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Issue 322 |
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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
Jul 1-7, 2008
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Dig out your safari gear, 'cause San Francisco is where the wild things are. (We aren't even talking about Pride Week this time.) Heavy Winged and Barn Owl forgo birdcalls for sublime, experimental noise rock, while Land Shark makes chum of the dance floor with his razor-toothed synth set. And let's not forget the Ping Pong Gallery, which is a veritable menagerie of inner animals with its show The Beast in Me. Still, the titular unemployed Easter bunnies in Hank and Mike might do well to attend one of Fritz Haeg's habitat workshops for displaced critters.
- Matt Sussman, Managing Editor
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SPECIAL FEATURE
Olafur Eliasson
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In an exclusive interview, Artkrush reveals why Olafur Eliasson's art installations demand to be experienced rather than just seen. Eliasson's current traveling exhibition, Take your time, surveys a number of his phenomenal works, while his latest monumental project, The New York City Waterfalls, has changed the face of the East River.
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The Chris Farley Show
An exemplary oral biography drawing on interviews with family, friends, and colleagues.
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Flavorpill Mobile
Access Flavorpill listings, rate events, and find friends on the go, all via your handheld device.
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MORE FLAVOR: Festival
Victory Gardens 2008+
| when: |
Tuesday July 1
More times»
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| where: |
City Hall (1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Pl, 415.554.4933)
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| price: |
Various prices
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View on site»
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During World War II, Victory Gardens produced almost 40% of America's food supply. In a nod to history, artist and green activist Amy Franceschini joins with Slow Food Nation to break ground on its modern-day incarnation. The goal this time is to replace the grass in front of City Hall with a bumper crop of vegetables. The message — sow lettuce, not lawns. Workshops on urban gardening run through August; and to round out the season, Slow Food Nation serves up a Labor Day feast at Fort Mason, featuring food mavens Alice Waters, Michael Pollan, and Carlo Petrini. Guests can graze at thematic tasting pavilions dedicated to bread, chocolate, wine, and the like.
- Jeanne Storck
[Info Source]
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MUSIC: Soul/R&B
Alice Russell
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Tuesday July 1 (9pm)
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| where: |
The Independent (628 Divisadero St, 415.771.1421)
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| price: |
$15
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View on site»
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Call her the next British blue-eyed soul export if you want, but Alice Russell doesn't need a trademark look, tabloid troubles, or a promotional deal to make her mark. Her voice, which veers from a Beth Gibbons croon to a throaty growl worthy of another Beth (Ditto, of the Gossip), speaks for itself. (Check out her righteous re-working of the White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army" for proof.) The songbird has guested on releases by the Quantic Soul Orchestra and released three records on her own — catch her tonight at the Independent if you missed her last sold-out weekend residency at Mojito.
- Matt Sussman
[Info Source]
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MUSIC: Global
Gilberto Gil
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Wednesday July 2 (7:30pm)
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| where: |
Nob Hill Masonic Auditorium (1111 California St, 415.776.4702)
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| price: |
$25 - 85
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View on site»
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Though Gilberto Gil now splits his time between music and a day job as Brazil's Minister of Culture, he wasn't always on such cozy terms with his home country. In 1969, Brazil's military regime imprisoned Gil and fellow tropicália innovator Caetano Veloso, releasing them only on the condition that they went into exile. Gil has released upward of 40 albums since he returned to Bahia in 1972 and became an iconic musical freedom fighter in the process. And while the singer, now 65, still peppers his bossa-nova chords with bits of punk, reggae, and blues, his smoothed baritone remains the main attraction.
- Max Goldberg
[Info Source]
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MUSIC: Global
International Mandolin Night feat. Mike Marshall
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Wednesday July 2 (8pm)
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| where: |
Freight & Salvage Coffee House (1111 Addison St, 510.548.1761)
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| price: |
$23.50 / $22.50 advance
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The mandolin's been popping up in the Bay Area a lot lately — first with the International Festival of the Mandolins, and now with the International Mandolin Night at the Freight & Salvage. The eight-stringed descendant of the lute has proven irresistible for tonight's featured artists: Bulgaria's renowned Caterina Lichtenberg; Brazil's young, lauded phenom Danilo Brito and virtuoso fusion mandolinist Dudu Maia; and East Bay resident mandolin master Mike Marshall, whose nuanced picking with the likes of David Grisman, Bela Fleck, and Brazilian group Choro Famoso must be heard to be believed.
- Nicholas Nauman
[Info Source]
On which long-running NPR show can Mike Marshall's instrumentals be heard?
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ART: Photography
Koh Myung Keun: Windows on Nature
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Thursday July 3 (6–9pm)
More times»
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| where: |
Frey Norris Gallery (456 Geary St, 415.346.7812)
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| price: |
FREE
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View on site»
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With a Zen-like touch, Korean artist Koh Myung Keun creates photo sculptures that turn images of nature into luminous magic lanterns. Koh binds color-film transparencies to Plexiglas, then assembles the see-through sheets into a sleek multi-dimensional light box that resembles a ghostly hall of mirrors. His delicate scrims of ruffled ocean waves, leafy canopies, and hazy desert dunes shift subtly, opaque one moment, transparent the next. As the viewer walks around one of these airy shells, the reflections that play across its surface make it impossible for the eye to rest.
- Jeanne Storck
[Info Source]
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FILM: Documentary
Encounters at the End of the World
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Thursday July 3
More times»
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| where: |
Landmark Lumiere Theatre (1572 California St, 415.267.4893)
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| price: |
$9.75
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In many ways, Encounters at the End of the World is the ultimate Werner Herzog documentary. Set in Antarctica, it (blessedly) sidesteps the hot topic of penguins to focus on the human community living there — not to win Guinness World Records, so much as to live outside established societal conventions. All of Herzog's classic elements are in place: his nearly pagan fascination with nature, coupled with his refusal to anthropomorphize its wiles; his love of true eccentrics; and his own dour, first-person narration that never fully eclipses his sense of awe or, most importantly, his sense of fun.
- Lisa Rosman
[Info Source]
Which famous actor did Werner Herzog rescue from a car accident?
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PERFORMING ARTS: Theatre
San Francisco Mime Troupe: Red State
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Friday July 4 (2pm)
More times»
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| where: |
Mission Dolores Park (18th & Dolores Sts, 415.285.1717)
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| price: |
FREE
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The OBIE and Tony award-winning San Francisco Mime Troupe's latest foray into razor-sharp farce, Red State was penned by SFMT head writer Michael Gene Sullivan. The play — which, it should be noted, features plenty of talking — skewers the electoral process. The tiny Kansas town of Bluebird becomes the locus of a national frenzy when a voting-machine error causes the heartland village to forestall the election and finally have a real affect on history. With music and wit, the Mime Troupe brings its satire to Dolores Park for the reasonable price of zero dollars.
- Nicholas Nauman
[Info Source]
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MUSIC: Global
U-Roy w/ Cornell Campbell and Sister I
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Friday July 4 (9pm)
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| where: |
Shattuck Down Low (2284 Shattuck Ave, 510.548.1159)
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| price: |
$18
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Tonight's showcase of living reggae legends contrasts the rough with the smooth. U-Roy, or the "chalice in the palace," delivers his raspy toasts atop roots-inflected dancehall. Conversely, Cornell Campbell is one of Jamaica's finest crooners. Campbell's recent standout work — providing guest vocals for German minimalist-dub producers Rhythm and Sound — is a further testament to his versatility as a singer, but longtime fans will no doubt want to hear new versions of his classic, career-defining Treasure Island Records catalog.
- Matt Sussman
[Info Source]
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FILM: Documentary
The Gits
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Saturday July 5 (9:30pm)
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| where: |
Uptown Nightclub (1928 Telegraph Ave, 510.451.8100)
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| price: |
$7
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View on site»
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In the early '90s, Seattle outfit the Gits were rising stars in the Northwest punk scene — thanks in no small part to the ferocious stage presence and Janis Joplin-meets-Patti Smith vocals of frontwoman Mia Zapata. But Zapata's brutal rape and murder in 1993 cut short the band's promise and ended a life far too soon. This documentary chronicles the singer's life, the early riot-grrrl scene, and the Gits' brief but dazzling history. Coupling footage of the band's performances with the painful 11-year search for Zapata's murderer, the film is a touching tribute to the memory of a much-missed grrrl and her band. Gits drummer Steve Moriarty's new band, the American Professionals, perform after the screening.
- Suzanne Niemoth
Note:
The documentary also screens on Monday, July 7, at the Landmark Embarcadero Center Cinemas at 8pm.
[Info Source]
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MUSIC: Hip-Hop
Tormenta Tropical feat. Los Rakas
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Saturday July 5 (10pm)
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| where: |
Rickshaw Stop (155 Fell St, 415.861.2011)
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| price: |
$10
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View on site»
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After six months and a few location swaps, the monthly Tormenta party series has finally established itself as a booty-shaking hotspot, featuring emerging cumbia, electro, baile funk, and dancehall artists handpicked by local DJ (and Bersa Discos label owner) Disco Shawn. This month's installment features East Oakland duo Los Rakas (aka Dun Dun and Rico), who blend Panamanian melodies with hip-hop, reggae, and bilingual mic skills to create their own throbbing take on reggaeton. Their 2006 debut mixtape, Panabay Twist, features a clutch of East Bay rappers and guest artists; since then, the duo has been hard at work on a playlist of new tunes.
- Connie Hwong
[Info Source]
What does "Los Rakas" mean in Panama City slang?
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MORE FLAVOR: Workshop
Fritz Haeg: Animal Estates
| when: |
Sunday July 6 (11am–3pm)
More times»
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| where: |
SFMOMA (151 3rd St, 415.357.4000)
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| price: |
FREE
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It's notable enough when art-addled architects redirect their creative attention to the natural world — think Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater house, or Andy Goldsworthy's structural projects. Fritz Haeg, however, has lately skewered animal-centric building concerns with his Animal Estates pieces, designing creature homes and installing them in the cities and strip malls that have displaced the inhabitants' original habitats. After the project's recent debut at the Whitney Biennial (where it was designed to attract and house eagles, bobcats, and salamanders, among others), Haeg comes to SFMOMA for a series of workshops in which participants learn how to make the fauna homes themselves.
- Nicholas Nauman
[Info Source]
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MUSIC: Rock/Pop
We Are Scientists
| when: |
Sunday July 6 (8pm)
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| where: |
The Independent (628 Divisadero St, 415.771.1421)
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| price: |
$15
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View on site»
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NY indie rockers We Are Scientists burst onto the scene a few years ago with the snappy, punky single "Nobody Move Nobody Get Hurt" and a snarky, Lonely Island-directed video. The trio is currently a duo, as the band seeks out a new drummer. It's unfortunate, but at least it's given the boys a chance to canoodle with some new sounds. Touring in support of their sophomore album, Brain Thrust Mastery (released last month), WAS slow down their previously frenetic pace, adding spacey prog rock and jangly psych pop to their usual Anglophilic dance numbers.
- Connie Hwong
[Info Source]
What scientist would you consider a rock star, and why?
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ART: Photography
The Art of Lee Miller
| when: |
Monday July 7 (10am–5:45pm)
More times»
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| where: |
SFMOMA (151 3rd St, 415.357.4000)
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| price: |
$12.50
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Lee Miller's biography reads like a spectacular modernist novel: Roaring-'20s fashion model discovered by Condé Nast; avant-garde muse for Man Ray, Cocteau, and Picasso; fearless WWII photojournalist on the German front lines. Fellow photographer John Phillips characterized Miller as "an American free spirit wrapped in the body of a Greek goddess." You could also add "consummate documentarian" to that description. From her early, surrealist-influenced photographs to her images of the gritty faces of Buchenwald, Dachau, and Paris, Miller always imbued her work with a striking formalism and a restless, investigatory spirit.
- Matt Sussman
[Info Source]
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FILM
The Wild Bunch (1969)
| when: |
Monday July 7 (6:30 & 9:15pm)
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| where: |
The Castro Theatre (429 Castro St, 415.621.6120)
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| price: |
$9.50
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Sam Peckinpah's breakthrough film, The Wild Bunch tore the Western away from pat moralism in a flash of boundless violence — all the better to reflect the dark mood of America in 1969. William Holden, Robert Ryan, and Warren Oates head up an unusual cast that combines hungry young faces with grizzly Hollywood veterans representing the dying genre. The plot concerns an outlaw gang's quixotic voyage to Mexico, but all metaphorical signs point to Vietnam, with a culminating bloodbath that seals a horrifically lucid vision of the American apocalypse.
- Max Goldberg
[Info Source]
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ART
The Beast in Me
| when: |
Tuesday July 1 (6–9pm)
More times»
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Ping Pong Gallery (1240 22nd St, 415.550.7483)
map
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| price: |
FREE
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View on site»
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While the infamously grouchy Samuel Johnson averred that those unleashing their brute natures were in fact purging themselves of "the pain of being a man," The Beast in Me — a new exhibition at Ping Pong Gallery — grants our inner wild things a far more nuanced and sympathetic ear. Inspired by Nick Lowe's glum crooning, the show features Astrid Bowlby's meticulous, swarming drawings and Bethany Ayres' bold, cherub-laced tableaux. Meanwhile, Paul Clipson's montage films (familiar to Tarantel fans) and Walter Logue's equally clipped, etymological paintings bookend the beast in a dreamier, abstract context. Most compellingly though, Reuben Lorch-Miller and Alexander Cheves suggest that struggle's darkest elements are self-made.
- Isaac Amala
[Info Source]
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