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Issue 309 |
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Your cultural event guide
Here's a snapshot of our favorite things to do in San Francisco this week. |
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San Francisco
Apr 1-7, 2008
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For April Fools' Day, we were gonna try and put one over about President Bush's impending resignation, but we didn't want to get anyone's hopes up. Instead, we found this definition of "fool" from San Franciscan satirist Ambrose Bierce far more effective: "A person who pervades the domain of intellectual speculation and diffuses himself through the channels of moral activity." Many more public hypocrites come to mind who could illustrate Bierce's gloss, but we'll leave the skewering to Lewis Lapham and Chris Rock.
- Matt Sussman, Managing Editor
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SPECIAL FEATURE
Kelley Polar
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A classical prodigy gone disco darling, Metro Area cohort Kelley Polar lives in a Unabomber-style shack with no running water. A few days before the release of his second CD, Polar spoke with our sister publication Earplug from the lush environ of his New Hampshire home — sparking conversation on UFOs, Russian movies, and mad ravers in wife-beaters.
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MORE FLAVOR: Discussion
Tobias Wolff
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Tuesday Apr 1 (8pm)
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| where: |
Herbst Theater (401 Van Ness Ave, 415.621.6600)
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$19
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In his award-winning writing, Tobias Wolff explores the lives of average men and their existential struggles. His stories, which span from the Pacific Northwest of Wolff's childhood (This Boy's Life) to Fort Bragg during the Vietnam War (The Barracks Thief), have garnered critical praise for their sparse, clear narrative voice. This evening, Wolff chats with Vendela Vida, San Francisco novelist and co-founder of 826 Valencia, whose own books tackle the theme of rites of passage among American women.
- Tanya Feldman
[Info Source]
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MORE FLAVOR: Festival
RE/Search presents the Pranks Film Festival
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Tuesday Apr 1
More times»
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Roxie Theater (3117 16th St, 415.863.1087)
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| price: |
$10
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RE/Search's 1987 publication Pranks was a postmodern update to André Breton's Anthology of Black Humor (1940), itself a compendium of mischievous deeds, gags, and jokes, recounted by cultural subversives who jostled the status quo. Now, with the release of a Pranks sequel in time for April Fools' Day, the underground publisher is holding a film festival in the spirit of the original volume. Faux Film Festival curates scads of short films for a majority of the screenings, but the programs to watch are the special presentations featuring the godfathers of the put-on — Coyle and Sharpe's 1965 TV pilot (with Mal Sharpe in person), and Jenny Abel's doc about her culture-jamming father, '70s cult director Alan Abel.
- Matt Sussman
[Info Source]
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MORE FLAVOR: Discussion
Lewis Lapham
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Wednesday Apr 2 (7pm)
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| where: |
City Lights (261 Columbus Ave, 415.362.8193)
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| price: |
FREE
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San Francisco native Lewis Lapham served as an editor at Harper's magazine for 30 years before giving up his post in 2006. His taste for both primary sources and essays that tangentially related aspects of American arts and culture made the magazine stand out among its New Yorker and Atlantic Monthly brethren. Though the ever-fecund Lapham still contributes his acclaimed "Notebook" column to the magazine, he now primarily works on Lapham's Quarterly. This unusual publication consists of sundry archival documents — from a Thucydides passage to a writ of execution — and addresses current affairs by setting the story of the past in the frame of the present.
- Max Goldberg
[Info Source]
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MUSIC: Rock/Pop
American Music Club w/ Rykarda Parasol and the Tower Ravens
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Wednesday Apr 2 (8pm)
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| where: |
The Independent (628 Divisadero St, 415.771.1422)
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| price: |
$15
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Of rock 'n roll's many princes of darkness, American Music Club singer Mark Eitzel has the market cornered on barroom laments. Family, love, and politics are all fair game in Eitzel's somber verses, as his band's eclectic folk-rock arrangements shore up his bleaker visions. AMC first emerged in San Francisco in the mid-'80s with albums like The Restless Stranger and California, and though they never shot for mainstream success, the band developed a dedicated following on the strength of its old-fashioned integrity. Eitzel and Co. returned from a ten-year hiatus with 2004's Love Songs for Patriots, and while AMC have since reformed in Los Angeles, the band remains a proud SF institution.
- Max Goldberg
[Info Source]
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PERFORMING ARTS: Comedy
Chris Rock: No Apologies Tour
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Thursday Apr 3 (7:30pm)
More times»
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| where: |
Paramount Theatre (2025 Broadway, 510.893.2300)
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| price: |
$45.50 - 75.50
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Despite his somewhat disastrous turn hosting the 2005 Academy Awards and too many lame movie cameos to count, Chris Rock remains one of the funniest people in America. After leaving Saturday Night Live in 1993, Rock did a number of classic standup specials for HBO — controversy-courting rebuttals to Jerry Seinfeld's blasé routines — whose sendups of political correctness established him as the comic for the Clinton era. Rock's been busy since then, most recently producing the hit TV series Everybody Hates Chris. The avowed Obama supporter should have plenty of ripe material for his election-year No Apologies Tour.
- Max Goldberg
[Info Source]
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MUSIC: Electronic
Arp w/ Mi Ami
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Thursday Apr 3 (9:30pm)
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| where: |
Hemlock Tavern (1131 Polk St, 415.923.0923)
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| price: |
$8
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German electronic pioneers Cluster are set to touch down in San Francisco this May, but Arp might have you fooled a month early. Local tastemaker Alexis Georgopoulos launched the project after departing Tussle, a deeply aesthetic fusion group in the mold of early-'80s cross-pollinators like Liquid Liquid and ESG. Arp's music is more pastoral and twilit, but conveys a similarly visual appreciation of sound. The debut album, In Light, is a gentle beauty, all shimmering pulse and analog warmth. Arp's recent performance at the Eleanor Harwood Gallery set this textured ambiance reeling with thrumming film projections, so prepare to be thoroughly blissed-out tonight.
- Max Goldberg
[Info Source]
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ART
Science Fair
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Friday Apr 4 (noon–7pm)
More times»
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Rock Paper Scissors Collective (2278 Telegraph Ave, 510.238.9171)
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| price: |
FREE
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Rock Paper Scissors' Science Fair hosts much stranger exhibits than those found in elementary schools' baking-soda-and-vinegar volcano competitions. Guest curator Andrew Thompson has compiled creative experiments that are as influenced by the sciences as they are critical of them. Trisha Brookbank's cyborg-like mutant fauna, Erik Peterson's mock cultural anthropologies, Nathan Vince's investigation of "organic" and "synthetic," and architect Mike Flynn's mathematics-obsessed videos all begin with original hypotheses and end with startling results.
- Matt Sussman
Note:
There is an opening reception on Fri Apr 4 (6-9pm). Thompson gives a talk on Sat Apr 5 (7pm).
[Info Source]
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MORE FLAVOR: Party
Loaded feat. Lady Miss Kier and Lilofee
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Friday Apr 4 (10pm)
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Rickshaw Stop (155 Fell St, 415.861.2011)
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$12
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Lady Miss Kier has gone from being the most recognizable member of the retro-fabulous disco/funk trio Deee-Lite to launching a solo career as a DJ, musician, and even an art and design scholar. Kier's never strayed far from her club roots, though, and still produces tantalizingly eclectic tracks that reference her old band's funky house beats, throaty soul, and late-'90s drum 'n bass. Tonight, she debuts her live band, which features former P-Funkster Ronkat. The SF electro-pop duo Lilofee make their live debut, as well, lacing their songs with '80s synths and low-tech drum-machine rhythms.
- Connie Hwong
[Info Source]
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MUSIC: Electronic
Autechre w/ Massonix and DJ Rob Hall
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Saturday Apr 5 (9pm)
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| where: |
Mezzanine (444 Jessie St, 415.625.8880)
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| price: |
$18
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As noted by a reviewer of Autechre's latest album, Quaristice, there was a point in the late '90s when the duo embodied a certain image of music's future. But despite IDM's mercifully short lifespan as trendy journalistic shorthand, and electronic music's recent affinities for Krautrock, pop, and disco, Autechre have altered their idiosyncratic approach very little over the years — even if the resulting output has varied in tone and temperament. Their recent live shows have featured punishing snarls of jagged snares and wheezing low-end, but if Quaristice's delicate three-minute miniatures are any indication, tonight's gig might recall Autechre's earlier days of frying minds with their music's difficult beauty.
- Matt Sussman
[Info Source]
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MORE FLAVOR: Party
Gun Club's Two-Year Anniversary feat. Maurice Fulton, Travis TK, and Ryan P
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Saturday Apr 5 (10pm)
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| where: |
Secret SF Location
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$10
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The last time Gun Club hosted DJ Maurice Fulton, the Mu mastermind had dancers sweating to early Chicago house and leftfield disco tracks until six in the morning. One can only imagine how long he'll spin when he returns to Gun Club for the forward-thinking crew's two-year anniversary. Just as Fulton plays fast and loose with dance music's history, so has Gun Club injected some much-needed genre bending into San Francisco's nightlife, hosting other risk-taking DJs like Optimo, Daniel Wang, and Rub-n-Tug.
- Matt Sussman
Note:
For location info, call 415.723.7207.
[Info Source]
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MORE FLAVOR: Workshop
Working Class Hero and Spiritual Mystic: The Life and Work of Vincent van Gogh
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Sunday Apr 6 (1:30–4pm)
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Rozanoff Art (355 29th St, 917.916.0899)
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$35
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Most people are familiar with Starry Night and the missing ear, but Vincent van Gogh's life and legacy are more complex than these summary signifiers would have it. Artist Marlene Aron draws on hundreds of slides for this afternoon's workshop exploring the Dutch artist's intensive methods and career. Aron contextualizes van Gogh's sublime impressionism in terms of the artist's moral and spiritual convictions — areas he frequently addressed in his revealing letters to his brother Theo.
- Max Goldberg
[Info Source]
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FILM: Documentary
Direct Engagement: New Digital Films from Palestine and Lebanon
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Sunday Apr 6 (3:30–5pm)
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Pacific Film Archive Theater (2575 Bancroft Way, 510.642.0808)
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$13.50 / $9.50 for Summer of War only
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Kino21 programmer Irina Leimbacher co-curates this afternoon of alternative visions from Lebanon and Palestine. Summer of War collects five films, made near Israel's incursion into Lebanon in 2006, whose documentarians use digital cameras to capture both mayhem and repose with a level of detail unthinkable in "embedded" newscasts. Following the anthology, Palestinian filmmaker Kamal Aljafari presents The Roof, his careful unraveling of familial and national lineages. Aljafari approaches the Palestine-Israel conflict not as an ideologue but as an essayist, demonstrating the way personal and political histories intertwine over contested land.
- Max Goldberg
[Info Source]
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MORE FLAVOR: Lecture
Kota Ezawa: Text, Slides, and Videotapes
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Monday Apr 7 (7:30–9pm)
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UC Berkeley Campus (160 Kroeber Hall)
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| price: |
FREE
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Steven Soderbergh's 1989 directorial debut is a strange point of reference for discussing Kota Ezawa's work. Especially when Ezawa's color-treated photographs and video footage — whose sources include Nan Goldin's portraits, a Susan Sontag lecture, and the O.J. Simpson trial — bring to mind the crude cut-out look of South Park more than anything. But the title of Ezawa's talk is more than wordplay. Like Soderbergh's commentary on mediated longing in the video era, Ezawa's work addresses the way the YouTube age compresses historical events into replayable sound bites and file-shared snippets.
- Matt Sussman
[Info Source]
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MUSIC: Rock/Pop
Les Sans Culottes
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Monday Apr 7 (9pm)
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Knockout SF (3223 Mission St, 415.550.6994)
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$5
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Despite hailing from Brooklyn, the patently faux Francophiles of Les Sans Culottes nevertheless put up a good facade, playing rollicking, campy tunes that invoke the great American garage-rock tradition while drawing on the influence of French pop artistes like Brigitte Bardot, Serge Gainsbourg, and Françoise Hardy. Founder Clermont Ferrand, alongside the cheeky Kit Kat le Noir and Celine Dijon, sticks to a mostly Gallic repertoire — although their heavily accented version of the Knack's "My Sharona" is a notable exception.
- Connie Hwong
Note:
Les Sans Culottes also play at Cafe du Nord on Tue Apr 8 (9:30pm).
[Info Source]
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ART
Mary Elizabeth Yarbrough: Symptom of the Universe
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Wednesday Apr 2 (11am–6pm)
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Silverman Gallery (804 Sutter St, 415.255.9508)
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| price: |
FREE
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Taking its title from a Black Sabbath tune, Mary Elizabeth Yarbrough's solo show Symptom of the Universe taps Ozzy's evil vibes in a series of wall-mounted pieces and large-scale sculptures made from electrical tape and contact paper. Swathes of inky negative space swallow up the mid-sections of Yarbrough's translations of found images, spreading like oozing tar pits. Yarbrough even exploits the electrical tape's mirror-like sheen in two psychedelic hangings that make cubist chopped salad out of the viewer's face if they're examined too closely.
- Matt Sussman
[Info Source]
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ART
Reed Danziger and Liliana Porter
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Tuesday Apr 1 (11am–5:30pm)
More times»
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Hosfelt Gallery (430 Clementina St, 415.495.5454)
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| price: |
FREE
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Hosfelt Gallery presents two concurrent solo exhibitions of work by Liliana Porter and Reed Danziger. Porter's trademark tchotchkes star in Fox in the Mirror, her latest video piece. While Porter is one of many artists to display mass-produced objects, the Argentinian transcends modernist cliché through ironic juxtapositions, stripping her characters of personae and associations. Danziger, meanwhile, draws landscapes composed of jumbled marks and tangled territories. Danziger's work, like Porter's video, hints at a broader understanding of the unseen.
- Isaac Amala
[Info Source]
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About Us |
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Cultural Partner
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Editors
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Flavorpill San Francisco
All events featured on Flavorpill SF are pure editorial — we never accept paid promotions or advertisements. If you know about an upcoming event that you think should be covered in Flavorpill SF, email us a press release at sf_events at least two weeks prior to the event and we'll consider it.
To learn more about our staff and policies, see the credits and about us pages. If you'd like to respond to our editors about a listing published here, or have a general inquiry, please email sf_feedback.
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