Grab your tickets to California Roots Music & Arts Festival, as it’s almost a sell out event. The leading reggae/rock music festival happens in Monterey, California with Slightly Stoopid, Rebelution, Matisyahu, The Expendables, Collie Buddz with New Kingston, The Dirty Heads, Tomorrows Bad Seeds, and many more.
Three days of exceptional live music, vendors, art, and a ton of fun; Purchase tickets here. If you miss securing your tickets, be sure to log on to the website and listen to three days of live music from some of your favorite artists.
Friday, May 24 thru Sunday, May 26 @ Monterey County Fairgrounds
Visual Arts
California Roots
The new Exploratorium opens — are the piers as good as the Palace?
As someone who was practically bottle-fed on the old Exploratorium space, I was hesitant approaching the science museum’s opening day at its new home on Pier 15 and 17. Like many other SF natives, I was attached to the old world charm and neo-classical elegance of the Palace of Fine Arts location, opened in 1969 by physics professor Frank Oppenheimer.
But consider me a convert. Where the Palace of Fine Arts’ physical layout seemed to dictate the content of the old museum, the new building, extensively rehabbed to house the famously hands-on exhibits, allows them to exist more organically. The new site now houses the largest pod of solar panels in the city, holds a magnificently vista-ed observatory, and harnesses as a heating source the Bay waters it sits above on 1800 wood and concrete pilings built around a century ago.
Paul Doherty the self-proclaimed “physicist, teacher, author, and rock climber,” has worked at the Exploratorium for 26 years, making the senior staff scientist the perfect person to lead me on a tour through the two-story space yesterday.
“We wanted it to be open, so a flood (of people) could come in, but then,” Doherty says pointing towards the Atrium, the first space visible to museum visitors. For long-time Exploratorium fans, the result is a comforting mix of the familiar and new, and as Doherty tells me for new visitors, it’s meant to be a good intro to what lies beyond. “This space here features classic Exploratorium exhibits that will show people who aren’t necessarily San Francisco natives the kinds of things that they will be experience while they’re here,” he tells me. “We wanted to showcase the best of the best.”
The atrium houses well-loved classic exhibits like “The Turn Table”, originally a physics Ph.D. thesis intended to show how a ball rolls across a spinning metal disc. When the ball crosses the “turntable”, it takes a chaotic, almost torturous path before it unexpectedly exits the table parallel to the point at which it entered.
Doherty said museum attendees, not staff, were the first to wheel coin across its surface. He picks up one of the plastic discs now part of “Turn Table” and wheels it across the moving table. “As you can see, the visitors taught us what this exhibit was really about. We watch our visitors, and we learn from them.”
Traversing the museum floor, we pick up new listeners gravitating towards Doherty’s excitement, almost as tactile at the Exploratorium’s most famous “Tactile Dome” (which will be up and running by Summer 2013). It’s enough to make you a little envious that your own workspace doesn’t inspire raptures like those of Doherty in his new digs.
For another atrium exhibit entitled “Moving Objects” (2012), by Exploratorium artist in residence Pe Lang, suspends rubber rings on vibrating rods, giving the illusion that the rings are passing through each other. “Drip Patterns” is a staff-made offering which illuminates the oozing drip of mineral oil. The effect is surprisingly artsy, and demonstrates the existence of caustics, which in differential geometry are “envelopes of rays either reflected or refracted by a manifold.” True to the spirit of the Exploratorium, no PhD is necessary to enjoy the installations — even to the uninformed onlooker, “Drip Patterns” looks cool, dispelling the idea of science-art dichotomy,
The new space’s innovations are enough to make me wish little Jessica could have seen the space. All the old favorites are present: the giant bubble-maker, live tornado capsule, artist in residence Ed Tannenbaum’s “Recollections” (1981), which freezes your image via a large scale projector in oh-so-’80s-music-video manner. These exhibits — all made in-house, as Doherty reminds me — trick you into learning, entice you into participating, and invite you to interact. I’m not eight anymore (dammit) but they made me feel like a kid again.
According to my guide, over the years, Exploratorium staff has made 2,000 exhibits. 600 are in the new space, 450 classics carried over from the Palace of Fine Arts, refurbished. 150 are brand new.
If you’re going to brave the crowds this weekend — or tonight’s continued opening ceremony celebrations — be sure to bring comfortable shoes and an open mind. If you can catch Doherty passionately explaining the mysterious behaviour of dry ice on water or the density of mineral oil suspended in light, all the better.
The Exploratorium Piers 15 and 17, SF. (415) 528-4360, www.exploratorium.edu
Music listings
Music listings are compiled by Emily Savage. Since club life is unpredictable, it’s a good idea to call ahead or check the venue’s website to confirm bookings and hours. Prices are listed when provided to us. Visit www.sfbg.com/venue-guide for venue information. Submit items for the listings at listings@sfbg.com. For further information on how to submit items for the listings, see Picks.
WEDNESDAY 17
ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP
Bad Religion, Bronx, Polar Bear Club Regency Ballroom. 8pm, $20.
Bullet for My Valentine, Halestorm, Young Guns, Stars in Stereo Warfield. 6:30pm, $32.
Debra Iyall Group, Corner Laughers, Blake Jones and the Trike Shop, Andrew Griffin 50 Mason Social House, SF; www.50masonsocialhouse.com. 8pm, free.
He is We, Before the Brave, Dylan Jakobsen Swedish American Hall. 7:30pm, $15.
Lee Huff vs Jason Marion Johnny Foley’s Dueling Pianos. 10pm, free.
Joe Buck Yourself, Viva Le Vox, Blue Diamond Fillups Thee Parkside. 8pm, $8.
Laura Mvula Cafe Du Nord. 8:30pm, $14.
Night Beats, Cool Ghouls, Primitive Hearts, Big Drag Brick and Mortar Music Hall. 9pm, $10.
Mike Reeb Brainwash Cafe, 112 Folsom, SF; www.brainwash.com. 7:30pm, free.
Savages Independent. 8pm, $15.
Terry Savastano Johnny Foley’s. 10pm, free.
Sigur Ros Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, 99 Grove, SF; www.apeconcerts.com. 8pm, $49.50.
Telescopes, LSD and the Search for God, Flavor Crystals Elbo Room. 9pm, $10.
Three O’Clock Great American Music Hall. 8pm, $30.
JAZZ/NEW MUSIC
Dink Dink Dink, Gaucho, Eric Garland’s Jazz Session Amnesia. 7pm, free.
Terry Disley’s Mini-Experience Burritt Room, 417 Stockton, SF; www.mystichotel.com. 6-9pm, free.
Freddie Hughes Royal Cuckoo, 3203 Mission, SF; www.royalcuckoo.com. 7:30-10:30pm, free.
Mike Phillips Yoshi’s SF. 8pm, $26.
Ricardo Scales Top of the Mark, 999 California, SF; www.topofthemark.com. 6:30pm, $5.
Craig Ventresco and Meredith Axelrod Cafe Divine, 1600 Stockton, SF; www.cafedivinesf.com.7-9pm, free.
FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY
Blood and Dust Plough and Stars. 9pm.
Quinn DeVeaux Rite Spot Cafe. 8:30pm, free.
Timba Dance Party Bissap Baobab, 3372 19th St, SF.; www.bissapbaobab.com 10pm, $5. With DJ Walt Diggz.
DANCE CLUBS
Booty Call Q-Bar, 456 Castro, SF; www.bootycallwednesdays.com. 9pm. Juanita MORE! and Joshua J host this dance party.
Cash IV Gold Double Dutch, 3192 16th St, SF; www.thedoubledutch.com. 9pm, free.
Coo-Yah! Slate Bar, 2925 16th St, SF; www.slate-sf.com. 10pm, free. With Vinyl Ambassador, DJ Silverback, DJs Green B and Daneekah.
Hardcore Humpday Happy Hour RKRL, 52 Sixth St, SF; (415) 658-5506. 6pm, $3.
Martini Lounge John Colins, 138 Minna, SF; www.johncolins.com. 7pm. With DJ Mark Divita.
THURSDAY 18
ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP
Anadel, All My Pretty Ones, Passenger and Pilot Bottom of the Hill. 9:30pm, $9.
Call Slim’s. 8pm, $30.
Get Dead, Shell Corporation, Uncommonmenfrommars Hemlock Tavern. 8:30pm, $10.
Kaleidoscope feat. Peter Daltry Chapel, 777 Valencia, SF; www.thechapelsf.com. 9pm, $15-$20.
Lynx, Becky Knox Brick and Mortar Music Hall. 9pm, $7-$10.
Jason Marion vs Lee Huff Johnny Foley’s Dueling Pianos. 10pm, free.
Nathan and Rachel Johnny Foley’s. 10pm, free.
Seatraffic, Silver Hands, Shortcircles DNA Lounge. 8pm, $10.
Shannon and the Clams, Memories, Emotional Thee Parkside. 9pm, $8.
Vacationer, EXRAY’S, DJ Aaron Axelsen, Epicsauce DJs Rickshaw Stop. 9pm, $10-$12.
JAZZ/NEW MUSIC
“Bill Frisell: Allen Ginsberg’s Kaddish” SFJazz Center, 201 Franklin, SF; www.sfjazz.org. 7 and 9:30pm, $40-$80.
Guerrilla Composers Guild: Percussion Project Center for New Music, 55 Taylor, SF; www.centerfornewmusic.com. 7:30pm, $8-$15.
Zakiya Hooker feat. Chris James Yoshi’s SF. 8pm, $26.
Stompy Jones Top of the Mark, 999 California, SF; www.topofthemark.com. 7:30pm, $10.
Nick Rossi Rite Spot Cafe. 9pm, free.
Chris Siebert Royal Cuckoo, 3203 Mission, SF; www.royalcuckoo.com. 7:30-10:30pm, free.
FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY
Pa’lante! Bissap Baobab, 3372 19th St, SF.; www.bissapbaobab.com 10pm, $5. With DJs Juan G, El Kool Kyle, Mr. Lucky.
Tipsy House Plough and Stars. 9pm.
DANCE CLUBS
Afrolicious Elbo Room. 9:30pm, $8. With Pleasuremaker and Senor Oz.
All 80s Thursday Cat Club. 9pm, $6 (free before 9:30pm). The best of ’80s mainstream and underground.
Ritual Temple. 10pm-3am, $5. Two rooms of dubstep, glitch, and trap music.
Tropicana Madrone Art Bar. 9pm, free. Salsa, cumbia, reggaeton, and more with DJs Don Bustamante, Apocolypto, Sr. Saen, Santero, and Mr. E.
FRIDAY 19
ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP
A Tribe Called Red, Brogan Bentley Thee Parkside. 9pm, $10.
Buffalo Tooth, Organs, Funs, Sweat Lodge Hemlock Tavern. 8:30pm, $6.
California Honeydrops, Freddie Hughes Band Great American Music Hall. 9pm, $16.
Cypress Hill, Berner Regency Ballroom. 8pm, $42.
Filligar Cafe Du Nord. 9:30pm, $12.
Gaslight Anthem, Matt Mays Warfield. 9pm, $32.
Keith Harken, Trace Bunday Swedish American Hall. 7:30pm, $18.
King Khan and BBQ Show Slim’s. 9pm, $16.
Lee Vilensky Trio Rite Spot Cafe. 9pm, free.
Mother Mother, Birdmonster, Yassou Benedict Bottom of the Hill. 9:30pm, $14.
Tambo Rays, Girls in Suede, Travis Hayes, DJ Emily Rose DNA Lounge. 9:30pm, $8.
Nathan Temby, Lee Huff, Jason Marion Johnny Foley’s Dueling Pianos. 10pm, free.
Tinariwen Chapel, 777 Valencia, SF; www.thechapelsf.com. 9pm, $55.
Top Secret Band Johnny Foley’s. 10pm, free.
Wombats, Colourist Fillmore. 9pm, $25.
Young Prisms, Sisu, Chasms Elbo Room. 9:30pm, $8.
JAZZ/NEW MUSIC
Audium 1616 Bush, SF; www.audium.org. 8:30pm, $20. Theater of sound-sculptured space.
Raquel Bitton, Rebeca Mauleon Yoshi’s SF. 8pm, $30.
Black Market Jazz Orchestra Top of the Mark, 999 California, SF; www.topofthemark.com. 9pm, $10.
Kyle Bruckmann, Aran Shelton, Anton Hatwich and Mark Clifford Center for New Music, 55 Taylor, SF; www.centerfornewmusic.com. 8pm, $8-$12.
“Goodbye Taxes, Hello Mary Jane Music and Burlesque Party” Brick and Mortar Music Hall. 9pm, $10. With Jugtown Pirates, Three Times Bad, and more.
Hammond Organ Soul Jazz, Blues Party Royal Cuckoo, 3203 Mission, SF; www.royalcuckoo.com. 7:30-10:30pm, free.
FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY
Flamenco del Oro Emerald Tablet, 80 Fresno, SF; www.flamencodeloro.com. 8pm, $10. With Kina Mendez, Gopal Slavonic, and more.
Matt Jaffee and the Distractions Dolores Park Cafe, 501 Dolores, SF; www.doloresparkcafe.com. 7:30-10pm.
Bernie Jungle and Virgil Shaw Lost Church, 65 Capp, SF; www.thelostchurch.com. 8pm, $10.
Queer Cumbia Bissap Baobab, 3372 19th St, SF.; www.bissapbaobab.com 8pm, $3-$7. With DJs Adan Atl, Rosa La Rumorosa, Jiggles and Alumiux.
Renegade String Band, Samantha Harlow, Elli Perry Plough and Stars. 9pm.
DANCE CLUBS
Back to the USSR Retro Dance Party Rickshaw Stop. 9pm, $10-$15. With DJs Ze’ev, Luka, and more.
Joe Lookout, 3600 16th St.,SF; www.lookoutsf.com. 9pm. Eight rotating DJs, shirt-off drink specials.
OK Hole Amnesia. 9pm. With Bronze, Dangerous Boys Club, DJs.
Old School JAMZ El Rio. 9pm. Fruit Stand DJs spinning old school funk, hip-hop, and R&B.
Paris to Dakar Little Baobab, 3388 19th St, SF; (415) 643-3558. 10pm, $5. Afro and world music with rotating DJs including Stepwise, Steve, Claude, Santero, and Elembe.
Thirsty Third Fridays Atmosphere, 447 Broadway, SF; www.a3atmosphere.com. 10pm, $10.
SATURDAY 20
ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP
Beach Day, Chains of Love, Bam!Bam! Rickshaw Stop. 9pm, $10.
Black Clothes Pointy Shoes, Whoosie What’s It’s, Imperils Thee Parkside. 9pm, $7.
Freak Tank, Voco, Rad Thee Parkside. 4pm, free.
Fusion Johnny Foley’s. 10pm, free.
Lee Huff, Jason Marion, Nathan Temby Johnny Foley’s Dueling Pianos. 10pm, free.
Infected Mushroom, Randy Seidman, Liam Shy Regency Ballroom. 9pm, $35.
Phil Manley Life Coach, 3 Leafs, One and Future Band Hemlock Tavern. 9:30pm, $8.
Michael McIntosh Rite Spot Cafe. 9pm, free.
Moonalice Slim’s. 7:20pm, $4.20.
Rad Cloud, Massenger, No///Se Amnesia. 7pm.
Chuck Ragan, Dave Hause, Tim McIlrath, Jenny O. Great American Music Hall. 9pm, $20.
Shinobu, Wild Moth, Exquisites, Great Apes Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $9.
Ronnie Size Independent. 9pm, $25.
Speed of Light, Burnt Reynolds Bender’s, 806 S. Van Ness, SF; www.bendersbar.com. 10pm, $5.
“Stepsister Fundraiser with Ty Segall (solo)” Chapel, 777 Valencia, SF; www.thechapelsf.com. 9pm, $15
White Mystery, Warm Soda, Burnt Ones, Glitz, Cumstain, Sir Lord Von Raven Brick and Mortar Music Hall. 4:20pm, $10.
JAZZ/NEW MUSIC
Audium 1616 Bush, SF; www.audium.org. 8:30pm, $20. Theater of sound-sculptured space.
Black Market Jazz Orchestra Top of the Mark, 999 California, SF; www.topofthemark.com. 9pm, $10.
“Bill Frisell: Hunter S. Thompson’s The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved” SFJazz Center, 201 Franklin, SF; www.sfjazz.org. 7:30pm, $40-$80.
Hammond Organ Soul Jazz, Blues Party Royal Cuckoo, 3203 Mission, SF; www.royalcuckoo.com. 7:30-10:30pm, free.
FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY
Kiss the Sky Bissap Baobab, 3372 19th St, SF.; www.bissapbaobab.com 10pm, $5. With DJs Nina Sol and Emancipacion.
Teruhiko Saigo Yoshi’s SF. 7pm, $35; 9pm, $25.
DANCE CLUBS
Bootie SF: Bootchella DNA Lounge. 9pm, $10-$15. With Smash-Up Derby, Monistat, Meikee Magnetic, and more.
Fringe Madrone Art Bar. 9pm, $5. Indie music video dance party with DJ Blondie K and subOctave.
Kinky Disko Underground SF, 424 Haight; www.kinkydisko.com. 10pm, $5. With DJs Rotten Robbie and Johnny Sonic.
Paris to Dakar Little Baobab, 3388 19th St, SF; (415) 643-3558. 10pm, $5. Afro and world music with rotating DJs.
Radio Franco Bissap, 3372 19th St, SF; (415) 826 9287. 6 pm. Rock, Chanson Francaise, Blues. Senegalese food and live music.
Saturday Night Soul Party Elbo Room. 10pm, $5-$10.
Secret Society of the Sonic Six Cafe Du Nord. 11:30pm, $7. With Lady Bear and Her Dark Dolls, DJ Le Perv, Omar Perez, Rachel Tension.
Smiths Party Slate Bar, 2925 16th St, SF; www.slate-sf.com. 10pm, $5. Sounds of the Smiths, Morrissey, the Cure, and New Order.
Wild Nights Kok BarSF, 1225 Folsom, SF; www.kokbarsf.com. 9pm, $3. With DJ Frank Wild.
SUNDAY 21
ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP
“A Wretched Hive of Scum and Villainy” DNA Lounge. 8pm, $10. With Ghost Town Gospel, Jerk Church Tabernacle Choir.
Beggar’s Jamboree, Serene Lakes, Gene Pool and the Shallow End Bottom of the Hill. 3pm, $10.
Jason Chen, Tiffany Alvord Great American Music Hall. 7pm, $12-$14.
Chop Tops, RevTones, Mad Mama and the Bona Fide Few Thee Parkside. 8pm, $12.
Chronic Town, Japanese Baby, Gang of Forty Make-Out Room. 7:30pm, $8.
Dead Western, Metacomet, Cookie Tongue Amnesia. 9pm.
Lee Fields and the Expressions, Lady, Bang Girl Group Revue Bimbo’s. 8pm, $25.
Legs, Chastity Belt, Cash for Gold Hemlock Tavern. 6pm, $6.
Red Jacket Mine Hotel Utah. 8pm, $8.
Junior Reid, Andrew Reid, and the Pure Roots Band, Wada Blood Chapel, 777 Valencia, SF; www.thechapelsf.com. 9pm, $25.
Queensryche, Voodoos Fillmore. 8pm, $40.
Terry Savastano Johnny Foley’s. 10pm, free.
Leah Tysse Yoshi’s SF. 7pm, $25.
JAZZ/NEW MUSIC
“Bill Frisell: Hunter S. Thompson’s The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved” SFJazz Center, 201 Franklin, SF; www.sfjazz.org. 4 and 7:30pm, $35-$75.
Lavay Smith Royal Cuckoo, 3203 Mission, SF; www.royalcuckoo.com. 7:30-10:30pm, free.
FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY
Brazil and Beyond Bissap Baobab, 3372 19th St, SF.; www.bissapbaobab.com 6:30pm, free. With Rebecca Kleinmann and friends.
Creak, Olde Belle Thee Parkside. 4pm, free.
Darcy Noonan, Richard Mandel, Jack Gilder Plough and Stars. 9pm.
Sweet Felony Tupelo, 1337 Grant, SF; www.tupelosf.com. 4-7pm, free.
DANCE CLUBS
Beats for Brunch Thee Parkside. 11am, free.
Dub Mission Elbo Room. 9pm, $6. With DJ Sep, Vinnie Esparza.
Jock Lookout, 3600 16th St, SF; www.lookoutsf.com. 3pm, $2.
MONDAY 22
ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Bass Drum of Death Fillmore. 8pm, $32.50.
Cannons and Clouds, Bad Powers, Owl Elbo Room. 9pm, $7.
Damir Johnny Foley’s. 10pm, free.
Men, CCR Headcleaner, White Cloud Rickshaw Stop. 8pm, $12.
Medeski Martin and Wood (acoustic) Great American Music Hall. 8pm, $35.
Layla Musselwhite Rite Spot Cafe. 8:30pm, free.
Tennis System, Cruel Summer, Dead Leaf Echo, Slowness Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $10.
FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY
Earl Brothers, Pick Amnesia. 6pm.
DANCE CLUBS
Crazy Mondays Beauty Bar, 2299 Mission, SF; www.thebeautybar.com. 10pm, free. Hip-hop and other stuff.
Dead Guild DNA Lounge. 9:30pm, $5. Gothic, industrial, and synthpop with Joe Radio, Decay, and Melting Girl.
M.O.M. Madrone Art Bar. 6pm, free. DJs Timoteo Gigante, Gordo Cabeza, and Chris Phlek playing all Motown every Monday.
Soul Cafe John Colins Lounge, 138 Minna, SF; www.johncolins.com. 9pm. R&B, Hip-Hop, Neosoul, reggae, dancehall, and more with DJ Jerry Ross.
Vibes’N’Stuff El Amigo Bar, 3355 Mission, SF; (415) 852-0092. 10pm, free. Conscious jazz and hip-hop with DJs Luce Lucy, Vinnie Esparza, and more.
TUESDAY 23
ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP
Acid Blast, Golden Mean, Mulch, Bar Fight Hemlock Tavern. 8:30pm, $7.
Arabs, Father President, Secret Secretaries Elbo Room. 9pm, $5.
Beach Fossils Slim’s. 8pm, $15.
Medeski Martin and Wood (acoustic) Great American Music Hall. 8pm, $35.
Palma Violets Independent. 8pm, $15.
Sense Fail, Such Gold, Real Friends, Major League Bottom of the Hill. 6:30pm, $19.
Stan Erhart Band Johnny Foley’s. 10pm, free.
Titan Ups, Satisfactions, DJ Revival Sound Selector Amnesia. 9pm, $8-$10.
JAZZ/NEW MUSIC
Terry Disley’s Mini-Experience Burritt Room, 417 Stockton, SF; www.mystichotel.com. 6-9pm, free.
Rene Marie’s Experiment in Truth Quartet Yoshi’s SF. 8pm, $20.
FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY
Roem Baur Bazaar Cafe, 5927 California, SF; www.bazaarcafe.com. 7pm, free.
Dave Cory and Friends Plough and Stars. 9pm.
DANCE CLUBS
Stylus John Colins Lounge, 138 Minna, SF; www.johncolins.com. 9pm. Hip-hop, dancehall, and Bay slaps with DJ Left Lane. Takin’ Back Tuesdays Double Dutch, 3192 16th St,SF; www.thedoubledutch.com. 10pm. Hip-hop from the 1990s.
Selector: April 17-23, 2013
WEDNESDAY 17
Night Beats
Seattle’s Night Beats has all of the fixings of a good psych-garage act; the lo-fi recordings, the raspy vocals with punctuated yelps, and the noisily manipulated guitar. But the band, which takes its name from Sam Cooke’s best record, has a direct link to the more soulful breeds of music the title suggests, such as R&B. “Dial 666” is simple, 12-bar blues, “High Noon Blues” borrows sentiment and structure from that genre, and “Puppet on a String” seems to call for some old-fashioned dance moves. With the combination of vigorous rock and sensuous roll, Night Beats’ show at Brick and Mortar promises to be satisfying. (Laura Kerry)
With Cool Ghouls, Primitive Hearts, Big Drag
9pm, $10
Brick and Mortar Music Hall
1710 Mission, SF
(415) 800-8782
Bad Religion
Mixing aggressive guitar riffs with politically-savvy lyrics and harmony-laden vocals — which the band refers to as “oozin’ aahs” in its liner notes — Southern California’s Bad Religion has been going strong for more than three decades. It just released latest album, True North on founding member Brett Gurewitz’ iconic independent label Epitaph Records last January. And the punk rock stalwarts continue to be driven by singer-author-professor Greg Graffin’s powerful songwriting, which touches on everything from global politics and religion to more personal experiences and emotions that just about anyone can relate to and share in a sense of powerful catharsis. (Sean McCourt)
With the Bronx, Polar Bear Club
8pm, $27.50–$30
Regency Ballroom
1300 Van Ness, SF
The 2 Bears
I don’t need caffeine. My computer just starts playing “Work” by the 2 Bears at 7am, complete with rising organ, a pulsing groove, and motivational chorus: “We’ve got to work harder, for the future, my love we got to work.” It might not even be the best song on Be Strong from the 2 Bears (Hot Chips’s Joe Goddard and the Raf Daddy), as it faces stiff competition from hilarious, cuddly club anthem “Bear Hug” and the uplifting, romantic space dub on “Church.” But, it does the job of getting me moving, and by the time the disco queen vocals kick in I’m likely showered and downstairs having breakfast. (Ryan Prendiville)
With Sleazemore, Richie Panic (Lights Down Low)
10pm, $15 presale
1015 Folsom, SF
THURSDAY 18
“Touching Art: Tribute to Judith Scott”
Skin, the largest organ, keeps our insides safe from the perils of the outside, but it is also the membrane through which we experience the world. In its tribute to Judith Scott, swissnex will explore this, looking at touch’s role in the creation of art. Scott, who could neither speak nor hear and therefore relied heavily on her sense of touch, made beautiful cocoon structures at Oakland’s Creative Growth Art Center for 20 years. Swissnex, in conjunction with Switzerland’s L’Art Brut, will screen a film about the artist, showcase some of her work, and host a talk by Dr. Sandra Weiss on the connection between touch and emotion. The night promises be a touching intersection of art and science. (Kerry)
6pm, $10
swissnex
730 Montgomery, SF
(415) 912-5901
FRIDAY 19
An evening with Manlio Argueta
While a hard punishment, exile can also be the place where great works of art are born. “I left with a closed fist and came back with an open hand,” said Rafael Alberti returning to Spain after 38 years of exile. Ostracized in Mexico, Pablo Neruda finished one of his masterpieces Canto General. Exiled in Costa Rica, acclaimed Salvadorean poet Manlio Argueta wrote his most celebrated novel, One Day of Life (Vintage Book, 1983). In line with his mentor, poet Roque Dalton, Argueta vividly writes about the 12-year civil war through a peasant family’s eyes. The book, available in 15 languages, was named one of the best 10 novels in Spanish of the 20th century by NY’s Modern Library. (Fernando Andres Torres)
7pm $10
ANSWER
2969 Mission, SF
(415) 902-4754
“We Are Winning, Don’t Forget: Short works by Jean-Gabriel Périot”
Jean-Gabriel Périot developed a painstaking approach to making films. By carefully stitching together archival images, both still and moving, he creates political narratives that are poignant despite (or because of) their brevity. As a part of a US tour that begins at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, the filmmaker comes to the Bay with nine short films, with subjects ranging from Hiroshima to “politics and tomatoes.” The evening at Artist’s Television Access presents a great opportunity to see these stunning films and the man behind the camera. (Kerry)
8pm, $10
Artist’s Television Access
992 Valenica, SF
(415) 824-3890
Sheetal Ghandi: Bahu Beti Biwis
Deconstructing cultural artifacts is just about today’s lingua franca. Sometimes you might wish that artists left well enough alone. Yet, at its best it shows creative minds at work that are willing to take the risks inherent in changing lenses. Sheetal Ghandi is one of them. Even though her performance practices are already exceptionally broad —Kathak, modern and West African dance, plus Broadway as well as Cirque du Soleil — she took a lot of imaginative leaps for her solo show Bahu Beti Biwis (Daughter-in-law, daughter, wife), a series of both humorous and poignant portraits of women and the roles traditionally assigned to them. It’s a piece that has been described as empathizing with “Indian women across time and space.” (Rita Felciano)
Fri/19-Sat/20, 8pm; Sun/21, 7pm, $20–$25
ODC Theater
3153 17th St., SF
(415) 863-9834
SATURDAY 20
Mishap Psychic Fair
Nothing will make sense on 420 anyway (unless you snagged tickets for Snoop Lion at the Fillmore, in which case: jealous), so you may as well go to the goofiest damn event you can find. Surely the Mishap Psychic Fair is in the running for the honorific — the (is it?) satirical set-up will feature tongue-in-cheek booths where you can align your crystals via rock opera, attune to your inner “sexy anger,” and temper it all with cocktails if you’re not too bleary-eyed from the traditional mode of celebration on this international holiday. Buy tix to the fair in advance and you’ll snag a complimentary photo of your aura, a so-called magic elixir, or henna tattoo. Heal thyself, hippie. (Caitlin Donohue)
Sat/20, 8pm, $10
Geoffrey’s Inner Circle
410 14th St., Oakl.
The Last Unicorn screening and birthday celebration
And now for something completely magical: Peter S. Beagle, author of beloved 1968 fantasy novel The Last Unicorn (among dozens of other works), turns 74 today, and he’ll journey from his home in Oakland for a pair of birthday- and unicorn-themed San Francisco events. (Hooves up if you ever had a unicorn-themed birthday party! I know I did … maybe more than once.) First is a screening of the 1982 animated film adapted from the book, with voices by Mia Farrow, Jeff Bridges, and Alan Arkin; Beagle will be on hand to answer questions and sign books. Diehards can continue the festivities at the Cartoon Art Museum, which hosts a reading and further signings by the author, plus an auction of some mighty nifty original artwork to benefit the museum and Beagle’s imminent multi-city tour. Costumes are encouraged, obvi. (Cheryl Eddy)
Screening, noon-3pm, $8.50
Castro Theatre
429 Castro, SF
VIP reception, 6-8pm, $25
Cartoon Art Museum
655 Mission, SF
“Bill Frisell presents Hunter S. Thompson’s The Kentucky Derby“
Jazz guitarist Bill Frisell has tackled many an avant-garde project in his 40-plus year career, and his latest foray beckons fans of music, stage, and literature. Bringing life to Hunter S. Thompson’s memorable “The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved” this weekend, Frisell will be joined by narrator Tim Robbins in a multimedia production featuring set design by the iconic writer’s longtime collaborator Ralph Steadman. Considered the first of Thompson’s pieces to truly reflect his “Gonzo” style of journalism, the story and production will no doubt envelop audience members in an aural and visual way never before experienced. Buy the ticket, take the ride. (McCourt)
Sat/20, 7:30pm; Sun/21, 4 and 7:30pm, $35–$80
SF Jazz Center
201 Franklin, SF
Maria Minerva
Minerva was the Roman goddess of wisdom. That’s what I’ve found out on Wikipedia. What I’ve found out about Estonian lo-fi electronic chanteuse Maria Minerva is that she’s an art school graduate/critic/glossolalia expert/comedy student. But, all I really know is that her Bless EP on 100% Silk is excellent. “Soulsearchin’,” focuses on the anxiety of options, built around George Carlin’s “Modern Man,” but it’s the laid-back guitar, slightly off-kilter percussion, and circling vocals on “Symbol of My Pleasure” that stay with me. (Prendiville)
With Butterclock (live), Marco De La Vega, and more
9pm, $10 presale
Public Works
161 Erie, SF
(415) 932-0955
MONDAY 22
Oakland Veg Week
Perhaps you are deluged by the information regarding sustainable eating available today. This is completely understandable — at times, we feel as though we will surely perish under the mountainous weight of fair trade quinoa foisted upon us by Bay Area foodie culture. Luckily, Oakland Veg Week is going on, with its host of events meant to dispel myths about what to eat. Go on a farm field trip, take vegan cheese-making classes (both April 27), attend a talk by Paul Shapiro of the Humane Society on why eating animals is bad for the earth (April 25), snack your way through a delicious grand finale at the Lake Merritt Sailboat House (April 28), or check out the host of other, veg-friendly events this week. (Donohue)
Through April 28
Various Oakland locations
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Rep Clock
Schedules are for Wed/17-Tue/23 except where noted. Director and year are given when available. Double and triple features marked with a •. All times pm unless otherwise specified.
ARTISTS’ TELEVISION ACCESS 992 Valencia, SF; www.atasite.org. $6-10. "We Are Winning, Don’t Forget: Short Works by Jean-Gabriel Périot," Fri, 8. Filmmaker in person. "Other Cinema: Optronica," works by sound artist John Davis and others, Sat, 8:30.
BALBOA 3630 Balboa, SF; www.cinemasf.com/balboa. $7.50-10. The Cliff House and Sutro Heights (Wyrsch, 2013), Wed-Thu, noon, 2:30, 4:45, 7, 9:20.
BERKELEY FELLOWSHIP OF UNITARIAN UNIVERSALISTS 1924 Cedar, Berk; www.bfuu.org. $5-10 donation (no one turned away for lack of funds). The Truth About the War on Libya, Thu, 7.
CASTRO 429 Castro, SF; (415) 621-6120, www.castrotheatre.com. $8.50-13. •Blow-Up (Antonioni, 1966), Wed, 7, and Deep Red (Argento, 1975), Wed, 9:10. "Academy of Art University’s Annual Epidemic Film Festival," Thu, 4. Get free tickets by calling 1-800-544-2787. "Midnites for Maniacs: Tribute to Sadie Hawkins Triple Bill:" •Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion (Mirkin, 1997), Fri, 7:30; Pretty in Pink (Hughes, 1986), Fri, 9:30; and Carrie (De Palma, 1976), Fri, 11:30. The Last Unicorn (Bass and Rankin, Jr., 1982), Sat, 11am-4pm. With book author Peter S. Beagle in person; co-sponsored by the Cartoon Art Museum (full event details at www.cartoonart.org). •Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Mitchell, 2001), Sat, 7:10, and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (Elliott, 1994), Sat, 5, 9. Lawrence of Arabia (Lean, 1962), Sun, 2, 7. •Chasing Ice (Orlowski, 2012), Mon, 7, and Samsara (Fricke, 2011), Mon, 8:40.
CHRISTOPHER B. SMITH RAFAEL FILM CENTER 1118 Fourth St, San Rafael; (415) 454-1222, www.cafilm.org. $6.75-$10.25. Ginger and Rosa (Potter, 2012), call for dates and times. On the Road (Salles, 2012), call for dates and times. Quartet (Hoffman, 2012), call for dates and times. Renoir (Bourdos, 2012), call for dates and times. Matinee (Dante, 1993), Thu, 7. Twentieth anniversary 35mm screening presented by journalist David Templeton and special guests.
CLAY 2261 Fillmore, SF; www.landmarktheatres.com. $9-15. Aya: Awakenings (Razam and Parish), Wed, 7. "Midnight Movies:" The Big Lebowski (Coen, 1998), Fri-Sat, midnight.
DREAM INSTITUTE 1627 University, Berk; www.verticalpool.com. $10. Under a Shipwrecked Moon (Alli, 2003), Fri, 7:30.
MECHANICS’ INSTITUTE 57 Post, SF; (415) 393-0100, milibrary.org/events. $10 (reservations required as seating is limited). "CinemaLit Film Series: April Blossoms: Japanese Screens:" Cast Me If You Can (Monogatari, 2010), Fri, 6.
NEW PARKWAY 474 24th St, Oakl; www.thenewparkway.com. $6-10. "New Parkway Classics:" Repo Man (Cox, 1984), Thu, 9pm. "Thrillville:" Starcrash (Cozzi, 1978), Sun, 6.
PACIFIC FILM ARCHIVE 2575 Bancroft, Berk; (510) 642-5249, bampfa.berkeley.edu. $5.50-9.50. "The Spanish Mirth: The Comedic Films of Luis García Berlanga:" La escopeta nacional (1978), Wed, 7. "And God Created Jean-Louis Trintignant:" The Conformist (Bertolucci, 1970), Thu, 7; Three Colors: Red (Kieslowski, 1994), Fri, 7; Trans-Europ-Express (Robbe-Grillet, 1966), Sun, 3. "Alfred Hitchcock: The Shape of Suspense:" Foreign Correspondent (1940), Fri, 9; Psycho (1960), Sat, 8:30. "Afterimage: Leonard Retel Helmrich’s Trilogy:" Position Among the Stars (2010), Sat, 5:30; Eye of the Day (2001), Sun, 5:15; Shape of the Moon (2004), Tue, 7.
ROXIE 3117 and 3125 16th St, SF; (415) 863-1087, www.roxie.com. $6.50-11.Upstream Color (Carruth, 2013), Wed-Thu, 7, 9:15. The Shining (Kubrick, 1980), Thu, 9:15. Room 237 (Ascher, 2012), April 19-25, 6:30, 8:30, and 9:30 (also Sat-Sun, 2:45). "Le Noir de Nuit," film noir programming to be announced, Tue, 6:30.
VORTEX ROOM 1082 Howard, SF; Facebook: The Vortex Room. $10. "Assault on Vortex 13:" •Mitchell (McLagen, 1975), Thu, 9, and Samurai Cop (Shervan, 1989), Thu, 11.
YERBA BUENA CENTER FOR THE ARTS 701 Mission, SF; www.ybca.org. $8-10. "Thai Dreams: The Films of Pen-ek Ratanaruang:" Invisible Waves (2006), Thu, 7:30; 6ixtynin9 (1999), Sun, 2.
Film listings
Film listings are edited by Cheryl Eddy. Reviewers are Kimberly Chun, Dennis Harvey, Lynn Rapoport, and Sara Maria Vizcarrondo. For rep house showtimes, see Rep Clock.
OPENING
The Angels’ Share The latest from British filmmaker Ken Loach (2006’s The Wind that Shakes the Barley) and frequent screenwriter collaborator Paul Leverty contains a fair amount of humor — though it’s still got plenty of their trademark grit and realism. Offered “one last opportunity” by both a legal system he’s frequently disregarded and his exasperated and heavily pregnant girlfriend, ne’er-do-well Glaswegian Robbie (Paul Brannigan) resolves to straighten out his life. But his troubled past proves a formidable roadblock to a brighter future — until he visits a whiskey distillery with the other misfits he’s been performing his court-ordered community service with, and the group hatches an elaborate heist that could bring hope for Robbie and his growing family … if his gang of “scruffs” can pull it off. Granted, there are some familiar elements here, but this 2012 Cannes jury prize winner (the fest’s de facto third-place award) is more enjoyable than predictable — thanks to some whiskey-tasting nerd-out scenes, likable performances by its cast of mostly newcomers, and lines like “Nobody ever bothers anybody wearing a kilt!” (not necessarily true, as it turns out). Thankfully, English subtitles help with the thick Scottish accents. (1:41) Embarcadero. (Eddy)
Blancanieves See “Able Fables.” (1:44) Embarcadero.
Let My People Go! See “Able Fables.” (1:28) Opera Plaza, Shattuck.
The Lords of Salem Rob Zombie’s latest gorefest takes on Salem’s OG witches. (1:41)
Oblivion Tom Cruise and Morgan Freeman star in this dystopian sci-fi tale set on a ravaged planet Earth, circa 2077. (2:05) Balboa, Marina.
Room 237 See “Looking Over the Overlook.” (1:42) Roxie.
ONGOING
The Call (1:34) Metreon.
The Company You Keep Robert Redford directs and stars as a fugitive former member of the Weather Underground, who goes on the run when another member (Susan Sarandon) is arrested and a newspaper reporter (Shia LaBeouf) connects him to a murder 30 years earlier during a Michigan bank robbery. Both the incident and the individuals in The Company You Keep are fictive, but a montage of archival footage at the start of the film is used to place them in the company of real-life radicals and events from the latter days of the 1960s-’70s antiwar movement. (The film’s timeline is a little hard to figure, as the action seems to be present day.) Living under an assumed name, Redford’s Nick Sloan is now a recently widowed public interest lawyer with a nine-year-old daughter, still fighting the good fight from the suburbs of Albany, NY — though some of his movement cohorts would probably argue that point. And as Nick heads cross-country on a hunt for one of them who’s still deep underground, and LaBeouf’s pesky reporter tussles with FBI agents (Terrance Howard and Anna Kendrick) and his besieged editor (Stanley Tucci) — mostly there to pass comment on print journalism’s precipitous decline — there’s plenty of contentious talk, none of it particularly trenchant or involving. Redford packs his earnest, well-intentioned film with stars delineating a constellation of attitudes about revolution, justice, and violent radical action — Julie Christie as an unrepentant radical and Nick’s former lover, Nick Nolte and Richard Jenkins as former movement members, Brendan Gleeson as a Michigan police detective involved in the original investigation, Chris Cooper as Nick’s estranged and disapproving younger brother. But their scrutiny, and the film’s, feels blurry and rote, while the plot’s one major twist seems random and is clumsily exposed. (2:05) Albany, SF Center, Sundance Kabuki. (Rapoport)
The Croods (1:38) Metreon, 1000 Van Ness, Presidio.
Disconnect (1:55) SF Center, Shattuck, Sundance Kabuki.
Evil Dead “Sacrilege!” you surely thought when hearing that Sam Raimi’s immortal 1983 classic was being remade. But as far as remakes go, this one from Uruguayan writer-director Fede Alvarez (who’d previously only made some acclaimed genre shorts) is pretty decent. Four youths gather at a former family cabin destination because a fifth (Jane Levy) has staged her own intervention — after a near-fatal OD, she needs her friends to help her go cold turkey. But as a prologue has already informed us, there is a history of witchcraft and demonic possession in this place. The discovery of something very nasty (and smelly) in the cellar, along with a book of demonic incantations that Lou Taylor Pucci is stupid enough to read aloud from, leads to … well, you know. The all-hell that breaks loose here is more sadistically squirm-inducing than the humorously over-the-top gore in Raimi’s original duo (elements of the sublime ’87 Evil Dead II are also deployed here), and the characters are taken much more seriously — without, however, becoming more interesting. Despite a number of déjà vu kamikaze tracking shots through the Michigan forest (though most of the film was actually shot in New Zealand), Raimi’s giddy high energy and black comedy are replaced here by a more earnest if admittedly mostly effective approach, with plenty of decent shocks. No one could replace Bruce Campbell, and perhaps it was wise not to even try. So: pretty good, gory, expertly crafted, very R-rated horror fun, even with too many “It’s not over yet!” false endings. But no one will be playing this version over and over and over again as they (and I) still do the ’80s films. (1:31) Metreon, 1000 Van Ness. (Harvey)
42 Broad and morally cautious, 42 is nonetheless an honorable addition to the small cannon of films about the late, great baseball player Jackie Robinson. When Dodgers owner Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford) declares that he wants a black player in the white major leagues because “The only real color is green!”, it’s a cynical explanation that most people buy, and hate him for. It also starts the ball curving for a PR shitstorm. But money is an equal-opportunity leveling device: when Robinson (Chadwick Boseman) tries to use the bathroom at a small-town gas station, he’s denied and tells his manager they should “buy their 99 gallons of gas another place.” Naturally the gas attendant concedes, and as 42 progresses, even those who reject Robinson at first turn into men who find out how good they are when they’re tested. Ford, swashbuckling well past his sell-by date, is a fantastic old coot here; his “been there, lived that” prowess makes you proud he once fled the path of a rolling bolder. His power moves here are even greater, but it’s ultimately Robinson’s show, and 42 finds a lot of ways to deliver on facts and still print the legend. (2:08) Four Star, Marina, Metreon, 1000 Van Ness, Sundance Kabuki, Vogue. (Vizcarrondo)
From Up on Poppy Hill Hayao (dad, who co-wrote) and Goro (son, who directed) Miyazaki collaborate on this tale of two high-school kids — Umi, who does all the cooking at her grandmother’s boarding house, and Shun, a rabble-rouser who runs the school newspaper — in idyllic seaside Yokohama. Plans for the 1964 Olympics earmark a beloved historic clubhouse for demolition, and the budding couple unites behind the cause. The building offers a symbolic nod to Japanese history, while rehabbing it speaks to hopes for a brighter post-war future. But the past keeps interfering: conflict arises when Shun’s memories are triggered by a photo of Umi’s father, presumed lost at sea in the Korean War. There are no whimsical talking animals in this Studio Ghibli release, which investigates some darker-than-usual themes, though the animation is vivid and sparkling per usual. Hollywood types lending their voices to the English-language version include Jamie Lee Curtis, Christina Hendricks, Ron Howard, and Gilllian Anderson. (1:31) Embarcadero, Shattuck, Sundance Kabuki. (Eddy)
GI Joe: Retaliation The plot exists to justify the action, but any fan of badass-ness will forgive the skimpy storyline for the outlandish badassery in GI Joe: Retaliation. Inspired by action figures and tying loosely to the first flick, Retaliation starts with a game of “secure the defector,” followed by “raise the flag,” but as soon as the stakes aren’t real, the Joes outright suck. They don’t have “neutral,” which is maybe why a mission to rescue and revive the Joes as a force is the most ferocious fight that ever pit metal against plastic. The set pieces are stunning: a mostly silent sequence with Snake Eyes (Ray Park) and Jinx (Elodie Yung) on a mountainside will leave the audience gaping in its high speed wake, and a prison break featuring covert explosives is nonstop amazing. You’ll notice an emphasis on chain link fences and puddles (terra nostra for action figures) and set pieces conceived as if by kids who don’t have a concept of basic irrefutable truths like gravity. It’s just that kind of imagination and ardor and limitlessness that makes this Joe incredible, memorable, and a reason to crack out your toys again. (1:50) Metreon, 1000 Van Ness. (Vizcarrondo)
Ginger and Rosa It’s the 1960s, nuclear war is a real possibility, and nuclear-family war is an absolute certainty, at least in the London house occupied by Ginger (Elle Fanning), her emotionally wounded mother (Mad Men‘s Christina Hendricks), and her narcissistic-intellectual father (Alessandro Nivola). In this downbeat coming-of-age tale from Sally Potter (1992’s Orlando), Ginger’s teenage rebellion quickly morphs into angst when her BFF Rosa (Beautiful Creatures‘ Alice Englert) wedges her sexed-up neediness between Ginger’s parents. Hendricks (playing the accordion — just like Joan!) and Annette Bening (as an American activist who encourages Ginger’s political-protest leanings) are strong, but Fanning’s powerhouse performance is the main focus — though even she’s occasionally overshadowed by her artificially scarlet hair. For an interview with writer-director Potter, visit www.sfbg.com/pixel_vision. (1:30) Smith Rafael. (Eddy)
The Host (2:01) Metreon.
Jack the Giant Slayer (1:55) Metreon.
Jurassic Park 3D “Life finds a way,” Jeff Goldblum’s leather-clad mathematician remarks, crystallizing the theme of this 1993 Spielberg classic, which at its core is more about human relationships than genetically manufactured terrors. Of course, it’s got plenty of those, and Jurassic Park doesn’t really need its (admittedly spiffy) 3D upgrade to remain a thoroughly entertaining thriller. The dinosaur effects — particularly the creepy Velociraptors and fan-fave T. rex — still dazzle. Only some early-90s computer references and Laura Dern’s mom jeans mark the film as dated. But a big-screen viewing of what’s become a cable TV staple allows for fresh appreciation of its less-iconic (but no less enjoyable) moments and performances: a pre-megafame Samuel L. Jackson as a weary systems tech; Bob Peck as the park’s skeptical, prodigiously thigh-muscled game warden. Try and forget the tepid sequels — including, dear gawd, 2014’s in-the-works fourth installment. This is all the Jurassic you will ever need. (2:07) 1000 Van Ness, SF Center, Shattuck. (Eddy)
My Brother the Devil Though its script hits some unsurprising beats, Sally El Hosaini’s drama is buoyed by authentic performances and a strong command of its setting: diverse London ‘hood Hackney, where sons of Egyptian immigrants Rashid (James Floyd) and Mo (Fady Elsayed) stumble toward maturity. After his best friend is killed in a gang fight, older “bruv” Rashid turns away from a life of crime, but dropping his tough-guy façade forces him to explore feelings he’s been desperately trying to deny, especially after he meets photographer Sayyid (Saïd Taghmaoui). The only thing he knows for certain is that he doesn’t want his little brother to start running with the drug-dealing crew he’s lately abandoned. The less-worldly Mo, already dealing with a tidal wave of typical teenage emotions, idolizes his brother — until he finds out Rashid’s secret, and reacts … badly, and the various conflicts careen toward a suspenseful, dread-filled, life-lessons-learned conclusion. Added bonus to this well-crafted film: sleek, vibrant lensing, which earned My Brother the Devil a cinematography prize at Sundance 2012. (1:51) Opera Plaza, Shattuck. (Eddy)
No Long before the Arab Spring, a people’s revolution went down in Chile when a 1988 referendum toppled the country’s dictator, Augusto Pinochet, thanks in part to an ad exec who dared to sell the dream to his countrymen and women — using the relentlessly upbeat, cheesy language of a Pepsi Generation. In No‘s dramatization of this true story, ad man Rene Saavedra (Gael Garcia Bernal) is approached by the opposition to Pinochet’s regime to help them on their campaign to encourage Chile’s people to vote “no” to eight more years under the brutal strongman. Rene’s well-aware of the horrors of the dictatorship; not only are the disappeared common knowledge, his activist ex (Antonia Zegers) has been beaten and jailed with seeming regularity. Going up against his boss (Alfredo Castro), who’s overseeing the Pinochet campaign, Rene takes the brilliant tact in the opposition’s TV programs of selling hope — sound familiar? — promising “Chile, happiness is coming!” amid corny mimes, dancers, and the like. Director-producer Pablo Larrain turns out to be just as genius, shooting with a grainy U-matic ’80s video camera to match his footage with 1988 archival imagery, including the original TV spots, in this invigorating spiritual kin of both 2012’s Argo and 1997’s Wag the Dog. (1:50) Opera Plaza, Shattuck. (Chun)
No Place on Earth “Every cave I enter has a secret,” muses caver Chris Nicola in his clipped New York accent at the start of No Place on Earth. An interest in his family’s Eastern Orthodox roots brought him to the Ukraine soon after the Soviet Union dissolved; while exploring one of the country’s lengthy gypsum caves, he literally stumbled over what he calls “living history:” artifacts (shoes, buttons) that suggested people had been living in the caves in the not-too-distant past. Naturally curious, Nicola investigated further, eventually learning that two families of Ukrainian Jews (including young children) hid in the caves for 18 months during World War II. Using tasteful re-enactments and interviews with surviving members of the families, as well as narration taken from memoirs, director Janet Tobias reconstructs an incredible tale of human resilience and persistence; there are moments of terror, literally hiding behind rocks to escape roaming German soldiers, and moments of joy, as when a holiday snowfall enables precious outdoor playtime. Incredibly, the film ends with now-elderly survivors — one of whom lived just seven miles from Nicola in NYC — returning to “say thank-you to the cave,” as one woman puts it, with awed and grateful grandchildren in tow. (1:24) Opera Plaza. (Eddy)
Olympus Has Fallen Overstuffed with slo-mo shots of the flag rippling (in breezes likely caused by all the hot air puffing up from the script), this gleefully ham-fisted tribute to America Fuck Yeah estimates the intelligence of its target audience thusly: an establishing shot clearly depicting both the Washington Monument and the US Capitol is tagged “Washington, DC.” Wait, how can you tell? This wannabe Die Hard: The White House follows the one-man-army crusade of secret service agent Mike Banning (Gerard Butler), the last friendly left standing when the President (Aaron Eckhart) and assorted cabinet members are taken hostage by North Korean terrorists. The plot is to ridiculous to recap beyond that, though I will note that Morgan Freeman (as the Speaker of the House) gets to deliver the line “They’ve just opened the gates of hell!” — the high point in a performance that otherwise requires him to sit at a table and look concerned for two hours. With a few more over-the-top scenes or slightly more adventurous casting, Olympus Has Fallen could’ve ascended to action-camp heights. Alas, it’s mostly just mildly amusing, though all that caked-on patriotism is good for a smattering of heartier guffaws. (2:00) 1000 Van Ness, SF Center, Sundance Kabuki. (Eddy)
On the Road Walter Salles (2004’s The Motorcycle Diaries) engages Diaries screenwriter Jose Rivera to adapt Jack Kerouac’s Beat classic; it’s translated to the screen in a streamlined version, albeit one rife with parties, drugs, jazz, danger, reckless driving, sex, philosophical conversations, soul-searching, and “kicks” galore. Brit Sam Riley (2007’s Control) plays Kerouac stand-in Sal Paradise, observing (and scribbling down) his gritty adventures as they unfold. Most of those adventures come courtesy of charismatic, freewheeling Dean Moriarty (Garrett Hedlund of 2010’s Tron: Legacy), who blows in and out of Sal’s life (and a lot of other people’s lives, too, including wives played by Kristen Stewart and Kirsten Dunst). Beautifully shot, with careful attention to period detail and reverential treatment of the Beat ethos, the film is an admirable effort but a little too shapeless, maybe simply due to the peripatetic nature of its iconic source material, to be completely satisfying. Among the performances, erstwhile teen dream Stewart is an uninhibited standout. (2:03) Four Star, Smith Rafael. (Eddy)
Oz: The Great and Powerful Providing a backstory for the man behind the curtain, director Sam Raimi gives us a prequel of sorts to 1939’s The Wizard of Oz. Herein we follow the adventures of a Depression-era Kansas circus magician named Oscar (James Franco) — Oz to his friends — as he cons, philanders, bickers with his behind-the-scenes assistant Frank (Zach Braff), and eventually sails away in a twister, bound for a Technicolor land of massively proportioned flora, talking fauna, and witches ranging from dazzlingly good to treacherously wicked. From one of them, Theodora (Mila Kunis), he learns that his arrival — in Oz, just to clarify — has set in motion the fulfillment of a prophecy: that a great wizard, also named Oz, will bring about the downfall of a malevolent witch (Rachel Weisz), saving the kingdom and its cheery, goodhearted inhabitants. Unfortunately for this deserving populace, Oz spent his last pre-twister moments with the Baum Bros. Circus (the name a tribute to L. Frank Baum, writer of the Oz children’s books) demonstrating a banged-up moral compass and an undependable streak and proclaiming that he would rather be a great man than a good man. Unfortunately for the rest of us, this theme is revisited ad nauseam as Oz and the oppressively beneficent witch Glinda (Michelle Williams) — whose magic appears to consist mainly of nice soft things like bubbles and fog — stand around debating whether he’s the right man for the task. When the fog clears, though, the view is undeniably pretty. While en route to and from the Emerald City, Oz and his companions — among them a non-evil flying monkey (voiced by Braff) and a rather adorable china doll (Joey King) — wander through a deliriously arresting, Fantasia-esque landscape whose intricate, inventive construction helps distract from the plodding, saccharine rhetoric and unappealing story line. (2:07) 1000 Van Ness, SF Center, Shattuck, Sundance Kabuki. (Rapoport)
The Place Beyond the Pines Powerful indie drama Blue Valentine (2010) marked director Derek Cianfrance as one worthy of attention, so it’s with no small amount of fanfare that this follow-up arrives. The Place Beyond the Pines‘ high profile is further enhanced by the presence of Bradley Cooper (currently enjoying a career ascension from Sexiest Man Alive to Oscar-nominated Serious Actor), cast opposite Valentine star Ryan Gosling, though they share just one scene. An overlong, occasionally contrived tale of three generations of fathers, father figures, and sons, Pines‘ initial focus is Gosling’s stunt-motorcycle rider, a character that would feel more exciting if it wasn’t so reminiscent of Gosling’s turn in Drive (2011), albeit with a blonde dye job and tattoos that look like they were applied by the same guy who inked James Franco in Spring Breakers. Robbing banks seems a reasonable way to raise cash for his infant son, as well as a way for Pines to draw in another whole set of characters, in the form of a cop (Cooper) who’s also a new father, and who — as the story shifts ahead 15 years — builds a political career off the case. Of course, fate and the convenience of movie scripts dictate that the mens’ sons will meet, the past will haunt the present and fuck up the future, etc. etc. Ultimately, Pines is an ambitious film that suffers from both its sprawl and some predictable choices (did Ray Liotta really need to play yet another dirty cop?) Halfway through the movie I couldn’t help thinking what might’ve happened if Cianfrance had dared to swap the casting of the main roles; Gosling could’ve been a great ambitious cop-turned-powerful prick, and Cooper could’ve done interesting things with the Evel Knievel-goes-Point Break part. Just sayin’. (2:20) California, Embarcadero, 1000 Van Ness, Piedmont, Presidio, Sundance Kabuki. (Eddy)
Quartet Every year there’s at least one: the adorable-old-cootfest, usually British, that proves harmless and reassuring and lightly tear/laughter producing enough to convince a certain demographic that it’s safe to go to the movies again. The last months have seen two, both starring Maggie Smith (who’s also queen of that audience’s home viewing via Downton Abbey). Last year’s The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, in which Smith played a bitchy old spinster appalled to find herself in India, has already filled the slot. It was formulaic, cute, and sentimental, yes, but it also practiced more restraint than one expected. Now here’s Quartet, which is basically the same flower arrangement with quite a bit more dust on it. Smith plays a bitchy old spinster appalled to find herself forced into spending her twilight years at a home for the elderly. It’s not just any such home, however, but Beecham House, whose residents are retired professional musicians. Gingerly peeking out from her room after a few days’ retreat from public gaze, Smith’s Jean Horton — a famed English soprano — spies a roomful of codgers rolling their hips to Afropop in a dance class. “This is not a retirement home — this is a madhouse!” she pronounces. Oh, the shitty lines that lazy writers have long depended on Smith to make sparkle. Quartet is full of such bunk, adapted with loving fidelity, no doubt, from his own 1999 play by Ronald Harwood, who as a scenarist has done some good adaptations of other people’s work (2002’s The Pianist). But as a generator of original material for about a half-century, he’s mostly proven that it is possible to prosper that long while being in entirely the wrong half-century. Making his directorial debut: 75-year-old Dustin Hoffman, which ought to have yielded a more interesting final product. But with its workmanlike gloss and head-on take on the script’s very predictable beats, Quartet could as well have been directed by any BBC veteran of no particular distinction. (1:38) Shattuck, Smith Rafael. (Harvey)
Renoir The gorgeous, sun-dappled French Riviera setting is the high point of this otherwise low-key drama about the temperamental women (Christa Theret) who was the final muse to elderly painter Auguste Renoir (Michel Bouquet), and who encouraged the filmmaking urges in his son, future cinema great Jean (Vincent Rottiers). Cinematographer Mark Ping Bin Lee (who’s worked with Hou Hsiao-hsein and Wong Kar Wai) lenses Renoir’s leafy, ramshackle estate to maximize its resemblance to the paintings it helped inspire; though her character, Dédée, could kindly be described as “conniving,” Theret could not have been better physically cast, with tumbling red curls and pale skin she’s none too shy about showing off. Though the specter of World War I looms in the background, the biggest conflicts in Gilles Bourdos’ film are contained within the household, as Jean frets about his future, Dédée faces the reality of her precarious position in the household (which is staffed by aging models-turned-maids), and Auguste battles ill health by continuing to paint, though he’s in a wheelchair and must have his brushes taped to his hands. Though not much really happens, Renoir is a pleasant, easy-on-the-eyes experience. (1:51) Clay, Shattuck, Smith Rafael. (Eddy)
The Sapphires The civil rights injustices suffered by these dream girls may be unique to Aboriginal Australians, but they’ll strike a chord with viewers throughout the world — at right about the same spot stoked by the sweet soul music of Motown. Co-written by Tony Briggs, the son of a singer in a real-life Aboriginal girl group, this unrepentant feel-gooder aims to make the lessons of history go down with the good humor and up-from-the-underdog triumph of films like The Full Monty (1997) — the crucial difference in this fun if flawed comedy-romance is that it tells the story of women of color, finding their voices and discovering, yes, their groove. It’s all in the family for these would-be soul sisters, or rather country cousins, bred on Merle Haggard and folk tunes: there’s the charmless and tough Gail (Deborah Mailman), the soulful single mom Julie (Jessica Mauboy, an Australian Idol runner-up), the flirty Cynthia (Miranda Tapsell), and the pale-skinned Kay (Shari Sebbens), the latter passing as white after being forcibly “assimilated” by the government. Their dream is to get off the farm, even if that means entertaining the troops in Vietnam, and the person to help them realize that checkered goal is dissolute piano player Dave (Chris O’Dowd). And O’Dowd is the breakout star to watch here — he adds an loose, erratic energy to an otherwise heavily worked story arc. So when romance sparks for all Sapphires — and the racial tension simmering beneath the sequins rumbles to the surface — the easy pleasures generated by O’Dowd and the music (despite head-scratching inclusions like 1970’s “Run Through the Jungle” in this 1968-set yarn), along with the gently handled lessons in identity politics learned, obliterate any lingering questions left sucking Saigon dust as the narrative plunges forward. They keep you hanging on. (1:38) Albany, Piedmont, SF Center. (Chun)
Scary Movie 5 (1:35) Metreon, 1000 Van Ness.
The Silence Maybe “fun” is a tasteless way to describe The Silence, which hinges on pederasty and child murder — though in the end this is more an intelligent pulp thriller than serious address of those issues, uneasily as it straddles both at times. In 1986 two men abduct an 11-year-old girl — one the initially excited, then horrified observer to the second’s murderous sexual assault. Twenty-three years later, another young girl disappears in the same place under disturbingly identical circumstances. This event gradually pulls together a large cast of characters, many initial strangers — including the original victim’s mother (Katrin Sass) and the just-retired detective (Burghart Klaubner) who failed to solve that crime; parents (Karoline Eichhorn, Roeland Wiesnekker) of the newly disappeared teen, who experience full-on mental meltdown; a solidly bourgeoise husband and father of two girls (Wotan Wilke Möhring), inordinately distressed by this repeat of history; and the erstwhile friend he hasn’t contacted in decades, an apartment-complex handyman with a secret life (Ulrich Thomsen). Part procedural, part psychological thriller, part small-town-community portrait, director-scenarist (from Jan Costin Wagner’s novel) Baran bo Odar’s The Silence is just juicy and artful enough to get away with occasional stylistic hyperbole. It’s a conflicted movie, albeit handled with such engrossing confidence that you might not notice the credibility gaps. At least until thinking it over later. Which, don’t. (1:59) Four Star. (Harvey)
Silver Linings Playbook After guiding two actors to Best Supporting Oscars in 2010’s The Fighter, director David O. Russell returns (adapting his script from Matthew Quick’s novel) with another darkly comedic film about a complicated family that will probably earn some gold of its own. Though he’s obviously not ready to face the outside world, Pat (Bradley Cooper) checks out of the state institution he’s been court-ordered to spend eight months in after displaying some serious anger-management issues. He moves home with his football-obsessed father (Robert De Niro) and worrywart mother (Jacki Weaver of 2010’s Animal Kingdom), where he plunges into a plan to win back his estranged wife. Cooper plays Pat as a man vibrating with troubled energy — always in danger of flying into a rage, even as he pursues his forced-upbeat “silver linings” philosophy. But the movie belongs to Jennifer Lawrence, who proves the chops she showcased (pre-Hunger Games megafame) in 2010’s Winter’s Bone were no fluke. As the damaged-but-determined Tiffany, she’s the left-field element that jolts Pat out of his crazytown funk; she’s also the only reason Playbook‘s dance-competition subplot doesn’t feel eye-rollingly clichéd. The film’s not perfect, but Lawrence’s layered performance — emotional, demanding, bitchy, tough-yet-secretly-tender — damn near is. (2:01) Metreon, Presidio. (Eddy)
Spring Breakers The idea of enfant terrible emeritus Harmony Korine — 1997’s Gummo, 2007’s Mister Lonely, 2009’s Trash Humpers — directing something so utterly common as a spring break movie is head-scratching enough, even moreso compounded by the casting of teen dreams Vanessa Hudgens, Selena Gomez, and Ashley Benson as bikini-clad girls gone wild. James Franco co-stars as drug dealer Alien, all platinum teeth and cornrows and shitty tattoos, who befriends the lasses after they’re busted by the fun police. “Are you being serious?” Gomez’s character asks Alien, soon after meeting him. “What do you think?” he grins back. Unschooled filmgoers who stumble into the theater to see their favorite starlets might be shocked by Breakers‘ hard-R hijinks. But Korine fans will understand that this neon-lit, Skrillex-scored tale of debauchery and dirty menace is not to be taken at face value. The subject matter, the cast, the Britney Spears songs, the deliberately lurid camerawork — all carefully-constructed elements in a film that takes not-taking-itself-seriously, very seriously indeed. Korine has said he prefers his films to make “perfect nonsense” instead of perfect sense. The sublime Spring Breakers makes perfect nonsense, and it also makes nonsense perfect. (1:34) 1000 Van Ness, Shattuck. (Eddy)
To the Wonder It should be a source of joy that Terrence Malick keeps getting to make large, personal, indulgent, un-commercial movies when almost no one else does. And he is indeed a poet, a visionary — but has he ever had more than passages of brilliance? Are the actors and producers who treat him with awe enabling art, or mostly high-flown pretensions toward the same? To the Wonder does provide some answers to those thorny questions. But they’re not the answers you’ll probably want to hear if you thought 2011’s The Tree of Life was a masterpiece. If, on the other hand, you found it a largely exasperating movie with great sequences, you may be happy to be warned that Wonder is an entirely excruciating movie with pretty photography, in which Ben Affleck and Olga Kurylenko (or sometimes Affleck and Rachel McAdams) wander around picturesque settings either beaming beatifically at each other or looking “troubled” because “something is missing,” as one character puts it in a rare moment of actual dialogue. (Generally we get the usual Malick wall-to-wall whispered voiceover musings like “What is this love that loves us?” delivered by all lead actors in different languages for maximum annoyance.) Just what is missing? Who the hell knows. Apparently it is too vulgar to spell out or even hint at what’s actually going on in these figures’ heads, not when you can instead show them endlessly mooning about as the camera follows them in a lyrical daze. No doubt some will find all this profound; the film certainly acts as though it is. But at some point you have to ask: if the artist can’t express his deep thoughts, just indicate that he’s having them, how do we know he’s a deep thinker at all? (1:53) California, Embarcadero. (Harvey)
Trance Where did Danny Boyle drop his noir? Somewhere along the way from Shallow Grave (1994) to Slumdog Millionaire (2008)? Finding the thread he misplaced among the obfuscating reflections of London’s corporate-contempo architecture, Boyle strives to put his own character-centered spin on the genre in this collaboration with Grave and Trainspotting (1996) screenwriter John Hodge, though the final product feels distinctly off, despite its Hitchcockian aspirations toward a sort of modern-day Spellbound (1945). Untrustworthy narrator Simon (James McAvoy) is an auctioneer for a Sotheby’s-like house, tasked with protecting the multimillion-dollar artworks on the block, within reason. Then the splashily elaborate theft of Goya’s Witches’ Flight painting goes down on Simon’s watch, and for his trouble, the complicit staffer is concussed by heist leader Franck (Vincent Cassel). Where did those slippery witches fly to? Simon, mixed up with the thieves due to his gambling debts, cries amnesia — the truth appears to be locked in the opaque layers of his jostled brain, and it’s up to hypnotherapist Elizabeth (Rosario Dawson) to uncover the Goya’s resting place. Is she trying to help Simon extricate himself from his impossible situation, seduce Franck, or simply help herself? Boyle tries to transmit the mutable mind games on screen, via the lighting, glass, and watery reflections that are supposed to translate as sleek sophistication. But devices like speedy, back-and-forth edits and off-and-on fourth-wall-battering instances as when Simon locks eyes with the audience, read as dated and cheesy as a banking commercial. The seriously miscast actors also fail to sell Trance on various levels — believability, likeability, etc. — as the very unmesmerized viewer falls into a light coma and the movie twirls, flaming, into the ludicrous. (1:44) Piedmont, Presidio, SF Center, Shattuck, Sundance Kabuki. (Chun)
Tyler Perry’s Temptation (2:06) Metreon, 1000 Van Ness, Shattuck.
Upstream Color A woman, a man, a pig, a worm, Walden — what? If you enter into Shane Carruth’s Upstream Color expecting things like a linear plot, exposition, and character development, you will exit baffled and distressed. Best to understand in advance that these elements are not part of Carruth’s master plan. In fact, based on my own experiences watching the film twice, I’m fairly certain that not really understanding what’s going on in Upstream Color is part of its loopy allure. Remember Carruth’s 2004 Primer? Did you try to puzzle out that film’s array of overlapping and jigsawed timelines, only to give up and concede that the mystery (and sheer bravado) of that film was part of its, uh, loopy allure? Yeah. Same idea, except writ a few dimensions larger, with more locations, zero tech-speak dialogue, and — yes! — a compelling female lead, played by Amy Seimetz, an indie producer and director in her own right. Enjoying (or even making it all the way through) Upstream Color requires patience and a willingness to forgive some of Carruth’s more pretentious noodlings; in the tradition of experimental filmmaking, it’s a work that’s more concerned with evoking emotions than hitting some kind of three-act structure. Most importantly, it manages to be both maddening and moving at the same time. (1:35) Roxie. (Eddy)
On the Cheap listings
Listings compiled by Cortney Clift and Caitlin Donohue. Submit items for the listings at listings@sfbg.com. For further information on how to submit items for listings, see Picks.
WEDNESDAY 17
My Foreign Cities reading Booksmith, 1644 Haight, SF. www.booksmith.com. 7:30pm, free. In her heartfelt and much discussed piece from the New York Times’ "Modern Love" series, Elizabeth Scarboro shares her experience being married to a terminally ill husband who wasn’t expected to live past 30. Scarboro will be at Booksmith to share her new memoir Foreign Cities, which delves further into her relationship and subsequent widowhood.
Smack Dab open mic Magnet, 4122 18th St., SF. www.magnetsf.org. Signup 7:30pm, show 8pm, free. The featured reader at this monthly open mic night will be William Benemann, a historian who focuses on the history of gay men in America throughout the early 19th century. The evening is also open to musicians or writers who wish to perform.
Ian Svenonius Book Signing City Lights, 261 Columbus, SF. www.citylights.com. 7pm, free. Underground rock musician Svenonius has recently released Supernatural Strategies for Making a Rock N’ Roll Group, a satirical "how-to" guide for aspiring rock stars. Also the author of The Psychic Soviet, Svenonius will be at City Lights tonight to speak and sign copies of his new release.
THURSDAY 18
Poems Under the Dome City Hall, North Light Court, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, SF. www.poemdome.net. 5:30-8pm, free. Forget dimly lit poetry readings in the corner of the bar, now you can perform your material in a grand manner under the dome of City Hall. In celebration of National Poetry Month, San Francisco’s poet laureate will read the first ode. Head over early, aspiring bards, to enter the open mic lottery.
FRIDAY 19
Cal Day 2013 UC Berkeley, Sproul Plaza, Berk. www.calday.berkeley.edu. 8am-6pm, free. Whether you’ve always dreamed of going to Berkeley or simply aching to relive your glory days, today is the day. The university hosts 300 free lectures, performances, tours, concerts, and more to showcase the campus and the school’s programs. Chose from activities such as a pre-med information session, a circus exhibit, a make-your-own-antlers project, and much more.
"Goodbye Taxes, Hello Mary Jane" Brick and Mortar, 1710 Mission, SF. www.brickandmortarmusic.com. Doors open at 8pm, show starts at 9pm, $7 advance, $10 door. Relieve yourself from the stress of filing your taxes at this pre-420 event, which includes live music, face and body painting, and dance contests. Underground Burlesque will also be putting on a sultry performance.
SATURDAY 20
Cherry Blossom Festival Japantown, Post between Laguna and Fillmore. www.sfcherryblossom.org. 10am-5pm, free. Also occurring 4/21. Back for its 46th year, the Cherry Blossom Festival in Japantown celebrates Japanese culture and the diversity of the Japanese American community. The festival will include food booths, cultural performances, martial arts, live bands, and more. The grand parade finale will begin at City Hall at 1pm and ends up at the festival around 3pm.
Goat Festival Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, Embarcadero and Market, SF. www.cuesa.org/markets. 10am-1pm, free. Wait, dude am I petting a goat? Start your 420 the right way, with an adorable baby goat petting zoo at the Ferry Building’s farmers market. It’s the Goat Fest, meaning goat product samples, aforementioned cuties, and talks by goat-oriented business owners about why they like workings with these fine fellows.
Jack London Square Earth Day Festival Jack London Square, Oakl. www.jacklondonsquare.com. 9am-2pm, free. The perfect excuse to visit this sunny plaza’s farmers market today, you’ll get the chance to enjoy free Popsicles from a solar-powered truck, sustainable living exhibits, crafts for the kiddos, gardening activities, and the weekly free yoga class, all in celebration of this year’s day for the planet.
Pedals, Pipes, and Pizza Cathedral of Christ the Light, 2121 Harrison, Oakl. www.ctlcathedral.org. 11am-1pm, $5 donation requested. Children under 5 are free. Peter and the Wolf is a timeless folktale with a serious honesty lesson. Bring the kids to the Cathedral of Christ the Light for a unique performance in which the story is told through narration, percussion, and organ. After the story wraps, and kids promise never to lie again, head outside for a pizza party on Cathedral Plaza.
Varnish Fine Art 10-year anniversary show Varnish Fine Art, 16 Jessie, SF. www.varnishfineart.com. Through May 18. Opening reception: 6-9pm, free. Gallerists Jen Rogers and Kerri Stephens set out to create a fine space for contemporary art 10 years ago and look at them now hosting "DECADE-1", a show of 14 artist that commemorate the pair’s decade of success with pieces that reflect mind-soul journeys.
World Naked Bike Ride Ride starts at noon, free. Justin Herman Plaza, Embarcadero and Market, SF. www.sfbikeride.org. Remember the Deepwater Horizon-Macondo Well oil spill? It was only the worst natural disaster in industrial history and wrecked havoc on the coastline of Louisiana and adjacent states. The free spirits behind the World Naked Bike Ride haven’t this edition of the clothing-optional two-wheeled group ride falls on the spill’s third anniversary.
SUNDAY 21
Swap Not Shop Earth Day Edition Soundwave Studios, 2200 Wood, Oakl. www.swapnotshop.info. Snagging up a bag of new (to you) threads is good for both your wallet and the planet. Celebrate Earth Day with Homeygrown a collective of artist and friends putting on its biannual clothing swap. Bring in a bag of gently used, clean clothes, let Homeygrown separate the good from the bad, and then help yourself to as much as you’d like.
Union Square Live kick-off concert Union Square, SF. www.unionsquarelive.org. 2-4pm, free. The best place in San Francisco to recover from heavy retail migraines is hosting 75 free concerts and performances this summer season, and it kicks off today with Sila, of Afrofunk Experience fame. Breeze through for R&B with Kenyan inflections and a passel of Afro-reggae, Afro-Brazilian, and other references.
Vintage Paper Fair Elks Lodge, 1475 Creekside, Walnut Creek. www.vintagepaperfair.com. 10am-5pm, free. With over a million items for sale, the Vintage Paper Fair has one of the West Coast’s biggest selection of postcards, trade cards, photography, brochures, Victorian memorabilia, and an array of curious, beautiful, and interesting old paper.
TUESDAY 23
Filipino Heritage Festival at AT&T Park Lefty O’ Doul Plaza. SF. sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com. 5-7pm. Pregame festivities are free. Head to AT&T Park before the Giants play the Diamondbacks to take part in the biannual Filipino heritage celebration. Attendees can expect live music and cultural food vendors outside the stadium. Head inside and sit in one of the Filipino heritage sections to enjoy on-field cultural performers leading up to the start of the game. All special event ticket holders will also receive a limited-edition Tim Lincecum scarf.
Alerts
WEDNESDAY 24
Forum: Art and politics with Rebar 518 Valencia, SF. rebargroup.org. 7:30-10:30pm, free. Operating in San Francisco since 2004, Rebar has been transforming cities with urban art and creative actions with an aim toward reclaiming the city by and for citizens themselves. Join founder and principal Blaine Merker for a discussion exploring how people both inside and outside positions of power can help the city benefit from urban art and other creative actions.
THURSDAY 25
Protest Gap sweatshops Gap Headquarters, 2 Folsom, SF. laborrights.org/gappetition. Noon, free. Call on the Gap to pay 10 cents more per garment and to join a fire safety agreement to improve conditions in their overseas garment factories. Sumi Abedin, a Bangladeshi garment worker who survived a factory fire that killed 112 workers producing garments for Walmart, and Bangladeshi labor organizer Kalpona Akter will attend this action. Sponsored by Corporate Action Network, International Labor Rights Forum, San Francisco Jobs with Justice, SumOfUs, SweatFree Communities, and United Students Against Sweatshops.
Muslim women’s transformative activism panel California Institute of Integral Studies, 1453 Mission, SF. tinyurl.com/ciismuslimwmn. 7-9pm, $15. RSVP. Facilitated by Dr. Anshu Chatterjee, this panel aims to spotlight the activism of Muslim women. Panelists include Samina Ali, a novelist, feminist organizer and curator of the International Museum of Women; Ghazala Anwar, a pioneer in the movement of LGBTIQ Muslims, and Jane Sloane, Vice President of Programs at Global Fund for Women.
FRIDAY 26
“Pipeline Paradigm” panel Commonwealth Club, 595 Market, SF. tinyurl.com/pipelinepdgm. 11:30am, $20 or $7 for students. Hosted by Climate One, this talk on the Keystone XL pipeline will focus on why the controversial oil pipeline project has inspired “the largest expression of civil disobedience since the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s.” Featuring Sam Avery, author of The Pipeline and the Paradigm, and others in a conversation about climate and activism.
Conference: Socialism versus capitalism Niebyl Proctor Marxist Library, 6501 Telegraph Ave. Oakl. sfsocialistaction@gmail.com, 510-268-9429. 7pm, $5-$10. This three day event will feature a host of speakers exploring socialist theory, attacks on civil liberties, and movements against the corporate elite.
SATURDAY 27
Annual Walk Against Rape The Women’s Building, 3543 18th St, SF. www.sfwar.org/walk. 11am, free. Registration required. Join the movement against sexual violence by participating in the Walk Against Rape. Registration begins at 10am. Followed by a festival from 1-3pm featuring dance, spoken word and musical performances.
SUNDAY 28
Public forum on education and the forces of gentrification San Francisco Community School, 125 Excelsior, SF. www.politicaleducation.org. 3-6pm, free. Pauline Lipman, an activist scholar and organizer with Teachers for Social Justice in Chicago, will lead a dialogue on the intersection between school closures, the attacks on City College of San Francisco, and the forces of gentrification.
Goats, unicorns, Snoop Dogg: What to do in SF for 4/20 2013
Hey stoner stereotypes, see ya at Hippie Hill! I jk — you can do way better on International Stoner Day this year in the Bay. Instead of watching wobbly teenagers inhale from “joints” the size of their lacrosse stick in Golden Gate Park (also avoid Haight Street today like the plague), steer your buzzed bumblings towards these carefully curated events that are sure to be safe, amaaaazing spaces for mature marijuana users.
It’s a great day to hit up your fave dispensary, too — many are offering deals and free joints to patients [e.g., the Castro’s Apothecarium, where the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence will be holding court all day.] Other year-round best bets for the blazed: the Audium, the brand-new Exploratorium, or your couch.
Goat Fest
Watching (over) you.
You are setting yourself up for glory if you manage to get out of bed, roll a joint, and bring it to the waterfront Saturday morning. Your fuzzy ramblings will bring you face-to-face with the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market’s homage to billygoats. Yuss, you can pet the goats — a petting stable will be set up by the Sur La Table entrance to the Ferry Building that has high nuzzle potential. Achadinha Cheese Company, Andante Dairy, and Yerba Santa Goat Cheese will be teaching about goat industries in the Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture (CUESA) classroom, and this: 10-11am, “goat gab” from experts about why they like working with billies. 11am and noon, there will be sustainable goat cooking demos by celeb chefs — a sure-fire buzzkill for softy vegetarians who just got done snuggling kids, you’ve been warned.
10am-1pm, free. Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, Embarcadero and Market, SF. www.cuesa.org
Yoga Flow studio opening
Care to commune with your breath in a one-time Masonic lodge? Lookatit:
The new yoga studio, Yoga Flow, opening up off of Ocean Avenue is unrolling the welcome mat for 4/20, and will offer three sessions of different levels of yoga classes for newbs. Have you ever done yoga stoned? It is not for everyone, but for those for whom it is for, it is for them. After the classes conclude, a person named DJ Solar will beat-track a refreshment-mingle session from 7:30-10pm. Like, meet your community man. Find the day’s class schedule on the Eventbrite page.
4-10pm, free. Yoga Flow, 385 Ashton, SF. www.yogaflowsf.com, yogaflowsf.eventbrite.com
Cesar Chavez parade and street fair
I don’t know, does social justice stimulate your stoned synapses? Dolores Park is going to be a big, sloppy mess, but it’ll be worth braving to check out all the community groups and amazing people who will be marching in the parade celebrating California’s preminent working class hero. Or conversely, post up closer to 24th Street so you can cruise the street fair celebrating the guy after the procession. Pro tip: swing by Galeria de la Raza and get an army jacket (pillowcase?) printed with a kid-designed image of Chavez for just a $5 donation.
Parade: 11am, free. Route goes from 19th St. and Guerrero to 24th St. and Mission, SF. Street fair: noon-5pm, free. 24th St. between Treat and Bryant, SF. www.cesarchavezday.org
Aryz: “Style is the Limit”
Whoa, dude. Aryz collaboration with Os Gemeos in Lodz, Poland (Aryz did the cig-craving skeleton lady)
Ignore the head-scratching rhetoric behind the title of this exhibition of Barcelona street artist Aryz‘s studio work (ditto the wha-huh? promotional video) and just space out on the work of one of the world’s most original modern-day muralists in a Lower Haight gallery. The world was introduced to Aryz by his album cover for Aesop Rock, and since then, we’ve gotten a chance to peep his work on mega-walls in both hemispheres (I got a chance to see him do the thing in person last fall in Puerto Rico.) Creepy + thought-provoking + epically precise lines = perfect fodder for marijuana-fueled musings. Should you need more to ponder: Aryz is originally from Palo Alto, weirrrrrd.
Open on Sat/20 noon-6pm, free. Opening reception Fri/19, 7pm, free. Fifty24SF gallery, 218 Fillmore, SF. www.fifty24sf.com
Mishap Psychic Fair
Nothing will make sense on 4/20 anyway, but surely the Mishap Psychic Fair is in the running for the least-sense-making honorific this Saturday. The (is it?) satirical set-up will feature tongue-in-cheek booths where you can align your crystals via rock opera, attune to your inner “sexy anger,” and temper it all with cocktails if you’re not too bleary-eyed from the traditional mode of celebration on this international holiday. Buy tix to the fair in advance and you’ll snag a complimentary photo of your aura, a so-called magic elixir, or henna tattoo. Heal thyself, hippie.
The Last Unicorn birthday celebration screening
Meep! I’ll let film editor Cheryl Eddy explain this one:
And now for something completely magical: Peter S. Beagle, author of beloved 1968 fantasy novel The Last Unicorn (among dozens of other works), turns 74 today, and he’ll journey from his home in Oakland for a pair of birthday- and unicorn-themed San Francisco events. (Hooves up if you ever had a unicorn-themed birthday party! I know I did … maybe more than once.) First is a screening of the 1982 animated film adapted from the book, with voices by Mia Farrow, Jeff Bridges, and Alan Arkin; Beagle will be on hand to answer questions and sign books. Diehards can continue the festivities at the Cartoon Art Museum, which hosts a reading and further signings by the author, plus an auction of some mighty nifty original artwork to benefit the museum and Beagle’s imminent multi-city tour. Costumes are encouraged, obvi.
Screening, noon-3pm, $8.50. Castro Theatre, 429 Castro, SF; VIP reception, 6-8pm, $25. Cartoon Art Museum, 655 Mission, SF. www.cartoonart.org
Maria Minerva
A concert for which I will h/t to music writer Ryan Prendiville for explanating because terms like “hypnagogic pop” addle me (admittedly, not a hard thing to do):
Minerva was the Roman goddess of wisdom. That’s what I’ve found out on Wikipedia. What I’ve found out about Estonian lo-fi electronic chanteuse Maria Minerva is that she’s an art school graduate/critic/glossolalia expert/comedy student. But, all I really know is that her Bless EP on 100% Silk is excellent. “Soulsearchin’,” focuses on the anxiety of options, built around George Carlin’s “Modern Man,” but it’s the laid-back guitar, slightly off-kilter percussion, and circling vocals on “Symbol of My Pleasure” that stay with me.
With Butterclock (live), Marco De La Vega, and more. 9pm, $10 presale. Public Works, 161 Erie, SF. (415) 932-0955, www.publicsf.com, Facebook event
Dark Room
Whoa. The cwazy goth drag that will rule the night at the second installation of this creep show party will be fabulously morose end to a long day of baking in the sun. At 11:30pm the Secret Society of the Sonic Six takes the stage to teleport you to another realm. Featuring the dark and stormy sartorial skills of host Lady Bear and her minions: Phatima, Vain Hein, Mica Sigourney, and more.
9:30pm-2am, $5 before 10pm, $8 after. Cafe Du Nord, 2174 Market, SF. Facebook event
Snoop Lion
Well this is obviously the place to be if you have $75 to spend on becoming a total stoner stereotype. I am on the record as a fan of Snoop Doggy Dogg’s transformation into the reggae-fied, Bunny Wailer-approved, anti-gun Snoop Lion. Like the single says (music video below, featuring Snoop’s recording artist daughter Cori B. and, somehow, Drake): “I need to hear my thoughts/turn the music up LOUD.” Cop tix now because this is obvs the spot for any self-respecting pothead on this day of days. Cross your fingers Cori B. braves the clouds of smoke to attend!
Less buzz-harshing violence available in Snoop Lion’s other goddamn amazing video:
9pm, $75. The Fillmore, 1805 Geary, SF. www.thefillmore.com
Follow @caitlindonohue
Warriors Arena proposal rouses supporters and opponents
UPDATED Rival teams have formed in the last week to support and oppose the proposed Warriors Arena at Piers 30-32 as the California Legislature considers a new bill to approve the project, a new design is about to be released, and a trio of San Francisco agencies prepares to hold informational hearings.
Fresh off the collapse of two of the city’s biggest development deals, Mayor Ed Lee and his allies are pushing hard to lock in what he hopes will be his “legacy project.” A new group of local business leaders calling itself Warriors on the Waterfront held a rally on the steps of City Hall today, emphasizing the project’s job creation, community partnerships, and revitalization of a dilapidated stretch of waterfront.
That launch event followed last week’s creation of the San Francisco Waterfront Alliance, made up mostly of area residents and environmental organizations that oppose the project, including the Sierra Club and Save the Bay. The group today released a press release and artist’s rendering of how the 13-story arena and two condo towers may block views of the bay.
Last week, SFWA put out a press release criticizing Assembly Bill 1273 by Assembly member Phil Ting, claiming it would allow the project to avoid scrutiny by the Bay Conservation and Development Commission, which oversees and issues permits for waterfront projects. “One of the primary reasons we have regulatory agencies like the BCDC is so that local jurisdictions don’t run roughshod over the Bay and the waterfront,” group President Gayle Cahill said in the release. “The San Francisco Waterfront Alliance strongly believes that BCDC should retain its jurisdiction in this project to ensure independent oversight for the Bay and for all of us.”
Yet Ting and supporters of the project say the legislation doesn’t change BCDC’s oversight of the project, pointing to language that explicitly acknowledges the agency’s authority. While the legislation would remove the need for the three-member State Lands Commission to approve the project, proponents said approval by the full Legislature is a higher bar that ensures more public scrutiny and accountability.
“It does not waive BCDC. It goes through the same BCDC process,” Ting told us. “By going through the Legislature, you do have more hearings and public process. The idea was to make this more thoroughly vetted.”
The Port’s Brad Benson told us that State Lands staff is also still actively scrutinizing the project. “We’ve been working closely with State Land and BCDC staff to incorporate their concerns,” Benson said. For example, the arena configuration has already been moved closer to shore than originally proposed because of BCDC concerns about maritime access to a deep-water berth at the site.
In addition to approval by the Legislature and BCDC, the project must also be approved by the Port Commission and Board of Supervisors. The latest design for the project is scheduled to be released on May 6 and will be discussed by the Board of Supervisors Land Use and Economic Development Committee that day, said Gloria Chan of the Mayor’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development. The Planning Commission will then hold an informational hearing on the new design May 9, following by a May 14 hearing before the Port Commission.
The project is proposed to include a 17,500-seat arena that would host more than 200 Warriors games, concerts, and other events per year, starting in 2017, on 13 acres of rebuilt piers. The adjacent, 2.3-acre Seawall Lot 330 would include up to 130 new condos, a hotel of up to 250 rooms, and 34,000 square feet of restaurants and retail space.
The whole project would include just 830-930 parking spaces, making its still-unfolding transportation plan key to the project’s approval. Opponents of the project also criticize the project’s height and its financing package and say this intensive development isn’t consistent with city plans or state laws that protect waterfront lands for maritime and public uses.
“We told the mayor before it was even announced that it is not a legal use of the pier,” Save the Bay Executive Director David Lewis told the Guardian. “There’s no reason that an arena has to be out on the water on a crumbling pier.”
Yet proponents tout the project’s economic benefits to the city and the need for an arena that size to host concerts and conventions, beyond the prestige of luring the Warriors away from Oakland and back to its original home city. “It will be privately financed and turn a crumbling pier and unsafe parking lot into a state-of-the-art venue that generates new revenue for the region and provides a spectacular new facility for the Bay Area’s NBA team.”Jim Wunderman, CEO of the Bay Area Council and an honorary co-chair of Warriors on the Waterfront, said in the press release.
UPDATE: Rudy Nothenberg, who served five SF mayors financing big civic projects and helped found SF Waterfront Alliance, disputes several assertions made by project proponents. “The first version of [AB 1273] unquestionably moved BCDC out of the way,” he said, claiming that bill language was altered after input from BCDC and the consultant to the Assembly Natural Resources Committee. BCDC has not yet returned a call from the Guardian on the issue. Nothenberg also says AB 1273 turns the deliberate fact-finding process required for the State Lands Commission to make its public trust determination into a political process that is a less thorough vetting of the project.
He also took issue with the statements by Wunderman and others that this is a privately funded project, noting that taxpayers will be paying $120 million to rebuild these piers and will give up future property taxes on the site, which will be diverted by a special tax district to help repay the bonds. Nothenberg told us, “Their continued assertion that there is no public money involved in blatantly untrue.”
An art benefit — for the artists
All sorts of political campaigns and causes raise money by asking artists to donate work that can be auctioned off. It’s not often that the artists themselves get the benefits.
So Matt Gonzalez — former supervisor, longtime criminal defense lawyer, and big fan of local arts — is putting together a different type of fund-raiser. It’s an art auction — to benefit the artists.
“This is a kind of thank you to the artists who have donated works in the past,” Gonzalez told me. “All the sale proceeds, every cent, goes directly to the artists. “As a result most artists are starting the bidding on their pieces at 1/3 or 1/2 of the retail price (since there’s no gallery cut to worry about).”
Gonzalez, along with co-sponsors Peter Kirkeby and Aimee Friberg, have paid to rent out Incline Gallery. Beer and wine will be served, cheap. A long list of artists are participating: Adam Feibelman, Alicia Escott, Andrew Schoultz, Anthony Torres, Ben Venom, Bill McRight, Brian Lucas, Christa Assad, Claire Colette, Clare Judith, David Molesky, Ezra Eismont, Felix Macnee, Gianluca Franzese, Gina Borg, Guy Colwell, Harley Lafarrah Eaves, Hilary Pecis, Jean Oppermann, Jet Martinez, Jeff Petersen, Jenny Sharaf, Jonathan Steinberg, Kara Maria, Kathryn Kain, Kelly Ording, Kevin Taylor, Kim Frohsin, Kottie Paloma, Kristen van Diggelen, Kyle Ranson, Lauren Douglas, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Mark Battinger, Mark Van Proyen, Megan Gorham, Megan Seiter, Michael Krause, Michael Rauner, Nellie King Solomon, Paz de la Calzada, Ryan Coffey, Ryan Shaffer, Tahiti Pehrson, Tom Schultz, and Yuri Psinakis.
It’s Friday, April 19, from 6pm – 9pm. Incline Gallery, 766 Valencia.
Neighborhood sounds: MAPP takes over the Mission
Photos by Bowerbird Photography
It’s fun to imagine what it would be like to have lived during the Beatnik era, an era full of art salons and improvised performance. An evening walking around the for the Mission Arts and Performance Project (MAPP) with friends seems like close fit to those artistic days, because you never really know what you’ll see when you roll up to one of the many venues along the MAPP’s guide to the Mission.
This edition seemed especially filled with unique instruments. There was a folk Americana duo (Michael Hamilton) at Cafe La Boheme that included a cello, followed by the wonderful songstress She the Wolf, donning a red beret. After refueling on chai and cookies, the next stop was Artillery AG on Mission street, where a harp was taking center stage, as Maria Jose Montijo belted out melancholy, romantic ballads in Spanish. Our last stop was at Red Poppy Art House, for quirky and wonderfully weird poetry by Arian Arias that incorporated a made-up alien language from the future and also a collaboration with a flamenco dancer.
The final show we watched was a beautiful modern dance piece by SF native Sriba Kwadjovie. Inspired and excited by all the art we had absorbed, we made our way to a friends tiny apartment on Dolores street for a David Byrne-themed dance party, with Stop Making Sense being projected on the wall as we boogied down in over-sized white suits. A perfect Saturday night.
John Waters would love tonight’s Que(e)ry party — and more, from your week in sexy events
We’ve all seen the John Waters quote: “If you go home with somebody, and they don’t have books, don’t fuck ’em!” Baltimore’s favorite trashy son, however, neglects to specify how to express your affection for their bok collection, and for good reason. The literary world supports a plethora of sexual proclivities — all are welcome to find their sensual muses within the extraordinary range of love found in books.
This week, two events connected to the Center for Sex and Culture’s amazing erotic library are going down, the perfect places for exploring your own lust for printed matter. One is tonight!
Que(e)ry
Back in 2010, Que(e)ry was formed in the metropolis of New York City to provide opportunities for queer librarians to hang out together, and also support LGBT collections of literature. Hooray, because the inevitable has happened and a West Coast contingent has sprung up in San Francisco. Tonight, the group hosts its first party at El Rio, featuring transcendent yammerings from Rhiannon Argo, Kat Marie Yoas, Cheena Marie Lo, Elizabeth Weisbrot, and Andrew Demcak. And, dancing. Actual library workers will be DJing (yay Steve Fabus and DJ Laydown from Hard French and Dial Up, joined by not-library-worker, still cool DJ Sissyslap.) Plus, raffle — the proceeds of which will go towards the Center for Sex and Culture’s Zineography project, which is the local attempt at creating a big old room full of printed matter on sexy things. We like.
Thu/11, 8pm-2am, $5-7 sliding scale. El Rio, 3158 Mission, SF. www.elriosf.com, Facebook event
Bookish Beasts
Speaking of the Center for Sex and Culture! Stalking made easy regarding that book worm cutie you met at Que(e)ry, because they will most certainly be at this zine, art, and book fest, perusing perhaps the Batman and Robin erotica by visual artist Diego Gomez or the poems of self-identified “romantic queer desi scholar activist artist” Alok Vaid-Menon (for exciting glimpses into the artists who will be at the fest, check out this rad Tumblr.) “These are zine and comics creators that are often over looked because their work is outside the mainstream,” says Bookish Beasts organizer Jon Macy. “We have amazing artists really exploring the limits of gender, sexuality, and identity. Truly transgressive work that makes me proud to be a San Franciscan.” Yayyy.
Sun/14, noon-6pm, free. Center for Sex and Culture, 1349 Mission, SF. www.sexandculture.org
“Bathhouse Men” Eros birthday celebration
A few things that you may not know about Eros, the 21-year old sex club with the unassuming, rainbow-flagged façade that stands across the street from the Castro Safeway strip mall. One: it is hosting an art show on Thu/11 open to all to attend (perfect for female-identified folks interested in checking out the space, or at least the front room). Check out my post on a trip to chat with the club’s owner Ken Rowe, and general manager/drawer of the art that will be displayed Loren Bruton.
Thu/11, 7-10pm, free. Eros, 2051 Market, SF. www.erossf.com
“Plane Queer: Labor, Sexuality, and AIDS in the History of Male Flight Attendants”
History buff Phil Tiemeyer just penned a book on the in-flight mores of the flight attendant business, where being gay could cut both ways. He’ll share his findings at this presentation with Bill Wright, a 1950s-’80s Pan Am flight attendant.
Thu/11, 7-9pm, free. GLBT History Museum, 4127 18th St., SF. www.glbthistory.org
Godless Pervert Story Hour and sexy atheist meet-up
Why do local wirters Greta Christina, Chris Hall, and David Fitzgerald feel the need to make atheism sexy? “The whole point is that sex gets a lot better if it’s to please yourself and your partner, not whatever spirit or deity you think is looking over your shoulder,” says Christina. So, there. The trio are hosting an event of readings and performance geared around godless sex, at which you make just win door prizes from the only slightly unsettling Oakland sex company Divine Interventions including “a dildo in the shape of a crucifix called the Jackhammer Jesus; a vibrating silicone bible, and the descriptively-named Baby Jesus Butt Plug,” according to the event’s press release. Should the reading awaken you to a whole new sexy world, you’re invited to next week’s hang-out, hosted by Christina, Hall, and Fitzgerald, at SoMa’s Wicked Grounds kink cafe.
Reading: Sat/13, 7pm, $10-20 sliding scale, no one turned away for lack of funds. Center for Sex and Culture, 1349 Mission, SF. www.sexandculture.org. Meet-up: Tue/16, 7pm, free. Wicked Grounds, 289 Eighth St., SF. www.wickedgrounds.com
Feelmore Fresh Erotic Film Night
How can you resist the charms of a movie “based on the surprising truth of how Mortimer Granville came up with the world’s first electro-mechanical vibrator in the name of medical science”? Impossible. Check out this screening, part of a series that — recent AVN winner for Best Retail Boutique! — Oakland adult store Feelmore510 puts together.
Fri/12, 10pm, $10. The New Parkway Theater, 474 24th St., SF. www.brownpapertickets.com
Brooke Candy
“Next time they call you a slut/Brooke Candy tells you not to give a fuck” Listen, say what you will about the cornrowed, armored formerly-from-San Francisco Tumblr icon Brooke Candy’s music, but her look is certified freak-original, and more importantly, she spends her whiplashingly hype songs reclaiming the word slut. We’re listening…
With Sasha Go Hard and Sick Sad World. Sat/14, 10pm-3am, $10-15. 1192 Folsom, SF. www.feightsf.com, Facebook event
The Performant: Band(s) of a thousand faces
Borts Minorts/Fuxedos/Polkacide fux shit up at Bottom of the Hill
It had been awhile since I’d stood in slightly gape-mouthed awe before the glorious mania of Borts Minorts, who last played the Bay Area some five years ago, the jerk, depriving me of my Dadatastic fun fix for far too long.
For the uninitiated, Borts Minorts is not a band so much as an alien invasion for the senses. Front-creature Borts Minorts (a.k.a. Chris Carlone) appears clad in a shiny white unitard, which makes him look like a giant cartoon spermatozoon, his frenetic dance moves are the stuff of legends and nightmares. He frequently plays a ski, though for this show he played a cabinet door strung with bass strings instead. When last spotted ‘round these parts, his ballsy backup crew had consisted of dancing girls, an unsmiling Norwegian on a flute (a.k.a. Melting Razor), and someone of indeterminate gender blowing endless bubbles—a deliberate hodge-podge of askew confusion.
But Saturday’s lineup at Bottom of the Hill kicked it up to a whole new dimension, thanks mainly to the addition of a horn section, even more dancers, and a glittering diva who sang operatically and took over the poker-face duties from the absent Melting Razor. Plus, somewhere along the way, the Borts Minorts “look” has been tweaked to include a giant blonde rocker-do complete with Richard Simmons sweatband, which somehow managed to dehumanize his freakish facade even more than his previously shiny-smooth Spandexed pate had done.
Shortly after the mighty Minorts crew exited the stage, the Fuxedos took it over, clad in their signature blood-splattered tuxedo shirts, laden with props. The bizarre brainchild of LA’s Danny Shorago, the Fuxedos can be best described as one part metal, one part big band, one part free jazz, and one part carnival sideshow in which Shorago is both the ringmaster and the principle freak.
I get the feeling that Shorago was one of those kids who spent a lot of time alone in the house playing dress-up, what with his penchant for inventive costuming and character-creating. From his eager sales huckster for “Clams and Flan” (the fast food emporium of all our dreams), to his sword-bearing villager with a “real god” (a giant porcupine named Reggie), to his insulation-clad astronaut whose distressed mantra “I feel the air slipping out of my space suit” precedes an epic death metal roar, to his signature sulky sideshow attraction “Mimsy,” to his cane-swinging, Clockwork Orange-channeling crooner singing the song “Leonard Cohen wrote for me” (“The Future”), Shorago’s unique shapeshifting abilities definitely steal the spotlight. But the fact that he’s backed by truly talented musicians and complex composition really elevates the whole Fuxedos experience from mere tomfoolery to actual art, albeit hilarious art.
And speaking of hilarious art, there really is no better way to describe the imitable, unflagging insanity that Hardcore 2/4 crew, Polkacide, bring to the stage. They’ve been raucously rawking it since before half of their oddiences were born, and their punk rock polka is a true San Francisco treat. Each musician in the band has a musical pedigree as long as the string of sausages that clarinetist “Neil Basa” strategically hangs down his lederhosen, and the practiced patter of frontman Ward Abronski guides the faithful Polkacidal around the world in 80 (give or take a few dozen) polkas—from Warsaw, Poland to San Antonio, Texas.
You’ll just have to imagine the mayhem, as by that point I was dancing too much to remember to take many pictures—but better yet, you should probably just go to their next show and experience it for yourself.
Main Street’s sex club: Eros celebrates 21 years in business
A few things that you may not know about Eros, the 21-year old sex club with the unassuming, rainbow-flagged façade that stands across the street from the Castro Safeway strip mall. One: it is hosting an art show on Thu/11 open to all to attend (perfect for female-identified folks interested in checking out the space, or at least the front room). Two, boundary-breaking trans-cis male porn is made there.
“Transmen were not being reached out to with the safe sex message,” says Eros’ owner Ken Rowe, a snuggly looking bear sitting on a leather couch in the club’s comfy front room. T-Wood Pictures, the club’s in-house porn company, now shoots new content once or twice a month with varying combinations of trans and cis men.
New elliptical machine!
Another point of fact: “The original founders wanted this to be a community center sex club,” he says. Co-founder Buzz Bense wanted a “Main Street sex club,” says Rowe. “Not with neon lights going ‘LIVE BOYS.’ They wanted it to look respectable, shame-free. Now we’re much more like a spa — we’re a traditional bathhouse. It’s not dark and dirty, poppers wafting through the air.”
Eros opens at noon seven days a week, and the first few hours of the day management promotes it as more of a “sex-positive day spa,” says Rowe.
>>LEARN MORE ABOUT EROS’ TRANS PROGRAMMING IN KELLY LOVEMONSTER’S SFBG INTERVIEW WITH EROS STAFF MEMBER (AND RECENTLY NAMED TRANS 100 HONOREE) NIKO KOWELL
Today, male-identified customers can take yoga and tai chi classes before hitting the club’s sauna, showers, and steam room. Elliptical machines sit nearby us, the club’s newest attractions. Community groups like Homobiles hold business meetings in the space. Potted plants sit happily on a cute little smoking deck on the other side of glass sliding doors.
A licensed massage therapist provides much-needed muscle work to customers, which was especially important back in the early days of the club, when the Police Department was in charge of licensing massage therapists in sex clubs (that duty has since been transferred to the Department of Public Health, though SFPD still must approve licenses.) Eros is the only sex club with a licensed massage therapist, to the best of Rowe’s knowledge, in Northern California.
“They wanted the club to be about more than just sex, they wanted a space where you could learn about safer sex in a non-threatening manner. You know, without being jumped on,” Rowe tells me.
One of Loren Bruton’s “Bathhouse Men”
Loren Bruton’s drawings line one side of the common room, aggregations of the Eros clientele that he sees every day as the club’s general manager. Eros hosts a yearly staff art show, an event that reflects the overlapping communities of artists and sex workers in the hyper-expensive Bay Area. This week, a reception will be held to celebrate Bruton’s collection that doubles as a birthday party for Eros’ decades of community involvement.
“I like that I can be myself here,” Bruton says. “It’s nice to have a sense of community someplace that is sex-positive. I wanted to represent that this is a diverse group in terms of age, race, sexual identity.” For a club that’s spent years reworking our vision of what a Main Street business can be, the renderings make for perfect poster children.
“Bathhouse Men” Eros birthday celebration
Thu/11, 7-10pm, free
Eros
2051 Market, SF
New forms
caitlin@sfbg.com
STREET SEEN What’s in a lookbook? When you’re a styling collective that works with one-of-a-kind vintage items, the question is somewhat challenging. Only one person can buy each outfit in Retrofit Republic‘s newest “Tastemakers” style book, after all.
But co-founder Julia Rhee explains to me in an email that her brand is about way more than call-and-response trend manufacturing. “We could’ve exclusively sourced from the big box stores when we started our business,” she writes. “But we wanted to show clients that we don’t have to live in a throwaway culture that constantly churns out fast fashion with no regard to the environment.”
Rhee and co-founder Jenny Ton counsel clients who make appointments at their private showroom for styling tips that unique pieces that don’t quite fit can be adjusted. “When in doubt, roll it, cuff it, belt it,” she says.
“Tastemakers” lookbook: Brown Boi Project founder B. Cole
>>CLICK HERE TO READ LAST YEAR’S SFBG PROFILE ON RETROFIT’S STYLE
Angie Chang, founder of Women 2.0 and Bay Area Geek Girl dinners
Given the preponderance of grown-and-sexy types at the release party for their newest lookbook on April 13 at the SoMa-sleek Tank18 tasting room, it would seem that SF (a town whose picked-over thrift stores should tip you off on our luv for secondhand) is down for the Retrofit message.
Or maybe there’s another message the party people were responding to. Because instead of populating their campaigns with traditional models, Retrofit is known for making mannequins out of the Bay’s social changers. “Tastemakers” features food justice activist-sustainable chef Bryant Terry, feminist tech networker Angie Chang, founder of genderqueer youth leadership advocates Brown Boi Project B. Cole. Past books have included Supervisors Jane Kim and David Chiu.
Founder of Four Barrell Coffee Jeremy Tooker
“As people of color, we’re not often given the space to be positively highlighted and affirmed that we are beautiful,” Ton writes. “So instead of waiting for that space and change to happen, we decided to take it into own hands, on our terms, to be the change we want to see in fashion and in this world.”
CAN YOU SAY Мишка?
Мишка lookbook photos by Chris Brennan
Five-panel ball caps printed with fresh fruit, outer galaxy scenes, or Harvey Comics panels. A cutely patterned cut-and-sew collection that includes button-downs speckled with astrological signs, classical sculptures interspersed with spray paint bursts, pot leaves and one-eyed skeleton heads arranged in Nordic ski sweater patterns. This is the look of Мишка (pronounced “Mishka,” in case your Cyrillic skills are rusty), the Brooklyn brand that opens its first SF store this week.
Are we really becoming the outer borough to Silicon Valley’s Manhattan? The fact that Мишка, a Greenpoint brand, is opening up its first store in the city next to a tattoo shop on 25th Street in the Mission is one sign that: yep, maybe. Or maybe it says more about how the Internet is globalizing hipster culture — the brand already has stores in Tokyo and Los Angeles.
Мишка is the kind of low brow movie-inspired streetwear brand (read: many hats and t-shirts) that inspires hordes of young enthusiasts so gung ho that the brand’s national marketing coordinator Leigh Barton tells me, her bloodshot eyeball-adorned fingernails lightly gripping a cappuccino cup in a Haight Street coffee shop a few blocks from where she was hosting last week’s warehouse sale, kids will show up to stores ready to work for free, just for good vibes and freebies to further their sartorial addiction.
The company already has a passionate Bay Area fan base, and co-founder Mikhail Bortnik tells me in an email the feeling is mutual. “The art, music, and culture that has been oozing out of the city for decades has influenced our brand and art greatly,” he writes.
SF store manager Chris Brennan actually shot a lookbook last summer featuring the Bay’s new crop of hip-hop heartthrobs: Chippy Nonstop, Antwon, and Trill Team 6 were among the models — which makes sense given that Мишка’s a hybrid project — Bortnik and co-founder Greg Rivera also run Мишка Records, which recently released Cakes Da Killa’s rad sophomore effort The Eulogy and had its hand in Das Racist’s early mixtape glory as well. Keep an eye out to see how the company will be contributing to the ongoing rhythms and melodies here in the Bay.
Мишка SF opening party Fri/12, 7-9pm, free. Мишка, 3422 25th St., SF. www.mishkasf.com
Selector: April 10-16, 2013
WEDNESDAY 10
Vijay Iyer Trio Jazz fans recognize Vijay Iyer as one of the genre’s reigning superstar composer-pianists. Iyer lends a bold and dynamic style to both his original productions and live performances, an approach that stems from teaching himself to play the piano as a child and picking up works by legends like Thelonious Monk by ear. With bassist Stephan Crump and drummer Marcus Gilmore, Iyer’s trio earned critical acclaim for 2012’s Accelerando, which features clever reinterpretations of tracks by Michael Jackson, disco group Heatwave, and electronic DJ Flying Lotus. When not touring, the UC Berkeley alum writes about jazz theory and teaches jazz piano and composition at the Manhattan School of Music and New York University. (Kevin Lee)
6:30pm, $20 Hotel Rex 562 Sutter
(415) 413-4708
THURSDAY 11
“Ghostbusters: Live On Stage”
Why has a 1984 film about a group of misfits determined to cure New York City of its ectoplasm explosion endured for so many years? As Ray Parker Jr. once sang, “Bustin’ makes me feel good!” The intrepid local thesps of Rhiannastan Productions — picking up the grand San Francisco tradition of turning cult films into stage plays; anyone else fondly remember Evil Dead: Live? — take on Venkman, Spengler, Zuul, Slimer, the Keymaster, and the rest, mounting Ghostbusters: Live On Stage. There will be Proton packs, there will be puppets. Frankly, if you don’t already love Ghostbusters enough to be excited by the very notion of this, you might actually be a ghost. (Cheryl Eddy)
Through April 27
Thu-Sat, 8pm, $20
Dark Room Theater
2263 Mission, SF
FRIDAY 12
“Chaos/Clarity”
A funny thing happened between here and Style Wars, and its name is tech-sponsored street art. The pleasantly grimy David Choe famously got share-rich after decorating Facebook’s original office walls with his smut in 2005, and Marin artist Ian Ross completed a one-year residency at the Social Network’s pristine campus down south. Recently, Ross opened a gallery in SoMa, SF’s techie hub, where he hypes artists who bridge art and web in a similar fashion. Fellow Mariner muralist and sometimes-app designer Zio Ziegler contributed to the striking 250-foot mural that blankets the Ross gallery exterior, and Ziegler’s solo show that opens today features vast works and smaller drawings that pull together the lands of Picasso’s cubism, literary allegory, and color-rich pattern that wouldn’t look amiss in a Kenyan textile bazaar. (Caitlin Donohue)
Opening reception: 7-10pm, free
Ian Ross Gallery
466 Brannan, SF
Max Raabe and the Palast Orchester
Steeped in the seductive and sumptuous sounds that grew out of Germany’s Weimar Republic era, Max Raabe and the Palast Orchester take the songs, styles, and instrumentation of the 1920s and ’30s and bring them into the 21st century. Performing with a clever, coolly detached demeanor, Raabe at times wows the listener with his vocal abilities, and then forces laughter at others with his deadpan riffing between songs. The elegant orchestra plays both traditional German pieces and classics such as “Singin’ In The Rain,” as well as tongue-in-cheek covers of more contemporary pop tunes, all making for a one of a kind show that’s not to be missed. (Sean McCourt)
7:30pm; Sat/13, 7:30 and 10pm, $35–$85
SF Jazz Center
201 Franklin St., SF
SATURDAY 13
“Small in a Big Way”
Mark Warren Jacques’ paintings capture large ideas in tiny spaces of graphically colorful canvases. A detailed picture of a tent under an arcing progression of moons encompasses his relationship with his son, the activities he loves, and, well, the universe. His exhibition at White Walls Gallery, made up mostly of pieces the size of a standard sheet of paper and smaller, explores how humans exist in the middle of a scale of extremes — the many miniscule atoms that comprise the giant world, the parts that comprise a machine, the memories that comprise a life. That may sound like an overwhelming load to take on, but Jacques’ meditative pieces are up to it. (Laura Kerry)
Through May 4
Opening reception: 7pm, free
White Walls
886 Geary, SF
(415) 931-1500
Ewan Pearson
Pearson describes the art of remixing in this manner: “It’s like getting a massive Lego set for Christmas. You’ve got this stuff that somebody else has made and you get to re-create it.” The English-born, Berlin-based DJ and producer has been rejiggering tracks for two decades for the likes of Depeche Mode, Chemical Brothers, and Junior Boys. He’s also produced for Everything But The Girl’s Tracey Thorn, the Rapture, Ladytron, and M83. Pearson pumps synth stabs and grizzled basslines into a number of his mixes and productions, a culmination of his old-school acid house, new-school electro and techno influences. Last year, he co-founded new record label, Machinists, which skirts away from the digital and dips back into analog. (Lee)
As You Like It with Iron Curtis, Conor, P-Play
9pm, $10 (before 10pm, $20 after)
Public Works
161 Erie, SF
(415) 932-0955
Poliça
In Poliça, the electronic pop-rock band with doses of R&B, Autotune manipulates Channy Leaneagh’s voice in every song, live and recorded — a far cry from her folk roots. You can take the girl out of folk but you can’t take the folk out of the girl. In “Lay Your Cards Out,” the refrain that ends, “Girl, get your head right,” begins, “By the waterside, summer wading in sunder,” a simple lyric that could come from just about any folk song The strange juxtaposition, which continues in variations throughout Poliça’s repertoire, makes for intriguing music that is both minimalist and complex, laid-back and upbeat, and overall, as we’ll see at Mezzanine, pretty epic. (Kerry)
With Night Moves
9pm, $22.50
Mezzanine
444 Jessie, SF
(415) 625-8880
SUNDAY 14
2 Chainz
Let’s pretend that this College Park, Georgia rapper’s hit single “I’m Different” is real-for-real his ode to doing the game in an innovative manner. How different is the player formally known as Tity Boi (he changed his handle to be more family-friendly, although you’ll notice he rarely keeps the neck bling to two pieces)? Well, the song goes on to explain, he makes tons of money, will totally fuck your bitch, and drives convertibles. So yeah, not different at all. That being said, the Fox Theater is gonna go collectively ham when “Birthday” comes on (of “all I want for my birthday is a big booty ho” fame) and it’s sure to be a bad bitch contest. Ya may as well be in first place. (Donohue)
8pm, $35
Fox Theater
1807 Telegraph, Oakl.
Beardyman
If you follow competitive beatboxing — who doesn’t? — you will be very familiar with the name Beardyman. London’s Darren Foreman, the man behind the beard, became the first person to win the UK’s beat boxing championships two years in a row in 2007, before being placed on the judging panel in ’08. If you weren’t able to attend, don’t fret: Beardyman has a vast body of bizarre and stunning material recorded for your listening pleasure — just check out his jam-packed YouTube channel. The music is made up almost completely of his own inhuman vocal chords, run through various effects. Foreman has built up an incredible and incredibly unique collection of DJ-effects units called the Beardytron, which he will unveil in all its glory on this six-stop tour. For his live shows, Beardyman builds his show up one sound at a time, using masterful looping to create entire, full-bodied songs one weird noise at a time. (Haley Zaremba)
With DJ Real
8pm, $20
Independent
628 Divisadero, SF
(415) 771-1421
Bat for Lashes
Natasha Khan of Bat for Lashes often feels like a supernatural being; her music has a mystical quality that can’t be of this world. In “Two Planets” from her second album, Two Suns (2009), an echoey voice chants over bass-heavy percussion, “Show me moonlight on the sunrise / I’ve seen so many planets dancing / I’ve seen so many people hiding,” and we can feel a spell being cast. In The Haunted Man from October, though Khan loses some of the reverb and symbolic imagery, she maintains her otherworldliness. As she’ll demonstrate at Regency Ballroom, however, the real force from her stripped down, personal music comes from its intimate expression of her humanity. (Kerry)
With Nite Jewel
8pm, $25
Regency Ballroom
1290 Sutter, SF
(415) 673-5716
TUESDAY 16
Shantala Shivalingapa
In Western cultures, young dancers are often told to study ballet because “with ballet you can to anything.” It didn’t used to be that way, but today you rarely see a professional dancer — in whatever style — where you don’t recognize remnants of the classical language’s rigor and discipline deep inside the body. When Shantala Shivalingappa first performed in SF, we loved her as a superb exponent for Kuchipudi — one of India’s five classical dance forms. Perhaps, it was the Kuchipudi training that gave her the security and freedom to branch out. On her third visit to SF Performances, Shivalingappa brings four solos: Ibuki by Bhuto artist Ushio Amagatsu, Solo by Pina Bausch, Shift, her own choreography, and Smarana by Bharata Natyam dancer Savitry Nair, who also happens to be her mother. (Rita Felciano)
8pm, $25–$50
Herbst Theatre
401 Van Ness, SF
(415) 392-2545
Japandroids and Cloud Nothings
Anyone who was paying attention to the most lauded indie albums of 2012 will know that this lineup is a dream come true. Together these bands have demolished the myth of the sophomore slump, laughing in its face through crashing cymbals and killer riffs. Last summer, Japandroids released their second album Celebration Rock, a bombastic, over-the-top garage rock record that blew the minds of critics and fans alike. Cloud Nothings released their second studio album Attack on Memory, taking a delicious turn for the heavy and dark. Each of these bands could easily headline this show alone and make a lasting impression — Japandroids are especially notorious for their all-out performances and awesome energy. Together, the amount of killer musicianship and sweaty sincerity is nearly inconceivable — and that word means exactly what I think it means. (Zaremba)
9pm, $25
New Parish
579 18th St, Oakland
(510) 444-7474
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Rep Clock
Schedules are for Wed/10-Tue/16 except where noted. Director and year are given when available. Double features marked with a •. All times pm unless otherwise specified.
ANSWER COALITION 2969 Mission, SF; www.answersf.org. $5-10 donation (no one turned away for lack of funds). With the Poor of the Earth, Wed, 7.
ARTISTS’ TELEVISION ACCESS 992 Valencia, SF; www.atasite.org. $6. "Free Form: Music and Image with Wiggwaum, Headboggle, Shelton/Forbes/Young/Heule, Mike D, and Doug Katelus," Fri, 8. "Other Cinema: Analog Church," works by Marc Olmsted and others, Sat, 8:30.
BALBOA 3630 Balboa, SF; www.cinemasf.com/balboa. $7.50-10. Where the Trail Ends (Grant, 2013), Thu, 7:30. The Cliff House and Sutro Heights (Wyrsch, 2013), April 12-18, noon, 2:30, 4:45, 7, 9:20.
CASTRO 429 Castro, SF; (415) 621-6120, www.castrotheatre.com. $10-15. •Amour (Haneke, 2012), Wed, 2, 7, and Eternity and a Day (Angelopoulos, 1998), Wed, 4:20, 9:20. •Talk to Her (Almodóvar, 2002), Thu, 2:45, 7, and All About My Mother (Almodóvar, 1999), Thu, 4:55, 9:10. •Touch of Evil (Welles, 1958), Fri, 7, and Blood Simple (Coen, 1984), Fri, 9:10. Creature From the Black Lagoon in 3D (Arnold, 1954), Sat, 1. •Moonrise Kingdom (Anderson, 2012), Sat, 3:45, 7:30, and Rushmore (Anderson, 1998), Sat, 5:40, 9:20. The Birds (Hitchcock, 1963), Sun, 2, 4:45, 8. "Turner Classic Movies presents:" The Pink Panther (Edwards, 1963), with host Robert Osborne and special guest Robert Wagner, Tue, 7:30. Free event but advance tickets required; visit tcm.com/roadtohollywood.
CHRISTOPHER B. SMITH RAFAEL FILM CENTER 1118 Fourth St, San Rafael; (415) 454-1222, www.cafilm.org. $6.75-$10.25. Ginger and Rosa (Potter, 2012), call for dates and times. On the Road (Salles, 2012), call for dates and times. Quartet (Hoffman, 2012), call for dates and times. Renoir (Bourdos, 2012), April 12-18, call for times. The Cover Story: Album Art (Christensen, 2013), Mon, 7.
CLAY 2261 Fillmore, SF; www.landmarktheatres.com. $9-10. "Midnight Movies:" The Room (Wiseau, 2003), Sat, midnight. Hosted by Sam Sharkey.
MECHANICS’ INSTITUTE 57 Post, SF; (415) 393-0100, milibrary.org/events. $10 (reservations required as seating is limited). "CinemaLit Film Series: April Blossoms: Japanese Screens:" The Teahouse of the August Moon (Mann, 1956), Fri, 6.
NEW PARKWAY 474 24th St, Oakl; www.thenewparkway.com. $6-10. "New Parkway Classics:" Evil Dead II (Raimi, 1987), Thu, 9pm. "Thrillville’s 16th Anniversary:" This Island Earth (Newman, 1955), Sun, 6.
OPERA PLAZA 601 Van Ness, SF; www.landmarktheatres.com. $10. "Say Hello to My Little Funny," short comedy films, Thu, 7:30.
OSHER MARIN JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER 200 N. San Pedro, San Rafael; www.marinjcc.org. Free. My So-Called Enemy (Gossels, 2010), Wed, 7. Director Lisa Gossels in person.
PACIFIC FILM ARCHIVE 2575 Bancroft, Berk; (510) 642-5249, bampfa.berkeley.edu. $5.50-9.50. "Filmmaker Provocateur: Jean Rouch:" The Human Pyramid (1959-61), Wed, 7; Madame L’eau (1993), Sun, 3; Chronicle of a Summer (Rouch and Morin, 1960-61), Tue, 7. "Alfred Hitchcock: The Shape of Suspense:" The Birds (1963), Thu, 7; Rich and Strange (1931), Sat, 6:30; Marnie (1964), Sat, 8:15. "The Spanish Mirth: The Comedic Films of Luis García Berlanga:" ¡Vivan los novios! (1970), Fri, 7; Tamaño natural (1973), Sun, 5:30. "And God Created Jean-Louis Trintignant:" Z (Costa-Gavras, 1969), Fri, 8:40.
ROXIE 3117 and 3125 16th St, SF; (415) 863-1087, www.roxie.com. $6.50-11. Money & Life, Wed, 7. The Gatekeepers (Moreh, 2012), Wed-Thu, 7, 9. "House of Psychotic Women:" The Mafu Cage (Arthur, 1978), Thu, 7:15; The Witch Who Came From the Sea (Cimber, 1976), Thu, 9:15. Upstream Color (Carruth, 2013), April 12-18, 7, 9:15 (also Sat-Sun, 2:45, 4:45).
VORTEX ROOM 1082 Howard, SF; Facebook: The Vortex Room. $10. "Assault on Vortex 13:" •TNT Jackson (Santiago, 1974), Thu, 9, and The Doll Squad (Mikels, 1973), Thu, 11.
YERBA BUENA CENTER FOR THE ARTS 701 Mission, SF; www.ybca.org. $8-10. "Thai Dreams: The Films of Pen-ek Ratanaruang:" Last Life in the Universe (2003), Thu, 7:30; Ploy (2007), Sun, 2. "Poetry Projection Project: A WritersCorps Film Event," short films based on youth writing, Sat, 2.
Music listings
Since club life is unpredictable, it’s a good idea to call ahead or check the venue’s website to confirm bookings and hours. Prices are listed when provided to us. Visit www.sfbg.com/venue-guide for venue information. Submit items for the listings at listings@sfbg.com. For further information on how to submit items for the listings, see Picks.
WEDNESDAY 10
ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP
Alt-J, Hundred Waters Fillmore. 8pm, $25.
Michael Barrett Johnny Foley’s. 10pm, free.
Easy Leaves Duo, These Old Wounds, Shake Your Peace Elbo Room. 9pm, $10.
Elephant Revival Independent. 8pm, $14.
Frozen Folk, Buzzmutt, Brasil the Band Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $10.
Jaymay, Kayoko, Sebastien Debande Cafe Du Nord. 9:30pm, $12.
JC Rockit vs Joel Nelson Johnny Foley’s Dueling Pianos. 10pm, free.
Shovels and Rope, Denver Great American Music Hall. 8pm, $14-$16.
Siddhartha, Black Hole Oscillators, Down Dirty Shake, DJ Neil Martinson Rickshaw Stop. 8pm, $10.
Skatalites Boom Boom Room. 8pm, $20.
Sutekh Hexen, Thomas DiMuzio, Blsphm, Sexorcyst Hemlock Tavern. 8pm, $7.
Tokimonsta, MNDR, DJs Dials, Balance, Freefall DNA Lounge, 9pm, $20.
JAZZ/NEW MUSIC
Big Bones Royal Cuckoo, 3203 Mission, SF; www.royalcuckoo.com. 7:30-10:30pm, free.
Dink Dink Dink, Gaucho, Eric Garland’s Jazz Session Amnesia. 7pm, free.
Terry Disley’s Mini-Experience Burritt Room, 417 Stockton, SF; www.mystichotel.com. 6-9pm, free.
Vijay Iyer Hotel Rex, 562 Sutter, SF; sfperformances.org. 6:30pm, $20.
Leszek Mozdzer Yoshi’s SF. 8pm, $24.
Panique Rite Spot Cafe. 9pm, free.
Ricardo Scales Top of the Mark, 999 California, SF; www.topofthemark.com. 6:30pm, $5.
Skerik and Peter Afelbaum with Moshka Brick and Mortar Music Hall. 9pm, $15.
Craig Ventresco and Meredith Axelrod Cafe Divine, 1600 Stockton, SF; www.cafedivinesf.com.7-9pm, free.
FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY
Daniel Seidel Plough and Stars. 9pm.
Taikoza ODC Theatre, 3153 17 St, SF; www.odcdance.org. 7:30pm, $30.
Timba Dance Party Bissap Baobab, 3372 19th St, SF.; www.bissapbaobab.com 10pm, $5. With DJ Walt Diggz.
DANCE CLUBS
Booty Call Q-Bar, 456 Castro, SF; www.bootycallwednesdays.com. 9pm. Juanita MORE! and Joshua J host this dance party.
Cash IV Gold Double Dutch, 3192 16th St, SF; www.thedoubledutch.com. 9pm, free.
Coo-Yah! Slate Bar, 2925 16th St, SF; www.slate-sf.com. 10pm, free. With Vinyl Ambassador, DJ Silverback, DJs Green B and Daneekah.
Hardcore Humpday Happy Hour RKRL, 52 Sixth St, SF; (415) 658-5506. 6pm, $3.
Martini Lounge John Colins, 138 Minna, SF; www.johncolins.com. 7pm. With DJ Mark Divita.
THURSDAY 11
ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP
Airborne Toxic Event Warfield. 8:30pm, $27.
Angels Landing, Kelly Sweet Red Devil Lounge. 9pm, $10.
Asteroid No. 4, Cellar Doors, Spyrals, Mammoth Life, DJ Joel Gion Brick and Mortar Music Hall. 9pm, $10.
Dark Star Orchestra Great American Music Hall. 9pm, $30-$35.
Foals, Neighbourhood Fillmore. 8pm, $25.
Imposters, Dirty Kid Discount, Uke-Hunt, Up and Down Thee Parkside. 9pm, $7.
K Theory, Watch the Duck, Bassex, popscene DJs Rickshaw Stop. 9:30pm, $10-$12.
Little Green Cars, Sparrows Gate Chapel, 777 Valencia, SF; www.thechapelsf.com. 9pm, $12.
Meercaz, Protomartyr, Turn to Crime Hemlock Tavern. 8:30pm, $6.
Dave Moreno and Friends Johnny Foley’s. 10pm, free.
Michael Musika and Eric Kuhn, Dresses, Faralloms Amnesia. 9pm.
Plateaus, Fine Steps, Buttons! Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $10.
Slow Motion Cowboys, Mornin Old Sport, Sean Lucy and Family Cafe Du Nord. 8:30pm, $8.
SpaceGhostPurrp Slim’s. 9pm, $14-$16.
Suicidal Tendencies, Madball, Waking the Dead Regency Ballroom. 8pm, $28.
Trash80, Louis Gorenfeld, TristEndo, Cartoon Violence, DJ Mr. Smith DNA Lounge. 9pm, $11. 8BitSF series.
Rags Tuttle vs Greg Zema Johnny Foley’s Dueling Pianos. 10pm, free.
JAZZ/NEW MUSIC
Spencer Day Yoshi’s SF. 8pm, $22; 10pm, $16.
Stompy Jones Top of the Mark, 999 California, SF; www.topofthemark.com. 7:30pm, $10.
Hot Victory, 3 Synths 1 Cup, Tooth Artists’ Television Access, 992 Valencia;www.atasite.org. 8pm, $6.
Chris Siebert Royal Cuckoo, 3203 Mission, SF; www.royalcuckoo.com. 7:30-10:30pm, free.
Tin Cup Serenade Rite Spot Cafe. 9pm, free.
"Ute Lemper’s The Bukowski Project" SFJazz Center, 201 Franklin, SF; www.sfjazz.org. 7:30pm, $35-$75.
FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY
Pa’lante! Bissap Baobab, 3372 19th St, SF.; www.bissapbaobab.com 10pm, $5. With DJs Juan G, El Kool Kyle, Mr. Lucky.
Shannon Ceili Band Plough and Stars. 9pm.
Craig Ventresco Cafe Divine, 1600 Stockton, SF; www.cafedivinesf.com. 7pm, free.
DANCE CLUBS
Afrolicious Elbo Room. 9:30pm, $8. With Pleasuremaker and Senor Oz.
All 80s Thursday Cat Club. 9pm, $6 (free before 9:30pm). The best of ’80s mainstream and underground.
Darling Nikki Slate Bar, 2925 16th St, SF; www.slate-sf.com. 9pm, free. Queer dance party.
First Base Rebel, 1760 Market, SF; Facebook: Rebel. 10pm, $3. Old school breaks, disco house, and electro breaks with DJ Loryn, Becky Knox, and guests.
Lions, Tigers, and Queers Underground SF. 10pm-2am, $3. Indie, Electro, and House dance party with resident DJ Becky Knox and special guests.
Ritual Temple. 10pm-3am, $5. Two rooms of dubstep, glitch, and trap music.
Tropicana Madrone Art Bar. 9pm, free. Salsa, cumbia, reggaeton, and more with DJs Don Bustamante, Apocolypto, Sr. Saen, Santero, and Mr. E.
FRIDAY 12
ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP
Body and Soul Johnny Foley’s. 10pm, free.
Clairy Browne and the Bangin’ Rackettes, Carletta Sue Kay Rickshaw Stop. 9pm, $15.
Burnt Ones, Cosmonauts, Violent Change, Garden, DJ Jackie Sugarlumps Brick and Mortar Music Hall. 9pm, $8.
Dark Star Orchestra Great American Music Hall. 9pm, $30-$35.
Foreverland Bimbo’s. 9pm, $22.
Hazzard’s Cure, Apocryphon, Necrot Hemlock Tavern. 9:30pm, $8.
Knife Party Warfield. 9pm, $45.
Leftover Crack, Druglords of the Avenues, Rats in the Wall, Bum City Saints Thee Parkside. 9pm, $15.
"Let It Be Let It Be: A Night of Beatles and Replacements Songs" Bottom of the Hill. 9:30pm, $12.
Lucero, Langhorne Slim and the Law Fillmore. 9pm, $22.50.
Mudhoney, Hot Lunch Slim’s. 9pm, $23.
OMD, Diamond Rings Regency Ballroom. 9pm, $32.50.
Return to Mono, Astral, Happy Fangs, Dreamtime, DJ Neil Martinson Cafe Du Nord. 8:30pm, $12.
Rocket summer, Classic Crime, Joe Brookes DNA Lounge. 8pm, $17.
Greg Zema, Jeff V., Randy Johnny Foley’s Dueling Pianos. 10pm, free.
JAZZ/NEW MUSIC
Audium 1616 Bush, SF; www.audium.org. 8:30pm, $20. Theater of sound-sculptured space.
Black Market Jazz Orchestra Top of the Mark, 999 California, SF; www.topofthemark.com. 9pm, $10.
Hammond Organ Soul Jazz, Blues Party Royal Cuckoo, 3203 Mission, SF; www.royalcuckoo.com. 7:30-10:30pm, free.
Warren Hill Yoshi’s SF. 8pm, $35; 10pm, $26.
Vijay Iyer Community Music Center, 544 Capp, SF; www.sfcmc.org. 6-7pm.
Max Raabe and the Palast Orchester SFJazz Center, 201 Franklin, SF; www.sfjazz.org. 7:30pm, $35-$80.
Richard Rite Spot Cafe. 9pm, free.
FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY
Country Jeb Boynton, Ghost and Gale Amnesia. 7pm.
Makossa West Bissap Baobab, 3372 19th St, SF.; www.bissapbaobab.com 10pm, $5. With DJs Wonway Posibul, Joe Quixx.
Supermule, Dustbowl Revival, West Coast Ramblers Chapel, 777 Valencia, SF; www.thechapelsf.com. 9pm, $12.
Tumbledown House, Hank Biggs Plough and Stars. 9pm.
DANCE CLUBS
Bingo Players Ruby Skye. 9pm.
Indie Slash Amnesia. 10pm. DJ Danny White.
Heartbeat John Collins, 138 Minna,SF; www.johncolins.com. 9pm. Hip-hop, R&B, reggae, soul, and dancehall.
Joe Lookout, 3600 16th St.,SF; www.lookoutsf.com. 9pm. Eight rotating DJs, shirt-off drink specials.
Last Nite Elbo Room. 10pm, $10. Debaser presents 2000s indie dance party with DJs Jamie Jams and Emdee.
Old School JAMZ El Rio. 9pm. Fruit Stand DJs spinning old school funk, hip-hop, and R&B.
Paris to Dakar Little Baobab, 3388 19th St, SF; (415) 643-3558. 10pm, $5. Afro and world music with rotating DJs including Stepwise, Steve, Claude, Santero, and Elembe.
Push the Feeling Underground SF, 424 Haight, SF; Facebook: Push the Feeling. 9pm, $5 (free before 10pm with RSVP). With Soft Metals, Loose Shus, YR SKULL, epicsauce DJs.
That 90s Dance Party DNA Lounge. 10pm, $7-$9. With Devon, KidHack, Netik, Sparkle, Sage.
SATURDAY 13
ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP
"Benefit for the Belize Barrier Reef World Heritage Site" Brick and Mortar Music Hall. 9pm, $20. With Joy and Madness, Jordan and the Ritual.
C2C Independent. 9pm, $20.
Dark Star Orchesta Great American Music Hall. 9pm, $30-$35.
Gunpowder, Hormones, Pops Thee Parkside. 4pm, free.
Johnny Mar Fillmore. 9pm, $29.50.
Modestep, Mimosa, DJ Muggs Warfield. 9pm, $35.
Mount Eerie, Ashley Eriksson Chapel, 777 Valencia, SF; www.thechapelsf.com. 9pm, $15.
Nothington, Civil War Rust, Cold Feelings, Mick Leonardi Thee Parkside. 9pm, $8.
Social Studies, Mwahaha, Via Coma Bottom of the Hill. 9:30pm, $12.
Sugar Candy Mountain, Aerosols, Pale Blue Dot Hemlock Tavern. 9:30pm, $7.
Tall Shadows Johnny Foley’s. 10pm, free.
Tornado Rider, Full on Flyhead, Hell Fire, Stone Roots Slim’s. 9pm, $14.
Jeff V., Greg Zema, Nathan Temby Johnny Foley’s Dueling Pianos. 10pm, free.
Dorian Wood, Carletta Sue Kay Lab, 2948 16th, SF; www.thelab.org. 8pm.
JAZZ/NEW MUSIC
Audium 1616 Bush, SF; www.audium.org. 8:30pm, $20. Theater of sound-sculptured space.
Black Market Jazz Orchestra Top of the Mark, 999 California, SF; www.topofthemark.com. 9pm, $10.
Collected, Zeena Parkins, Miya Masaoka, Matt Small, Mike Lockwood Center for New Music, 55 Taylor, SF; www.centerfornewmusic.com. 7:30pm, $10-$15.
Hammond Organ Soul Jazz, Blues Party Royal Cuckoo, 3203 Mission, SF; www.royalcuckoo.com. 7:30-10:30pm, free.
Leo Kottke Yoshi’s SF. 8pm, $35.
Project Pimento Rite Spot Cafe. 9pm, free.
Max Raabe and the Palast Orchester SFJazz Center, 201 Franklin, SF; www.sfjazz.org. 7:30 and 10pm, $40-$85.
FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY
Globalocal, Justin Anchetta, Will Magid Trio, DJ Izzy WiseCafe Du Nord. 9pm, $15.
Stephanie Nilles and Jack Klatt Amnesia. 6pm, free.
White Water Ramble, Absynth Quintet Plough and Stars. 9:30pm, $6-$10.
DANCE CLUBS
As You Like It Public Works Loft. 9pm, $10-$20. With Ewan Pearson, Iron Curtis.
Bootie SF: Hubba Hubba Revue DNA Lounge. 9pm, $10-$15.
Braza! Slate Bar, 2925 16th St, SF; www.slate-sf.com. 10pm, $5. Brazilian dance party.
Club Gossip Cat Club. 9pm, free before 9:30pm, $5-$8 after. With VJs Shon, Low Life, Damon, and more.
Cockblock Rickshaw Stop. 10pm, $5-$10.
Paris to Dakar Little Baobab, 3388 19th St, SF; (415) 643-3558. 10pm, $5. Afro and world music with rotating DJs.
Tormenta Tropical Elbo Room. 10pm, $5-$10. With resident DJs Shawn Reynaldo and Oro11.
2 Men Will Move You Amnesia. 9pm.
SUNDAY 14
ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP
Bat For Lashes, Nite Jewel Regency Ballroom. 8pm, $27.
Jello Biafra and the Guantanmo School of Medicine Great American Music Hall. 8pm, $16.
Aaron Carter , Chrystian Cafe Du Nord. 8:30pm, $15-$17.
Crash Kings, French Cassettes DNA Lounge. 8pm, $12.
Ben Howard, Tom Curren Fillmore. 8pm, $27.50.
Local H, Picture Atlantic Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $12.
Dave Moreno Johnny Foley’s. 10pm, free.
Next to Last, We Are/She Is, Windham Flat Brick and Mortar Music Hall. 9pm, $10.
Orgy, Vampires Everywhere, Davey Suicide, King Loses Crown DNA Lounge. 8pm, $20.
Stab City, Big Long Now, Mammoth Eyes Hemlock Tavern. 6pm, $6.
"Sugar Rush: A Benefit Concert for Diabetes" Community Music Center, 544 Capp, SF; www.brownpapertickets.com. 8pm. With Tom Rhodes, Lily Holbrook, Lou Evan, Ziva Hadar, and more.
Tribe of Dreams 50 Mason Social House, SF; www.50masonsocialhouse.com. 8pm, free.
JAZZ/NEW MUSIC
"Club Foot Orchestra accompanies Fritz Lang’s Metropolis" SFJazz Center, 201 Franklin, SF; www.sfjazz.org. 4 and 7:30pm, $20-$30.
Karina Denike, Joanna and David Rite Spot Cafe. 9pm, free.
Djang-O-Sphere, Panique Red Poppy Art House. 8pm, $12-$15.
Leo Kottke Yoshi’s SF. 7pm, $35.
"Sing for America’s Annual Benefit Concert" Palace of Fine Arts, 3301 Lyon, SF; www.singforamerica.org. 7pm, $28.
Lavay Smith Royal Cuckoo, 3203 Mission, SF; www.royalcuckoo.com. 7:30-10:30pm, free.
FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY
Brazil and Beyond Bissap Baobab, 3372 19th St, SF.; www.bissapbaobab.com 6:30pm, free.
Country Casanova’s Tupelo, 1337 Grant, SF; www.tupelosf.com. 4-7pm, free.
Mythyx Thee Parkside. 4pm, free. Twang Sundays.
John Sherry, Kyle Thayer Plough and Stars. 9pm.
DANCE CLUBS
Dub Mission Elbo Room. 9pm, $6. Dub, roots, and classic dancehall with DJ Sep, J. Boogie, E1000.
Jock Lookout, 3600 16th St, SF; www.lookoutsf.com. 3pm, $2.
MONDAY 15
ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP
A Day to Remember, Of Mice and Men, Issues Warfield. 7:30pm, $37.
Cumstain, Cobalt Cranes, Burnt Thrones Club Elbo Room. 9pm, $6.
Damir Johnny Foley’s. 10pm, free.
Ben Howard, Tom Curren Fillmore. 8pm, $27.50.
Keys N Krates, Ultraviolet. BELI3VER, BOGL, Ryury, Non Sequitur Brick and Mortar Music Hall. 9pm, $10.
Lonely Wild, Joseph Childress, Cazadero Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $10.
Parov Stelar Regency Ballroom. 8pm, $27.
Walter Sickert and the Army of Broken Toys, Jaggery, Unwoman Cafe Du Nord. 8:30pm, $12.
FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY
Craig and Meredith Rite Spot Cafe. 8:30pm, free.
DANCE CLUBS
Crazy Mondays Beauty Bar, 2299 Mission, SF; www.thebeautybar.com. 10pm, free. Hip-hop and other stuff.
Death Guild DNA Lounge. 9:30pm, $3-$5. With Decay, Joe Radio, Melting Girl.
M.O.M. Madrone Art Bar. 6pm, free. DJs Timoteo Gigante, Gordo Cabeza, and Chris Phlek playing all Motown every Monday.
Soul Cafe John Colins Lounge, 138 Minna, SF; www.johncolins.com. 9pm. R&B, Hip-Hop, Neosoul, reggae, dancehall, and more with DJ Jerry Ross.
Vibes’N’Stuff El Amigo Bar, 3355 Mission, SF; (415) 852-0092. 10pm, free. Conscious jazz and hip-hop with DJs Luce Lucy, Vinnie Esparza, and more.
TUESDAY 16
ROCK/BLUES/HIP-HOP
Agonist, Casket of Cassandra, Discordia, Cultural Warfare DNA Lounge. 7:30pm, $12.
Beach House, Holy Shit Fillmore. 8pm, $30.
Dropkick Murphys, Insurgence Warfield. 8pm, $32.
Gladys, Funs, Big Drag Hemlock Tavern. 8:30pm, $6.
"Israel 65th Independence Day Party" Brick and Mortar Music Hall. 8pm, $20. With Peatot, Sol Tevel.
Kitty Cafe Du Nord. 7:30pm, $12.
Mosaics, There’s Talk, Magic Fight El Rio. 8pm, $5.
Ozma, Trophy Fire, Finish Ticket Bottom of the Hill. 9pm, $15.
Selecter/Lee Scratch Perry, DJ Harry Duncan Warfield. 8pm, $32.
Stan Erhart Band Johnny Foley’s. 10pm, free.
Titan Ups, Rusty Zinn, DJ Cool Kyle Amnesia. 9pm, $8-$10.
JAZZ/NEW MUSIC
Terry Disley’s Mini-Experience Burritt Room, 417 Stockton, SF; www.mystichotel.com. 6-9pm, free.
Octomutt Rite Spot Cafe. 9pm, free.
Molly Ringwald Yoshi’s SF. 8pm, $25-$45.
FOLK/WORLD/COUNTRY
Brazilian Wax Elbo Room. 9pm, $7. With resident DJs Lucio K and Carioca, Banda Cafofo, and MC P-Shot.
Autumn Rhodes and Friends Plough and Stars. 9pm.
On the Cheap listings
Submit items for the listings at listings@sfbg.com. For further information on how to submit items for listings, see Picks.
WEDNESDAY 10
Photography portfolio workshop Photobooth SF, 1193 Valencia, SF. www.photoboothsf.com. 7-10pm, free. Bring in five to 10 of your best photos for show and tell tonight at the Photobooth gallery. Analog experts will give you tips, tricks, and pointers to help you select the perfect portfolio piece. Bring printed photos: traditional wet, instant, or digital prints.
“Exceptional and Chinese: Beyond China and the West” Center for Chinese Studies, Faculty Club, Heyns Room, 2223 Fulton, Berk. www.ieas.berkeley.edu/ccs. 4pm, free. Wang Gungwu, professor and chairman of the East Asian Institute, will be speaking about the relationship between the China and Asia over the last 60 years.
THURSAY 11
“Quotes to Light Up Your Mind” SF Public Library, 100 Larkin, SF. www.sfpl.org. 6-7pm, free. RSVP required at (415) 843-1648. Not much sticks in your brain better than a really great quote. Citations on art, psychology, society, relationships, and more will be projected via video and discussed at this event. A print-out of the pithy lines will also be available as a souvenir.
Dope SF launch party Otis, 25 Maiden Lane, SF. www.facebook.com/events/318595854934214. 9pm-2am, free. Online vintage boutique Dope is celebrating its launch tonight with a fashion presentation. Enjoy discounts on vintage men’s and women’s clothes while you sip on one of Otis’ handcrafted cocktails and shake your thing to tunes spun by a live DJ.
[CORRECTION: The book sale is actually taking place April 25-27] Chronicle Books Back To School Warehouse Sale Chronicle Books, 680 Second St., SF. www.chroniclebooks.com. 9am-7pm, free. Get your read on at Chronicle Books spring warehouse sale. Everything in the warehouse will be 65 percent off. Browse for stationary, journals, books on art, photography, travel, pop culture, and more. The sale will continue on Friday during the same hours and from 10am-3pm on Saturday.
The Fillmore documentary screening and discussion San Francisco Library, 100 Larkin, SF. www.sfpl.org. Exhibit through June 2. 5:30-7:30pm, free. PBS documentary The Fillmore chronicles key chapters in the neighborhood’s history, starting with the earthquake and fire of 1906 through today. A discussion with filmmaker Peter Stein will follow the screening. Be sure to check out the related exhibit titled “We Live Here,” which showcases photographs taken in the 1960s and ’70s by SF legendary photog Phiz Mezey.
FRIDAY 12
West Portal Avenue’s sidewalk arts and crafts show West Portal between 15th St. and Ulloa, SF. www.pacificfinearts.com. Also Sat/13 and Sun/14. 10am-5pm, free. Head to the quaint westside neighborhood filled with coffeehouses, bookshops, and restaurants to enjoy more than 40 artists selling everything from photography, to paintings, to jewelry. Featured artists at this 25th annual show include artists Laura Blacona and Alberto Toscano, jewelry designer Mendy Marks, and photographer Locke Heemstra.
SATURDAY 13
Hunny Bunny and the Hot Toddies burlesque show Social House, 50 Mason, SF. www.hunnybunnyburlesque.com. Doors open at 9pm. Show starts at 10pm, $10. Rock ‘n’ roll meets burlesque tonight in a performance by Bay Area burlesque troupe Hunny Bunny and her Hot Toddies. Stay put after the shakes and jiggles to listen to music by psychedelic local band The Chaw and LA-based indie darlings Wilding.
Cherry Blossom Festival Post between Laguna and Fillmore. www.sfcherryblossom.org. Also Sun/14 and April 20-21. 10am-5pm, free. Back for its 46th year in business, the Cherry Blossom Festival in Japantown celebrates Japanese culture and the diversity of the Japanese American community. The festival will include food, cultural performances, martial arts, live bands, and more. Come back next week to watch the grand parade, which begins at City Hall and ends at the festival.
Bay Bridge history lecture Historic Building One, One Avenue of the Palms, Treasure Island, SF. www.treasureislandmuseum.org. 10:30am, free. In honor of the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure Island, former Caltrans environmental manager for the new Bay Bridge Mara Melandry will speak about how the iconic Bay and Golden Gate Bridges were conceived and built.
DogFest 2013 Duboce Park, Duboce and Noe, SF. www.facebook.com/pages/SF-Dogfest/26904868312744611. 11am-4pm, free. Watch doggies compete for best trick, best costume, best coat, best ears, and more. But wait, it gets better. Daniel Handler (a.k.a. Lemony Snicket, author of A Series of Unfortunate Events) will MC the event. Bring the little ones along for jumpy houses, face painting, and carnival games in the Kid Kennel.
SUNDAY 14
Bookish Beasts Zine and Comic Fest Center for Sex and Culture, 1349 Mission, SF. www.sexandculture.org. Noon-6pm, free. The comic art featured in this festival is not exactly of the Batman vein — or at least, the Batman who denies his love for Robin. Bookish Beasts is a one-day event in which creators of art, books, and comics show off and sell their work relating to sex, sexuality, gender, and erotica.
MONDAY 15
Free tax assistance Oakland Library, Bradley Walters Community Room, 125 14th St., Oakl. www.oaklandlibrary.org. 10am-3pm, free. If you’re really waiting until the last minute to get those taxes done, the Oakland library is here to help. Trained volunteers will offer free tax help at several of the branch libraries. The main library offers walk-in appointments, but it’s advisable to call ahead and confirm a slot, knowing how these things go. Be sure to arrive early and bring copies of your previous year’s tax returns and all items pertaining to your 2012 tax forms.
TUESDAY 16
Feast of Words SOMArts Cultural Center, 934 Brannan, SF. www.somarts.org. 7-9pm, $5 with potluck dish, $10 advance, $12 door. This intimate literary potluck brings writers together to eat, write, and share their work. This month’s events will include an exercise led by Raquel Gutiérrez, founder of several queer women of color community-based art and literary projects. Bring a dish, share your work, and enter for a chance to win literary and culinary prizes.
The Cat Pack
caitlin@sfbg.com
PETS Lil Bub does not do corporate endorsements.
“I prefer going to my local pet store, so why would Bub endorse Petco?” says Mike Bridavsky, owner of the angel-faced, wide-eyed, underbite-blessed cat from Bloomington, Indiana who is one of the most prominent members of the Cat Pack, a term Bridavsky coins during our phone interview for the cadre of felines currently owning the Internet.
Who’s your favorite Internet cat? Surely you have one. Maybe it’s Maru, the Japanese Scottish fold with a panoply of oddly calming videos showcasing his cardboard box fixation.
At some point, surely, you’ve felt a kinship with that bubble-eyed scowlface Tardar Sauce, a.k.a. Tard, a.k.a. Grumpy Cat, a.k.a. 2012’s answer to the “Hang in there, baby!” poster cat.
If you’re into indie, you may hearing the meows from one of the lesser-known web celebs. Hermosillo, Mexico’s tutu-wearing Luna the Fashion Kitty, perhaps? Or Russia’s elusive Marquis of No No No Cat fame? Internet encyclopedia Knowyourmeme.com lists origin stories for 403 cat memes.
You’re under a rock with poor wifi coverage if you haven’t noticed: Though George Takei, gay marriage, and Jon Hamm’s penis are this moment’s runners-up to the throne, as the song goes, the Internet is made of cats. And some of those cats are making serious money.
Bridavsky rented out his recording studio as his primary source of income before photos of Lil Bub went viral and Vice shot the upcoming documentary based around his and Bub’s trip to the Internet Cat Video Festival in Minneapolis (a fest that is coming to Oakland May 11, more on that later.) He says he spends the long hours required to manage the career of a furry Internet luminary because of the sheer joy Lil Bub brings to the world.
“Bub’s always naked, she doesn’t wear stupid outfits.” Owner Mike Bridavsky tries to communicate his famous cat’s natural personality, unembellished. Photo by William Winchester Claytor
“People are like, ‘thank you for posting pictures of your cat, she gets me through my day,'” he says.
Located at the center of the hype storm as they are, the Cat Pack owners are hardly the ones to go to for explanations for why their beasts have become the Internet’s most important meme (sorry Beyonce.) Sure, they were the ones who posted the video or pics of their cat to the web initially — but most never expected to become part of a zeitgeist. ‘Net viralty is a mystery even to its anointed.
When Bub’s image started hitting aggregator sites like Buzzfeed and TheFW, “I was like, wow, she really has this effect on people,” Bridavsky says. It’s clear from speaking with him that he’s legitimately in awe of the little cat, who lives with dwarfism, bone disease that limits her mobility to an army crawl, “weird toes,” and no teeth.
“She’s had this effect on me since I got her, but I didn’t know it would transfer through photos on the Internet,” Bub’s owner opines. “She always looks like she’s in awe of what’s happening — like she’s from another planet and she’s seeing everything for the first time.”
Today, Lil Bub has more than 112,000 Facebook followers and an online store with totes, tanks, and mugs adorned with her furry face and protruding tongue. Despite her physical handicaps, she’s raised more than $30,000 for animal charities, according to Bridavsky. They only make public appearances at animal shelters or places sponsored by a shelter. Bub has been on Good Morning America, has an upcoming release being published by Penguin Books, and that Vice documentary debuts at the Tribeca Film Festival this month.
Unlike many of her Cat Pack cohorts, Bub’s character is unembellished by human touch. Bridavsky says he tries to make his own rules in his cat’s increasingly crazy fame funnel. “I’ve been sucked into this cat culture. But I feel like it’s a little more tastefully done with Bub. There’s no bad grammar, annoying fonts. Bub’s always naked, she doesn’t wear stupid outfits. It’s just about Bub, and being cool.”
All of Bub’s merch and production is done by his Bloomington artist friends, he says. “Everyone wants a piece of Bub, so I have a lot of muscle power. If Animal Planet wants a series on Bub [author’s note: this is a real thing], I can say yeah cool, but my friend is going to produce it.”
Yet Internet cats mean different things to different people.
CAT CULTURE
It is too early in the evening for people to be wearing animal suits, but there they are: two grown British men, astride a small stage at SoMa’s Butter nightclub at 7pm on a Wednesday. One poor, off-trend soul is wearing a bunny suit, but Chris “Meme Master Meow” Quigley sports a black-and-white Sylvester outfit to host “#kittencamp,” his traveling show from the UK that compiles the best Internet videos, for an open bar full of viral-loving tech heads. Sloshed attendees hold up “LOL” signs for the videos they like the most.
A bartender shakes his head at the geeky enthusiasm that suffuses the air. “I’m not sure what the hell is going on here,” he mutters, pouring another drink for a meme freak.
“#kittencamp” is not solely comprised of cat videos, but Quigley later explains to me in an email: “cats are the biggest meme on the Internet. The cat is essentially a device through which people communicate their emotions, creativity.” He owns two cat suits to reflect this fact.
There are various hypotheses for the popularity of Internet cats. British art philosopher and historian Michael Newall says cats look like human babies, inspiring adoration from us. But baby videos aren’t exactly popping off on Reddit.
The current crop of American celebri-cats is a reflection, not the origin point of our love of strange-looking kittens. Stephanie Karim, founder of Wonder Cat Rescue (www.wondercatrescue.org), says that “cats with cosmetics differences such as amputations, missing eyes, etc., have typically been easier to adopt out as long as there are no long-term medical needs.” She adds that the propensity to take home odd cats is more pronounced in San Francisco than the Central Valley, where Wonder Cat makes many of its rescues.
“Cats with the following conditions have always attracted attention and pulled at people’s heart strings,” writes one adoptions staff member from the San Francisco SPCA, before launching into a laundry list of conditions that include protruding tongues and cerebellar hypoplasia (a neurological condition that makes cats “wobbly.”)
Another popular thesis has to do more with cat people than the felines themselves. Issabella Shields Grantham is the executive director of the Great Wall of Oakland, the outdoor screening space destined to host the Internet Cat Video Festival when it comes to the Bay next month. The festival started last year at Minneapolis’ Walker Art Center, where 10,000 people amassed for the #catvidfest compilation of the Internet’s best cats. Grantham’s team expects 5,000 for the Oakland incarnation.
“One of the things we’ve found is that dog people get to walk their dogs, but cat people don’t really have a venue to celebrate their pets,” she tells me in a phone call. Grantham, whose interest in crowdsourced content for the Wall led her to #catvidfest, has seen the fest’s hype hit cat-focused eccentrics and Internet-focused hipsters alike. “This is about a desire that people have to hang out with other cat loves, celebrate cats, talk about cats.”
PRO CATS
One wonders how this grassroots desire for cat-person fraternization squares with the rising professional class of Internet meowmasters.
Maru, with help from his enigmatic owner known only as mugumogu, leads the pack with nearly 204 million Youtube views and an endorsement deal with Uniqlo. Grumpy Cat, the undisputed American queen of Internet cats, has appeared on Friskies commercials, buddied up with Anderson Cooper, and made a controversial appearance at this year’s South By Southwest, where the disgruntled, handicapped feline’s long hours of meeting-and-greeting in the Mashable-sponsored tent in the hot Austin climate led to the trending on Twitter of #freegrumpycat. (Maybe fear of hard questions was the reason why Tard’s owner Tabatha Bundesen didn’t respond to my pleas for an interview.)
“I find the idea of professionalizing memes quite odd — and it’s something that I’m kinda uncomfortable with,” writes Quigley. “Memes are a subculture thing and should live (or die) organically, powered by the will of the people online. As soon as you add in money, the value chain breaks.”
But regardless of what Quigley thinks, by and large the Internet cats are out to get big.
DO IT FOR THE EMOTICON
“He inspires something inside me,” says Anne Marie Avey of her famously eyebrowed rescue Persian who was left on the side of the road by his previous owner. The aspiring writer has crafted an Internet personality for Colonel Meow (Facebook fan count at time of press: 157,559; Twitter followers: 2,725; emoticon: ]:<), based around world domination, a love of scotch, and an antagonistic relationship with Avey’s golden retriever Boots.
Scotch, world domination, and foul hygiene mark Anne Marie Avey’s narration in her cat Colonel Meow’s various web endeavors. Photo by Eric Rosario
Avey started a Facebook page for Colonel Meow where she pairs photos of the cat with one-liners like “You may think I look cute … but I’m actually plotting the end of humanity.” The likes started rolling in during fall of last year and now Colonel Meow’s in a Virgin Atlantic TV spot with the Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyle and yes, hobnobbing with Anderson Cooper (who apparently, Internet cats do it for.)
She knows not to push Colonel too hard — no sweaty Austin tents for this long hair. “He just went to Los Angeles County Museum of Art the other day and it was so much fun,” says Avey, who asserts that her star loves to walk on a leash and meet humans. “He loved it. But to do that every day … Is it hot out? He’s really furry. He’s going to be panting. There are conditions that you have to be aware of, because he is a cat.”
She’s also careful not to endorse certain pet brands. “I think it’s really important with all those recalls happening in the world to pay close attention to what your pet eats.” But ultimately, Colonel Meow’s fame is an important form of expression for Avey. She recently moved to Los Angeles with Colonel and her boyfriend to pursue her writing career.
Recently, she augmented the Colonel Meow brand with a celebrity news website (www.colonel-meow.com) — well, kind of. Items are limited to a photo and a pithy comment from the Colonel. Sample post: “Roger Ebert dies. But his horrible review of Scrooged lives on. Really, Roger? One star? It’s so entertaining! R.I.P.”
LUNA LAND
Rocio Grijalva isn’t going to lie — the seven hours (by her estimate) she spends each week on the Internet hyping her cross-eyed Persian Luna translate to kitty kibble in the bank.
Luna the Fashion Kitty (shown here in front of her closet)’s owner Rocio Grijalva uses her cat’s fame to raise awareness about rescue Persians. Photo by Rocio Grijalva
“Luna came into my life when she was 2.5 months old, because a mouse broke into my house,” she wrote me in an email. “Long story short, I don’t let Luna hunt mice, she only hunts for sales.” Nowadays, Facebook gives LunAddicts the daily chance to see the kitty’s new hairbows and fur friends — real Persians cats in shelters who need to be adopted.
“My goal is to raise awareness towards Persian cats,” writes Grijalva. “Persians are being mistreated, and end up in shelters or in the streets. The survival rate for a Persian in the wild is very low, since they need a lot of maintenance.”
At a little over 15,000 likes, Luna has her own calendar, but she’s not yet on the level of say, Grumpy Cat. Nonetheless, “Luna gets a lot of fan mail with all kind of presents, from dresses to food,” writes Grijalva. “I don’t remember the last time I bought treats for her. Luna’s fans are more than generous and we are forever thankful to each one of them.”
KITTY LOVE GOES IRL
Consider this the moment in recent history to be a proud crazy cat lady, regardless of one’s gender. Events like “#kittencamp” and the Internet Cat Video Festival, which will make a tour of 10 US cities this year, are proliferating, leaving feline fanatics with evermore options beyond the headphones and computer necessary for a “squeeeee!” search.
The trend is exciting in light of the fact that many traits that have been associated (through a 2010 University of Texas at Austin study, y’all) with cat people may also pre-program them to spend mega-hours in the blue robot light of the computer. Those who lean feline tend to be more introverted, neurotic, yet more open to new experiences than dog lovers.
For further proof that cat culture is expanding past the computer screen, one need only listen to the festival lineup that Grantham has planned for May 11 at her Oakland manifestation of catdom.
The first incarnation of the Internet Cat Video Festival was in Minneapolis in 2012 (shown above). It attracted 10,000 attendees.
#catvidfest will be screened on the vast Great Wall of course, but the day’s other offerings include an aerial “kitten duet” performance by dance troupe Bandiloop, an appearance by Klepto Cat (the San Mateo kitty famed for compulsive burglarizing of the neighbors), cat arts and crafts, seven local animal shelters offering on-site adoptions, Pet Food Express’ foster kitten program, and two separate areas for feline-related vendors (one is specifically for local enterprise, like Unido, an Oakland company that makes cat-patterned infinity scarves.) The entire event is a benefit for the East Bay SPCA.
“Watching Youtube videos is usually a very personal experience,” writes Quigley. “So as soon as you watch them in a public context, it changes things.”
For Grantham, it really is more about the watchers rather than the watched. She’ll be peeping you more than Bub’s angelic visage rendered large on the downtown Oakland wall: “To me, it’ll be more fun watching the audience than watching the cat videos.”
OAKLAND INTERNET CAT VIDEO FESTIVAL
May 11, 3-10pm, $10
Great Wall of Oakland
Broadway and W. Grand, Oakl.
CORRECTION: In the print version of this story, Grumpy Cat is referred to as “the undisputed American king of Internet cats.” Tardar Sauce, a.k.a. Grumpy Cat is, of course, a girl. The Guardian regrets the error.
Alerts
WEDNESDAY 10
Artwork and tales from Zapatistas and Black Panthers In the Works and Rincon, 3265 17th St, SF. www.chiapas-support.org, cezmat@igc.org. 7pm, $5–$20. Last year, artist and former Black Panther Party Minister of Culture Emory Douglas traveled to Chiapas, Mexico to collaborate with Zapatista artists. Join Douglas and Portuguese San Francisco muralist Rigo 23 for a presentation of art, photography, and storytelling about the Zapantera Negra project. All proceeds support Zapatista communities.
March for immigration reform 1 Post, SF. caasf.org. 3pm, free. This rally outside Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s office will be followed by a march along Market Street to finish at Civic Center for a 5pm rally, led by the San Francisco Bay Coalition for Immigrant Justice. Activists are calling for a road to citizenship for all to keep families united, protect workers’ rights and end deportations. Participants will carry hundreds of paper flowers to symbolize hundreds of daily deportations. The events will coincide with a mass rally for immigration reform in Washington, D.C.
THURSDAY 11
Peace activist Jeff Halper on “Globalizing Palestine” 315 Wheeler Hall, Bancroft Way, UC Berkeley, Berk. 5pm, free. Dr. Jeff Halper is cofounder of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, a professor of anthropology and a lifelong peace and justice activist. In this talk, Halper will discuss the core security policies of Israel as it relates to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Followed by a reception in 330 Wheeler Hall.
MONDAY 15
San Francisco living wage karaoke fundraiser El Rio, 3158 Mission, SF. livingwage-sf.org, sflivingwage@riseup.net. 8pm, $5–$10. This benefit will feature KJ Eileen Murphy, one of San Francisco’s first female KJs. All proceeds will benefit the San Francisco Living Wage Coalition, a grassroots movement of low-wage workers and their allies in the fight for economic justice.