Events on Friday, July 18

The Melvins w/ Big Business

Music

The Melvins

Friday 7/18 @ Slim's

Kurt Cobain's adulation of the Melvins was both a blessing and a curse, leading to a major-label deal with Atlantic, but... 

Devon Williams w/ the Starlite Desperation

Music

The Starlite Desperation

Friday 7/18 @ Hemlock Tavern

Over the past decade, the Starlite Desperation (product of San Fran, Detroit, and LA) have assumed many forms, from punk then... 

The Bloody Beetroots w/ Lilofee

Music: Electronic

The Bloody Beetroots

Friday 7/18 @ Mezzanine

Italian filter-house pranksters Bloody Beetroots don their Spiderman masks and hit Mezzanine tonight for a gloriously distorted dance party. The duo's... 

Ongoing Events

<em>What You Will</em> feat. Roger Rees

Theatre

What You Will

Friday 7/18 @ American Conservatory Theater

Roger Rees has a decidedly multifaceted career. Stateside, he's best known for slapstick roles like the snooty-yet-sexy Robin Colcord on Cheers,... 

Maria Antelman and Tamar Halpern

Art

Maria Antelman and Tamar Halpern

Friday 7/18 @ Jack Hanley Gallery

While artist Barbara Kruger makes clear that her declarative captions exist in opposition to the slick images with which they are... 

<em>Chris & Don: A Love Story</em>

Film: Documentary

Chris & Don: A Love Story

Friday 7/18 @ Landmark Embarcadero

The remarkable tale at the center of Chris & Don opens on a Malibu beach 50 years ago, when British writer... 

<em>Art & Artifice: 75 Years of Design at San Francisco Ballet</em>

Special Event

Art & Artifice

Friday 7/18 @ Museum of Performance & Design

Emerging with a rejuvenated image and collection in March, the Museum of Performance & Design mounts an impressive exhibit chronicling the... 

<em>Frida Kahlo</em>

Art

Frida Kahlo

Friday 7/18 @ SFMOMA

The devastating injuries Frida Kahlo suffered as a teenager during a bus accident actually may have been inspirational — they led... 

Holly Williams and Justin Gabbard

Art

Holly Williams and Justin Gabbard

Friday 7/18 @ Park Life

Holly Williams' Los Angeles shimmers with the sequined lights of movie marquees and deco hotels, but the burnished glow masks a... 

Ted Pushinsky: <em>Black and White Photographs Taken While Traveling Outside the United States</em>

Art

Ted Pushinsky

Friday 7/18 @ Hamburger Eyes Photo Epicenter

Ted Pushinsky has chronicled the streets of San Francisco with his 35mm camera for almost three decades, capturing everything from brawls... 

<em>Bruce Conner: Mabuhay Gardens</em>

Art: Photography

Bruce Conner: Mabuhay Gardens

Friday 7/18 @ Berkeley Art Museum

After he broke through as an underground filmmaker in 1958, Bruce Conner kept a close eye on the cultural zeitgeist. He... 

12th Annual Mission Creek Music & Arts Festival

Festival: Performing Arts

Mission Creek Music & Arts Festival

Friday 7/18 @ Various locations

Noise Pop gets more buzz and Outside Lands nabs the big names, but the Mission Creek Music & Arts Festival still... 

<em>The Beast in Me</em>

Art

The Beast in Me

Friday 7/18 @ Ping Pong Gallery

While the infamously grouchy Samuel Johnson averred that those unleashing their brute natures were in fact purging themselves of "the pain... 

<em>The Wackness</em>

Film

The Wackness

Friday 7/18 @ Various locations

The Wackness is the sort of movie whose most redeeming qualities are least likely to be advertised in its trailers. About... 

<em>Open for Business</em>

Art

Open for Business

Friday 7/18 @ Triple Base

Part performance piece and part street fair, interactive exhibition Open for Business invites 16 contemporary artists to unleash the entrepreneur within.... 

<em>Let Us Now Praise San Francisco</em>

Art

Let Us Now Praise San Francisco

Friday 7/18 @ Marx & Zavattero

When James Agee and Walker Evans chronicled the plight of sharecroppers in the Depression-plagued South, their epic prose and images eventually... 

<em>Insider/Outsider </em>

Art

Insider/Outsider

Friday 7/18 @ Root Division

Ethnic identity in this country is fluid enough that it's difficult to parse the similarities and differences between, say, three neighbors... 

Creativity Explored presents <em>INsects INsectos</em>

Art

INsects INsectos

Friday 7/18 @ Creativity Explored

From Them! to Mothra, Cold War movie audiences frequently endured attacks from gigantic insects. And while INsects INsectos — the new... 

Fanee: <em>Holla at the Bay</em>

Art

Fanee

Friday 7/18 @ The Shooting Gallery

Fanee's Holla at the Bay is a provocative portrayal of female objectification and sexuality that leaves little to the imagination. Two-dozen... 

Dale Chihuly

Art

Dale Chihuly

Friday 7/18 @ de Young Museum

Although the California Academy of Sciences is across the street, it's the de Young that's currently filled with swarms of jellyfish,... 

<em>Half-Life of a Dream</em><em>: Contemporary Chinese Art from the Logan Collection   </em>

Art

Half-Life of a Dream

Friday 7/18 @ SFMOMA

With China the topic du jour this summer, SFMOMA weighs in with a look at the post-Tiananmen art scene. In over... 

<em>Heeb </em>presents Diamond Days Festival

Festival: Performing Arts

Diamond Days Festival

Friday 7/18 @ Various locations

While the Mission Creek Festival rocks San Francisco, Heeb magazine gives East Bay folks a good reason to stay put with... 

Lorca Summer Festival: <em>Blood Wedding</em>, <em>Yerma</em>, and <em>The House of Bernarda Alba</em>

Theatre

Lorca Summer Festival

Friday 7/18 @ Intersection for the Arts

Prolific artist, poet, and dramatist Federico García Lorca was both gifted and deeply tortured; he was only able to express his... 

<em>Kiki: The Proof Is in the Pudding</em>

Art

Kiki

Friday 7/18 @ Ratio 3

As many LGBT folks are rushing to the altar, this retrospective of the short-lived but influential SF gallery Kiki comes at... 

<em>Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson</em>

Film: Documentary

Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson

Friday 7/18 @ Landmark Embarcadero

The father of gonzo journalism and a '60s-counterculture icon, Hunter S. Thompson revolutionized American prose with his drug-fueled, first-person narrative style.... 

Mariah Johnson: <em>How Lovely on the Mountain</em>

Art

Mariah Johnson

Friday 7/18 @ The Lab

Mariah Johnson's installations re-envision household order as natural phenomena, draping and wrapping bed linens over chairs, walls, and floors in ways... 

<em>2nd Skin: Imaginative Designs in Digital & Analog Clothing</em>

Special Event

2nd Skin

Friday 7/18 @ Exploratorium

With a futuristic, tongue-in-cheek vision, the artists featured in the 2nd Skin fashion exhibit challenge the standard notions of practical clothing.... 

<em>Alan B. Stone and the Senses of Place</em>

Art: Photography

Alan B. Stone and the Senses of Place

Friday 7/18 @ SF Camerawork

Alan B. Stone's crisp black-and-white photography tells two tales of Montreal. One concerns the changes Stone's hometown underwent during mayor Jean... 

<em>The Art of Lee Miller</em>

Art: Photography

The Art of Lee Miller

Friday 7/18 @ SFMOMA

Lee Miller's biography reads like a spectacular modernist novel: Roaring-'20s fashion model discovered by Condé Nast; avant-garde muse for Man Ray,... 

Tim Lee

Art

Tim Lee

Friday 7/18 @ CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts

Although it's tempting to dismiss Vancouver-based artist Tim Lee's use of comedy-as-conceptual-device as lacking in depth or social concern, to mistake... 

<em>Eighteen Months: Taking the Pulse of Bay Area Photography</em>

Art: Photography

Eighteen Months: Taking the Pulse of Bay Area Photography

Friday 7/18 @ City Hall

As this juried show of 22 Bay Area photographers proves, the local scene nurtures a continuous stream of fresh talent working... 

Tammy Rae Carland: <em>An Archive of Feelings</em>

Art: Photography

Tammy Rae Carland

Friday 7/18 @ Silverman Gallery

It should come as no surprise that Tammy Rae Carland's solo exhibition, An Archive of Feelings, draws its title from Ann... 

MOVE>SOUND: Soundwave>Series 3

Festival: Performing Arts

MOVE>SOUND

Friday 7/18 @ Various locations

Every two years, the Soundwave>Series drops two months of interdisciplinary, multimedia arts programming on the eyes and ears of San Francisco.... 

<em>Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead</em>

Film

Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead

Friday 7/18 @ Roxie Theater

Serving up buckets of undead breasts and extra-slimy special sauce, Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead keeps Troma Entertainment's traditions of... 

Lauren DiCioccio and Aliza Lelah

Art

Lauren DiCioccio and Aliza Lelah

Friday 7/18 @ Jack Fischer Gallery

Lauren DiCioccio and Aliza Lelah stitch up sublime social commentary. DiCioccio stretches muslin over copies of the New York Times and... 

<em>A Complicated Dominion: Nature and New Political Narratives</em>

Art

A Complicated Dominion

Friday 7/18 @ San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery

When 19th-century wildlife artist John James Audubon cataloged the birds of North America, he painted the creatures in pristine environments. With... 

<em>Birth of the Cool: California Art, Design and Culture at Mid-century</em>

Special Event

Birth of the Cool

Friday 7/18 @ Oakland Museum of California

Fashion designer Christian Lacroix put it most directly: "...the history of cool in America is the history of African-American culture." That... 

Chris Lux: <em>Faux Modernist Posters of Four Letter L Word Nouns</em>

Art

Faux Modernist Posters of Four Letter L Word Nouns

Friday 7/18 @ Jancar Jones Gallery

After having spent the last few generations ridding themselves of modernism's pungent aftertaste, the art world's contemporary painters are finally up... 

Alexander Hahn and Yves Netzhammer: <em>Room for Thought</em>

Art

Room for Thought

Friday 7/18 @ SFMOMA

In Room for Thought, Swiss video artists Alexander Hahn and Yves Netzhammer tackle Second Life's computer-generated spaces from a sympathetic angle.... 

<em>American Symbols: From Lady Liberty to the Stars and Stripes</em>

Art

American Symbols

Friday 7/18 @ Museum of Craft and Folk Art

Recognized worldwide as a cultural symbol, the American flag is an object that elicits many personal and political emotions and interpretations.... 

Victory Gardens 2008+

Festival: Performing Arts

Victory Gardens 2008+

Friday 7/18 @ City Hall

During World War II, Victory Gardens produced almost 40% of America's food supply. In a nod to history, artist and green... 

Koh Myung Keun: <em>Windows on Nature</em>

Art: Photography

Windows on Nature

Friday 7/18 @ Frey Norris Gallery

With a Zen-like touch, Korean artist Koh Myung Keun creates photo sculptures that turn images of nature into luminous magic lanterns.... 

Jennifer Merrill

Art

Jennifer Merrill

Friday 7/18 @ Iceberger Gallery

Jennifer Merrill's cut-paper constructions ape medical illustrations, but her body-part diagrams, cutaway views, and bold colors depict emotional life, rather than... 

<em>Hum</em>

Art

Hum

Friday 7/18 @ Project Artaud Theater

The drone moves across a remarkable spread of human activity, from religious chanting and doom metal to the whir of white... 

Amy Stein: <em>New American Fables</em>

Art: Photography

New American Fables

Friday 7/18 @ Robert Koch Gallery

Amy Stein's twisted fables are a far cry from anything Aesop ever wrote. Unlike the tales of ancient storybooks, Stein's photographic... 

Kristina Lewis, Jill Gallenstein, and Kana Tanaka:<em> Radialvedic </em>

Art

Radialvedic

Friday 7/18 @ Johansson Projects

With its allusions to prayer wheels and mandalas, Johansson Projects' latest show, Radialvedic, offers up meditations in the round. Although the... 

Superstition Obstacle Course

Special Event

Superstition Obstacle Course

Friday 7/18 @ Exploratorium

  Opening (appropriately enough) on Friday the 13th, the Exploratorium's newest exhibit encourages visitors to test their own superstitions (or lack... 

<em> We Remember the Sun </em>

Art

We Remember the Sun

Friday 7/18 @ San Francisco Art Institute - Walter and McBean Galleries

Judging from countless references to "Summers of Love," enthusiastic rock 'n roll movies, and a psychedelic exhibition at the Whitney, Americans... 

<em>Women Impressionists: Berthe Morisot, Mary Cassatt, Eva Gonzal</em>&egrave;s<em>, Marie Bracquemond</em>

Art

Women Impressionists

Friday 7/18 @ The Legion of Honor Museum

Impressionism has more than its fair share of great names: Monet, Degas, Renoir, Manet, and the list goes on. Less often... 

Trevor Paglen: <em>The Other Night Sky</em>

Art: Photography

Trevor Paglen

Friday 7/18 @ Berkeley Art Museum

Trevor Paglen photographs what we can't see — and what the government doesn't want us to see. Using a battery of... 

Thrillpeddlers present Theatre of the Ridiculous Revival

Theatre

Theatre of the Ridiculous Revival

Friday 7/18 @ Hypnodrome

Not to be confused with the Theater of the Absurd, the Theatre of the Ridiculous was the love child of Gay...