SF

Funny face

-
0

superego@sfbg.com

SUPER EGO How could anyone say no to Joan Rivers? The turbulent past, the red-carpet gushes, the petrified visage? Sure, we could blame her for Kathy Griffin and the rise of celebrity culture, but she also created the one true tagline of our time in a Geico commercial that defined a generation: “I can’t feel my face!” Recently roasted, the hysterically hysterical comedian is gracing us with her presence in early October, and the only time she could talk to me was smack dab in the middle of Folsom Street Fair. So I unhooked myself and ducked in to a Porta-Potty to call her in New York.

SFBG Hi Joan, please forgive any background noise. I’m calling you from a Porta-Potty at our giant leather fetish festival, the Folsom Street Fair.

Joan Rivers Fantastic! I’m there with you in my heart.

SFBG I remember you were here in San Francisco this time last year. The gay press published the screaming headline, “Leather Fair a huge success!” with a big picture of your face underneath it.

JR I really couldn’t ask for much more.

SFBG This year’s fair falls on Yom Kippur, so you get the beatings and the atonement all in one. Do you observe Yom Kippur?

JR I do observe it. I’m the matron of my family, so I have a huge dinner to prepare!

SFBG I’ll keep it short and sweet, then. I adore your signature line of jewelry that you sell on QVC. Lately, I’ve seen many up-and-coming drag queens wearing your items.

JR It’s such an absolutely gorgeous collection, and I’m not just saying that because it’s mine. It’s truly exquisite, and I’m sure it looks lovely on the girls.

SFBG It really does. And congratulations on your hard-fought win on this year’s Celebrity Apprentice. You went tooth and nail!

JR The best part was donating my winnings to [meal-delivery service to AIDS patients] God’s Love We Deliver, a charity I’ve been supporting for years. Let me tell you, Marke, it was such a thrilling experience. Would I do it all again? No.

SFBG At 76, you’re still doing standup. You’re doing four shows in two nights at Cobb’s. Good lord! What are the crowds like here?

JR I love San Francisco. I once lived there for a month when I was in residence at the Magic Theater and it was a beautiful time. San Francisco is smart and it’s gay. What more do you need as a performer?

JOAN RIVERS Fri/2 and Sat/3, 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., $53.50–$55. Cobb’s Comedy Club, 915 Columbus, SF. www.cobbscomedy.com ———-

FEEL THE LOVE

“Our club is for young people,” the promoter of a popular electro club responded cooly when I asked if her tribe would have a presence at LovEvolution, formerly Lovefest, formerly Love Parade, on Saturday, Oct. 3. It’s true that the programming of the massive outdoor raveathon can seem a bit, er, mature. But the all-ages party is bursting with eager youth, with a youthful outlook to match, even as it seems more and more panicky about reeling in out-of-town Big Names. The true local and new will be found on the smaller parade floats, with California Dubstep Republic, Homochic, and the “Janky Barge” looking especially twisty. And this time around, at the satellite parties, the kids are in for one holy cow of a house education. DJ Frankie Knuckles will show them why he’s the godfather of house at Temple (www.templesf.com) and the awesomely gifted and underage Martinez Brothers will represent the next soulful wave at Mighty (www.mighty119.com), both on Fri/2. Also at Mighty, on Sunday, Oct.4, is an event that everyone in Clubland is wetting their drawers for. One of the best parties I’ve ever been to (and spent a ton of frequent flyer miles on), New York City’s Body and Soul, is popping up for one night here in San Francisco, reuniting founding DJs Francois K., Danny Krivit, and Joe Clausell. It’s all too much, and that’s quite a bit of the point.

www.sflovevolution.com

Flourescence

-
0

le.chicken.farmer@gmail.com

CHEAP EATS It looked like a good place to sit and so we sat there, basking in the relative fluorescentlessness. Compared to Joshua Tree National Park, there are a lot of restaurants to choose from on San Bruno Avenue in San Francisco. Dive after dive after dive, it’s a Cheap Eats mecca. Whereas Joshua Tree has lizards. Stones. A bee that won’t leave me alone.

My sweetie and me are under a rock, or rather, under a complex formation of rocks, sharing an apple and writing on our laptops. We are sitting side by side on a blanket, leaning against one wall of our cave. I just had me my favorite siesta ever. Hold on a second … Her too. You wouldn’t believe how in love I am. Hold on a second … Her too.

You wouldn’t believe how hot it is just a few feet away from us, and how pleasant the weather is in our cave. Tomorrow with the air conditioning on we will drive through Mojave to Death Valley Junction, home of the Amargosa Opera House.

A woman named Marta rented then bought it 40-some years ago, but no one would come, so she painted an audience on the walls of the place, and now she’s 90 and still performs there even though sometimes she has to sing sitting down.

Anyway, it seems like a monument to what I love about life: kooky people making limeade out of lemons. That’s one thing. So we’re going to go see it, maybe catch a show, if we’re lucky. If we’re really lucky, a standing-up one. And if not, we’ll drive on. There are hot springs that side of the mountains.

I haven’t camped in Joshua Tree for a few years. Ever since I first moved to my witchy shack in the woods, I have not felt the need to camp, go figure. But the desert is something else. And this one is my favorite place on the planet. The surreal rock formations, the moony landscape, the irrepressible joy of headlight-lit ocotillos, and the cartoonishly contortionistic joshua trees reaching every which way at once.

What we don’t have here is beef with tender greens, or pork and preserved cabbage noodle soup, or chicken with bitter melon. In fact, there are many ways in which Joshua Tree National Park is not a Chinese restaurant.

It’s so quiet you can hear the air, sometimes.

At night there are a lot of airplanes. Blinking beelines to Palm Springs, or Los Angeles, or back, their silent exclamations are almost welcome in a sky dotted with periods and comets.

I don’t think I ever brought a laptop before to Joshua Tree. But I’m with a writer now, and she’s got a reading tour on the East Coast next month, a slow-going story to finish, and a new one to start. Whereas I have a restaurant to tell you about.

It’s a little less fluorescent than most San Bruno Avenue joints, yes, but it’s still cheap. San Bruno Café. Or 2546 Café. Or 2546 San Bruno Café. They have $5.25 rice plates from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., even on weekends. Gotta like that.

What you don’t gotta like (and won’t) is that every meal starts — no matter what you order — with a bowl of bean water soup. That was our name for it. I mean, you can’t argue with free, but … come on! A bowl of murky brown water with nothing in it? Maybe a half of a bean, or two, lurking somewhere beneath the cloudy, greaseless surface.

If you look around the restaurant, you’ll notice that people are leaving unfinished bowls of bean water all over — on ledges, on chairs, on other people’s dirty tables, on clean ones … Eventually the management will notice too.

Bean water aside (very very literally), nothing else was especially great either. Although: everything was good and cheap. You’d be hard-pressed to find any 10s on San Bruno’s menu. There are even some things under five, like instant noodles and porridges.

But it’s so weird to be writing about Chinese food in Joshua Tree. I’m going to stop doing so, abruptly, kiss my hard-working sweetie, and walk until I find an Internet café.

2546 SAN BRUNO CAFE

Daily: 7:30 a.m.–9 p.m.

2546 San Bruno, SF

(415) 468-8008

No alcohol

MC/V

L.E. Leone’s new book is Big Bend (Sparkle Street Books), a collection of short fiction.

Fitting in?

-
0

arts@sfbg.com

FASHION Earlier this month, the white tents of New York Fashion Week went up at Bryant Park, and the tranquil and unassuming grassy lawn behind the public library was suddenly besieged by celebrities, buyers, press, and a lucky few fans with golden tickets, hungrily packing themselves in to peep the 2010 spring lines — including a handful by Bay Area designers, rare birds in the big-fashion aviary.

Seven happily frantic design students from San Francisco’s Academy of Art University had their senior thesis projects paraded alongside the collections of established designers, like Marc Jacobs and Vera Wang. For anyone hoping to make a break in the fashion industry, it was the opportunity of a lifetime.

Backstage, the designers — nearly hidden behind models waiting with hair held by clips and tissue paper, stylists kneeling on the floor to adjust hems, and makeup artists with heavy tool belts of beauty products hovering to perform last-minute touchups — speedily talked about the six or seven garments on the rolling racks along the walls whose realization had consumed the last year of their lives.

Richelle Valenzula, a Filipino who has lived in the East Bay since early adolescence, passed a hand over the silver gauze dress hanging on the rack behind him, jittery as he explained the tedious process he went through to attach intricately fitted panels of silk organza to each design. His work was worth it: on the runway, the light layers moved with a cerebral flutter, like a breeze rifling through pages of a book.

Kara Sennett showed a retro-poppy, California-dreamin’ sportswear line inspired by David Hockney’s painting Beverly Hills Housewife. Because everything was moving so fast, however, she didn’t get to see her line coming down the catwalk. "I just caught a glimpse of the very last girl from the monitor," Sennett told me. "But I’ll sacrifice to make sure everything goes out perfect." She was sacrificing for bubble-gum pink 1950s-ish bathing costumes with ivory stripes and lime vinyl cropped jackets, which created a bold, flat, in-your-face feeling.

On the other side of the classic California coin, a prominent psychedelic aesthetic shone through in the freewheeling butterfly-shaped knit dresses that Bulgarian native Marina Nikolaeva Popska whipped up. The garments look like an acid trip, and listening to Popska explain the concept behind the clothes, certainly felt like one. "It’s about humanity and nature," she enthused, as the rings on every one of her fingers shaped the air, her sandy frizz of hair creeping nearer her nose with each nod. "I have this philosophy where the human and the tree become one creature, one person, and this helps to release the soul and create a sense of light."

The antitheses of Popska’s lovechild gowns were the boyish plaid button-downs and shorts created by Brittney Major. Her Southern accent bent the ends of her words as she talked about the culture shock she experienced when she moved to SF, although the city’s attitude has since grown on her. "I love how everyone is out there at face value," Major says. As a result of her newfound California confidence, Major took daring moves with a bright, Easter-cellophane color scheme and a cheeky mix of print sizes.

Although they displayed ample verve, the students’ garments didn’t reach the meticulous construction standards of the other shows in the Bryant Park circus. Many of them felt like interesting stops along the way to developing a broader vision, which is a good place for students to be. Yet I kept thinking they would have fit in more comfortably at one of the many off-park sites in the city where fresh designers premiered their spring lines in shows that were less harsh-glare and more San Francisco vibe-y, like the vintage-inspired line that walked to an indie cover band on a Chelsea rooftop, or the party-like presentations in empty Meatpacking District warehouses.

San Francisco is just a temporary home for most of these students, many of whom are eager to move London or New York to pursue their careers. This city has become a surefire training and testing ground for the fashion-minded, exposing them to new flavors and freeing combinations. But even though this was a huge moment in the spotlight for the Academy of Art and suffused with Californian ideals, was it really a showcase of San Francisco style? A major show at Bryant Park featuring bona fide Bay Area designers might be a fashion-world revelation.

Of course, it could be that our native fashion sense, in all its subversive wiliness, may just not take well to the big catwalk. Last season’s raved-about breakout NYC show was by born-and-bred Bay label Nice Collective, showing exquisitely tailored leather waistcoats over skintight britches and heavy denim draped down the sides of worn construction-worker boots, whose open tongues flapped at the front row. The sculptural backdrop was constructed from charred wood and featured a 19th-century carriage. Nice Collective was supposed to show again this season, but — in true San Francisco fashion — the duo decided instead to focus their energies on a forthcoming "sustainable community project" here at home.

The inside outsider

-
0

news@sfbg.com

A private-sector engineering and construction consultant has worked for years out of the San Francisco Department of Public Works (DPW) offices for free, using public resources and having inside access to top department officials, a status gained through a questionable competitive bidding process, a Guardian investigation has revealed.

Andrew Petreas, senior project manager for Environmental and Construction Solutions, Inc. (ECS), which has done contract work for DPW since 2004, has a city e-mail address. Petreas and his assistant both work on the fourth floor of DPW’s Bureau of Construction Management (BCM) building on Mission Street, in close proximity to bureau manager Donald Eng.

According to documents obtained by the Guardian earlier this year, ECS is providing construction and consultation services for various DPW projects, including repairs to the building where he works, trying to bring it in line with the city’s Green Building Ordinance, a project that is still going three months after its scheduled completion date of June 2009.

Because of the city’s competitive bidding process for using outside consultants on DPW projects — such as construction, repairs, and construction management on all city-owned buildings and maintenance of city streets and sewers — Petreas’ inside access raises questions of fairness among competing bidders and could pose a conflict of interest. DPW officials confirm the working arrangement, but deny that there’s anything improper about it.

DPW spokesperson Christine Falvey told us that Petreas’ occupancy is necessary to "improve the flow of communication between staff and consultants" and "deliver the project more efficiently." She also said Petreas will vacate the premises once his contract has expired. But insider sources and department documents indicate that Petreas has been in the department for many years, beginning as an employee under Don Todd Associates, which first began consulting for DPW in the early 1990s. And because of questionable contract extensions, there seems to be no end in sight for the department’s relationship with Petreas or his great deal on office space.

No other contractor appears to receive this kind of advantage, and all are subject to the same competitive bidding process for obtaining contracts. City Attorney’s Office spokesperson Matt Dorsey told the Guardian that "it makes sense in some cases to co-locate," but he couldn’t provide specific guidelines that regulate such arrangements.

When the Guardian requested all correspondence directed to and from Petreas’ city e-mail account, we were given e-mails dating only as far back as July 2008. We were further stonewalled by DPW when we asked how long Petreas has had a working relationship with the department.

Frank Lee, executive assistant to the director of the DPW, told us via e-mail: "I do not know the exact length of time that Andrew has worked for our department, but the e-mails that were forwarded to you were the only e-mails that we currently possess." He further told us that five e-mails were withheld in accordance to California Evidence Code Section 1152, which essentially states that public records can be withheld if it contains information about a money dispute between the city and a contractor. Lee would not say if the disputing contractor was Petreas or his firm, but did tell us that the matter is in litigation and the content is about "litigation strategies."

Earlier this year, ECS completed work on the department’s Materials Testing Lab, a project that initially began in March 2008 with a two-month timeline, but was given a 15-month extension. The firm also has been contracted to train DPW staff to estimate the cost of DPW projects, a contract worth $102,000, which is just below the $114,000 threshold for inviting competing bidders.

The documents also show that in the 2007-08 fiscal year, the department funneled additional money to ECS on top of its initial contract amount for "multidisciplinary construction management services" — essentailly retainer services — when other contractors on retainer had not yet fulfilled their contracted amount. ECS received an additional $500,000 on top of its contracted $1 million when the other contracted consultants (AGS, Inc., CPM/TMI Joint Venture, and PGH Wong Engineering, Inc.) had spent less than 50 percent of its $1 million contracted amount.

It’s not that ECS is better qualified or cheaper than these other private consultants. Consulting firms for the four open retainer slots are selected by the city’s Human Rights Commission for a two-year period through a competitive request for proposals (RFP) bidding process. For the last two periods, the commission ranked ECS in third place; before that, it came in second, but got a contract anyway.

Yet Petreas continues to be the only consultant who enjoys city e-mail privileges, not to mention a rent-free, roomy office in the city-owned building, with a view from the fourth floor. But if fairness among competing private contractors is an issue, the other contenders aren’t complaining, perhaps out of fear of not being awarded future contracts by DPW or other city agencies.

When asked whether the RFP process was even-handed and if Petreas’ insider status gives him an advantage, Jack Wang, principal engineer for AGS, Inc., hesitated to speak with us, saying that he didn’t want to get in trouble and that he "can’t comment on undue influence." He also told us that Petreas’ augmented contract amount and time extensions were "not enough for me to be alarmed about." He later added that "the industry is small. It’s very competitive."

When the Guardian took a look at all contract agreements between the department and ECS, as well as with Don Todd Associates, we discovered an employment gap that coincided with public scrutiny of the arrangement. Shortly after a September 1999 article by Peter Byrne ("It Ate City Hall") in SF Weekly reporting that Don Todd Associates had been paid $6 million over the course of nine years, some of it in apparent violation of city policies, its contract agreement ended and was never renewed or extended. But Petreas reemerged in 2004 under ECS, where he and his wife are the current owners.

The department offered no explanation for Petreas’ ongoing good fortune or his relationship with Eng, who did not return calls from the Guardian. Instead it diverted inquiries to public information officers. Several attempts were made to contact Petreas and other ECS representatives, but our calls were not returned.

So is it fair to say that there are no guidelines or oversight for the length of time a private consultant may provide services to the city and that it is wholly up to the discretion of the department manager? When we brought up this opportunity for cronyism and corruption — a big loophole in city labor law — to Deputy City Controller Monique Zmuda, she told us that "there’s no prohibition on the city contracting with one entity for a long time."

Earlier this year, ECS completed yet another round of contract negotiations with the city and signed a new master agreement for multidisciplinary services for the next five years, in which it will be paid out $1 million for as-needed services.

Balompie Cafe

-
0

paulr@sfbg.com

Balompié Café looks like many another modest restaurants in the Mission, but it does make a convincing claim to uniqueness, in three parts. The first is the striking name — basically “ball foot” in Spanish. Football by any other name — including “balompié” and “fútbol” — is still … soccer. Somehow soccer’s claim to being the true football is more convincing than our own. In American football, the combination of ball and foot is seldom a presence or factor.

The second part of our triad is Balompié’s identity as a soccer bar. The walls of the otherwise unassuming space are festooned with soccer-club banners from around the world, and flat-panel televisions mounted high on the walls show plenty of action. Some of the patrons scattered around the dining room and at the bar are likely to be watching rapt, while others will be dividing their attention between the screens and the plates of Salvadorean food in front of them — the place’s Salvadoreanness being its third distinguishing characteristic. Salvadorean cuisine resembles its Mexican cousin in broad outline, with corn and beans at the foundation, as they have been for centuries in Mesoamerica. But Salvadorean cuisine has its specialties and special delights.

Torn though some of the other patrons might be between the food and the televised proceedings, there was no contest for us. Soccer is a little too free-form a game to translate comfortably to television; the main impression made on the remote spectator pertains to the green vastness of the playing field. It’s like looking at an image from Google Earth, with tiny figures frantically running around. The food, on the other hand, richly rewards the attention you pay to it. It is as flavorful as any food you’ll find in this city and is also monumentally inexpensive. Balompié has been at its central Mission location since 1987, and in recent years has opened up at a few other spots (one in SoMa, the other in the outer Mission), but it still gives big bang for the buck, and that’s probably never been more valuable than it is now, in this depression-by-any-other-name.

The best-known Salvadorean dish in this country is the pupusa — and I probably should say “pupusas,” since, as with Lay’s potato chips, the singular reference is absurd. (Balompié’s menu codifies this preference for the plural by requiring that you order a minimum of two pupusas; the regular ones are $2.50 each, the fancier sorts $3.50.) Pupusas are basically stuffed flatbreads (made here either from masa or rice flour) that look a lot like small pita breads, and they can be filled with a variety of delectables.

Spinach and cheese reminded me of the Greek pastry pie spanikopita, while chorizo and cheese had the air of a Mexican-style breakfast. In the case of the blander pupusas — the cheese-and-beans combo springs to mind — enhancement is available in the form of an impressively spicy cabbage slaw, a dish of pickled vegetables (including carrot coins, cauliflower florets, and rounds of jalapeño pepper), and a richly tomatoey, though mild-mannered, salsa.

The pupusas are griddled. The corn pies called pasteles ($5.75 for three), on the other hand, are deep-fried and resemble an improbable cross between corn dogs, falafel balls, and Easter eggs. They’re crunchy on the outside and are filled with well-seasoned minced pork. (Chicken and shrimp versions are also available.)

The bigger plates tend to include large swaths of beans and rice — a worthy combination that can assume the proportions of a small landslide. (You can get the beans and rice as discrete entities, with salad, or mixed together and fried as casamiento.) The wonderful garlic chicken ($9.95), for instance, would have been fine on its own. The meat had been sliced into boneless flaps, then cooked — I would guess on the griddle — until the edges were lightly crisped and caramelized. The finishing touch was a fabulously creamy garlic sauce with a hint of lemon ladled over the top.

A chile relleno ($10.75) turned out to be less routine than it sounded. The pepper, a poblano, was familiar enough; the filling, of chopped, spiced beef, was less so. But the real puzzle was a band of mysterious white threads with the texture of pickled radish and a bitter-fruity flavor. That bite took some getting used to but was, in the end, a real enhancement. We quizzed our server, and she brought forth a jar labelled “pacaya,” or date palm — actually a date-palm blossom, pickled in brine. The date palm is a native of Mesopotamia and is one of the world’s most venerable food sources.

This is the sort of interesting food factoid that can get overlooked when Mexico scores on Costa Rica and the tiny figures run around on the surface of their flat green planet while, at Balompié, murmurs of exultation or disappointment ripple through the crowd and more beer is ordered, perhaps a bottle of Regia from El Salvador, a gorgeously smooth golden lager in a vessel like a quart of motor oil. Sort of the beer equivalent of the foot-long hotdog.

BALOMPIÉ CAFÉ

Daily, 8 a.m.–9:30 p.m.

3349 18th St. (also at 525 Seventh St. and 3801 Mission), SF

(415) 648-9199 (558-9668, 647-4000)

Beer and wine

DS/MC/V

Loud but bearable

Wheelchair accessible

 

Music listings

-
0

Music listings are compiled by Paula Connelly and Cheryl Eddy. Since club life is unpredictable, it’s a good idea to call ahead to confirm bookings and hours. Prices are listed when provided to us. Submit items at listings@sfbg.com.

WEDNESDAY 30

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Alma Desnuda, Lady Danville, Davey G Project, Ilaya, Brett Hunter Café du Nord. 8pm, $10.

Little Junior Davis and the All-Star Blues Hounds Rasselas Jazz. 8pm, free.

Hamilton Loomis Biscuits and Blues. 8pm, $15.

Hammerlock, Holley 750 Annie’s Social Club. 8pm, $7.

Ida Marie, Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head Fillmore. 8pm, $20. Hosted by Perez Hilton.

Mason Jennings, Crash Kings Great American Music Hall. 8pm, $20.

Mo’Fone, Brothers Goldman Boom Boom Room. 9:30pm, $5.

Publish the Quest, Radioactive Elbo Room. 9pm, $7.

Gil Scott-Heron, Ise Lyfe, Orgone Regency Ballroom. 9pm, $35.

Sermon, Blank Stares Hemlock Tavern. 9pm, $7.

Sonos, Austin Hartley-Leonard Hotel Utahl. 9pm, $10.

Stripmall Architecture, Sweet Trip, Boy in Static Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $8.

Tell-Tale Heartbreakers, Green Lady Killers, Hooray for Everything Knockout. 10pm, $6.

Works Progress Administration, Molly Jenson Independent. 8pm, $15.

BAY AREA

Kylie Minogue Fox Theater. 8pm, $58.50-99.50.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

"B3 Wednesdays" Coda. 9pm, $7. With Nick Rossi Trio.

Cat’s Corner Savanna Jazz. 7pm, $5-10.

Ben Marcato and the Mondo Combo Top of the Mark. 7:30pm, $10.

Swing With Stan Rite Spot, 2099 Folsom, SF; www.ritespotcafe.net. 8pm, free.

Tin Cup Serenade Le Colonial, 20 Cosmo Place, SF; (415) 931-3600. 7pm, free.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

49 Special Climate Theater, 285 9th St., SF; (415) 704-3260. 8pm, $7-15 sliding scale. Part of the Music Box Series.

Soja, Kapakahi, Movement Slim’s. 9pm, $21.

DANCE CLUBS

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

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

Jam Wednesday Infusion Lounge. 10pm, free. DJ Slick Dee.

Qoöl 111 Minna Gallery. 5-10pm, $5. Pan-techno lounge with DJs Spesh, Gil, Hyper D, and Jondi.

RedWine Social Dalva. 9pm-2am, free. DJ TophOne and guests spin outernational funk and get drunk.

Respect Wednesdays End Up. 10pm, $5. Rotating DJs Lonestar Sound, Young Fyah, Sake One, Serg, and more spinning reggae, dancehall, roots, lovers rock, and mash ups.

Synchronize Il Pirata, 2007 16th St.; (415) 626-2626. 10pm, free. Psychedelic dance music with DJs Helios, Gatto Matto, Psy Lotus, Intergalactoid, and guests.

THURSDAY 1

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Abe Vigoda, Psychic Reality, Mi Ami DJs Knockout. 9:30pm, $6.

David Bazan, Say Hi Independent. 8pm, $15.

Heather Combs, Aiden James, David Greco, Francesca Lee Hotel Utah. 7:30pm, $8.

Datarock, Esser, Kav Slim’s. 8:30pm, $16.

Glenn Labs, Mark Matos and Os Beaches, TV Mike and the Scarecrows Café du Nord. 9pm, $10.

Hot Fog, Private Dancer, Careerers Hemlock Tavern. 9pm, $6.

Hot Toddies, Foxes!, Ian Fays, DJs from Your Latest Crush Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $10.

*Kylesa, Saviours, Bison BC, Kowloon Walled City DNA Lounge. 7pm, $15.

Maldroid, We Should Be Dead, Hooks Thee Parkside. 9pm, $7.

Mass Fiction, DoubleDouble, Dubious Ranger Grant and Green. 9pm, free.

Please Do Not Fight, Bird by Bird, Ghost and City, Finish Ticket Rickshaw Stop. 7:30pm, $10.

Boz Scaggs and the Blue Velvet Band Great American Music Hall. 8pm, $100. Benefit for the Richard de Lone Special Housing Fund.

Seconds on End Boom Boom Room. 9:30pm, $5.

Johnny Vernazza Biscuits and Blues. 8pm, $15.

*Gillian Welch Fillmore. 8pm, $29.50.

BAY AREA

Kylie Minogue Fox Theater. 8pm, $58.50-99.50.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

Debashish Bhattacharya Yoshi’s San Francisco. 8 and 10pm, $15.

Eric Kurtzrock Trio Ana Mandara, Ghirardelli Square, 891 Beach, SF; (415) 771-6800. 7:30pm, free.

Laurent Fourgo Le Colonial, 20 Cosmo Place, SF; (415) 931-3600. 7:30pm, free.

"Full Moon Concert Series: Blood Moon" Luggage Store Gallery, 1007 Market, SF; www.luggagestoregallery.org. 8pm, $6-10. With James Kaiser and AC Way, and Past-Present-Future.

Lisa Lindsley and Walter Bankovitch Trio Shanghai 1930. 7pm, free.

Marlina Teich Trio Brickhouse, 426 Brannan, SF; (415) 820-1595. 7-10pm, free.

Oz Noy Coda. 9pm, $15.

Stompy Jones Top of the Mark. 7:30pm, $10.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

Dark Hollow Band Atlas Café. 8pm, free.

Shannon Ceili Band Plough and Stars. 9pm, free.

Whisky Richards Maggie McGarry’s, 1353 Grant, SF; (415) 399-9020. 9pm, free.

DANCE CLUBS

Afrolicious Elbo Room. 9:30pm, $5-6. DJs Pleasuremaker, Señor Oz, J Elrod, and B Lee spin Afrobeat, Tropicália, electro, samba, and funk.

Bingotopia Knockout. 7:30-9:30pm, free. Play for drinks, dignity, and dorky prizes with Lady Stacy Pants.

Caribbean Connection Little Baobab, 3388 19th St; 643-3558. 10pm, $3. DJ Stevie B and guests spin reggae, soca, zouk, reggaetón, and more.

Club Jammies Edinburgh Castle. 10pm, free. DJs EBERrad and White Mice spinning reggae, punk, dub, and post punk.

Drop the Pressure Underground SF. 6-10pm, free. Electro, house, and datafunk highlight this weekly happy hour.

Funky Rewind Skylark. 9pm, free. DJ Kung Fu Chris, MAKossa, and rotating guest DJs spin heavy funk breaks, early hip-hop, boogie, and classic Jamaican riddims.

Heat Icon Ultra Lounge. 10pm, free. Hip-hop, R&B, reggae, and soul.

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

Kick It Bar on Church. 9pm. Hip-hop with DJ Jorge Terez.

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

Lacquer Beauty Bar. 10pm-2am, free. DJs Mario Muse and Miss Margo bring the electro.

LovEvolution Pre-Party Supperclub. Dinner 7-9:30pm, $55; afterparty 9pm, $10. Join the LovEvolution staff for dinner and performances at 7pm, or get down at the after party to some dance beats.

Mestiza Bollywood Café, 3376 19th St., SF; (415) 970-0362. 10pm, free. Showcasing progressive Latin and global beats with DJ Juan Data.

Mizra Party and Soul Movers Infusion Lounge. 9pm, free. Featuring DJ Cams.

Popscene 330 Rich. 10pm, $10. Rotating DJs spinning indie, Britpop, electro, new wave, and post-punk.

Represent Icon Lounge. 10pm, $5. With Resident DJ Ren the Vinyl Archaeologist and guest. Rock Candy Stud. 9pm-2am, $5. Luscious Lucy Lipps hosts this electro-punk-pop party with music by ReXick.

Studio SF Triple Crown. 9pm, $5. Keeping the Disco vibe alive with authentic 70’s, 80’s, and current disco with DJs Peeplay, Pat Les Stache, and Marnacle.

Toppa Top Thursdays Club Six. 9pm, $5. Jah Warrior, Jah Yzer, I-Vier, and Irie Dole spin the reggae jams for your maximum irie-ness.

FRIDAY 2

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Armagideons, Eric McFadden, Hooks, Two Timin Hussies, Interchords Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $10. Seventh annual SF Joe Strummer Tribute and benefit for Strummerville.

Asobi Seksu, Loney, Dear, Anna Ternheim Slim’s. 9pm, $17.

L’Avventura, Music Lovers, Honneycombs Hotel Utah. 9pm, $6.

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

Clipd Beaks, Experimental Dental School Hemlock Tavern. 9:30pm, $6.

Dark Star Orchestra Fillmore. 9pm, $31.

Destroyer 666, Accused, Witchhaven, Wietus Mortuus, DJ Rob Metal Thee Parkside. 9pm, $15.

Digital Bliss, Return to Mono, Divasonic, Celeste Lear, Weather Pending 111 Minna. 9pm.

John Predny, Fleeting Trance, Andy Mason Retox Lounge. 9pm, $5.

Boz Scaggs and the Blue Velvet Band Great American Music Hall. 9pm, $100. Benefit for the Richard de Lone Special Housing Fund.

Tartufi, Geographer, Judgement Day Rickshaw Stop. 9pm, $10.

Tornado Rider, My Revolver, Stirling Says Red Devi Lounge. 9pm, $10.

Wicked Mercies, Hi-Nobles, I Love My Label Annie’s Social Club. 9pm.

Zony Mash, Horns Boom Boom Room. 10pm, $12.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

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

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

Broun Fellinis Coda. 9pm, $10.

"Cultural Encounters: Friday Nights at the deYoung presents Jazz at Intersection" Wilsey Court, de Young Museum, 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Dr, SF; www.deyoungmuseum.org. 6:30pm, free. With Will Bernard/Beth Custer Ensemble.

Duo Gadjo Shanghai 1930. 7:30pm, free.

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

Lucid Lovers Rex Hotel, 562 Sutter, SF; (415) 433-4434. 6-8pm.

Plays Monk Red Poppy Art House. 8pm, $10-20.

Ramsey Lewis Trio Yoshi’s San Francisco. 8pm, $35.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

Christopher Dallman Dolores Park Café. 7pm, free.

*"Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 9" Speedway, Marx, and Lindley Meadows, Golden Gate Park, SF; www.hardlystrictlybluegrass.com. 2-7pm, free. Today’s performers include MC Hammer, Fireants, Poor Man’s Whiskey, Tom Morello: The Nightwatchman, John Prine, and Lyle Lovett and His Large Band.

Jon Langford and the Pine Valley Cosmonauts, Rosie Flores, Sadies, Sally Timms, Rico Bell Swedish American Hall (upstairs from Café du Nord). 7:30pm, $20.

Mild Colonial Boys Plough and Stars. 9pm, $5.

Montana Slim String Band, Bucky Walters, Innapropriaters Café du Nord. 9pm, $12.

Tin Cat, Apple Orange, Avi Vinocur, Grace Woods Red Vic, 1665 Haight, SF; (415) 864-1978. 7:15pm, $2.

DANCE CLUBS

Activate! Lookout, 3600 16th St; (415) 431-0306. 9pm, $3. Face your demigods and demons at this Red Bull-fueled party.

Alcoholocaust Presents Riptide Tavern. 9pm, free. DJ What’s His Fuck spins old-school punk rock and other gems.

Bar on Church 9pm. Rotating DJs Zax, Zhaldee, and Nuxx.

Exhale, Fridays Project One Gallery, 251 Rhode Island; (415) 465-2129. 5pm, $5. Happy hour with art, fine food, and music with Vin Sol, King Most, DJ Centipede, and Shane King.

Fat Stack Fridays Koko Cocktails, 1060 Geary, SF; (415) 885-4788. 10pm, free. With rotating DJs Romanowski, B-Love, Tomas, Toph One, and Vinnie Esparza.

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

Jam on It Elbo Room. 10pm, $10. Hip-hop with host Z-Man and DJs Quest, Roy Two Thousand, Tyra from Saigon, and Lady Fingaz.

Look Out Weekend Bambuddha Lounge. 4pm, free. Drink specials, food menu and resident DJs White Girl Lust, Swayzee, Philie Ocean, and more.

Lovesick Etiquette Lounge, 1108 Market, SF; (415) 863-3929. 9pm, $10. A pre-party for LovEvolution hosted by South Sound Collective featuring DJs DRC, Alland Byallo, Dizzy Dave and more.

Martinez Brothers Mighty. 10pm, $15. Get your dancing legs warmed up for Saturday’s LovEvolution parade and festival at this pre-party hosted by Pink Mammoth.

M4M Fridays Underground SF. 10pm-2am. Joshua J and Frankie Sharp host this man-tastic party.

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

Punk Rock and Shlock Karaoke Annie’s Social Club. 9pm-2am, $5. Eileen and Jody bring you songs from multiple genres to butcher: punk, new wave, alternative, classic rock, and more.

Tyrant Club 525. 7pm, $25. London DJ duo Lee Burridge and Craig Richards spin the Love at this LovEvolution festival pre-party.

Undead Wedding Cat Club. 9pm; $10, $3 for zombie brides and grooms. Featuring goth, industrial, and death rock music along with wedding ceremonies, cake, and photographers.

Upper Playground and Sonic Living Happy Hour Laszlo. 6-9pm, free. Resident DJs Amplive and Tourist with special guests. Drink specials and giveaways.

SATURDAY 3

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Bugs, Dadfag, Sad Horse Hemlock Tavern. 9pm, $6.

Dark Star Orchestra Fillmore. 9pm, $31.

Fat Bottom Girls, Sassy, Yes Gos, Bloody Hells, Horror-X Annie’s Social Club. 9pm.

Horrors, Japanese Motors, Rocket Independent. 9pm, $20.

Love Songs, Ed Mudshi, Cobra Skulls, Airfix Kits El Rio. 10pm, $7.

Monophonix Deluxe Boom Boom Room. 10pm, $10.

Sunny Rhodes Biscuits and Blues. 8 and 10pm, $20.

Schande, Who Cares, Belly of the Whale, Sleeptalks Thee Parkside. 9pm, $8.

Shinedown, Sick Puppies, Adelitas Way Regency Ballroom. 7pm, $30.

*Slim Cessna’s Auto Club, Pine Box Boys, Tiny Television Café du Nord. 9:30pm, $12.

Miike Snow, Jack Peñate, Loquat Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $10.

Stone Foxes, Soft White Sixties, Courtney Janes, Anna Troy, DJ Joel Selvin Hotel Utah. 8:30pm, $10.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

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

Ralph Carney and friends Rite Spot, 2099 Folsom, SF; www.ritespotcafe.net. 8pm, free.

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

Mads Tolling Trio Shanghai 1930. 7:30pm, free.

Ramsey Lewis Trio Yoshi’s San Francisco. 8pm, $35.

Ricardo Scales Top of the Mark. 9pm, $10.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

Bluegrass Bonanza Plough and Stars. 9pm, $5.

Jordan Carp Caffe Trieste, 1667 Market, SF; (415) 551-1000. 8pm, free.

Danny Cohen, Jonah Kit, Magic! Magic Roses House of Shields. 9pm, $5.

Folk4Parks Rock-It Room. 8pm, $10. Help stop the impending closure of over 100 California State Parks at this benefit featuring Sioux City Kid and the Revolutionary Ramblers, Kristina Bennett, Better Maker, and more.

*"Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 9" Speedway, Marx, and Lindley Meadows, Golden Gate Park, SF; www.hardlystrictlybluegrass.com. 11am-8pm, free. Today’s performers include Okkervil River, Boz Scaggs and the Blue Velvet Band, Old 97s, Steve Earle and the Bluegrass Dukes, Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives, Richie Havens, and many more.

Belle Monroe and Her Brewglass Boys, Shut-Ins, Gayle Lynn and Her Hired Hands Plough and Stars. 9pm, $10.

Pladdohg Ireland’s 32. 9pm.

DANCE CLUBS

BADNB Lovelution Afterparty Club Six. 9pm, $15. Featuring three stages of drum and bass with DJs KJ Sawka, Gridlok, Bachelors of Science, Method One, Maneesh the Twister, and more.

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

Debaser Knockout. 9pm, $5. Wear a flannel, get in free before 11pm to this 90s alternative dance party with DJs Jamie Jams and Emdee.

Everlasting Bass 330 Ritch. 10pm, $5-10. Bay Area Sistah Sound presents this party, with DJs Zita and Pam the Funkstress spinning hip-hop, soul, funk, reggae, dancehall, and club classics.

Fire Corner Koko Cocktails, 1060 Geary; 885-4788. 9:30pm, free. Rare and outrageous ska, rocksteady, and reggae vinyl with Revival Sound System and guests.

Gemini Disco Underground SF. 10pm, $5. Disco with DJ Derrick Love.

Get Loose! Beauty Bar. 10pm, free. With DJ White Mike spinning dance jams.

HYP Club Eight, 1151 Folsom, SF; www.eightsf.com. 10pm, free. Gay and lesbian hip hop party, featuring DJs spinning the newest in the top 40s hip hop and hyphy.

Leisure Paradise Lounge. 10pm, $7. DJs Omar, Aaron, and Jet Set James spinning classic britpop, mod, 60s soul, and 90s indie.

LovEvolution Parade starts at Market and 2nd St. and ends at Civic Center Plaza for a dance music festival, SF; www.sflovevolution.org. Parade starts at noon, free; festival from noon-8pm, $10. Featuring a diverse and extensive line up of dance music DJs.

Rebel Girl Rickshaw Stop. 10pm, $5. "Electroindierockhiphop" and 80s dance party for dykes, bois, femmes, and queers with DJ China G and guests.

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

So Special Club Six. 9pm, $5. DJ Dans One and guests spinning dancehall, reggae, classics, and remixes.

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

Summer Saturdays Bar On Church. 9pm, free. With DJ Mark Andrus spinning top 40, mashups, hip hop, and electro.

SUNDAY 4

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Blakes, Music for Animals, Lucky Jesus Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $10.

Trevor Childs and the Beholders, Echo Falls, Cyndi Harvell Café du Nord. 8pm, $10.

Dark Star Orchestra Fillmore. 8pm, $31.

*John Doe, Sadies, Brothers Comatose Annie’s Social Club. 8pm, $12.

Jolie Holland, Michael Hurley Independent. 8pm, $20.

Dr. MoJo Boom Boom Room. 9:30pm, free.

Lloyd Gregory Biscuits and Blues. 8pm, $15.

Liquid Indian, Mujaheddin Bernstein Affair, North Fork, White Pee Hemlock Tavern. 9pm, $6.

New Model Army, Salty Walt and the Rattlin’ Ratlines DNA Lounge. 7:30pm, $12.

Soulfly, Prong, Cattle Decapitation Regency Ballroom. 7pm, $24.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

"Contemporary Insights: Music and Conversation" ODC Dance Commons, 351 Shotwell, SF; www.sfcmp.org. 4:30pm, $5-10. Performance and discussion of John Harris’ "The Seven Ages."

Imani Winds with Stefon Harris Herbst Theater, 401 Van Ness, SF; www.performances.org. 7pm, $27-39.

Mr. Lucky, Ramshackle Romeos Rite Spot, 2099 Folsom, SF; www.ritespotcafe.net. 8pm, free.

Rob Modica and friends Simple Pleasures, 3434 Balboa, SF; (415) 387-4022. 3pm, free.

Ramsey Lewis Trio Yoshi’s San Francisco. 7pm, $35.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

*"Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 9" Speedway, Marx, and Lindley Meadows, Golden Gate Park, SF; www.hardlystrictlybluegrass.com. 11am-8pm, free. Today’s performers include Billy Bragg, Chieftains, Old Crow Medicine Show, Marianne Faithfull, Emmylou Harris, Rodney Crowell, Earl Scruggs, Hazel Dickens, Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus 3, Mavis Staples, Neko Case, Dr. Dog, and many more.

Mucho Axé Coda. 8pm, $7.

Quin and friends Plough and Stars. 9pm free.

DANCE CLUBS

Body and Soul Mighty. 8pm, $25. A nonstop dance fest featuring DJs Francois K, Joaquin "Joe" Claussell, and Danny Krivit.

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

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

5 O’Clock Jive Inside Live Art Gallery, 151 Potrero, SF; (415) 305-8242. 5pm, $5. A weekly swing dance party.

Gloss Sundays Trigger, 2344 Market, SF; (415) 551-CLUB. 7pm. With DJ Hawthorne spinning house, funk, soul, retro, and disco.

Honey Soundsystem Paradise Lounge. 8pm-2am. "Dance floor for dancers – sound system for lovers." Got that?

Jock! Lookout, 3600 16th; 431-0306. 3pm, $2. This high-energy party raises money for LGBT sports teams.

Kick It Bar on Church. 9pm. Hip-hop with DJ Zax.

Religion Bar on Church. 3pm. With DJ Nikita.

Shuckin’ and Jivin’ Knockout. 10pm, free. DJs Dr. Scott and Oran spin rock, doo-wop, jive, stomp, and more on 78rpm records.

Stag AsiaSF. 6pm, $5. Gay bachelor parties are the target demo of this weekly erotic tea dance.

MONDAY 5

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Billy Bragg Great American Music Hall. 8pm, $30.

*God Dethroned, Abigail Williams, Woe of Tyrants, Augury, DJ Rob Metal Thee Parkside. 8pm, $15.

Fever Ray, Vuk Regency Ballroom. 8pm, $30.

*Motorhead, Reverend Horton Heat, Nashville Pussy Warfield. 8pm, $38.

Serious Bees, Ms Cloud Hemlock Tavern. 7pm, $5.

69 Eyes, Dommin, Becoming Bottom of the Hill. 8:30pm, $17.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

"From the Top" Herbst Theatre, 401 Van Ness, SF; www.sfcmp.org. 8pm, $10-28. San Francisco Contemporary Music Players present five pieces by American composers Harbison, Reich, Wuorinen, Feldman, and Campion.

Lavay Smith Trio Enrico’s, 504 Broadway, SF; www.enricossf.com. 7pm, free.

Project, Classical Revolution Café du Nord. 8pm, $12.

Wayne Wallace Latin Jazz Quintet Yoshi’s San Francisco. 8pm, $14.

DANCE CLUBS

Black Gold Koko Cocktails, 1060 Geary; 885-4788. 10pm-2am, free. Senator Soul spins Detroit soul, Motown, New Orleans R&B, and more — all on 45!

Dubstep/DNB Underground SF. 9pm, $5. With DJs Tromaone, Qzen, Rastatronics, and more.

Going Steady Dalva. 10pm, free. DJs Amy and Troy spinning 60’s girl groups, soul, garage, and more.

King of Beats Tunnel Top. 10pm. DJs J-Roca and Kool Karlo spinning reggae, electro, boogie, funk, 90’s hip hop, and more.

Manic Mondays Bar on Church. 9pm. Drink 80-cent cosmos with Djs Mark Andrus and Dangerous Dan.

Monster Show Underground SF. 10pm, $5. Cookie Dough and DJ MC2 make Mondays worth dancing about, with a killer drag show at 11pm.

Network Mondays Azul Lounge, One Tillman Pl; www.inhousetalent.com. 9pm, $5. Hip-hop, R&B, and spoken word open mic, plus featured performers.

Spliff Sessions Tunnel Top. 10pm, free. DJs MAKossa, Kung Fu Chris, and C. Moore spin funk, soul, reggae, hip-hop, and psychedelia on vinyl.

TUESDAY 6

ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP

Chris Ayer, Steph Johnson Hotel Utah. 8pm, $10.

Bane, Trash Talk, Foundation, Grace Alley Thee Parkside. 8pm, $12.

Billy Bragg Great American Music Hall. 8pm, $30.

Busdriver, Themselves, Nocando Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $12.

Cave Singers, Lightning Dust Independent. 8pm, $14.

Elm, Higuma, New Red Sun Hemlock Tavern. 9pm, $6.

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

School of Seven Bells, Warpaint, Phantogram Slim’s. 8pm, $15.

Stratovarius, Pagans Mind Regency Ballroom. 8pm, $30.

JAZZ/NEW MUSIC

Dave Parker Quintet Rasselas Jazz. 8pm.

"Jazz Mafia Tuesdays" Coda. 9pm, $7. With Joe Bagale.

Kaweh Yoshi’s San Francisco. 8pm, $22.

Ricardo Scales Top of the Mark. 6:30pm, $5.

FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY

Suzanne Cronin and friends Plough and Stars. 9pm, free.

Gema, Terroritmo Elbo Room. 9pm, $7.

Tim Holt West Portal Library, 190 Lenox, SF; (415) 355-2886. 6:30pm, free. A performance of American history through folk songs.

Tina Dico Café du Nord. 8:30pm, $15.

DANCE CLUBS

DJ Ism Boom Boom Room. 9:30pm, free.

Drunken Monkey Annie’s Social Club. 9pm, free. Rotating DJs and shot specials.

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

La Escuelita Pisco Lounge, 1817 Market, SF; (415) 874-9951. 7pm, free. DJ Juan Data spinning gay-friendly, Latino sing-alongs but no salsa or reggaeton.

Mixology Aunt Charlie’s Lounge, 133 Turk, (415) 441-2922. 10pm, $2. DJ Frantik mixes with the science and art of music all night.

Rock Out Karaoke! Amnesia. 7:30pm. With Glenny Kravitz.

Share the Love Trigger, 2344 Market, SF; (415) 551-CLUB. 5pm, free. With DJ Pam Hubbuck spinning house.

Womanizer Bar on Church. 9pm. With DJ Nuxx.

Events listings

-
0

Events listings are compiled by Paula Connelly. Submit items for the listings at listings@sfbg.com.

WEDNESDAY 30

Where the Wild Things Are Metreon Theater, 101 4th St., SF; www.826valencia.org. 7pm, $75. Enjoy a special screening of Where the Wild Things Are followed by a Q and A discussion with director Spike Jonze and screenwriter Dave Eggers. All proceeds to benefit 826 Valencia.

THURSDAY 01

BAY AREA

Night Bazaar Jack London Square, Broadway at Embarcadero, Oak; oaklandunwrapped.org. 5:30pm, free. Enjoy this nighttime market organized in the festive tradition of Italian village fairs, German holiday markets, and Moroccan bazaars. Featuring local artisans, merchants, music, ice skating, and more.

FRIDAY 02

Clash of the Heroes Bayfront Theater, Building B, Fort Mason Center, SF; (415) 474-6776. Fri.-Sat. 8pm, Sun. 7pm; $20. Join BATS Improv troupe for a competition between improve teams performing scenes, games, and musical numbers which will be scored by judges.

Gandhi Birthday Poetry Reading Gandhi Statue, San Francisco Ferry Building, foot of Mission and Market Streets, SF; (510) 845-5481. 4:30pm, free. Attend a poetry reading on the bay to celebrate the 140th anniversary of Gandhi’s birth followed by a walk to the Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial in Yerba Buena Gardens.

Oktoberfest By the Bay Pier 48, San Francisco Waterfront, across from AT&T park, SF; 1-888-746-7522. Fri. 3pm-Midnight, Sat. 11am-5pm, Sat. 6pm-Midnight, Sun. 11am-6pm; $30-35. Bring the spirit of Germany to the Bay Area at this festival featuring great beer, German food, and authentic German music. Tickets cover admission and entertainment only.

Redefining the Universe Herbst Theater, 401 Van Ness, SF; (415) 392-4400. Fri. 8pm, Sat. 10am, Sat. 1:30pm; $20-100. In honor of the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s first use of the telescope, Humanities West is presenting a two-day program of lectures, discussions, music, and dance presentations titled, Copernicus, Galileo, and Kepler: Redefining our Place in the Universe.

SATURDAY 03

Fall Garden Festival Strybing Arboretum, San Francisco Botanical Garden, 9th Ave. at Lincoln, Golden Gate Park, SF; (415) 661-1316. 10am, free. Garden lovers and gardeners can enjoy a full day of activities and demonstrations about plants and gardening from local horticultural and conservation organizations.

Heroes of the Environment Green Arcade, 1680 Market, SF; (415) 431-6800. 5pm, free. Hear author Harriet Rohmer discuss her new book Heroes of the Environment: True Stories of People Who Are Helping to Protect Our Planet with special guest Erica Fernandez, the 14 year old who helped stop an offshore mining operation.

Hispanic Heritage Day Mission Branch Library, 300 Bartlett, SF; (415) 355-2800. Noon, free. Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month at the Mission Branch library with dance and music from Mexico, a presentation about the history of Argentinean tango, bilingual poetry, and more.

LovEvolution Parade starts at Market and 2nd St. and ends at Civic Center Plaza for a dance music festival, SF; www.sflovevolution.org. Parade starts at noon, free; festival from noon-8pm, $10. If you like to dance, people watch, and dress colorfully, check out this celebration of music and love featuring a diverse line up of dance music DJs.

Open Studios Preview SOMArts Main Gallery, 934 Brannan, SF; (415) 861-9838. 7:30pm, $60. Get your Open Studios engine revving by being the first to view the SF Open Studios Exhibition, featuring work from over 400 SF Open Studios artists. Admission includes open bar and creative cuisine.

Original Plumbing Seventh Heart, 1593 Market, SF; www.originalplumbing.com. 3pm, free. Attend the release party for the first issue or Original Plumbing magazine titled The Bedroom Issue. The magazine seeks to document the diversity within the female-to-male transgender community with photos, essays, personal narratives, and more.

Sandcastle Contest Ocean Beach, near Cliff House, SF; (415) 512-1899. 10am, free. This year’s theme, Stories in the Sand: Classic Children’s Books, promises to unearth giant monsters and characters. Participate in the community sandcastle building area for a $5-10 suggested donation and help raise money for the arts in Bay Area schools.

SUNDAY 04

Castro Street Faire Castro at Market, SF; (415) 841-1824. 11am, $5 suggested donation. "Come Get Hitched" at this years Castro Street Fair and enjoy a wedding party, music and dance performances, art, a dating game, and more. Proceeds from admission and vendors go toward charitable causes important to the Castro Community.

TUESDAY 06

Margaret Atwood Herbst Theater, 401 Van Ness, SF; (415) 392-4400. 8pm, $20. Poet, novelist, and social historian Margaret Atwood is hosting an evening of music, performance, and readings from and inspired by her new novel The Year of the Flood.

Noam Chomsky Commonwealth Club, 2nd floor, 595 Market, SF; (415) 597-6700. 6pm, $18. Hear world-renowned intellectual Noam Chomsky discuss how the masses are kept in line and how to remain a freethinking, active citizen.


Tornado Rider: Don’t call ’em mellow cello

-
2

By Molly Freedenberg

tornadoriderbyguru_0909.jpg
(From L to R): Graham Terry, Rushad Eggleston, and Scott Manke cast “sound tornados all over the world.” Photo by Guru Khalsa.

Tornado Rider isn’t just a great band name – it’s an apt metaphor for the three-piece musical phenomenon led by vocalist, cellist, and force of nature Rushad Eggleston. The often spandex-clad frontman wields his sticker-covered cello the way many before him have done with electric guitars – including leaps, jumps, and dramatic perches upon speakers – as he and Scott Manke (drums) and Graham Terry (bass and vocals) produce a unique, danceable sound that has more in common with punk rock than any other musical genre. Afraid you’ll have a hard time taking a punk band led by a classical instrument seriously? Don’t worry – Tornado Rider, though seriously virtuosic musically, delivers every show with an eye for spectacle and a sense of humor. After all, crowd favorites include songs with the lines “Oh no here comes a dinosaur!” and “I am the goat God,” and all band members perform in some version of outrageous (and usually uncoordinated) costume. Catch the whirling sound dervishes, if you can, before they head out on their national tour.

Tornado Rider
Fri, Oct 2, 9pm
$8-$10
Red Devil Lounge
1695 Polk, SF.
www.myspace.com/tornadoriderband

Editorial: How an SF online newspaper can succeed

-
3

No number of part-time bloggers and citizen journalists will ever be able to perform the watchdog role of a fully-staffed newspaper.But the new web-based publication “can’t just be about getting the old band together for another tour.”

EDITORIAL Dave Iverson, host of KQED’s Friday Forum show, introduced the Sept. 25 program with a pretty obvious comment: "Conversations about the future of journalism, and newspapers in particular, are rarely optimistic affairs." He went on to describe the new effort by Warren Hellman, KQED, and the UC Berkeley journalism school to create a new media outlet in San Francisco (a story that broke first in the Guardian‘s politics blog).

The guests, including Neil Henry, dean of the j-school; Carl Hall, the former San Francisco Chronicle reporter; and Jeff Clarke, president of KQED; talked in vague platitudes about the big new plans — and then spent much of the time defending and lauding the Chronicle, which one guest called "a great paper."

Street Threads: Look of the Day

-
0

SFBG photog Ariel Soto scoops SF street fashion. See the previous Look of the Day here.

Today’s Look: Gavin, City College, Ocean Campus

Gavin0909.jpg

Tell us about your look: “My shoes are from Hong Kong.”

Mainstream journalists defensive about start-up

-
2

By Steven T. Jones

Reactions by many mainstream media journalists to the formation of the Bay Area News Project – a nonprofit news operation supported by KQED, the UC Berkeley School of Journalism, California Newspaper Guild, financier Warren Hellman, and possibly The New York Times – have been hostile, petty, dismissive, self-serving, and misleading.

It’s no wonder the public has turned away from big newspapers and is clamoring for media reform. Rather than focusing on the public benefits of more journalism, mainstream media journalists seem to have adopted the media consolidation mindset of their corporate masters.

A central theme of the criticism has been wariness of competition. The SF Appeal today reports on a memo to San Francisco Chronicle staff written by Metro Editor Audrey Cooper in which she vows “to smash whomever is naive enough to poke their noses in our market.”

Friday’s Chronicle story on the news, which was buried back in the business section and written by James Temple, frets, “some believe it could also threaten the remaining local news industry.” That trope was also sounded in an East Bay Express blog post by Robert Gammon (formerly of the Oakland Tribune, which is part of the anti-competitive MediaNews empire) entitled “UC Berkeley Threatens Bay Area Journalism.”

Yet there’s a rather obvious central flaw to their arguments: the nonprofit project won’t be competing for advertising revenue, so it won’t force “Bay Area news organizations to make further cuts to stay competitive,” as Gammon claims. Journalists competing to do better and better work is the kind of healthy competition that benefits everyone and shouldn’t cost anyone their jobs.

LAFCo and SFPUC joint meeting: The clock is ticking

-
0

By Rebecca Bowe

tide clock.jpg

In the next few years, San Francisco residents will have the opportunity to switch to electricity that is publicly owned, more environmentally friendly, and either the same price or cheaper than power supplied by Pacific Gas & Electric Co. — if all goes according to plan.

That’s turning into a big “if.”

At a joint meeting held between the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo) and San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) last Friday, LAFCo chair Sup. Ross Mirkarimi tried his best to start a fire under everyone’s rear. Clean Power SF, a public power program that will supplant PG&E in the city, had better get into gear without any foot-dragging or hesitation, Mirkarimi warned.

What’s the hurry? A proposed, PG&E-backed statewide ballot measure has cast a pall over Clean Power SF and other municipalities’ efforts at crafting public power alternatives, or Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) programs.

The PG&E-backed ballot measure would require 66 percent of voter approval before any local government could spend so much as a dime establishing a CCA, effectively creating an insurmountable hurdle. If successful, the ballot measure would snuff out any PG&E competition before it even caught on. The utility is poised to spend millions collecting signatures and pushing it through, and it has until Dec. 21 to gather the 694,354 signatures needed to place it on the ballot next year.

Street Threads: Look of the Day

-
0

SFBG photog Ariel Soto scoops SF street fashion. See the previous Look of the Day here.

Today’s Look: Alanna, City College, Ocean Campus

Alanna0909.jpg

Tell us about your look: This sweater is my grandma’s and it’s a really old Guess. The shoes are my mom’s.”

‘San Francisco Bay Blues’ revisited: Moving back to Jesse Fuller

-
0

jesse fuller sml 092709.jpg

JESSE FULLER
Move on Down the Line
(Fledg’ling)

By Kimberly Chun

He was “the Lone Cat,” for sure. Bay Area blues-folk 12-string guitarist and vocalist Jesse Fuller went by that moniker back in the day — he died in 1976 at 80 — when he plied his one-man band (including his fotdella, a foot-operated hammer-and-pedal string bass of his own invention, and harmonica-kazoo-cymbals-washboard setup) on the streets of San Francisco.

The self-described “folk songster” spent years riding the rails after leaving his native Georgia, arrived in SF to work its shipyards as a wartime welder, and later opened an Oakland shoeshine parlor. He also penned blues-folk standard “San Francisco Bay Blues,” which went on to be covered by everyone from Ramblin’ Jack Elliott and Bob Dylan to Eric Clapton and Paul McCartney. Fuller certainly displays an inviting feline ease on the original version of that number on the lovingly assembled Move on Down the Line, supplemented by notes by music maven Joe Boyd and filled out with a number of tracks that aren’t on other Fuller discs in print. The songwriter’s version is the definitive ode to the city: brisk, breezy, driven by his evocative, supple drawl and bring-it-all-home kazoo solo. It’s the finale to a quirky, compelling, and essential document of a now-less-than-recognized piece of SF music history — a part of the Southern blues tradition that carved out his own place by the Bay.

Getting blurry and cross-eyed at Tauba Auerbach’s Deitch Projects exhibit

-
0

By Spencer Young

SF-gone-NY artist Tauba Auerbach, who has a keen obsession with language systems and structures, departs (slightly) from the well-worn two-tones of her 50/50 series in the current anagrammatically-titled exhibit “HERE AND NOW/AND NOWHERE.” Showcased at the ever-so-hip Deitch Projects, these new works dazzle with optical trickery and viewer interaction. The stars of the show (aside from the elephant-like organ that stands obtrusively in the gallery’s center) are the seemingly innocuous “Crumple Paintings” that hang all the way in the back. I say seemingly because at first glance the canvases look crumpled, but deeper inspection of their disorienting visual static reveals they are rife with polka dots.

In a previous exhibit, Auerbach explained this work as a confrontation of the “threshold between order and chaos, or between pattern and randomness,” wherein “it’s never a discreet line” and “maybe these states overlap or maybe they don’t really exist in a pure way.” She also suggests a 2-D and 3-D interactive experience new to her work that develops between viewer and object. Hence the need to be near or far to see both sides.

taubacrumple.jpg
Tauba Auerbach, Crumple VII, 2009, acrylic and inkjet on canvas, 96 x 128 inches

If I understand correctly, from a distance the “Crumple Paintings” are meant to represent chaos/randomness and a contoured 3-D experience, but up close bring orderliness/pattern, flat/2-D. However, neither is necessarily accurate, because it’s all a matter of perspective, based on where you’re standing. In other words, it’s all relative. Check. But isn’t this too easy and rigid of an analysis — much like the clean nicety of an anagram where nothing gets left out, just rearranged? If so, isn’t it then a return to the same formulaic structure of her 50/50 pattern pieces? Or has a blurring evolved between the two, as exemplified in the actual visual blur that happens when physically approaching the work?

Media reformers welcome new SF voice

-
13

By Steven T. Jones

The Bay Area News Project – a new media collaboration that will be formally announced tomorrow, but which we wrote about earlier today – is already generating excitement from San Franciscans who have long been concerned about the journalism industry’s decline.

“I very much like the idea of another locally owned and edited news voice in San Francisco. The Guardian and I wish them well,” Bay Guardian Editor and Publisher Bruce B. Brugmann said.

While principal investor Warren Hellman discussed the project with the Guardian, none of the other local partners – KQED, UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, the Media Workers Guild, and the consulting firm McKinsey & Company, which is handling the managing editor hiring process – returned our calls or were willing to discuss the project before its formal announcement in the morning.

Yet the long-rumored news was greeted warmly by local media innovators, including some who have been closely watching the scene and waiting to see what Hellman and company would do. “I’m absolutely thrilled that significant resources are being put into an alternative business model for the local media because it’s sorely needed,” said Michael Stoll, project director for The Public Press, a noncommercial news outlet that launched earlier this year after years in development. “It represents the first hopeful sign in a long time that watchdog journalism is on the rebound.”

Street Threads: Look of the Day

-
0

SFBG photog Ariel Soto scoops SF street fashion. See the previous Look of the Day here.

Today’s Look: Chynna, Judson and Forester

Chynna0909.jpg

Tell us about your look: “I work at Crossroads and these are all secondhand.”

Hot sex events this week: September 23-29

-
0

Compiled by Molly Freedenberg

FSF2009_poster_theme_0909.jpg
Strap ’em on, lace ’em up, and grease ’em down: It’s time for every leather-head’s favorite holiday.

————-

>> Leather Week at Chaps
Visit the home of leather, gear, kink, and cruise during the days leading up to The Big Event. Get Cheap Ass drink specials if you wear your jockstrap to Locker Room on Wednesday, celebrate the HellHole Club Inferno DVD release at Red Hanky on Thursday, join the 2nd annual Stompers Boot Pig Party on Friday or the HotBoots annual party on Saturday, and recover on Monday with drink specials.

Wed/23-Mon/28, times and prices vary.
Chaps
1225 Folsom, SF
www.chapsbarsanfrancisco.com

————-

>> Leather Week at Powerhouse
Gear up for Sunday with dirty, sexy demos, gear, and hands on training with Mr. S Leather on Wednesday, have a boot-lickin’ good time on Thursday, ogle titleholders on Friday, get some Nips in the Afternoon on Saturday before gettin’ Strapped and Ready later that night, and then start your Sunday right by stopping by at 10am.

Wed/23-Sun/27, times and prices vary.
Powerhouse
1347 Folsom, SF
www.powerhouse-sf.com

————-

>> Naughty Piano Bar with Kitten on the Keys
Hear the talented singer/songwriter perform the songs that made her famous on the international burlesque scene.

Thurs/24, 8:30pm. Free.
Rite Spot Cafe
2099 Folsom, SF
www.suzanneramsey.net

————-

SCENE: B.A.S.S. pours it on

-
0

Interview by Billy Jam. From SCENE: The Guardian Guide to Nightlife and Glamour, on stands now.

sc-bass.jpg
B.A.S.S. ladies: Pam the Funkstress and DJ Zita, photographed by Keeney + Law

The B.A.S.S. (Bay Area Sistah Sound) Crew, which bills itself as "the Bay’s Premier Lady DJ Crew," kicked into gear in March 2008 with its first Everlasting B.A.S.S. party at Milk in the Haight. The wildly popular SF monthly, which prides itself on presenting all-female DJ and promotion talents, has now found a home at the lovely Poleng Lounge. Every fourth Saturday, founding member DJ Zita and Pam the Funkstress (formerly of the hip-hop legends the Coup) serve up a nonstop mix of hip hop, funk, soul, and dancehall. DJ Neta, currently busy being a new mom and finishing her PhD, and promoter Fiyah Lilly are also part of the Sistahood. Over the past 18 months Everlasting B.A.S.S.’s hot guest spinners have included DJ Shortee, Deeandroid, Celskiii, Melina Jones, and Conscious Daughters. On Sept. 26, DJ Similak Chyld and emcee Josie Stingray will join the mix.

SFBG What sets Everlasting B.A.S.S. apart from other parties?

Pam the Funkstress It’s all female DJs, all female emcees, and female promoters, too. It’s a whole lady thing. And our music selection is a lot different from what you would normally hear at a regular club. I mean you hear the club stuff, but Zita plays a lot of the old school stuff, and I play a lot more of the newer stuff but at the same time I play a lot of ’90s. But I don’t seem to play music that is derogatory toward women. Like with, say, Too $hort, I will play "Short But Funky" or "Blow the Whistle," but I won’t play some of his album classics that I know are hits but are derogatory.

Street Threads: Look of the Day

-
0

SFBG photog Ariel Soto scoops SF street fashion. See the previous Look of the Day here.

Today’s Look: Virginia, Willard North and McAllister

Virginia0909.jpg

Tell us about your look: “I need to do my laundry!”

Godsend

-
0

a&eletters@sfbg.com

SONIC REDUCER God Is Good, the name of Om’s new long-player on Drag City, may run the risk of landing the heavy, heavy drone dealers in the gospel section of your clueless big-box retailer, but founder-bassist Al Cisneros couldn’t help the tug of title: "To me, at this point, in the journey of my life, that’s really all I can say."

The soft-spoken, spectacled musician, all in black with his instrument tucked beside him, laughs a little — and who can blame him? The longtime Bay Area fixture has been tackling some major changes in the past year. I almost don’t recognize him, now shorn of his long, black tresses, amid the bustling throng and espresso-machine groan of Muddy Waters at 16th and Valencia streets. He waves goodbye to his wife, whom he followed last year to San Luis Obispo, close to where she’s attending graduate school. In ’08 he also said farewell to the drummer he’s played with since high school, Chris Haikus, who quit in the middle of the last Om tour and retired from music. And after our chat, Cisneros will drive up to Portland, Ore., a commute he now makes regularly in order to practice with Om’s new drummer Emil Amos. Cisneros, who, with Hakius, once made up two-thirds of the legendary doom/stoner metal trio Sleep, is fully awake and in motion — and everything appears to be falling effortlessly into place.

"I have to keep playing," he explains. "I have music all the time, and it has to come out." To that end, Amos, who’s also in Grails, slipped into the drummer’s seat perfectly. "His playing style spoke my language directly when I first saw him playing drums," Cisneros murmurs. "The specific lyricism that he puts into his drumming, aside from the flow itself — which is beautiful. It was absolutely what I’d hear inside in many riffs and many parts I have, the complement of what I hear. There are certain fills, the way he’ll sit in a beat, the way he’ll be with a beat — it felt so familiar."

So he called up Amos on the chance that he would be able to work on a scheduled Sub Pop single. The two had already bonded during late-night rock-philosophy jam sessions while Om and the Grails were on tour a few years ago. After each show, Cisneros, Amos, and Hakius would hang out and analyze everything from dub to Billy Cobham — "the extremely nerdy academic aspects of the records we grew up with," the amicable Amos recalls by phone, taking a break from his day job at a Portland homeless shelter. "We’d get into philosophical debates, almost Platonic dissections of, when a verse ends and you go into chorus, what do you do on drums in this specific situation, in 1971? It was just this weird way of talking about music as a metaphor for spiritual education. We’re obsessed to that level. I think Al’s brain just thought, who can I trust?"

Remarkably, Cisneros — a man who has a Sanskrit passage from the Bhagavad-Gita tattooed on the left hand he uses for fingering — was right on, and though the two had never played together, a three-day rehearsal in Amos’ basement yielded the 7-inch. The Steve Albini-recorded God bears out the partnership, picking up the tempo, folding in tamboura and flute, and coming close to realizing the sounds in Cisneros’ head — the only other instance, he says, occurred with Sleep’s Holy Mountain (Earache, 1993), and "in the best way, we didn’t know what we were doing. It happened to us." Still, he offers, chuckling, "I don’t want to be in Sleep for the rest of my life."

For metal monks, as well as spiritual disciples of any order, the key is to focus on the practice — not fixate on whether or not Amos has a beard, a discussion the drummer says he’s found on some online forums. "I’ve never seen another band that gets so much attention about changing one bass guitar pedal or overdubbing one extra tambourine," Amos observes. "Nobody would say anything if Men at Work switched out a bass, but in this band, there’s the sense of trust between an artist and audience. It’s a delicate thing."

And it sounds like Cisneros has found an understanding new foil in his ever-evolving dialogue. "It’s a joy to work with Emil," he says softly. "The interplay between the instruments — the very premise of having a duo is to have a conversation between the instruments, and it literally happens nonstop when we play."

OM

With Lichens

Thurs/24, 8 p.m., $15

Independent

628 Divisadero, SF

www.theindependentsf.com

Seattle slew

-
0

Montreal-based turntablist and producer Kid Koala (born Eric San) is the type of artist you can expect to take some formidably playful risks. Known for his virtuoso skills scratching and mixing on the wheels of steel, back in 1996 he was the first musician in North America signed to the U.K.’s boundary-busting label Ninja Tunes. Arriving in the wake of a fantastic mixtape, San’s debut hip-hop-jazz-funk crossover Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (Ninja Tunes, 2000), featured a video game and a surreal comic book he designed himself. For him, the creative impulse is dedicated to telling a compelling and unlikely story. Free for download at www.nufonia.com, The Slew’s 100% — San’s self-released fourth effort in collaboration with long time friend Dynomite D — continues this tradition.

San and Dynomite (born Dylan Frombach) had discussed collaborating on a full-length project ever since vibing together on a couple spacey jazz singles about a decade ago (peep their "Third World Lover"). Thus, when Frombach was enlisted by his cousin Jay Rowlands to produce the score for a feature documentary on elusive Seattle psych-rock recluse Jack Slew, he brought San along. That was four and a half years ago. The documentary has since fallen through, but the score evolved independently into a masterfully abrasive and chest-rumbling soundscape. "We wanted to do some Black Sabbath meets the Bomb Squad," San tells me, laughing.

Initially the loosely-defined "Black Squad" duo gathered concrete inspiration from Jack Slew’s unreleased material — an ample body of work, thick with ferocious dusty breaks, bluesy vocals, and fuzzed-out riffs. Slew has a gravelly yet piercing voice that cuts right through the drums. He sings knowingly of freedom lost and the fragile sentiments of an ape trying to become a man. It’s rich material that just begs for sampling. San and Frombach reassemble the parts to produce a fresh perspective on the dangerously free spirit of the outlaw. "We needed a car chase scene, and a jail break scene, and then we ran with it," says San. Indeed, the album roves widely and digs deep, concluding with the epic moral struggle of "A Battle of Heaven & Hell."

Despite a cinematic narrative akin to a rogue spaghetti western, The Slew nearly succumbs to the usual pitfalls faced by turntablist albums. In the aesthetic sphere of turntablism, the scratching and abrupt pattern changes can sound gluttonous and overtly technical, warping the sonic landscape into a show of narcissism. "On the one hand [100%] is super-psychedelic, loud, and banging," San explains. "On the other hand" — he laughs — "it’s the most masochistic, purist turntable record I’ve ever made."

However, what saves the effort from sadism as well is that the Slew’s hip-hop inspired pastiche takes cues from authentic recording techniques of early ’70s rock. San and Frombach dove into their history books to study the methods for producing the screeching drums and sandblasted guitar riffs of that era. To really polish the coarsely hypnotic sound, they asked Mario Caldato Jr. — the engineering innovator behind the Beastie Boys’ Paul’s Boutique (Capitol, 1989) among others — to master the effort. The result is an interweaving of pummeling breaks and wa-wa guitar nastiness fractured by effects modulations and the emboldened seams of mixing and scratching. And it hits loud.

Koala and Dynomite originally entertained the idea of performing 100% live with 14 turntables. Fortunately, they scrapped that idea in favor of working with Chris Ross and Myles Heskett, the former rhythm section of Australia’s the Wolfmothers. Ross and Heskett play bass guitars, drums, and organ while Kid Koala and mad scientist partner P-Love (Paolo Kapunan) handle six turntables. San had to build "bass-proof, shock-proof turntables" to face the monster loudness that will ensue on the Slew’s two-and-a-half-week North American tour. "We bought spring-loaded tone arms and made custom vinyl to cue faster, so we can just drop the needle and go," he says. "We are going to just cut loose."

KID KOALA PRESENTS: THE SLEW

With Adira Amran

Fri/25, 9 p.m. (doors 8:30 p.m.), $15

The Independent

628 Divisadero, SF

(415) 771-1421

www.independentsf.com

Flesh tones

-
0

markeb@sfbg.com

Like a cold, wet pinky, porn has truly inserted itself into every facet of our lives — even our nightlife. Gay porn, especially, is big business in the Bay, and besides the endless stream of between-flicks go-go boys this provides many mainstream gay clubs and a host of porn-themed parties, most featuring DJ Pornstar, it also draws a lot of international hopefuls to our fair shores, maintaining some diversity on the homoclub scene. You wouldn’t believe the amount of Swiss buttboys I’ve met at the disco, child.

But what about the music of gay porn? Has it moved beyond the stereotypical boom-chaka-wahow-wahow to reflect our hip-hop-infused, electronic reality? I recently talked via hot pink iPhone with The minor9 (www.theminor9.com), a young production duo who’ve been working with Raging Stallion for the past few months, helping to infuse that megastudio’s soundtracks with a little contemporary flavor, from the neo-tango trappings of the forthcoming Hombre to the trip-hop trimmings of shoe-and-weed fetish flick High Tops, which features a sampled recipe for marmalade(!).

Minor9 members Marcus and Chris stepped into the giant shoes of legend JD Slater, a cofounder of Raging Stallion whose soundtrack work helped bring rock, ambient, and industrial sounds into the porn mainstream, and who recently retired to concentrate on his own music. "It’s amazing the amount of opportunity composing for porn provides," says Marcus. "Obviously we’re not out to make a big artistic statement — the director tells us his vision and we do our best to match it in the background. So no grand chord changes or cymbal crescendos at the climax. But in terms of creative outlets, you couldn’t ask for more."

"My greatest triumph was slipping some bassoon into a scene," adds Chris. The local duo share a past as independent musicians and combine live instrumentation with software hijinks to set the right backseat blow-job mood. Chris and Marcus asked me not to use their last names to avoid future employment kafuffles. So, is there still a porn stigma?

"Porn’s such a fact of life now, and my mom said, ‘That’s great!" when I told her about my new job," says Marcus. "But you never know." Chris chimes in, "Let’s put it this way. I used to be a graduate student in math. Talk about stopping a conversation dead. Now I tell people what I do and suddenly I’m the life of the party."

—————

BEARRACUDA MAGNUM

Sweaty gay leather bears packed in hairy shoulder-to-shoulder, grunting to live sets by dark duo Ejector and drag tragedy Christeene, plus electro-pop DJ Francisco Guerra. Fri/25, $10. DNA Lounge, 375 11th St., SF. www.bearracuda.com

BLOWOFF

Another hairy bear woof attack, this time on the rock remix tip, with indie hero DJs Bob Mould and Rich Morel at the first anniversary of this too-popular party. Sat/26, 10 p.m., $15. Slim’s, 333 11th St., SF. www.slims-sf.com

SISSY FIT

"Rock ‘n roll, cheap bear, and sloppy dick" brought to us by the queer punk Trans Am boys. DJs Dirty Knees and Pickle Surprise help usher in the mosh madness. Sat/26, 10 p.m., $6. Sub Mission, 2183 Mission, SF. www.myspace.com/transamtheclub

SS TRANNYSHACK

What’s better than nutso drag? Nutso drag on a boat. Try to stay seaworthy at this swingin’ who’s-who with Heklina, Dirty Sanchez, DJ Juanita More! and more. Sat/29, 8:30 p.m., $45 advance. Pier 41, SF. www.trannyshack.com

Sunrise

-
0

le.chicken.farmer@gmail.com

CHEAP EATS I take back everything I said about Kaiser. Not because the receptionist at the Oakland lab asked if my semen sample was my husband’s, and not because not one sperm was seen in said sample (although both these little details did make me smile) … but because the day after my incendiary diatribe hit the streets, causing widespread rioting or at least a knowing chuckle on the 21 Hayes bus, I got a phone call from an endocrinologist in Martinez.

A Kaiser endocrinologist, mind you.

Who was not a buffoon, mind you.

Rather, he spent more than an hour on the phone with me, which is longer talk-time than I had with my previous endocrinologist in four years, total. Whereas my previous n-doc said, and I quote, "Hormone therapy is not rocket science" (which is true, I admit, but still a pretty dumb thing to say while you are getting someone’s hormones all screwed up).

The new guy, who had researched my entire Kaiser career before he called, got it all back together, my hormones, my head … He knew every single thing about my medical past. He asked me questions no one else had ever asked, about my work, my mom, my kids, my opinions. He even asked me what my questions were, and when I said what they were, he answered them intelligently, patiently, and in detail, in many cases contradicting what other doctors had told me. An hour plus … on the phone!

While I was at work!

I’d never had a medical experience like this, where somebody both seems to care and has the time to do a thorough job of it. After we talked I got a long e-mail from him, putting it all in writing.

While we were talking, he completely rewrote my hormone regimen, likely adding 13 1/2 years to my life (just a guess). He made sure the new, safer prescription would be ready at the pharmacy of my choice by the next day. (It was!) He figured out the probable cause of my eight-week headache, effectively ending it on the spot. And, as if all that weren’t enough, he went ahead and gave me a hysterectomy.

"Excuse me?" I said.

He said he was putting it in the computer that I’d had a hysterectomy — that way I’d stop getting bugged by computerized notices and nurses about my next Pap smear.

To perform such a delicate operation over the phone seemed above and beyond the call of medicine; it bordered on miraculous. Dazzled by my new favorite doctor’s medical prowess, I neglected to mention that I actually love it when nurses try to schedule me for a Pap smear, or ask about my period, or if I’m pregnant — stuff like that. But I’m glad I didn’t say anything, because in retrospect I would gladly trade those fleeting moments of real-girl-glory for the even gloriouser distinction of having had an over-the-phone hysterectomy.

Who wouldn’t want one of those? I mean, Pap smears and periods come and go, but a hysterectomy is forever, even if you have it in a doctor’s office or operating room.

But speaking of carne asada, there’s the Sunrise Restaurant on 24th Street between Shotwell and Folsom. Judging from its name, and the extensive Latino and Americano breakfast choices on the menu, it’s more of a morning place. I went there at sunset, and wished I’d had breakfast for dinner.

The carne asada plate ($9.95) comes with black beans, rice, and salsa. OK: the steak was tough, and there’s nothing you can do about that but shake your head, maybe make a mental note to get something else next time. But: the beans and the rice really really wanted flavor. They didn’t taste like much of anything.

There are things you can do about that, one of which is called salsa. But the little tiny tin of what-they-call-salsa was surprisingly shockingly inedibly yucky.

Meaning: there won’t be a next time. When even the salsa sucks, you are sitting in an irredeemable restaurant. Or, in other words, ugh.

If it wasn’t for good old table top Tapatío, I would have gone away entirely undernourished. As it was, I went away caloried, but not much else. No nice taste in my mouth. No plan of ever returning. No good stories to tell.

SUNRISE RESTAURANT

Mon., Wed.–Thu.: 7 a.m.–8 p.m.;

Fri.–Sun.: 7 a.m.–9 p.m.

3126 24th St., SF

(415) 206-1219

Beer and wine

MC,V

L.E. Leone’s new book is Big Bend (Sparkle Street Books).

1...277278279...427Page 278 of 427

48hills.org is the official publication of the non-profit San Francisco Progressive Media Center.
Contact us: info@48hills.org