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Issue 328 |
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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
Aug 12-18, 2008
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Paris Hilton recently showed up John McCain, instapundits, and, most importantly, herself, in a mock presidential-bid video forwarded 'round the web. "From the mouths of babes" is an old routine, but Hilton — suddenly more Elle Woods than Elle — seems in on the joke too. I doubt this is the kind of "speaking up" that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has in mind when she urges young women to assert themselves in Know Your Power, but it's refreshing to see Hilton cause a stir with her satirical chops rather than a wardrobe malfunction.
- Matt Sussman, Managing Editor
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SPECIAL FEATURE
Tom Sachs
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A bricolage tinkerer, Tom Sachs recreates objects with found materials and brand-name icons to subvert their original meanings and values. Equally invested in concept and in craft, Sachs' provocative work has rough edges, revealing how each piece is made. Our sister publication Artkrush speaks with Sachs about his working process and current shows.
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Akashic Books
Each anthology in Akashic's Noir series spotlights authors with a kinship to their city.
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FILM
99 River Street (1953)
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Tuesday Aug 12 (6:30pm)
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Pacific Film Archive Theater (2575 Bancroft Way, 510.642.0808)
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$9.50
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Add your comment»
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Noir hounds are accustomed to a certain amount of clunky dialogue and thin characterizations — which makes a fable like 99 River Street all the more startling for its streamlined morality. Underrated B-director Phil Karlson takes the well-trod story of a wounded prizefighter and crafts a psychological powerhouse every bit the equal of Martin Scorsese's Oscar-winning Raging Bull (1980). Karlson was one of a handful of Hollywood directors who excelled at many different genres — accordingly, the Pacific Film Archive screens his Cinemascope western, Gunman's Walk (1958), after this taut noir.
- Max Goldberg
[Info Source]
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MUSIC: Punk/Metal
Wolves in the Throne Room w/ Ludicra and the Better to See You With
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Tuesday Aug 12 (8pm)
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| where: |
Slim's (333 11th St, 415.255.0333)
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| price: |
$15 / $13 advance
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When Wolves in the Throne Room pair sludgy doomcore with pastoral woodwind passages, you can easily imagine shadowy pagan ceremonies full of cloaks and torches. But a serious listen to albums like last year's Two Hunters uncovers a spirit of earnest eco-healing rather than danger and demons. Brothers Aaron and Nathan Weaver are adamant environmentalists — they openly praise militant eco-guerrilla group Earth Liberation Front — and they're committed to crushing the planet's enemies with passionate psych-metal.
- Nicholas Nauman
[Info Source]
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MUSIC: Rock/Pop
James Jackson Toth w/ the Dutchess and the Duke
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Wednesday Aug 13 (8pm)
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Rickshaw Stop (155 Fell St, 415.861.2011)
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$10
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When he recorded under the name Wooden Wand and the Vanishing Voice, James Jackson Toth was at the vanguard of freak folk, dropping limited-edition releases with alarming frequency. But beginning with Second Attention, Toth tempered the frills for a more holistic sound that befitted his newly Dylanesque songwriting. On James and the Quiet he expressly tried to make an "unweird" record, and now he's taken the next step by releasing his first album without a pseudonym. Waiting in Vain's slow-drip outlaw country is comfortably nestled between the Rolling Stones and Lee Hazlewood, with Toth's earthen baritone voice giving the music a satisfying weight.
- Max Goldberg
[Info Source]
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MUSIC: Experimental
Mi Ami w/ Steve Summers and 51717
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Wednesday Aug 13 (9pm)
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Hemlock Tavern (1131 Polk St, 415.923.0923)
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$6
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Mi Ami aren't the first art-school rippers to melt punk's rebel yell into roomy dub- and disco-influenced arrangements, but their grooves are slipperier and their distortion more penetrating than your typical DFA knockoffs. Frontman Daniel Martin-McCormick and bassist Jacob Long used to play with DC post-punk outfit Black Eyes before moving to the Bay Area. Along with beastly drummer Damon Palermo, they're now absorbing far-flung musical influences into the exacting architecture of a power trio. Mi Ami are one of the best live bands in San Francisco these days, with McCormick's shrill moans cracking like a whip over the band's sweaty torpedo jams.
- Max Goldberg
[Info Source]
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MORE FLAVOR: Discussion
Nancy Pelosi: Know Your Power
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Thursday Aug 14 (7pm)
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Cowell Theater (Marina Blvd & Buchanan St, 415.345.7575)
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FREE
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Add your comment»
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However you may feel about her political track record, it's hard to knock Nancy Pelosi's symbolic impact as America's first female Speaker of the House. In the wake of Hillary Clinton's near-successful presidential bid, and the glaring institutionalized sexism her campaign brought to light, the positive, inspirational message Pelosi shares in her new book, Know Your Power: A Message to America's Daughters, couldn't be more timely. Pelosi's challenge to speak up and be counted offers a compelling alternative to many of the consumption-based directives that the mainstream media offers young women.
- Matt Sussman
[Info Source]
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MUSIC: Hip-Hop
Biz Markie
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Thursday Aug 14 (9pm)
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The Independent (628 Divisadero St, 415.771.1422)
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$15
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Since hip-hop's earliest days, Harlem-born Biz Markie has been setting the pace. After gaining notoriety as a comic rapper, a revolutionary sampler (hence the Biz Markie Sample Law), and an old-school beatboxer in the '80s, Biz started his own production company, a custom sneaker line, and today spins records at high-profile parties from his 80,000-album collection. Tonight, the clown prince of hip-hop pleases the fresh-coast crowd with his classic cuts, distinctive voice, and hilarious antics — and reminds you that you don't need a new album to stay on top of the game.
- Chloe Leichman
[Info Source]
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ART
Banned and Recovered: Artists Respond to Censorship
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Friday Aug 15 (10am–5pm)
More times»
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San Francisco Center for the Book (300 De Haro St, 415.565.0556)
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FREE
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In some parts of the US, closed-minded thinking keeps the works of Mark Twain, J.D. Salinger, and J.K. Rowling out of schools, libraries, and the hands of young readers. In opposition to such restrictions of free speech, the San Francisco Center for the Book presents Banned and Recovered: Artists Respond to Censorship. More than 50 artists interpret the plights of banned books in their respective media. Included are painter/printmaker Enrique Chagoya's abstraction of William S. Burroughs, Charles Hobson's sculpture based on reactions to Madame Bovary, and Favianna Rodriguez's take on the pain of repression in The Color Purple by Alice Walker. Panel discussions featuring many of the artists occur throughout the exhibition's run.
- Nicholas Nauman
[Info Source]
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PERFORMING ARTS: Cabaret/Burlesque
Hubba Hubba Revue presents Creepshow Peepshow
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Friday Aug 15 (9pm)
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DNA Lounge (375 11th St, 415.626.1409)
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| price: |
$15
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Like many grindhouse auteurs before them, the ladies of Hubba Hubba Revue understand that bouncing bazooms and buckets of blood are as American a combination as peanut butter and jelly. Tonight, their flesh-and-blood feast takes the zombie strippers out of the movie theater and onto the stage, with acts such as the Living Dead Girlz, the Twilight Vixen Revue, and Your Little Chernobyl, shaking their tail feathers and flaunting their flesh wounds. Add to the proceedings a special screening of horror/comedy classic-in-the-making The Terror of Titty Town, and you have an evening even Joe Bob Briggs would die for.
- Matt Sussman
[Info Source]
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READING
Progressive Reading Series: Jonathan Franzen
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Saturday Aug 16 (7–9:30pm)
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The Make-Out Room (3225 22nd St, 415.647.2888)
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$10 - 20
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This summer's been busy for SF's literati. Between the monthly Writers with Drinks and last week's Litquake benefit, our city's scribes aren't getting a vacation anytime soon. Their latest offering, a series benefiting local and national progressive political candidates, features Jonathan Franzen, whose 2001 novel The Corrections attracted the attention of critics and the ire of Oprah's Book Club. Since then, Franzen has turned his razor-sharp observational powers to personal essays and memoirs, including 2006's The Discomfort Zone, which explores his '50s Middle America upbringing. Found magazine's Davy Rothbart and Mission literary all-star Michelle Tea also share their work.
- Connie Hwong
[Info Source]
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MORE FLAVOR: Competition
13th Annual SF Drag King Contest
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Saturday Aug 16 (9pm)
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DNA Lounge (375 11th St, 415.626.1409)
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| price: |
$25
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Add your comment»
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SF boasts an impressive roster of drag-queen celebrities (Peaches Christ, Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence). But their brothers in crime, our hometown drag kings, often get overlooked among all that glitter and sparkle. Tonight, they get their chance to shine and strut as DNA plays host to the 13th annual Drag King Contest. Featuring gender-bending MCs Fudgie Frottage and the Indra, guest DJ Juanita More, and saucy rockabilly from the Mighty Slim Pickins, the competition promises plenty of pomp, pageantry, and peacocking.
- Connie Hwong
[Info Source]
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MORE FLAVOR: Party
Oaklandish presents the 3rd Annual Lake Merritt Radio Regatta
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Sunday Aug 17 (noon–5pm)
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Lake Merritt Boating Center (568 Bellevue Ave, 510.238.2196)
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| price: |
FREE
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Leave the iPod at home and hit up your local thrift store for a handheld transistor for this afternoon of pleasure boating and pirate-radio beats. East Bay civic-pride squad Oaklandish arranges for half-priced boat rentals all afternoon. While you're swanning about in your craft, local DJs broadcast their vinyl treasures on a special micro-frequency, Youth Spirit Artworks holds a silent furniture auction, and Linden Street Brewery provides ample suds. For the less athletically inclined, limited free pontoon and gondola rides are available. Who needs Venice when you have Lake Merritt?
- Matt Sussman
[Info Source]
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MUSIC: Rock/Pop
Judgement Day w/ Geographer and Cotillion
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Sunday Aug 17 (9pm)
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Cafe du Nord (2170 Market St, 415.861.5016)
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$10
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Add your comment»
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Tonight's bill is so diverse that it might as well be called a variety show. One thing all three groups do share is a predilection for orchestral arrangements. Cotillion's moody folk pop swirls like a massive campfire song, revealing the backgrounds of their seven members, former and current musicians in the Botticellis, Bright Eyes, and Judgement Day. Geographer's lush synthesizer and cello produce gently rocking head nodders and Arcade Fire-style anthems intertwined with Mike Deni's ethereal voice. Judgement Day close the show with their distinctive brand of prog rock — the band is notable for its lack of guitars as well as its grandiose, classical-tinged melodies.
- Connie Hwong
[Info Source]
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MUSIC: Classical
Nico Muhly w/ Doveman and Sam Amidon
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Monday Aug 18 (7:30pm)
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Swedish American Hall (2170 Market St, 415.861.5016)
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$20 / $18 advance
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Bridging the divide between classical chops and indie-rock chic, Juilliard alumnus Nico Muhly has a hell of a resume: young, good looking, worked as Philip Glass' assistant, and composed arrangements for Antony, Björk, and Will Oldham. The New Yorker came up just short of labeling him the iTunes-generation composer. Muhly himself, however, prefers low-key collaboration. After chamber concerts at Carnegie Hall and the Whitney Museum in New York, Muhly now embarks on a tour. He's joined by two New York-via-Vermont compatriots, Doveman and Sam Amidon, for this close-knit performance.
- Max Goldberg
[Info Source]
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MORE FLAVOR: Party
Club Donuts feat. Jeremy Jay
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Monday Aug 18 (9pm)
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Knockout SF (3223 Mission St, 415.550.6994)
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| price: |
$7
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Jeremy Jay's delicate, soft-core pop songs might not be the first music that comes to mind when one thinks "dance party," but Club Donuts has never catered to convention. With his fey, vaguely British voice, arrangements dappled with woozy keyboard fills, and mop-headed dandy look, Jay comes off like Brian Ferry singing bittersweet anthems to the discotheque's post-4am stragglers. Not that tonight will be a strictly slow-jam affair: Jonas Reinhardt kicks out Kraftwerk-worthy synth jams, while DJ Conor supplies plenty of disco surprises on the ones and twos.
- Matt Sussman
[Info Source]
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MORE FLAVOR: Competition
Shanghai San Francisco
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Saturday Aug 16 (12:30, 1, 1:30, 2 & 2:30pm)
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Coit Tower (1 Telegraph Hill)
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| price: |
$35
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Equal parts walking tour, scavenger hunt, and interactive play, this playful excursion leads participants into a hard-boiled noir adventure. Provided with a map and basic instructions, participants are sent off on a quest to save a damsel in distress. Various clues and encounters with shady characters take the sleuths into the nooks and crannies of Chinatown, North Beach, and Downtown — with stops in bars and restaurants along the way — until the mystery is solved. Created by director Joseph Tomasini, the weekly adventure requires only a sense of humor and a pair of comfortable shoes.
- Tanya Feldman
Note:
Reservations are required.
[Info Source]
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PERFORMING ARTS: Theatre
Shotgun Players present Ubu for President
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Saturday Aug 16 (4pm)
More times»
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John Hinkel Park (2 Southampton Ave, 510.644.6530)
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| price: |
FREE
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With its infamous opening salvo ("Merdre!"), Alfred Jarry's vulgar, nonsensical satire of 19th-century despotism, Ubu Roi scandalized Parisian theatergoers upon its premiere. Ubu has frequently been recast by modern writers to send up their own particular political climates, and the Shotgun Players have done their part with this rollicking, obscenity-filled kiss-off to the dunderheaded reign of good ol' number 43. Writer Josh Costello finds an affinity between Jarry's gobbledygook (among Ubu's many swears are "Pschittabugger!" and "buggerapschitt!") and the President's own fondness for neologisms, while never losing track of the larger, grimmer picture of a ruler hell-bent on taking an election by any means necessary.
- Matt Sussman
[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
Jake Lancaster
Doug Levy
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
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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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