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Issue 342 |
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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
Nov 18-24, 2008
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History was on a lot of people's minds this weekend. While much of the local media devoted its front pages to marking the 30-year anniversary of two of San Francisco's darkest chapters — the Jonestown mass suicide and the murders of Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone — thousands of San Franciscans evoked Milk in spirit, and sometimes name, as they rallied at Civic Center and down Market Street for the nationwide Join the Impact protests over marriage equality. I spoke with one elderly protestor, who had both marched with and mourned Milk. "I can't believe we're still fighting for this," he said. "But," he added, "we're so much stronger now." I wondered how dance company KUNST-OFF would've choreographed his experience of history. Would those memories form a circle, a broken line, or an arc?
- Matt Sussman, Managing Editor
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SPECIAL FEATURE
Obama's Comic Obsession
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According to a recent article in the Daily Telegraph, Barack Obama "collects Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarian comics" — a fact that has most geeks more excited than a freshly leaked trailer for Watchmen. In a Flavorwire exclusive, Gabriel Fowler, owner of Brooklyn indie comic shop Desert Island, gives us his expert analysis of what Obama's fanboy picks reveal about our future President.
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Night at the Museum
Flavorwire's intrepid reporter bunks down at three New York art institutions.
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Jeff Brouws
A contemporary photographer with a voracious appetite for the real America.
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FILM
A Tribute to Tony Curtis
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Tuesday Nov 18 (7pm)
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The Castro Theatre (429 Castro St, 415.621.6120)
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$25 - $35
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Tony Curtis was the golden price of Hollywood's Golden Age, and the story of how Bernard Schwartz, a nice Jewish boy from the Bronx, became a silver-screen idol, whose ducktail haircut even Elvis emulated, is a biopic waiting to happen. Fortunately, the star of such classics as The Sweet Smell of Success and Spartacus — not to mention father of Jamie Lee Curtis — remains with us to tell the tale in person. Tonight, Curtis dishes on his charmed and difficult life, then presents a screening of one of his most beloved performances opposite Marilyn Monroe in Billy Wilder's cross-dressing romantic comedy Some Like It Hot (1959).
- Matt Sussman
[Info Source]
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MUSIC: Rock/Pop
Pylon w/ the Fresh & Onlys
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Tuesday Nov 18 (8pm)
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The Independent (628 Divisadero St, 415.771.1422)
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$15
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Having spawned the likes of the B-52s and R.E.M., Athens, Georgia — like Chapel Hill, North Carolina and Olympia, Washington — has become one of the mythic wellsprings of American indie music. And now Pylon, one of the most influential of Athens bands finally get their due. Like many a post-punk band, four art students got together in 1978, and Pylon quickly generated buzz (Michael Stipe was an early convert) with their ferocious, catchy songs that could make a disco out of a punk club. Since its 2004 reunion, the group's classic work has been reissued on DFA Records, and they've built up a new audience of fans who just want to go turn up the "volume" and dance.
- Matt Sussman
[Info Source]
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PERFORMING ARTS: Theatre
Nanos Operetta, Blixa Bargeld, and KUNST-STOFF present The Execution of Precious Memories
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Wednesday Nov 19 (8pm)
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Project Artaud Theater (450 Florida St, 415.626.4370)
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$20
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While he may be best known for his music with Einstürzende Neubauten and the Bad Seeds, Blixa Bargeld is also multimedia philosopher, frequently working with performers, visual artists, and other musicians. His ongoing project, The Execution of Precious Memories, began in Berlin in 1994 and has since crossed the globe with performances from Osaka to Cameroon. Gathering together intimate recollections submitted by locals of each visited city, Bargeld and his collaborators fuse the memories into an audio-visual fictionalized exploration. For the US debut of the project, avant-garde multi-instrumentalists Nanos Operetta provide the musical component, while dance company KUNST-STOFF provides physical interpretation of the memories.
- Tanya Feldman
[Info Source]
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MORE FLAVOR: Spectacle
Kaiju Big Battel feat. Busdriver
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Wednesday Nov 19 (8pm)
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The Grand Ballroom (1290 Sutter St, 415.673.5716)
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$20
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Melding Godzilla's grandeur with old-school WWF antics, Kaiju Big Battel pits brawlers costumed as giant monsters against each other in a head-to-head celebration of cartoonish violence and generally irresponsible behavior. Tonight's match sees robot overlord Neo Teppen of the Kaiju Heroes team defend his Kaiju Championship Belt against former champion and leader of the intergalactic insect insurgency Team Space Bug, Uchu Chu. If the sight of dudes bashing each other in rubber costumes isn't enough for you, indie rapper Busdriver is on hand to show off his rapid fire, off-kilter flow.
- Nick Earhart
[Info Source]
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PERFORMING ARTS: Cabaret/Burlesque
Dame Edna Everage: Live and Intimate in Her First Last Tour
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Thursday Nov 20
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Post Street Theatre (450 Post St, 415.771.6900)
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$55
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Longtime stage personality of Australian comedian Barry Humphries, Dame Edna Everage evokes an older, more genteel age of female impersonation. With her trademark cat-eye glasses, lavender coiffure, and gently acerbic observations on aging, celebrity, and living the good life, Edna has the air of the Queen Mother about her — and no doubt she is just as adored by her public. Billed as her "last first" tour, the grand dowager's latest show at the Post Street Theater is sure to pack in plenty of her familiar schticks ("Hello, possums!") as well as some new perspective afforded by her 40-plus years in show business.
- Matt Sussman
[Info Source]
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FILM
Holiday Heat
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Thursday Nov 20 (7:30pm)
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Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (701 Mission St, 415.978.2787)
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$8
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What better way to snuggle in for a cold holiday season than with some well-curated smut? YBCA film curator Joel Shepard brings together some of the best vintage porn and erotica for this three-day series, kicking off with Gerard Damiano's Devil in Miss Jones (1972), which Roger Ebert dubbed "the best hardcore porno film I've seen." The plot is deliciously ludicrous: after 30-something Justine Jones kills herself out of sexual frustration, she finds herself stuck between heaven and hell and is granted another try at mortal life, now with her sexuality fully liberated. Gerri Sedley's Teenage Hitchhikers (1975) and a freshly compiled selection of '60s-'80s porn trailers round out the lust fest.
- Ilya Tovbis
[Info Source]
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ART
Stolen Land: New Works by Other
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Friday Nov 21 (6–9pm)
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Needles & Pens (3253 16th St, 415.255.1534)
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FREE
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Spray paint and linocuts may make strange bedfellows, but Canadian-born artist Troy Lovegates, who works under the name Other, has redefined the concept of graffiti. He famously paints the yards of North America's rail system but has also left his mark in places as diverse as Berlin, Lima, and numerous spots elsewhere. Whatever the canvas, Other's work is breathtakingly detailed and hauntingly sorrowful: oversized heads are executed in complex black and white, while color splashes across in spindly, fantastic forms that capture fettered movement. Other has an admitted distaste for the inaccessibility of galleries, and Stolen Land, set in the cozy environs of Needles and Pens, presents an extremely rare opportunity to view his work.
- Laureen Mahler
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MORE FLAVOR: Discussion
Toni Morrison
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Friday Nov 21 (8pm)
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Nob Hill Masonic Auditorium (1111 California St, 415.776.4702)
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$23
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Nobel Prize-wining author Toni Morrison is perhaps best known for Beloved, her 1988 masterpiece that nakedly plumbed the terrible psychic and emotional fallout of slavery. Her newest novel, A Mercy, can be thought of as a prelude to Beloved, set in the wilds of 17th-century America. Touching on similar themes of lost innocence and the price paid for enduring the bonds of love, A Mercy finds the septuagenarian author still at the height of her lyrical powers. Tonight, Morrison reads from A Mercy and speaks with KQED host Michael Krasny about her remarkable career and work.
- Matt Sussman
[Info Source]
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MUSIC: Rock/Pop
My Brightest Diamond w/ Clare & the Reasons
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Saturday Nov 22 (7:30pm)
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Swedish American Hall (2170 Market St, 415.861.5016)
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$16
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While up to 19 members have been known to circulate in and out of the group, Shara Worden remains the driving force behind indie-rock brain trust My Brightest Diamond. Despite her past associations with Sufjan Stevens (she played in his backing band), Worden's songs are hardly whimsical: the meat-and-potatoes drama in her fringe-pushing mini-operas engages the more classical, eclectic side of chamber pop. Dense string sections and the off-putting sweet-yet-throaty vocals aside, there's a reason she's been at the top of most everyone's "emerging" lists.
- Foster Kamer
[Info Source]
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MUSIC: Hip-Hop
The Mighty Underdogs w/ Zion I
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Saturday Nov 22 (8pm)
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The Grand Ballroom (1290 Sutter St, 415.673.5716)
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$20
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Bay Area indie-rap supergroup the Mighty Underdogs return home from a month-long tour to celebrate the release of their first full-length, Droppin' Science Fiction, with a live set for the hometown crowd. The accomplished trio — Gift of Gab (Blackalicious), Lateef (Latyrx), and multi-instrumentalist Headnodic (Crown City Rockers) — lets loose a torrent of witty wordplay and eclectic beats, both heady and funky. With standout guest spots from the likes of MF Doom, DJ Shadow, and Mr. Lif all over the record, it's a safe bet that some hip-hop luminaries will crash the party tonight. Oakland-based duo Zion I join the Underdogs for an additional dose of conscious rhymes.
- Eli Dvorkin
[Info Source]
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FILM: Shorts
Scott MacDonald: The Spirit of Canyon Cinema
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Sunday Nov 23 (7:30pm)
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Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (701 Mission St, 415.978.2787)
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$10
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Since filmmakers Bruce Baille and Chick Strand started hosting informal screenings in 1961 and then began distributing films five years later, Canyon Cinema has become one of the country's longest-running and premier support centers for independent and experimental film. Film historian Scott MacDonald's recent book, Canyon Cinema: The Life and Times of an Independent Film Distributor, provided a loving and copiously researched overview of the organization. Tonight, MacDonald shares a personal selection from the Canyon archives that highlight the organization's early years, featuring films by Abigail Child, Gunvor Nelson, and Anne Severson in collaboration with Shelby Kennedy.
- Matt Sussman
[Info Source]
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MUSIC: Classical
Hauschka w/ Tom Brosseau and Magik*Magik Orchestra
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Sunday Nov 23 (8:30pm)
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Hotel Utah Saloon (500 4th St, 415.546.6300)
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| price: |
$10
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Like John Cage and his treated pianos Dusseldorf-based pianist Volker Bertelmann (aka Hauschka) likes to play dress up with his instrument. The rule-breaking minimalist clamps wedges of leather, felt, and rubber between the strings; prepares the hammers with aluminum paper; weaves guitar strings around the piano's guts; and holds everything down with gaffer's tape. His arrangements sound orchestral, with singing strings and delicate layering, but he takes as much from electronica as from the classical canon.
- Natalya Krimgold
[Info Source]
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MORE FLAVOR: Discussion
Anne Pasternak: Public Art and Media: From Spectacle to Political
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Monday Nov 24 (7:30pm)
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UC Berkeley Campus (160 Kroeber Hall)
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FREE
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Public art tends to get a bad rap, thanks to the many sculptural eyesores and boondoggles passed off as beautification projects that dot America's civic landscape. But in the hands of New York art organization Creative Time — who have collaborated with artists as diverse as David Byrne, Gilbert and George, and Genesis P. Orridge — public art makes good on its potential to create unexpected, challenging, and thought-provoking aesthetic experiences outside of the museum or gallery space. Tonight, Anne Pasternak, Creative Time's President and Artistic Director, discusses the shifting purpose of public art and how her organization has gone about redefining it.
- Matt Sussman
[Info Source]
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MUSIC: Rock/Pop
Deerhunter w/ Times New Viking
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Monday Nov 24 (8pm)
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Great American Music Hall (859 O'Farrell St, 415.885.0750)
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| price: |
$16
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Bradford Cox, the lanky frontman and curious creative force behind Deerhunter, has done it again. Upping the ante on their own 2007 achievement Cryptograms, Cox and Co. drop Microcastle, which includes a second bonus disc, Weird Era Cont.! Though Cox's fascination for '50s and '60s pop is present and palpable, the Joey Ramone-y freak show seems to take a back seat on this rather psychedelic musical journey through reverb-heavy, post-punk, droney acid-dripping rock 'n roll. Guitarist Lockett Pundt takes lead vocal responsibilities on "Agoraphobia," and bassist Josh Fauver wrote most of standout "Nothing Ever Happened." Nonetheless, the Atlanta psych-rock quintet takes giant strides with their newest sunlit noise-rock masterpiece
- Bill Chenevert
[Info Source]
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PERFORMING ARTS: Theatre
Joe Turner's Come and Gone
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Tuesday Nov 18
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Berkeley Repertory Theatre (2025 Addison St, 510.647.2949)
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| price: |
$16.50 - $63
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August Wilson's series of ten plays, The Pittsburgh Cycle, is the most ambitious and critically successful attempt ever to stage the African-American experience. One of the most intriguing entries, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, centers around Harold Loomis, an angry, wounded man searching for his wife and a new beginning after seven years of captivity in a notorious chain gang. Haunted by the recurring image of wet bones that fail to escape their watery grave, he is ostracized for daring to speak of what he sees. The allusion to the African-American struggle and the tortured legacy of slavery is unmistakable, chillingly insightful, and frighteningly timely.
- Ilya Tovbis
[Info Source]
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ART
As Above So Below
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Tuesday Nov 18 (10am–8pm)
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Hamburger Eyes Photo Epicenter (26 Lilac St, 415.550.0701)
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FREE
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In a devastating display of nature's fury, Chile's Chaitén volcano erupted last May, spewing plumes of roiling ash that generated dense thickets of lightning. Inspired by dramatic photos of the event, Hamburger Eyes stages its own multimedia electric storm equal to any invention of Nikolai Tesla. Setting the voltaic atmosphere is Anonymous Orphan's active papier-mâché volcano, meteorologically-inspired and seizure-inducing video by Aleksandra Domanovic and Brad Troemel, a light box by Bessie Kunath, messages smoked on the gallery ceiling, and much more.
- 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
Ilya Tovbis
SENIOR EDITORS
Jake Lancaster
Doug Levy
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Tanya Feldman
Laureen Mahler
Andrew Phillips
Lisa Rosman
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.
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