org. $35-135. Tue and Thu-Sat, 8pm (also Thu and Sat, 2pm; no matinee Aug 29); Wed, 7pm (also Aug 28, 2pm); Sun/18 and Aug 25, 2pm. Through Aug 31. Acting legends and erstwhile X-Men Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen star in this pre-Broadway engagement of Harold Pinter’s play.

Oil and Water This week: San Lorenzo Park, Dakota at Ocean, Santa Cruz; www.sfmt.org. Free (donations accepted). Sat/17-Sun/18, 3pm (music at 2:30pm). Through Sept 2 at NorCal parks. It’s a rough year for mimes, or at any rate for the San Francisco Mime Troupe who, after presenting 53 seasons of free theater in the parks of San Francisco (and elsewhere), faced a financial crisis in April that threatened to shut down this season before it even started. The resultant show, funded by an influx of last-minute donations, is one cut considerably closer to the bone than in previous years. With a cast of just four actors and two musicians, plus a stage considerably less ornate then usual, even the play has shrunk in scale, from one two-hour musical to two loosely-connected one-acts riffing on general environmentalist themes. In Deal With the Devil, a surprisingly sympathetic (not to mention downright hawt) Devil (Velina Brown) shows up to help an uncertain president (Rotimi Agbabiaka) regain his conscience and win back his soul, while in Crude Intentions adorable, progressive, same-sex couple Gracie (Velina Brown) and Tomasa (Lisa Hori-Garcia) wind up catering a “benefit” shindig for the Keystone XL Pipeline giving them the opportunity to perpetrate a little guerrilla direct action on a bombastic David Koch (Hugo E Carbajal) with a “mole de petróleo” and a smartphone. Throughout, the performers remain upbeat if somewhat over-extended as they sing, dance, and slapstick their way to the sobering conclusion that the time to turn things around in the battles over global environmental protection is now — or never. (Gluckstern)

Sea of Reeds Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby, Berk; www.shotgunplayers.org. $20-35. Wed/14-Thu/15, 7pm; Fri/16-Sat/17, 8pm; Sun/18, 5pm. The stage comes unusually populated in this latest from well-known Bay Area monologist and red-diaper baby Josh Kornbluth: a four-piece musical ensemble (El Beh, Jonathan Kepke, Olive Mitra, and Eli Wirtschafter) sits stage right, a standing table with some reed-making equipment appears stage left. Front and center is Kornbluth and his oboe, before him a music stand and behind him three “reeds”—freestanding concave walls of a bamboo-hue (designed by Nina Ball). But there’s more: Kornbluth’s physical trainer (Beth Wilmurt), bounding up from her seat in the first row to lend Kornbluth support or, more productively, prod him in the right direction as he takes the long road home to setting up a promised recital of Bach’s Cantata No. 82. That set up hinges on his recent bar mitzvah, at 52, in Israel, and its unexpected connections between his life-long oboe playing, his Communist upbringing in New York, his mixed marriage, his conversations with a local rabbi, and the Book of Exodus (specifically, Moses’s trail-blazing for the Israelites across the Red Sea, a.k.a., the Sea of Reeds). Although the introduction of supporting characters, musicians, and a musical score (by Marco D’Ambrosio) breaks new ground for the longtime soloist, Sea of Reeds is classic — indeed classical (thanks to a final few tenuous bars from the promised Bach cantata) — Kornbluth. Directed by longtime creative partner David Dower, the show features the boyish comedic persona, the intricate storytelling, and the biographical referents that have given him a loyal following over the years. Diehard fans aside, the show’s cheesy, somewhat self-regarding conceit of staging “spontaneous” interactions between Kornbluth and his trainer may not work with everyone. Perhaps more challenging, though, is the persistence of a less than fully examined disjunction between the political values of his parents and his own political and ethical evolution — a disjunction highlighted here in the narrative’s fraught Middle Eastern setting and its vague navigation between the violence of religious zealotry and a plea for tolerance. (Avila)

The Wiz Julia Morgan Theater, 2640 College, Berk; www.berkeleyplayhouse.org. $17-60. Wed-Thu and Sat, 7pm (also Sat, 2pm); Sun, noon and 5pm. Through Aug 25. The first time I saw the movie version of The Wiz with Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Richard Pryor, and Lena Horne (among others) it pretty much blew my young, Wizard of Oz-loving mind, swapping funky R&B for syrupy ballads, sophisticated silver pumps in place of the familiar sequined red ones, and mean city streets and subways in place of the more bucolic surroundings of the 1939 Victor Fleming film. Unfortunately, from a certain perspective, the 1970s feel just about as dated today as the 1930s, and consequently The Wiz doesn’t seem quite as innovative as it once did. And while there are some nods to the political climate of today made by the creative team behind the Berkeley Playhouse’s production (such as a pair of almost randomly-wielded rainbow flags, and a handful of t-shirts printed with peace-and-love messages), they mostly steer clear of making any kind of overt statements, even in regards to the all black casting (now thoroughly integrated). Similarly, many of the trappings of the “seventies” have also been axed in favor of more fanciful, almost cartoonish, costuming and choreography. It’s long for a children’s musical, clocking in at around two-and-a-half hours, but that seems no deterrent to the plucky Wiz Kidz youth ensemble who tread the floorboards as a pack of munchkins, a band of sweatshop laborers, and a groovy bunch of glammed-up citizens of the Emerald City. Grown-up voices of special note belong to Taylor Jones as Dorothy, Nicole Julien as Aunt Em/Glinda, Amy Lizardo as Addaperle, Reggie D. White as Tin Man, and Sarah Mitchell as Evillene. (Gluckstern)

PERFORMANCE/DANCE

“Amplitude II” Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission, SF; www.ybca.org. Fri/16, 7-9pm. Free with gallery admission ($8-10). Novelist Laleh Khadivi, scholar Paula Moya, and others lead this event in which audience members are invited to read excerpts from novels recommended by participating artists. There will also be an expanded cinema performance by Michelle Dizon (2012’s Perpetual Peace).

BATS Improv Bayfront Theater, B350 Fort Mason, SF; www.improv.org. Fri-Sat, 8pm. Through Aug 31. $20. The company’s 19th annual Summer Improv Festival continues with “Spontaneous Broadway” (Fri/16); “SF vs. LA Theatresports” (Sat/17); “Duoprov Championship” (Aug 23-24); and “Choose Your Own Adventure” (Aug 30-31).

Kurt Braunohler Verdi Club, 2424 Mariposa, SF; kurttub.eventbrite.com. Fri/16, 8pm. $18. The comedian release his new album, How Do I Land?, with fellow performers Laura Kightlinger, the Business, and a special musical guest.

Caroline Lugo and Carolé Acuña’s Ballet Flamenco Peña Pachamama, 1630 Powell, SF; www.carolinalugo.com. Sat/17 and Aug 25, 6:15pm. $15-19. Flamenco performance by the mother-daughter dance company, featuring live musicians.

“Help Is On the Way 19” Palace of Fine Arts, 3301 Lyon, SF; www.helpisontheway.org. Sun/18, 7:30pm (silent auction and VIP party, 5pm; pre-show gala reception, 6-7:30pm; post-show party, 10-11:45pm). $65-125. Alex Newell (Glee) and Judy Garland impersonator Jim Bailey headline this benefit for the Richmond/Ermet AIDS Foundation.

“Iolanthe” Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Lam Research Theater, 700 Howard, SF; www.ybca.org. Fri/16-Sat/17, 8pm (also Sat/17, 2pm); Sun/18, 2pm. $15-59. Lamplighters Music Theatre performs Gilbert and Sullivan’s classic musical comedy.

“Merola Grand Finale” War Memorial Opera House, 301 Van Ness, SF; www.merola.org. Sat/17, 7:30pm. $25-45. Future opera headliners perform.

“Mission Position Live” Cinecave, 1034 Valencia, SF; www.missionpositionlive.com. Thu, 8pm. Ongoing. $10. Stand-up comedy with rotating performers.

“Okeanos Intimate” Aquarium of the Bay, Pier 39, SF; www.capacitor.org. Sat, 7pm. Through Sept 28. $20-30 (free aquarium ticket with show ticket). Dance-circus company Capacitor presents a family-friendly series of performances inspired by the ocean. Each show features a pre-performance talk by a marine biologist or oceanographer.

“Performing Diaspora Festival” CounterPULSE, 1310 Mission, SF; www.counterpulse.org. Thu-Sun, 8pm. Through Aug 25. $20-30 sliding scale. This week: Byb Chanel Bibene, Joti Singh, and Jia Wu; next week: Jewlia Eisenberg, Muisi-kongo Malongo, and Nadhi Thekkek.

“RAWdance presents the Concept Series: 14” 66 Sanchez Studio, 66 Sanchez, SF; www.rawdance.org. Sat/17-Sun/18, 8pm (also Sun/18, 3pm). Pay what you can. Intimate salon of contemporary dance with Nina Haft and Company, Stranger Lover Dreamer, Post: Ballet, the Anata Project, Fog Beast, and RAWdance. Plus popcorn!

“San Francisco Drag King Contest” Space 550, 550 Barneveld, SF; www.sfdragkingcontest.com. Sat/17, 10pm. $15-35. The 18th rendition of this popular contest, hosted by Sister Roma and Fudgie Frottage, benefits Pets Are Wonderful Support; a dance party with guest DJs follows.

“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.

San Francisco Opera Sigmund Stern Grove, 19th Ave at Sloat, SF; www.sterngrove.org. Sun/18, 2pm. Free. As part of the Stern Grove Festival, SF Opera performs an outdoor concert featuring the works of Verdi, Wagner, and Benjamin Britten.

“San Francisco Son Jarocho Festival” Yerba Buena Gardens, Mission at Third, SF; www.brava.org. Thu/15, 12:30-1:30pm, free. Son de Madera performs. Additional events at Brava Theater Center, 2781 24th St, SF; www.brava.org. Thu/15, 7pm: screening of documentary Soneros del Tesechoacan ($5); Fri/16, 8pm: Los Soneros del Tesechoacan perform with Cambalache ($18-35); Sat/17, 8pm: Son de Madera play a concert with Dia Pa’ Son ($18-35); and Sun/18, times and prices vary: workshops, master classes, and more.

“SPF6” ODC Theater, 3153 17th St, SF; www.odcdance.org. Wed/14-Sun/18, 7pm (also Wed/14-Sat/17, 9pm; Sat/17-Sun/18, 4pm; Sun/18, 2pm). $10-20. SAFEhouse, which fosters new performing artists through residencies and other programs, presents its sixth annual Summer Performance Festival.

“Union Square Live” Union Square, between Post, Geary, Powell, and Stockton, SF; www.unionsquarelive.org. Through Oct 9. Free. Music, dance, circus arts, film, and more; dates and times vary, so check website for the latest.

Yerba Buena Gardens Festival Mission at Third St, SF; www.ybgf.org. Free. This week: “Brazil in the Gardens” (Sat/18, 1-2:30pm); “Poetry Tuesday at Jessie Square” (Tue/20, 12:30-1:30pm).

BAY AREA

“My Own Fairytale” Marsh Berkeley, 2120 Allston, Berk; www.themarsh.org. Fri-Sat, 8pm. Through Aug 24. $15-30. Leslie Noel presents a workshop performance of her new musical about heartbreak, love, and betrayal.

“Legally Blonde: The Musical” Valley Center for the Arts, Regent’s Theater, Holy Names University, 3500 Mountain Blvd, Oakl; www.stagedoorconservatory.org. Fri/16-Sat/17, 7:30pm; Sun/18, 2pm. $15-35. Stage Door Conservatory performs the musical based on the Reese Witherspoon comedy.

“The Peace Project; Shaking & Shocking” Laney College Theater, 900 Fallon, Oakl; www.dnaga.org. Fri/16-Sat/17, 8pm; Sun/18, 5pm. $15-20. dNaga in partnership with PDActive and Danspace presents Claudine Naganuma’s work about the ways in which patients manage Parkinson’s Disease.

“TheatreWorks New Works Festival” Lucie Stern Theatre, 1305 Middlefield, Palo Alto; www.theatreworks.org. Wed-Sun, showtimes vary. $19 (festival pass, $65). TheatreWorks performs its 12th annual fest, with a line-up that includes a new comedy from Pulitzer winner Beth Henley. *

 

Compromises deliver results

Michael Redmond
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5

OPINION When Guardian Editor Steven T. Jones asked me to respond to his recent columns (“Chiu becomes City Hall’s go-to guy for solving tough problems“, 7/23/13; “Chiu: Centrist Compromiser, Effective Legislator, or Both,” 7/30/13), I reflected on how our Board of Supervisors’ 2013 accomplishments exemplifies the lessons and rewards of working together.

After several decades of intense fights between TIC owners and tenants, I asked both sides to sit down, share perspectives, and brainstorm beyond the impasse. To our surprise, when TIC owners shared their struggles and offered to pay a fee to condo convert, tenant advocates agreed to finally support conversions as long as their core principle of preventing evictions — which I strongly shared — was addressed.

After a decade of failed CEQA reform attempts, the pundits predicted an epic battle between developers and neighbors this year. The breakthrough for unanimous support occurred when both sides acknowledged to me that real neighborhood input and predictability in the planning process are not mutually exclusive, and progressive leaders wanted to ensure that pedestrian, bike, affordable housing, and public projects are not delayed.

After years of controversy, CPMC/Sutter and the coalition of dozens of community-based organizations deadlocked over how to rebuild the Cathedral Hill and St. Luke’s hospital campuses. After exposing financial documents challenging the original proposal, I worked with colleagues for six months at a mediation table that refashioned a CPMC plan to rebuild those 21st century hospitals the right way.

While each story is unique, what all of these accomplishments — along with recently balanced budgets, business tax reform, and pension reform — have in common is hard work and extreme patience by dedicated San Franciscans seeking creative solutions.

As Board President, my job is to build consensus among our diverse supervisors and deliver results. When I first came to City Hall, I asked my colleagues to move beyond past politics that had magnified differences. I am proud that today’s Board has the highest approval ratings in a decade, as we do more together working through our differences.

At the negotiation table, it’s essential to stand firm on core values. My vision for San Francisco has been of a city that protects tenants and families; creates good jobs across the economic spectrum; offers high quality public services with Muni, our schools, and our parks; and embraces our diversity, our immigrants, our seniors, and those who have been historically disenfranchised.

When we can’t always find creative win-wins, it’s still important to fight for what’s right. I’ve taken my political lumps championing the right of noncitizen parents to vote in school board elections, standing up for workers requesting family-friendly workplaces, and taking on a Yellow Pages industry dumping millions of phone books on our streets.

When I hear criticisms of “compromise,” I reflect that the most important federal legislation in recent years — from the Civil Rights Act to the Affordable Care Act, Wall Street reform to comprehensive immigration reform — were also criticized as “compromises.” Critics often forget the big picture: by incorporating different views, reforms actually get done, and if we wait forever for the perfect policy, people will suffer.

San Franciscans are at our best when we unite around shared values — from marriage equality to universal health care to environmental protections. We still have plenty of challenges: housing affordability, struggling workforces, family flight, public transit.

Let’s continue to work together to show the rest of the country how our city can govern.

David Chiu, who represents District 3 (North Beach, Chinatown, Nob Hill), is serving his second term as president of the Board of Supervisors.

Activists urge Gov. Brown not to veto the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights again

Sasha Cuttler
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5

Supporters of the California Domestic Workers Bill of Rights are gathering outside the State Capitol Building this afternoon (Tues/13), culminating caravans that began with rallies in a half-dozen cities (including San Francisco this morning), hoping to extend basic labor protections to the people who care for our children and grandparents and clean our homes.

Although activists want to reach members of the California Senate, where Assembly Bill 241 awaits approval after clearing the Assembly (it now awaits action by the Senate Appropriations Committee), their main target is Gov. Jerry Brown, who vetoed a similar bill last year.

As we wrote in an April cover story on the issue, “Do We Care?,” Brown cited concerns that extending overtime, minimum wage, and other basic labor standards to domestic workers — who, along with farm workers, are the only workers exempt from federal labor laws — could cause employers to lay off or reduce the hours of domestic workers.

Activists said they were insulted by that paternalistic approach. Nonetheless, the bill was modified to address some of those concerns, said Carlos Alcala, spokesperson for Assemblymember Tom Ammiano, who sponsored the bill last year and again this year. For example, he said it eliminated the need for state agencies to write new regulations to enforcement the measure.

“It now puts the rules into the code. There’s more than one way to skin a cat. If we write the rules, then the rules say what we want,” Alcala told us. Still, he said they’ve gotten no indications from the Governor’s Office that Brown would sign this version: “It’s really hard to read where he is, but the good thing is we’ve already been through this.”

Activists with the California Domestic Workers Coalition — which brings together domestic workers, their employers, labor unions, and progressive groups — say they’ve been lobbying the Governor’s Office but they don’t know where he stands.    

“Gov. Brown has not given any indication he’s going to sign the bill,” said Katie Joaquin, who is coordinating the campaign. “This caravan has involved numerous leaders from various communities urging Gov. Brown to work with us.”

Light Asylum, Miami Horror, Hercules, whips, chains, etc.: Lineup for Folsom announced

Jesse Hawthorne Ficks
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7

Folsom Street Fair: yes to fisting, whipping, piercing. But the September 29 event has also morphed, through the auspices of kicky executive director Demetri Moshoyannis and his crew, into a huge music festival as well, attracting a young and adventurous crowd who may not know they’re into slings and harnesses — yet.

(“It’s one of my favorite things,” Demetri told me recently, “to watch newbies show up for the music, their eyes wide at what’s going on around them. And then later to see them tied up or in thigh-high boots and a paddle or whatever.”)

This year’s main stage line-up is cute and true to Demetri’s electro roots: Hercules and Love Affair, Miami Horror, Light Asylum, Icky Blossoms, the return of local all-drag rock band Pepper Spray, and more. Plus the dance area has Mark Moore from S’Express! (And insanely great and cute techno dude Boris.)

Full release, heh, after the jump. Oh and don’t miss the awesome official Folsom “Deviants Arcade” party, happening within the fair itself (and afterwards), with Honey Soundsystem, Hard French, MATRIXXMAN, Olga T, Aaron Clark, and Boris. Eep!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPhoE9yz-nI

August 13, 2013
FOLSOM STREET EVENTS® ANNOUNCES MAIN STAGE PERFORMANCES AT HISTORIC 30TH FOLSOM STREET FAIR®
Miami Horror and Hercules and Love Affair to co-headline world’s largest fetish event

On Sunday, September 29th from 11:00am – 6:30pm, Folsom Street Events’ annual Folsom Street Fair presents a hugely impressive line-up. The nonprofit event producers hope to showcase a broad presentation of music with ‘a little something for everyone.’ Folsom Street Fair will feature only one live “main” stage, continuing the fierce momentum of featuring live indie music and electronic dance music as a highpoint of the fair. This year’s main stage headliners are Hercules and Love Affair and Miami Horror as well as Light Asylum.

Hercules and Love Affair is a musical project from New York-based DJ Andy Butler, who gives us a new take on classic disco and house anthems while showcasing some of the best up-and-coming vocalists in the industry. The band’s self-titled debut album has been critically acclaimed and charted in the Top 40 in several countries. The first single “Blind,” co-written by and featuring guest Antony Hegarty (lead vocalist of Antony & The Johnsons), was awarded Best Song of 2008 by Pitchfork Media. The follow up album, Blue Songs, offered the stirring singles “Painted Eyes” and “My House.” New music is forthcoming soon.

Miami Horror is one of the top acts from Australia that best characterizes the Nu-Disco dance genre, taking influences from dance-pop artists of the 1970’s and 1980’s as well as progressive rock acts and combining it with modern production techniques from styles such as house music and classic disco. The debut album, Illumination, featured an abundance of fresh tracks, including “I Look To You (featuring Kimbra),” “Sometimes,” and “Moon Theory” among others. A sophomore album is in the works.

Light Asylum is heavily influenced by 1980’s music, especially the works by the likes of Grace Jones and Alison Moyet. It was the mutual love of Clan of Xymox that brought Shannon and Bruce together. Light Asylum’s style incorporates elements of industrial and post-punk music into something uniquely formidable. Shannon’s rich contralto brings a complementary humanity to their cold electronic beats. Check out the band’s 2012 self-titled debut album.

Joining the headliners at the main stage are other indie and electronic artists from around the world and here at home. They include: Aiden James (New York); Vixen Noir (California); Pepperspray (California); Heloise & the Savoir Faire (Vermont); and, Icky Blossoms (Oklahoma). DJ Rotten Robbie will serve as the Main Stage DJ.

10TH STREET MAIN STAGE

MCs: Monistat, MuthaChucka, Visa De Klein

11:00am…Aiden James

11:50am…Vixen Noir

12:40pm…Pepperspray

1:10pm…Leather Titleholders

1:30pm…Heloise & the Savoir Faire

2:25pm…Icky Blossoms

3:25pm…Light Asylum

4:30pm…Miami Horror

5:40pm…Hercules and Love Affair

According to Folsom Street Events Executive Director Demetri Moshoyannis, “I am in love with every single one of our Main Stage acts! They are offering up an impressive range of alternative music – from neo-folk and rock and roll to electro-pop and four-on-the-floor house music. It’s an extremely diverse offering that I believe will appeal to a vast range of our fair-goers. I hope everyone discovers some new music!”

In addition to the main live performance stage, Folsom Street Fair will feature two dance areas: Magnitude Dance Area on Folsom Street between 11th and 12th Streets and the DEVIANTS Dance Area on Folsom between 7th and 8th Streets. These stages are named and programmed after the two popular Folsom Street Events parties that take place during the same weekend. Headlining the Magnitude Dance Area are circuit legends, Jamie J. Sanchez and Tony Moran. Headlining the DEVIANTS Dance Area are house and techno legends Mark Moore of S’Express fame and Boris from the renowned Berghain in Berlin.

DEVIANTS DANCE AREA

MCs: Suppositori Spelling and Grace Towers

11:00am…DJ Bus Station John

12:30pm…Harry + JPEG

2:00pm…Dabecy

3:30pm…Mark Moore // S’Express

5:00pm…Boris (Ostgut Ton, Berghain Resident / Berlin)

California’s refusal to reduce its prison population is a sign of deeper problems

Sasha Cuttler
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40
California’s refusal to reduce its prison population is a sign of deeper problems

California just doesn’t get it when it comes to criminal justice. We have among the highest incarceration rates in the world (just below Russia’s, and about four times the European average); our prisons eat up far too much of our state budget; they are shamefully overcrowded, secretive, and inhumane; yet politicians from Gov. Jerry Brown on down refuse to show the courage or leadership to try a different approach.

When the conservative-dominated US Supreme Court — which on Friday upheld the lower court requirement that California reduce its prison population by 10,000 by the end of the year — is more progressive and enlightened than California’s leaders, you know there’s something seriously wrong here.

Rather than finally doing the right thing and complying with court orders to reduce a population that is still more than 43 percent over design capacity — despite reducing the population by 46,000 since 2006 because of court orders related to woefully inadequate health care in prisons — Corrections Secretary Jeffrey Beard yesterday responded to last week’s news by saying he will send more inmates to prisons in other states, at a high cost to California taxpayers.

What’s wrong with these people?!?! California prisons already lock up 124,363 people as of July 31, with another 8,959 inmates locked up in Arizona, Mississippi, and Oklahoma prisons at our expense. Tens of thousands more have been sent back to county jails under the state’s Realignment policies (which San Francisco, to the credit of its progressive approach to criminal justice, has managed to absorb and still reduce our jail population, thanks to smart alternatives to incarceration). And yet state officials still can’t get our prisons back to anywhere close to their design capacity?!?!

Of course, doing so would require rethinking decades of mindless “tough-on-crime” legislation that swelled our prison population. They’d probably also need to address the gutting of reentry and rehabilitation programs in the state, as well as conditions in some prisons that drive inmates mad (the subject of an onoing prison hunger strike). And they might even need to reform an economic system that is squeezing those on the bottom — sowing widespread economic insecurity that drives even law-abiding citizens to contemplate desperate measures —  just to maintain the wasteful churn of modern capitalism and the obscenely inequitable concentration of wealth at the top.

Hmm, I do believe that I’m starting to understand the motivations of our elected officials after all, those guardians of status quo power and privilege from both major parties. But if we’re ever going to move toward justice and sustainability, California’s prison system is probably a good place to start. 

Theater Listings: August 7 – 13, 2013

Michael Redmond
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0

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

THEATER

OPENING

Marius Southside Theatre, Fort Mason Center, Bldg D, SF; www.generationtheatre.com. $20-35. Opens Thu/8, 8pm. Runs Thu-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 3pm. Through Aug 25. GenerationTheatre performs R. David Valayre’s new English translation of Marcel Pagnol’s classic about a man who dreams of traveling the seas.

ONGOING

Can You Dig It? Back Down East 14th — the 60s and Beyond Marsh San Francisco, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. $15-50. Sat, 8:30pm; Sun, 7pm. Through Aug 25. Don Reed’s new show offers more stories from his colorful upbringing in East Oakland in the 1960s and ’70s. More hilarious and heartfelt depictions of his exceptional parents, independent siblings, and his mostly African American but ethnically mixed working-class community — punctuated with period pop, Motown, and funk classics, to which Reed shimmies and spins with effortless grace. And of course there’s more too of the expert physical comedy and charm that made long-running hits of Reed’s last two solo shows, East 14th and The Kipling Hotel (both launched, like this newest, at the Marsh). Can You Dig It? reaches, for the most part, into the “early” early years, Reed’s grammar-school days, before the events depicted in East 14th or Kipling Hotel came to pass. But in nearly two hours of material, not all of it of equal value or impact, there’s inevitably some overlap and indeed some recycling. Reed, who also directs the show, may start whittling it down as the run continues. But, as is, there are at least 20 unnecessary minutes diluting the overall impact of the piece, which is thin on plot already — much more a series of albeit often very enjoyable vignettes and some painful but largely unexplored observations, wrapped up at the end in a sentimental moral that, while sincere, feels rushed and inadequate. (Avila)

God of Carnage Shelton Theater, 533 Sutter, SF; www.sheltontheater.com. $26-38. Thu-Sat, 8pm. Through Sept 7. Shelton Theater performs Yasmina Reza’s award-winning play about class and parenting.

Gold Rush! The Un-Scripted Barbary Coast Musical Un-Scripted Theater Company, 533 Sutter, Second Flr, SF; www.un-scripted.com. $10-20. Thu-Sat, 8pm. Through Aug 24. The Un-Scripted Theater Company performs an improvised musical about gold-rush era San Francisco.

Gorgeous Hussy: An Interview With Joan Crawford Exit Theatre, 156 Eddy, SF; www.wilywestproductions.com. $15-35. Fri/9 and Aug 15-16, 8pm. Running in repertory with Lawfully Wedded (below), this world premiere by Morgan Ludlow imagines a young writer’s encounter with the legendary movie star.

How to Make Your Bitterness Work for You Stage Werx Theatre, 446 Valencia, SF; www.stagewerx.org. $15-25. Mon-Tue, 8pm. Through Aug 27. Kent Underwood is a motivational speaker and self-help expert with some obvious baggage of his own in this solo play from former comedy writer and stand-up comedian Fred Raker (It Could Have Been a Wonderful Life). The premise, similar to that of Kurt Bodden’s Steve Seabrook: Better Than You (ongoing at the Marsh), has the audience overlapping with participants in an Underwood seminar. Underwood, however, two years on the seminar circuit and still unable to get his book published, deviates from the script to answer texts related to a possible career breakthrough. Meanwhile, with the aid of some bullet points and illustrative slides, he explains the premise of said manuscript, “How to Make Your Bitterness Work For You,” as the sad truth of his own underdog status emerges between the laugh lines. But where Bodden is careful to make his Seabrook a somewhat believable character despite the absurdity of it all (or rather, while firmly embracing the absurdity of the self-help industry itself), Raker and director Kimberly Richards put much more space between the playwright/performer and his character, which turns out to be a less effective strategy. Verisimilitude might not have mattered much if the comic material were stronger. Unfortunately, despite the occasional zinger, much of the humor is weak or corny and the narrative (interrupted at regular intervals by an artificial tone representing the arrival of a fresh text message) too contrived to sell us on the larger story. (Avila)

Keith Moon: The Real Me Eureka Theatre, 215 Jackson, SF; www.brownpapertickets.com. $40. Thu-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 7pm. Extended through Aug 18. Was Keith Moon the greatest rock ‘n’ roll drummer ever? Veteran solo performer and drum stylist Mick Berry doesn’t exactly come out and say so, but his biographical play about Moon definitely makes a good case for the possibility. Keith Moon: The Real Me, written and performed by Berry, kicks off with a literal bang, a hi-octane cover of “Baba O’Riley,” featuring Berry’s exuberantly crashing cymbals layered over the iconic, rapidfire synth riff that runs throughout the song. Though the characters of the play are all portrayed by Berry — with references to all the requisite sex, drugs, and self-destruction thrown into the mix — a full band stands at the ready behind two transparent screens to flesh out the show’s strongest element: the rock-and-roll. In order to channel Moon’s full-throttle drumming, Berry enlisted the assistance of Frank Simes, the music director of the Who’s 2012-2013 tour, while to channel Moon’s freewheeling but insecure personality, he enlisted local director Bobby Weinapple. The script itself is still ragged, and a couple of key moments, particularly when Moon’s car is attacked in early 1970, are presented in such a way that the context comes later, which is confusing if you don’t already know the history of the incident. But if you don’t mind a bit of chat with your rock concert, you’ll probably find this fusion of the two intriguing. Just remember, when the nice concessions people offer you complimentary earplugs, take them. (Gluckstern)

Lawfully Wedded: Plays About Marriage Exit Theatre, 156 Eddy, SF; www.wilywestproductions.com. $15-35. Thu/8, Sat/10, and Aug 17, 8pm. Running in repertory with Gorgeous Hussy (above), this world premiere “collage of scenes and stories” by Morgan Ludlow, Kirk Shimano, and Alina Trowbridge takes on marriage equality.

Oil and Water This week: Troupe Studio Space, 855 Treat, SF; www.sfmt.org. Wed/7, 7pm, free (suggested donation $20; seating is limited so RSVP suggested at brownpapertickets.com/event/391924). Also Sat/10, 7pm, free, Community Park, East 14th and F St, Davis; and Sun/11, 4pm, free, Southside Park, Bandshell, Sixth and T St, Sacramento. After presenting 53 seasons of free theater in the parks of San Francisco (and elsewhere), the San Francisco Mime Troupe faced a financial crisis in April that threatened to shut down this season before it even started. The resultant show, funded by an influx of last-minute donations, is one cut considerably closer to the bone than in previous years: instead of one two-hour musical, it’s two loosely-connected one-acts riffing on general environmentalist themes. In Deal With the Devil, a surprisingly sympathetic (not to mention downright hawt) Devil (Velina Brown) shows up to help an uncertain president (Rotimi Agbabiaka) regain his conscience and win back his soul, while in Crude Intentions adorable, progressive, same-sex couple Gracie (Velina Brown) and Tomasa (Lisa Hori-Garcia) wind up catering a “benefit” shindig for the Keystone XL Pipeline giving them the opportunity to perpetrate a little guerrilla direct action on a bombastic David Koch (Hugo E Carbajal). Throughout, the performers remain upbeat if somewhat over-extended as they sing, dance, and slapstick their way to the sobering conclusion that the time to turn things around in the battles over global environmental protection is now — or never. (Gluckstern)

So You Can Hear Me Marsh San Francisco, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. $15-50. Fri, 8pm; Sat, 5pm. Extended through Aug 24. A 23-year-old with no experience, just high spirits and big ideals, gets a job in the South Bronx teaching special ed classes and quickly finds herself in over her head. Safiya Martinez, herself a bright young woman from the projects, delivers this inspired accounting of her time not long ago in perhaps the most neglected sector of the public school system — a 60-minute solo play that makes up for its slim plot with a set of deft, powerful, lovingly crafted characterizations. These complex portraits, alternately hysterical and startling, offer their own moving ruminations on a violent but also vibrant stratum of American society, deeply fractured by pervasive poverty and injustice and yet full of restive young personalities too easily dismissed, ignored, or crudely caricatured elsewhere. An effervescent, big-hearted, and very talented performer, Martinez’s own bounding personality and contagious passion for her former students (as complicated as that relationship was), makes this deeply felt tribute all the more memorable. (Avila)

Steve Seabrook: Better Than You Marsh San Francisco, 1062 Valencia, SF; www.themarsh.org. $15-50. Sat, 8:30pm. Extended through Aug 24. The bitter fruit of the personal growth industry may sound overly ripe for the picking, but Kurt Bodden’s deftly executed “seminar” and its behind-the-scenes reveals, directed by Mark Kenward, explore the terrain with panache, cool wit, and shrewd characterization. As both writer and performer, Bodden keeps his Steve Seabrook just this side of overly sensational or maudlin, a believable figure, finally, whose all-too-ordinary life ends up something of a modest model of its own. (Avila)

Stories High XII: The Soma Edition Bindlestiff Studio, 185 Sixth St, SF; www.bindlestiffstudio.org. $10-20. Thu-Sat, 8pm. Through Aug 17. Four mini-plays about “living, working, playing, and struggling” in SoMa, written by Dianne Aquino Chui, Paolo Salazar, Cristal Fiel, and Conrad Panganiban.

Sweet Bird of Youth Tides Theatre, 533 Sutter, Second Flr, SF; www.tidestheatre.org. $20-40. Wed-Sat, 8pm. Through Aug 24. Tides Theatre performs Tennessee Williams’ Gulf Coast-set drama about an improbable couple.

Wunderworld Creativity Theater, 221 Fourth St, SF; www.wunderworld.net. $10-15. Sat/10-Sun/11, 2pm (also Sat/10, 11am; Sun/11, 5pm). In an irresistible boost to the Children’s Creativity Museum’s new Creativity Theater (formerly Zeum), beloved Bay Area comedian, playwright, and performer Sara Moore (Show Ho) teams up with gifted co-writer and performer Michael Phillis (The Bride of Death) and director Andrew Nance for a largely wordless, but gabble-packed, family-friendly comedy that asks what Alice might find down the rabbit hole were she to tumble down it again as an octogenarian? The 60-minute play showcases the elastic features and sharp comedic instincts of both Moore (as a hilarious and heartfelt Alice, whom no one recognizes these days unless she stretches her face smooth again) and Phillis (who kicks things off with a mimed pre-curtain speech deserving of its own encore, before coming back as the now droopy-eared White Rabbit). Equally endearing are performances by Dawn Meredith Smith (as Caterpillar, Red Queen, and a rest home nurse), choreographer Rory Davis (as the Cheshire Cat), and the inimitable Joan Mankin as Alice’s bored nursing-home roommate and the Mad Hatter. (Avila)

BAY AREA

A Comedy of Errors Forest Meadows Amphitheater, 890 Bella, Dominican University of California, San Rafael; www.marinshakespeare.org. $20-37.50. Presented in repertory Fri-Sun through Sept 29; visit website for performance schedule. Marin Shakespeare Company presents a cowboy-themed spin on the Bard’s classic.

No Man’s Land Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Roda Theatre, 2015 Addison, Berk; www.berkeleyrep.org. $35-135. Tue and Thu-Sat, 8pm (also Thu and Sat, 2pm; no matinee Aug 29); Wed and Sun/11, 7pm (also Aug 28, 2pm); Aug 18 and 25, 2pm. Through Aug 31. Acting legends and erstwhile X-Men Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen star in this pre-Broadway engagement of Harold Pinter’s play.

Sea of Reeds Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby, Berk; www.shotgunplayers.org. $20-35. Wed-Thu, 7pm; Fri-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 5pm. Through Aug 18. Although the introduction of supporting characters, musicians, and a musical score (by Marco D’Ambrosio) breaks new ground for a longtime solo artist, Sea of Reeds is classic Josh Kornbluth. Directed by longtime creative partner David Dower, the show features the boyish comedic persona, the intricate storytelling, and the biographical referents that have given him a loyal following over the years. Diehard fans aside, the show’s cheesy, somewhat self-regarding conceit of staging “spontaneous” interactions between Kornbluth and his trainer (Beth Wilmurt) may not work with everyone. Perhaps more challenging, though, is the persistence of a less than fully examined disjunction between the political values of his parents and his own political and ethical evolution — a disjunction highlighted here in the narrative’s fraught Middle Eastern setting and its vague navigation between the violence of religious zealotry and a plea for tolerance. (Avila)

The Wiz Julia Morgan Theater, 2640 College, Berk; www.berkeleyplayhouse.org. $17-60. Wed-Thu and Sat, 7pm (also Sat, 2pm); Sun, noon and 5pm. Through Aug 25. The first time I saw the movie version of The Wiz with Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Richard Pryor, and Lena Horne (among others) it pretty much blew my young, Wizard of Oz-loving mind, swapping funky R&B for syrupy ballads, sophisticated silver pumps in place of the familiar sequined red ones, and mean city streets and subways in place of the more bucolic surroundings of the 1939 Victor Fleming film. Unfortunately, from a certain perspective, the 1970s feel just about as dated today as the 1930s, and consequently The Wiz doesn’t seem quite as innovative as it once did. And while there are some nods to the political climate of today made by the creative team behind the Berkeley Playhouse’s production (such as a pair of almost randomly-wielded rainbow flags, and a handful of t-shirts printed with peace-and-love messages), they mostly steer clear of making any kind of overt statements, even in regards to the all black casting (now thoroughly integrated). Similarly, many of the trappings of the “seventies” have also been axed in favor of more fanciful, almost cartoonish, costuming and choreography. It’s long for a children’s musical, clocking in at around two-and-a-half hours, but that seems no deterrent to the plucky Wiz Kidz youth ensemble who tread the floorboards as a pack of munchkins, a band of sweatshop laborers, and a groovy bunch of glammed-up citizens of the Emerald City. Grown-up voices of special note belong to Taylor Jones as Dorothy, Nicole Julien as Aunt Em/Glinda, Amy Lizardo as Addaperle, Reggie D. White as Tin Man, and Sarah Mitchell as Evillene. (Gluckstern) *

 

Surrounded by kids, David Campos files to run for State Assembly

Sasha Cuttler And Mary Magee
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25

On the morning of Aug. 1, San Francisco District 9 Sup. David Campos joined a group of parents and kids at the 24th Street BART station, climbed aboard the 49-Mission/Van Ness, and rode to City Hall, where he filed paperwork to run for the California Assembly.

“Running for office is not an easy thing. It’s a very personal decision,” he said. “And thinking about it, I am where I am because I was given a lot of opportunity as a kid coming in, as an undocumented kid. It was the opportunity of getting a quality education, the opportunity to really get a degree,” and to stay motivated by the idea that “if you really work hard and play by the rules, that you can really fulfill your potential.”

Campos was elected to represent San Francisco’s District 9, which spans the Mission, Bernal Heights, and surrounding areas, in November of 2008. The gay Latino elected official is regarded as one of the most progressive members of the Board of Supervisors, and he is credited with spearheading Free Muni for Youth, a city program offering free public transit access to some 40,000 low-income kids.

Campos stressed that many of the policies he’s tackled on the Board of Supervisors have been aimed toward aiding low-income families and youth, “whether it’s helping families who are struggling with free Muni for low-income kids, to improving the quality of schools in the Mission, to focusing on public safety in a progressive way that tries to build a relationship between the police and the community.”

Naturally, Muni took longer than expected.

Some of the kids amused themselves with a clapping game while they waited.

Many of the parents were monolingual Spanish speakers, and their kids were Free Muni for Youth participants. Raul Foneza (pictured in the first shot, with his thumbs up), spoke to the Guardian through a translator and said he had come out for the supervisor that day because he respected Campos’ support for the city’s young people and was there with his friend and her two kids.

When the bus arrived at City Hall, another group of kids was there awaiting Campos’ arrival, with signs. So was Assembly Member Tom Ammiano, who has already granted Campos his endorsement.

Ammiano spent a few moments on the steps of City Hall speaking to the kids. “I hope you tell people to vote for David Campos, I hope you all do your homework, be good to your teachers, and go to college. How does that sound?” After they cheered, “yeeeah!” in unison, Ammiano half-jokingly added something about how then they could all get good-paying jobs, so they could afford an apartment.

Once inside, the crowd of kids and parents squeezed into the basement-level Department of Elections office, where Campos filled out the paperwork to make his candidacy for State Assembly official. He turned to face his supporters, most of whom will have to wait eight years till they’re old enough to vote, and explained that he had decided to run “because we want to make sure our state makes you the top priority.”

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