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Issue 316 |
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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
May 20-26, 2008
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The California Supreme Court's recent landmark ruling in favor of same-sex marriage was reason to let loose in the streets, and many Castro residents did exactly that last Thursday. Now, if you've developed a taste for public celebrations (and the bare-chested men you might see there), there's always the flesh-and-feathers spectacle that is Carnaval. The global block party isn't limited to the Mission, though. All week, dancers, musicians, and acrobats from the International Arts Festival are taking over venues across the city — including Union Square.
- Matt Sussman, Managing Editor
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SPECIAL FEATURE
Piero Lissoni
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Piero Lissoni has created furniture, kitchens, bathrooms, and lighting for some of the design industry's biggest brands. But Lissoni doesn't stop there — he's also designed apartments, houses, villas, showrooms, and luxury hotels. Our sister publication Artkrush caught up with the busy architect and designer to discuss his practice and his Dellis Cay project in the Turks and Caicos Islands.
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MORE FLAVOR: Discussion
Up-and-Coming Graphic Novelists
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Tuesday May 20 (7pm)
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| where: |
Intersection for the Arts (446 Valencia St, 415.626.2787)
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| price: |
$5 - 15 sliding scale
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The literary community's embrace of the graphic novel signifies a broad shift in attitude toward comic books. Comics are a serious, versatile, and unique art form, as evidenced by this evening's discussion with four of the medium's youngest and most talented artists. Intersection of the Arts gathers together Jaime Cortez, whose story of a queer Cuban-American, Sexile, was nominated for a National Library Association award; Keith Knight, who bases his work on a childhood full of "Star Wars, hip-hop, racism, and Warner Bros. cartoons"; Miriam Libicki, with her series of stories from the Israeli army, jobnik!; and Ariel Schrag, who published comics (and attracted media attention) when she was only in high school.
- Nicholas Nauman
[Info Source]
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READING
Michael Chabon: The Yiddish Policemen's Union
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Tuesday May 20 (7pm)
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Bookshop West Portal (80 West Portal Ave, 415.564.8080)
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FREE
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In The Yiddish Policemen's Union, Michael Chabon invokes the trademark theme of Jewish identity and nostalgia, through the conventions of classic noir. A Jewish settlement in Alaska, created in the wake of WWII, is on the brink of being reincorporated into US territory; and in the town of Sitka, Detective Meyer Landsman investigates the murder of a heroin-addicted chess fanatic. Tonight, the author reads from his marvelously constructed book, which brims with sharp characterizations and sparkling prose — yet another testament to Chabon's considerable talent and chutzpah.
- Annie Lo
[Info Source]
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MORE FLAVOR: Festival
San Francisco International Arts Festival
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Wednesday May 21
More times»
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| where: |
Various locations
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| price: |
Various prices
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The International Arts Festival situates the Bay Area's creative microcosm in a global context. The calendar is brimming with performances at venues including the Yerba Buena Center, CounterPULSE, and Dance Mission Theater. Highlights include avant-garde chamber group the Earplay Ensemble, plus several theatre premieres, including Art Street Theatre's Yes, Yes to Moscow (based on Chekhov's Three Sisters) and Epiphany Productions' interdisciplinary play Speaking Chinese (based on a 1943 novella by Zhang Ailing). During the festival run, don't forget to take your lunch breaks in Union Square and enjoy free performances from dancers, aerialists, and musicians.
- Tanya Feldman
[Info Source]
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MUSIC: Hip-Hop
El-P w/ Dizzee Rascal
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Wednesday May 21 (9pm)
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1015 (1015 Folsom St, 415.431.1200)
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$14
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Fresh off the Def Jux release of his tech-rap album Maths + English, UK grime mastermind Dizzee Rascal brings his introspective rhymes and tricky electro beats back across the pond. Weaving together Southern trap (UGK makes an appearance on the record) with old-school samples, Dizzee continues to bring a distinctive sound to hip-hop. Def Jux label founder El-P, meanwhile, headlines the evening with an apocalyptic edge of heavy, often avant-garde beats under hyper-literate wordplay. While his recent, critically acclaimed record I'll Sleep When You're Dead bridged the gap between indie and hop-hop, El-P's live show remains classic through and through.
- Chloe Leichman
[Info Source]
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ART
Suzanne Husky: You Make Me Make You
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Friday May 23 (7–10pm)
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Triple Base (3041 24th St, 415.643.3943)
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FREE
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Suzanne Husky's installations resemble playrooms where the dolls have broken loose. But the miniature worlds she creates, rife with greed and environmental angst, aren't always kid-friendly. Rows and rows of tiny, hand-sewn Chinese workers line up in pink cotton lab coats and blue aprons to turn out product; Berkeley tree-sitters perch on fabric oak branches with flower-patterned leaves; Mexican construction workers build flimsy houses out of balsa wood. Throughout, Husky's penchant for humor wraps her wryly critical commentary in a warm and fuzzy package. Along with the exhibit, Triple Base hosts a dinner lecture with the artist.
- Jeanne Storck
[Info Source]
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MORE FLAVOR: Discussion
Will Oldham and David Maisel: Apocalyptic Sublime
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Thursday May 22 (7:30pm)
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Headlands Center for the Arts (944 Fort Barry, 415.331.2787)
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FREE
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Headlands' current artists-in-residence are disparate interpreters of the American Gothic aesthetic. Under his various monikers, troubadour Will Oldham uses American vernacular music — blues, country, rock — as a loose platform for cryptic songs of quiet desperation and mad love. Photographer David Maisel studies landscapes of a different sort, focusing on the perverse beauty in industrially wrought enviornmental devastation. His often-aerial camera captures fields, lakes, and estuaries that have been turned into melted ice-cream swirls of toxicity. Tonight's talk offers a chance to speak with both Oldham and Maisel, and to touch on the heart of darkness that animates their work.
- Matt Sussman
[Info Source]
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ART
Paul Cesewski: Carnaval Mécanique
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Friday May 23 (5–9pm)
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SF Recycling & Disposal's Artist in Residence Studio (503 Tunnel Ave, 415.330.1415)
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FREE
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In another era, Paul Cesewksi might have run off and joined the circus — the latter-day carny tinkers with metal and machine parts to create lo-fi, bike-powered Ferris Wheels and Tilt-a-Whirls that send spectators spinning into Fourth-of-July reveries. Cesewski's interactive sculptures have shown up everywhere from Burning Man to San Francisco's Bike Rodeo; now, fresh off a residency at the San Francisco dump, he's built a whole new set of mechanical amusements scavenged from cast-off wheels and gears. Staged as a full-on carnival midway, they come together to form the magical Carnaval Mécanique.
- Jeanne Storck
[Info Source]
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MUSIC
Rosin Coven w/ Vagabond Opera and Jessica Fichot
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Friday May 23 (9pm)
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| where: |
Cafe du Nord (2170 Market St, 415.861.5016)
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| price: |
$15
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Rosin Coven, the Bay Area's much beloved "pagan lounge" players, need little introduction. The classically trained instrumentalists attack strings and percussion with a blend of vaudevillian theatricality and the precise elegance of a chamber orchestra. The evening's opening acts set the enchanting tone: Portland-based Vagabond Opera are a dynamic ensemble whose blend of global influences (they perform in 13 languages!) sits well with their vibrantly colored outfits and operatic flair. Holding her own against these eclectic characters, chanteuse and accordionist Jessica Fichot performs romantic, dreamy songs inspired by her youth in Paris and her Franco-Chinese-American heritage.
- Tanya Feldman
[Info Source]
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MORE FLAVOR: Festival
Carnaval San Francisco
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Saturday May 24 (10am–6pm)
More times»
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Harrison St btwn 16th and 24th Sts
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| price: |
FREE
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Grab your finest feathered tail-piece, some timbales, and plastic beads, and get ready to shake your coconuts for Carnaval. The two-day street party features a nonstop lineup of the Bay Area's top Latin and Afro-Caribbean musical ensembles dishing out more soca, calypso, salsa, samba, hip-hop, and cumbia than your feet can possibly handle. Revelers in need of a recharge can hit this year's newest addition, Zona Verde, an eco-friendly chill space inspired by the traditions of first peoples worldwide. But don't get too comfy: Sunday's parade transforms Mission Street into a movable feast for the eyes, with enough rainbow colors and gyrating, bared flesh to give Pride a run for its money.
- Matt Sussman
[Info Source]
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READING
No Wave Release Party feat. Death Sentence: Panda! w/ Ettrick
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Saturday May 24 (9pm)
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21 Grand (416 25th St, 510.444.7263)
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$3
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The late-'70s musical moment known as "no wave" delivered a short, sharp shock to New York's downtown art/film/music nexus. Viewing punk as a stale proposition, bands like Teenage Jesus & the Jerks and filmmakers like Richard Kern assaulted the scene with an amateur anti-aesthetic, the reverberations of which can be heard in contemporary groups like the Flying Luttenbachers and the Mae Shi. Marc Masters' new history No Wave traces the gnarled family tree behind this potent cultural moment, and ponders its continued presence in underground music. Local new-no-wavers Death Sentence: Panda! bring things up to date with a live performance that's sure to conjure some Lower East Side spirit.
- Matt Sussman
[Info Source]
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MUSIC: Electronic
Cluster w/ Tussle and White Rainbow
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Sunday May 25 (8pm)
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Great American Music Hall (859 O'Farrell St, 415.885.0750)
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$22 / $19 advance
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After having much of their discography reissued by Water, Lilith, and Captain Trip Records, Berlin's Cluster take a well-deserved victory lap. The pastoral warmth of the trio's '70s recordings casts Krautrock in a gauzier shade than Can or Kraftwerk; lovely listening still, the Cluster albums define a certain strain of European ambient music and are all the more impressive for their synthesizer-free origins. It's easy enough to hear the group's influence on any number of minimalist bands today, two of which — White Rainbow and Tussle — round out their Great American bill. Get your tickets asap, because Cluster probably won't make a habit of touring America.
- Max Goldberg
[Info Source]
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MUSIC: Electronic
Italians Do It Better feat. Glass Candy, Chromatics, Farah, and DJ Mike Simonetti
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Sunday May 25 (9pm)
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Rickshaw Stop (155 Fell St, 415.861.2011)
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$12
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Italians Do It Better Records rolls into town to show off its crown jewels with a party hosted by Popscene veteran DJ Omar. Since it was founded early last year, the label (appropriately based in Tony Soprano's home state) has built buzz with a disparate set of artists. Glass Candy, composed of IDIB producer Johnny Jewel and vocalist Ida No, match cold, Goldfrapp-esque vocals to fuzzy synth lines and throbbing beats. By contrast, Farah's minimalist take on disco encourages robotic dance moves at half speed. The label's signature group, Chromatics, are former discordant punks who have morphed into slick Italo-beat jockeys, anchored by Ruth Radelet's ghostly vocals.
- Connie Hwong
[Info Source]
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MUSIC: Rock/Pop
Suishou no Fune w/ Oxbow and Mi Ami
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Monday May 26 (10pm)
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Bottom of the Hill (1233 17th St, 415.621.4455)
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$8
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San Francisco has seen the cream of Japanese psychedelia's crop over the last few months: Boredoms, Acid Mothers Temple, and now Suishou no Fune have all hit town. SnF's dark, expansive version of Japan's consistently energized psych sound — presented with patience and prettiness on the recent Holy Mountain release Prayer for Chibi — skillfully evokes forebears like Les Rallizes Dénudés. They play with SF's own Oxbow, who have created an appealingly grotesque body of work that draws influences from the worlds of punk, metal, noise, and, yes, psychedelia. Locals Mi Ami open.
- Nicholas Nauman
[Info Source]
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ART
William T. Wiley: Punball: Only One Earth
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Tuesday May 20 (10am–6pm)
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Electric Works (130 8th St, 415.626.5496)
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| price: |
FREE
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Pinball machines have largely been relegated to the scrap yard of nostalgia, but that hasn't stopped William T. Wiley from resurrecting a 1964 game called North Star and giving it a contemporary spin. The original backboard depicts Eskimos and North Pole femmes fatales, clad in thigh-skimming fur and perched on icecaps with walruses and polar bears; Wiley, with his flair for maps and surreal cosmologies, repaints the scene as The Eye Scabs Are Melting — a cautionary tale of global warming. Visitors test their pinball wizardry on both the original and the artist's updated version.
- Jeanne Storck
[Info Source]
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ART
Christian Marclay: Stereo
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Tuesday May 20 (10:30am–5:30pm)
More times»
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Fraenkel Gallery (49 Geary St, 415.981.2661)
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FREE
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Christian Marclay pioneered the turntable as a musical instrument in the late '70s, scratching out experimental sounds with vinyl found in used record shops. He's collaborated with Sonic Youth, John Zorn, and Elliott Sharp and expanded his samplings to include multimedia and visual art. In his current show, he explores the space between sound and vision, turning the material trappings of music-making into art. Two album covers, placed side-by-side, become canvases for nearly identical jazz-inspired acrylics. Duplicate cyanotype images of a cassette with its tape ripped out sit next to one another, creating a tangled Rorschach. With each of these elements, Marclay orchestrates a chamber of visual echoes that resonate in stereo.
- Jeanne Storck
[Info Source]
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About Us |
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Cultural Partner
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Editors
MANAGING EDITOR
Matt Sussman
DEPUTY EDITOR
Max Goldberg
PRODUCTION EDITOR
Axel Anderson
SENIOR EDITORS
Anna Balkrishna
Doug Levy
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Seiji Carpenter
Connie Hwong
Annie Lo
Nicholas Nauman
Andrew Phillips
Lisa Rosman
IMAGE EDITORS
Adda Birnir
Sarah Steele
PUBLISHERS
Sascha Lewis
Mark Mangan
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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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