|
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
Issue 325 |
|
|
| |
| |
Your cultural event guide
Here's a snapshot of our favorite things to do in San Francisco this week. |
|
|
| |
San Francisco
Jul 22-28, 2008
|
|
|
| |
The Red Vic may be our city's last true repertory film house — and this week, the small venue that feels like a friend's basement den is turning 28. The Haight-Ashbury institution is no movie palace, but its homey comforts (popcorn with brewer's yeast, springy couches) and eclectic programming have been iron-clad defenses against digital cable, Blockbuster, and the Netflix invasion. Here's to many more years of fostering community in the dark.
- Matt Sussman, Managing Editor
|
|
| |
SPECIAL FEATURE
Ben Watt
|
|
|
Few artists lead lives with such eclectic headlines: rock star marries musical partner; disease survivor pens inspiring tale of survival; musician starts second life as a successful producer, DJ, and promoter. Everything But the Girl and Buzzin' Fly founder Ben Watt speaks with Earplug about his lifelong musical trip.
|
|
| |
|
Lara Schnitger
Dutch-born artist Lara Schnitger evokes the eroticism, violence, and vulnerability of bodily forms.
|
|
Flavorpill Mobile
Access Flavorpill listings, rate events, and find friends on the go, all via your handheld device.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
READING
David Price: Anthropological Intelligence
| when: |
Tuesday July 22 (7pm)
|
| where: |
City Lights (261 Columbus Ave, 415.362.8193)
map
|
| price: |
FREE
|
Add your comment»
|
|
"Today, most anthropologists are still loath to acknowledge, much less study, known connections between anthropology and the intelligence community." So wrote cultural anthropologist David Price in a much-discussed 2000 article for The Nation, recently expanded into the book Anthropological Intelligence. Thanks to the Freedom of Information Act, Price was able to research the little-known history of WWII-era anthropologists acting as spies under the cover of field work; his findings implicate a long-standing cozy relationship between the official American Anthropological Association and the CIA. With a recent Pentagon program installed to woo outgoing graduate students, Price's work is crucial to understanding a thorny subject.
- Max Goldberg
[Info Source]
|
|
| |
MUSIC: Rock/Pop
Whalebones w/ I'm a Gun and SF's Dirty Stealer
| when: |
Tuesday July 22 (9:30pm)
|
| where: |
Hemlock Tavern (1131 Polk St, 415.923.0923)
map
|
| price: |
$6
|
Add your comment»
|
|
Fresh off a coveted slot at this year's Sasquatch Festival, Seattle's Whalebones ride into town on swampy hooks and bright power-pop choruses. Their songs are as likely to veer into guitar noodling as they are mellow, gospel-tinged organ, but they always seem to come back around to a killer riff — imagine the Black Crowes traveling at Modest Mouse speed. Fellow Seattleites I'm a Gun also haven't met a muddy guitar tone they didn't like, but the band's double-time attack is more in keeping with punk-battered hard rock.
- Max Goldberg
[Info Source]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
READING: Poetry
Jack Hirschman: All That's Left
| when: |
Wednesday July 23 (7:30pm)
|
| where: |
Booksmith (1644 Haight St, 415.863.8688)
map
|
| price: |
FREE
|
Add your comment»
|
|
Just hours after Mayor Gavin Newsom dubbed Jack Hirschman San Francisco's poet laureate in 2006, the North Beach bard joined a demonstration against the death penalty. His new collection, All That's Left, traces Hirschman's introduction to San Francisco counterculture after being fired from his UCLA post for supporting protesters of the Vietnam War. He has long seen poetry, translation, and protest as being inextricably wound up in one another; All That's Left includes meditations on Hurricane Katrina and the Iraq War, in addition to more personal explorations of artistic influence and romantic love.
- Max Goldberg
[Info Source]
|
|
| |
FILM: Festival
Bicycle Film Festival
| when: |
Wednesday July 23
More times»
|
| where: |
Various locations
|
| price: |
$10 / $30 all-festival pass
|
Add your comment»
|
|
Now cycling through 17 cities worldwide, the Bicycle Film Festival screens some of the year's finest two-wheeler films — music videos, documentary shorts, and brief narratives of urban bike-riding tomfoolery. SF's four-day festival begins with a dance party at 330 Ritch and an art show at Bottlecapp Gallery. Friday's program of documentaries chronicles the Tour de France and the notoriously difficult Paris-Roubaix race, while Saturday brings mini-documentaries on Japanese racing teams, cycling through the Czech Republic, and Bat for Lashes' eerie love letter to the BMX bicycle.
- Connie Hwong
Note:
Films screen at the Victoria. Parties and art shows take place at various venues.
[Info Source]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
FILM: Festival
San Francisco Jewish Film Festival
| when: |
Thursday July 24
More times»
|
| where: |
Various locations
|
| price: |
$12 / $225 all-festival pass
|
Add your comment»
|
|
With movies set in locations around the world, this year's SF Jewish Film Festival could easily double as an international film fest. The 28th edition features cinematic works about cross-cultural love affairs (opening night's Strangers), Canadian families (Emotional Arithmetic, starring Susan Sarandon and Max von Sydow), LGBT lives in Jerusalem, and an Israeli Hebrew-immersion school with students from five continents. Of special note are the films of Péter Forgács — this year's Freedom of Expression Award recipient — that preserve the stories of European Jewish families through their home movies.
- Matt Sussman
[Info Source]
|
|
| |
MUSIC: DJ
Bersa Discos presents Drop the Lime w/ Club Zizek DJs
| when: |
Thursday July 24 (9pm)
|
| where: |
Mezzanine (444 Jessie St, 415.625.8880)
map
|
| price: |
$12
|
Add your comment»
|
|
The boys of Bersa Discos have just been killing it lately. From their monthly Tormenta Tropical party to their own idiosyncratic label, Disco Shawn and Oro11 maintain a niche in the scene that's entirely their own. Tonight, the duo brings NYC's Luca Venezia to Mezzanine. Working over the past few years under the aliases Drop the Lime and Curses!, Venezia has completely ignored the distinctions between house, grime, breakcore, and techno, mashing everything up with his massive bass lines and soul-inflected vocal hooks. Joining him are the Club Zizek DJs, Buenos Aires' finest purveyors of cumbia, hip-hop, dancehall, and reggaeton.
- Axel Anderson
[Info Source]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
FILM
Red Vic's 28th Birthday feat. Harold and Maude (1971)
| when: |
Friday July 25 (7:15 & 9:15pm)
More times»
|
| where: |
Red Vic (1727 Haight St, 415.668.3994)
map
|
| price: |
$8.50
|
Add your comment»
|
|
"If you want to be free, be free...," but if you want to see one of the 1970s' quirkiest classics, see Hal Ashby's Harold and Maude. As young Harold stares at the end of his innocence through huge eyes, he repeatedly fakes his own death and worries every adult around — except 79-year-old Maude. She matches Harold's morbidity with more spunk than most people a quarter of her age. Amid the hijinks and Cat Stevens songs, the unlikely pair fall deeply (not to mention illegally) in love. The screenings celebrate Red Vic's 28th birthday.
- Nicholas Nauman
[Info Source]
|
|
| |
MUSIC: Electronic
Does It Offend You, Yeah? w/ Steed Lord
| when: |
Friday July 25 (9pm)
|
| where: |
330 Ritch (360 Ritch St, 415.522.9558)
map
|
| price: |
$13
|
Add your comment»
|
|
After scoring gigs opening for Bloc Party and raunchy Tampa girl-rappers Yo Majesty, it's finally time for Does It Offend You, Yeah? to run the show. The British quartet pounds out driving electro rock that incorporates Justice's blaring crunch and the Faint's chilly digitalism, and its live show resembles an onstage melee — instrument destruction, stage diving, and all. (It might be that raucousness that also won the group a slot on Nine Inch Nails' upcoming tour.) Iceland's Steed Lord open with an acid-tinged take on synth-house.
- Connie Hwong
[Info Source]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
MORE FLAVOR: Sports
AAA Lucha Libre Triplemania
| when: |
Saturday July 26 (7pm)
|
| where: |
HP Pavilion (525 W Santa Clara St, 408.287.7070)
map
|
| price: |
$30 - 70
|
Add your comment»
|
|
With last month's Lucha VaVoom spectacle at the Fillmore, and Bucheon Gallery's current mixed-media study of luchador life and culture, 2008 is turning out to be the Year of the Mexican Wrestler. San Jose gets in on the game with an arena-worthy display of wrestling prowess, featuring a company of Mexican athletes that proves that the sport isn't just funny masks and midget sight gags. Modeled on the WWE's road shows, Lucha Libre Triplemania has featured renowned fighters Blue Panther, Rey Mysterio, and El Hijo de Santo, and promises plenty of blood, sweat, and the occasional cage match.
- Connie Hwong
[Info Source]
|
|
| |
MUSIC: Electronic
Hercules and Love Affair
| when: |
Saturday July 26 (9pm)
|
| where: |
Mezzanine (444 Jessie St, 415.625.8880)
map
|
| price: |
$20 / $16 advance
|
Add your comment»
|
|
You don't need to be a mirror-ball diva or a platform prince to know that the one thing neo-disco needs more of is gender-bending mopeage. Featuring periodic vocals by millennial androgynator Antony (sans his Johnsons), Hercules and Love Affair's debut full-length is at once funky and far out — a delicate, dichotomous work courting decadence in the face of unwavering despair. On the dance floor, the beats are appropriately indulgent — with sweeping strings, heavy bass, and flowery accouterments — simultaneously complementing and subverting the deep boogie.
- Andrew Phillips
[Info Source]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
PERFORMING ARTS: Theatre
San Francisco Theater Festival
| when: |
Sunday July 27 (11am–5pm)
|
| where: |
Yerba Buena Gardens (Mission St & 4th St, 415.561.7686)
map
|
| price: |
FREE
|
Add your comment»
|
|
Explore a full range of the dramatic arts during this unusual one-day bonanza of over 100 productions, spread across multiple stages at Yerba Buena Gardens. The San Francisco Theater Festival presents works that run the gamut from formal operas to sexual provocations, and from kid-friendly puppet shows to politically charged one-acts. Among this year's highlights are a piece by controversial writer Amiri Baraka, a gay take on the Cinderella story called Oh My Godmother!, a preview of AfroSolo's summer season, and Lamplighters Music Theatre's production of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado.
- Max Goldberg
[Info Source]
|
|
| |
MUSIC: Punk/Metal
Harvey Milk
| when: |
Sunday July 27 (8pm)
|
| where: |
Great American Music Hall (859 O'Farrell St, 415.885.0750)
map
|
| price: |
$14
|
Add your comment»
|
|
Though Athens, Georgia, is best known for producing kooky college-rock bands (the B-52's, R.E.M., the Elephant 6 bands), Harvey Milk went against the grain, chasing after a sludgy sound poised between Led Zeppelin and the Melvins. Long a cult favorite, Harvey Milk's original albums were out-of-print holy grails until a recent reissue campaign by Relapse Records coincided with their reunion. They've brought on drummer Joe Preston (the Melvins, Earth, Thrones) for their most recent album, Life... the Best Game in Town, so audiences at the Great American can expect an extra-pummeling performance.
- Max Goldberg
[Info Source]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
MUSIC: Rock/Pop
No Age w/ Mika Miko and Abe Vigoda
| when: |
Monday July 28 (8pm)
|
| where: |
Great American Music Hall (859 O'Farrell St, 415.885.0750)
map
|
| price: |
$13
|
Add your comment»
|
|
Armed with little more than a massively fuzzed-up guitar and ferociously pounded drum kit, No Age's sloppy, restless sound is true art-punk bliss. Echoing the primitivist minimalism of Beat Happening and the rough-around-the-edges aesthetic of early '80s punk, guitarist Randy Randall and singer/drummer Dean Spunt submerge pretty melodies in layers of distortion, reverb, and tom-work, while the LA duo's much-blogged-about live performances (which even earned it an adoring nod in The New Yorker) crash and burn just as often as they achieve poignant pop perfection. Openers (and Smell alums) Mika Miko evoke the Sloppy Joe-brand punk of Redd Kross and the Bags in their catchy two-minute thrash sessions.
- Suzanne Niemoth
[Info Source]
|
|
| |
MUSIC: Rock/Pop
Jay Reatard
| when: |
Monday July 28 (9pm)
|
| where: |
The Independent (628 Divisadero St, 415.771.1422)
map
|
| price: |
$12
|
Add your comment»
|
|
Jay Reatard might be the current king of Memphis garage punk, but he's a completist's nightmare — his overflowing discography makes Prince look like My Bloody Valentine. It all wouldn't be so daunting if he'd just release a clunker every once in a while, but between the distorto-synth racket of his former band Lost Sounds and his own solo work, that's a rarity. Next up is the Night of Broken Glass EP, which spazzes out with the usual Wire-bound fits of nervous energy. (Try the bouncy, defeatist anthem "All Over Again" for a good example of Reatard's lean pop smarts.) Just don't be surprised if you end up going home after tonight's show with the whole merch table.
- Stephen Gossett
[Info Source]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
ART
Bay Area Now 5: Inside/Outside
| when: |
Tuesday July 22 (noon–5pm)
More times»
|
| where: |
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (701 Mission St, 415.978.2787)
map
|
| price: |
$7
|
Add your comment»
|
|
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts' much-anticipated triennial presents a comprehensive view of the city's visual and performing art from the past three years. Visual highlights include Theory of Survival, the Taraneh Hemami-curated survey of artists from the Iranian and Iranian-American diaspora, as well as Estacion Odesia, an exhibit co-presented by Queens Nail Annex gallery that explores the work of Bay Area artists-slash-musicians. On the performing-arts front, Kronos Quartet, Robert Moses, and Keith Hennessy are the extended lineup's standouts.
- Matt Sussman
[Info Source]
|
|
| |
ART
Kristina Lewis, Jill Gallenstein, and Kana Tanaka: Radialvedic
| when: |
Thursday July 24 (noon–6pm)
More times»
|
| where: |
Johansson Projects (2300 Telegraph Ave, 510.444.9140)
map
|
| price: |
FREE
|
Add your comment»
|
|
With its allusions to prayer wheels and mandalas, Johansson Projects' latest show, Radialvedic, offers up meditations in the round. Although the three artists here work with different materials — paper, glass, and mixed media — they share a fascination with lines that curve, bend, and spiral. Jill Gallenstein's pen-and-ink drawings resemble seedpods bursting; Kristina Lewis turns zippers, straws, and coffee stirrers into molecular creatures and voluptuous fronds; and Japanese-born Kana Tanaka, trained as a glassblower, sculpts pendulous raindrops that reflect orb-like universes. Visitors should leave the gallery with heads spinning from radiant energy, but at peace.
- Jeanne Storck
[Info Source]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
About Us |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Cultural Partner
|
| |
Editors
MANAGING EDITOR
Matt Sussman
DEPUTY EDITOR
Max Goldberg
PRODUCTION EDITOR
Axel Anderson
SENIOR EDITORS
Anna Balkrishna
Doug Levy
Jake Lancaster
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Seiji Carpenter
Connie Hwong
Nicholas Nauman
Andrew Phillips
Lisa Rosman
Tanya Feldman
IMAGE EDITORS
Adda Birnir
Tom Starkweather
PUBLISHERS
Sascha Lewis
Mark Mangan
|
|
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.
MORE PUBLICATIONS
Flavorpill also publishes eight other email magazines, covering ART, BOOKS, NEWS, MUSIC, and cultural events in four other cities — NEW YORK, LOS ANGELES, LONDON, and CHICAGO. Coming soon: STYLE/DESIGN and FILM. Subscribe now.
|
|
|
| |
|
