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Issue 315 |
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Your cultural event guide
Read our editors' weekly picks for things to do in San Francisco. Or find more events, updated daily, on Flavorpill.com. |
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IN THIS ISSUE
May 13-19, 2008
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Giveaways!
Keep your eyes open.
We'll hook you up. |
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San Francisco
From the Editor
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Talk about too many DJs. This week, San Francisco is teeming with more jocks than a men's locker room. From dubstep to disco, classic house to HI-NRG, someone with a bagful of vinyl (or these days, a removable hard drive full of MP3s) has you covered. Just don't kill your feet grinding away in those Payless sling-backs — Jack Sparrow and his scurvy crew need you to represent on the streets come Sunday.
- Matt Sussman, Managing Editor
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SPECIAL FEATURE
Watchdog.net
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Politics and the Internet share an uneasy alliance. But the "character" issues and PR minutiae that dominate this year's US election coverage inspired Aaron Swartz to forge a new kind of connection between the message and the medium. It's called Watchdog.net, and our sister publication Activate got the lowdown on exactly what it's trying to accomplish.
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Todd Osborn
The artist also known as Osborne drops his self-titled house and techno trip.
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Flavorpill Mobile
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READING
Robert Glück and Kevin Killian
| when: |
Tuesday May 13 (6:30–8:30pm)
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| where: |
GLBT Historical Society (657 Mission St, Ste 300, 415.777.5455)
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| price: |
FREE |
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Emerging in the early 1980s, Robert Glück and Kevin Killian were part of a loose cluster of Bay Area writers who applied L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poetry's emphasis on language's materiality to their own lives as minority subjects. The resulting New Narrative texts pop and fizz with queer desire, stolen snippets of Barthes and Disney, and pillow talk. Taking the standpoint that real life is but one more text ripe for re-assemblage, Glück and Killian's writing still presents a dazzling alternative to the stifling cul-de-sac of most "gay lit."
- Matt Sussman
[Info Source]
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MUSIC: Rock/Pop
Cloud Cult w/ Kid Dakota
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Tuesday May 13 (9pm)
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Bottom of the Hill (1233 17th St, 415.621.4455)
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| price: |
$10 |
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Minnesota-based art-rockers Cloud Cult have principles. Since musician/environmentalist Craig Minowa founded the band in 1995, the Cult have scorned lucrative record deals in favor of their own not-for-profit label, released albums made entirely from recycled materials, and even planted thousands of trees to offset their carbon footprint. But Dave Matthews Band they're not: the band's propensity for baroque balladry, sweeping strings, and rich choral arrangements is more in line with Arcade Fire's pathos-drenched anthems or the Polyphonic Spree's many-membered chamber pop. Tonight, the septet — with eco-friendly pamphlets, video backdrop, and live painters in tow — performs tracks from its sixth LP, Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying through Tornados).
- Suzanne Niemoth
[Info Source]
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MUSIC: Electronic
Volume and Overlap present Signal w/ Alva Noto, Byetone, and Frank Bretschneider
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Wednesday May 14 (7pm–midnight)
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San Francisco Art Institute - Main Campus (800 Chestnut St, 415.771.7020)
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| price: |
$15 |
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Compared to the Raster-Noton label's austere output, most self-described "minimal" techno sounds positively maximal. The laptop-generated oscillator tones and minute, ice-cracking clicks heard on many of the releases by Alva Noto, Byetone, and Frank Bretschneider are often perched on the edge of audibility, suggesting a degree zero of electronic music. But when the three combine their carefully calibrated static as Signal, the sound becomes as deceptively flat — and subtly variegated — as one of Robert Rauschenberg's infamous white paintings. Prepare to commune with the ghosts in the machine.
- Matt Sussman
[Info Source]
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PERFORMING ARTS: Opera
The Rosenbach Company: A Pop Opera
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Wednesday May 14 (8pm)
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| where: |
Kanbar Hall, JCCSF (3200 California St, 415.292.1200)
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| price: |
$26 |
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The Rosenbach brothers were some of the most obsessively successful book collectors of the 20th century. In the skilled hands of Ben Katchor and Mark Mulcahy, the Rosenbach story has turned into a stage show told through drama, pop songs, and projected animated visuals. Katchor is the MacArthur and Guggenheim fellow whose graphic novels include The Jew of New York and The Beauty Supply District. Mark Mulcahy was the frontman for Polaris, the revered rock-band muse of The Adventures of Pete & Pete. Their pop opera comes to California through the JCCSF.
- Nicholas Nauman
[Info Source]
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ART
Portals: Jen Stark, Anna Fidler, and Jana Flynn
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Thursday May 15 (6–9pm)
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Johansson Projects (2300 Telegraph Ave, 415.999.9140)
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| price: |
FREE |
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This trio of artists transforms one-dimensional planes of paper into doorways that lead to strange universes. Armed with an X-Acto knife, Jen Stark carves stacks of multicolor cardstock into sculptures that resemble pinwheels, spiders, and sea anemones. Anna Fidler's collages plunge the viewer into psychedelic-hued landscapes full of shadowy spirit figures and night creatures. And Jana Flynn uses found paper, thread, and tea leaves to create ominous vistas where dark clouds hover over sweeping plains. Who knew that paper had such a secretly thrilling life?
- Jeanne Storck
[Info Source]
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MORE FLAVOR: Discussion
Barbara Walters
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Thursday May 15 (8pm)
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| where: |
Nob Hill Masonic Auditorium (1111 California St, 415.776.4702)
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| price: |
$20 |
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After more than 40 years in broadcast journalism, it's "pushy cookie" Barbara Walters' turn to dish. And dish she does in Audition, her new memoir. Don't be fooled by that misleadingly demure title — Ms. Walters has interviewed enough big names to fill a history textbook. Anwar Sadat? Check. Mark David Chapman? Check. Margaret Thatcher? Check. Then there are the juicy backstage details about Star Jones and Rosie O' Donnell, her former tempestuous co-hostesses on The View. Not to mention the revelation about a long, secret affair with former Massachusetts senator Edward W. Brooke. Get set for more inside scoops when Ms. Walters shares her reminiscences in person.
- Matt Sussman
[Info Source]
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MUSIC: Electronic
Robyn
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Friday May 16 (9pm)
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| where: |
Bimbo's (1025 Columbus Ave, 415.474.0365)
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| price: |
$18 |
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Hailing from the land of ABBA, Robyn reminds us that Swedes are second-to-none when it comes to insanely catchy, Euro-infused pop tunes. Since relaunching her career with the sassy hit "Konnichiwa Bitches," the singer has been dropping entrancing, radio-ready cuts (on her own label, no less) that blend glossy electro beats, feisty lyrics, and a sunny pop sensibility. Kylie's heir apparent returns to soak in more California sunshine, following her pre-SXSW warm-up gig back in February.
- Annie Lo
[Info Source]
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FILM
The Beyond (1981)
| when: |
Friday May 16 (midnight)
More times»
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| where: |
Landmark Clay Theatre (2261 Fillmore St, 415.267.4893)
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| price: |
$9.50 |
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Heavily censored when it was first released in the US, Lucio Fulci's stunning gore-fest The Beyond was restored to its original flesh-lacerating glory and showcased on the midnight circuit in 1998 by mega-fan Quentin Tarantino. The Clay now presents a reprise screening of the uncut zombie/haunted-house hybrid film. New Yorker Liza Merril inherits a derelict hotel in rural Louisiana. But as the corpses start to pile up (and become re-animated) she discovers that the building sits atop one of the seven gateways to Hell. (D'oh!) When Fulci isn't training his camera on flesh-eating tarantulas, acid facials, ripped jugulars, and live crucifixions, he packs in more ambient menace than an H.P. Lovecraft story.
- Matt Sussman
[Info Source]
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MORE FLAVOR: Food/Wine
SF Oysterfest
| when: |
Saturday May 17 (noon)
More times»
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| where: |
Fort Mason Festival Pavilion (Marina Blvd and Buchanan St, 415.345.7500)
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| price: |
Varied prices |
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This year's Oysterfest pairs plenty of the famous aphrodisiac mollusk with bubbly, beer, and a pack of dedicated gluttons stuffing their faces in a shucking-and-swallowing competition. Of course, if bivalves aren't your thing, then you should still come for the music: Saturday features Celtic punk rockers Dropkick Murphys, Hollywood brats Juliette Lewis & the Licks, and the vaudeville extravaganza of the Yard Dogs Road Show. Sunday's lineup is just as tantalizing, including a set from She & Him, the dynamic, dreamy-eyed duo of M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel.
- Tanya Feldman
[Info Source]
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MORE FLAVOR: Party
Return to Paradise feat. Sister Sledge and Holy Ghost!
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Saturday May 17 (10pm)
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| where: |
Mezzanine (444 Jessie St, 415.625.8880)
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| price: |
$10 - 20 |
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You've danced to their songs at weddings, bar mitzvahs, and summer-camp socials galore — but now, they're live and onstage. Get ready to get lost in music and fly like birds of a feather with all your sisters: Kathy, Kim, Debbie, and Joni (aka Sister Sledge) take San Francisco's disco freaks to paradise when they hit the stage at Christopher McVick and le Dinosaur's swinging, glitter-kissed party Return to Paradise. Holy Ghost!, New York's answer to Hot Chip (and new DFA signees), get things warmed up alongside rarity-filled DJ sets by Derrek Love & Nicky B., BT Magnum & Black Shag, and the homo-liscious Honey Soundsystem crew.
- Matt Sussman
[Info Source]
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MORE FLAVOR: Parade
Million Pirate March
| when: |
Sunday May 18 (8am)
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| where: |
Steuart & Mission Sts
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| price: |
FREE |
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The organizers of the Million Pirate March have a simple goal: to gather one million of their swashbuckling brethren and, as a symbol of solidarity, march together during this year's Bay to Breakers (presumably while drinking many bottles of rum). For land-lubbers, their website includes a number of helpful fashion tips, the official MPM logo (easily printable as a flag, of course), and instructions for converting an ordinary shopping cart into a marauding pirate ship. So get your eye patches and peg legs ready — one million yo-ho-ho-ers can't be wrong.
- Connie Hwong
[Info Source]
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MUSIC: Rock/Pop
El Perro del Mar w/ Lykke Li
| when: |
Sunday May 18 (8pm)
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| where: |
Bimbo's (1025 Columbus Ave, 415.474.0365)
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| price: |
$16 |
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El Perro del Mar's From the Valley to the Stars builds on the act's haunting doo-wop vibe with organs, pianos, and glittery orchestrations (the latter courtesy of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra). Mastermind Sarah Assbring conceived the atmospheric follow-up to her critically acclaimed, self-titled debut as a thematic record, one traversing the lowest and highest of emotional terrain. Avoiding faux depth for something more surreal, Assbring cloaks old-fashioned folk in pained croons and heavy echoes — the perfect reflections of her dark Scandinavian sensibilities. El Perro del Mar's unflinchingly dour stage presence (seriously, Assbring never smiles) is countered tonight by the sparkle of avant-pop princess Lykke Li.
- Julian Hooper
[Info Source]
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MORE FLAVOR: Fundraiser
The Bee-In: A Spelling Bee to Benefit SPD
| when: |
Monday May 19 (7:30pm)
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| where: |
Crown Point Gallery (20 Hawthorne St)
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| price: |
$75 |
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Literary masterminds match wits and twist tongues to raise money for the Berkeley nonprofit Small Press Distribution, whose mission is exactly what it sounds like. Included among the competing spellers are George Lakoff (Don't Think of an Elephant), cookbook maven Mollie Katzen, and Michael Krasny, a familiar voice from KQED. The event follows in the footsteps of successful mashups of literature and booze around San Francisco, such as LitQuake and Writers With Drinks.
- Tanya Feldman
[Info Source]
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MUSIC: Rock/Pop
Clinic w/ Shearwater
| when: |
Monday May 19 (8pm)
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| where: |
The Independent (628 Divisadero St, 415.771.1421)
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| price: |
$17 |
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Since their inception over a decade ago, Liverpool psych-retro-whatever wizards Clinic have been frequently described as "spooky," "cryptic," and "creepy." But this does less to describe their eclectic, vintage keyboard-heavy sound than their bizarre penchant for performing in surgical masks. Regardless of their sinister rep, Clinic have perfected a mutant blend of art-rock weirdness and chugging, fuzzed-up surrealism that really has no peer. Their latest effort, Do It!, deals in deranged '60s-style psychedelia à la 13th Floor Elevators, augmented by frontman Ade Blackburn's icy croons. Tonight, the band makes its first SF appearance in a while, with Okkervil River-offshoot Shearwater opening.
- Suzanne Niemoth
[Info Source]
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ART
Paul Sietsema: New Work
| when: |
Tuesday May 13 (11am–5:45pm)
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| where: |
SFMOMA (151 3rd St, 415.357.4000)
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| price: |
$12.50 |
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Los Angeles artist Paul Sietsema presents an exceptional body of recent drawings and films in SFMOMA's New Work series. Sietsema straddles several media within a single piece: once his renderings of plant life, aristocratic chambers, and stone-age relics are meticulously crafted into models, the artist then films the fruits of his labor. But Sietsema doesn't simply transcribe a concept from one medium to the next. He works like a translator, keenly aware of the way his audience's understanding of the material changes with each piece's format.
- Isaac Amala
[Info Source]
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PERFORMING ARTS: Opera
Duke Ellington's Queenie Pie
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Thursday May 15 (8pm)
More times»
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| where: |
Oakland Metro (201 Broadway, 510.763.1146)
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| price: |
$28 |
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Queenie Pie, jazz giant Duke Ellington's final large-scale work, receives the royal treatment from the Oakland Opera Theater. Ellington's muse was Madame C.J. Walker, the daughter of slaves who built a million-dollar empire selling specially made beauty products to African American women door-to-door. Ellington recast Walker's rags-to-riches story as a televised opera/melodrama — though the work was still unfinished when he died in 1974. Oakland Opera now presents the historic debut of the first fully restored, newly completed version of Ellington's score, staged as if for its originally intended 1960s telecast.
- Matt Sussman
[Info Source]
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More Flavor |
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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
Tanya Feldman
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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About Us
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 nine other email magazines, covering ART, BOOKS, NEWS, MUSIC, and cultural events in five other cities — NEW YORK, LOS ANGELES, LONDON, CHICAGO, and MIAMI. Coming soon: STYLE/DESIGN and FILM. Subscribe now.
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