Welcome to our new calendar feature BIG WEEK! Each week, our expert Arts & Culture writers recommend the best things for you to do in the best city on earth: Arts, Music, Food & Drink, Onstage, Nightlife, and more. Subscribe to our newsletter to get this straight to your inbox.
ARTS
See more great things to do in our jam-packed Arts & Culture section.
THU/10-SAT/12: MARIN ALSOP The US conductor’s rise was so meteoric and important—she was and probably still is the most visible woman conductor in the classical world—that they made a documentary about her. She now serves as Chief Conductor of the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, but she’s in SF to lead “Music of the Americas” including Gabriela Ortiz’ Antrópolis, Aaron Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man, and Samuel Barber’s swirling and gorgeous Symphony No. 1. Davies Symphony Hall, SF. More info here.
FRI/11 + SAT/12: SOUNDBOX: SCULPTURES The Soundbox performance series remains one of the best “nightclub” experiences in the city, with contemporary composers and musicians taking risks in a vast space rigged up with cutting edge technology. (There are cocktails.) This installment sees “visionary percussionist and composer Andy Akiho shapes a bold and intricate sound world alongside the striking, larger-than-life sculptures of artist Jun Kaneko”—where the art becomes the instrument. 8:30pm, 300 Franklin Street, SF. More info here.
SAT/12 + SUN/13: NORTHERN CALIFORNIA CHERRY BLOSSOM FESTIVAL FIRST WEEKEND More than 220,000 people turn out to celebrate Japanese and Japanese American culture in Japantown, with festivities, food, and all kinds of treats—like anime cosplay, tea ceremonies, ikebana demos, and Theatre of Yugen performances. Show up again next Sunday for the big parade, and maybe beat a giant taiko drum or two. 11am-5pm, Japantown, SF. More info here.
SUN/13: SCHNITZEL PARTY 2: THE SCHNITZELING What goes better with drinking than a nice hot schnitzel? How about some drag and dance music! Chef Garrett Schlichte’s last Schnitzel Party at Casements Bar was so popular, he brought it back (with a side of party potatoes and pickles, no less), and this time he’s got DJs Nick Moss and Mouthfeel, plus a bevy or wild queens, along for the fried breaded cutlet ride. There will be lederhosen! Noon-5pm, Casements, SF. More info here.
TUE/15-MAY 31: “JULIA ISÍDREZ: ZOOPHORMES” Paraguayan ceramicist Julia Isídrez reimagines Guaraní ceramic traditions “to create a personal bestiary of creatures that are at once mythic and earthly, intimate and monumental. Her work was recently featured in the 2024 Venice Biennale exhibition, ‘Foreigners Everywhere,’ marking a significant moment of international recognition for her singular approach to ceramics.” Jessica Silverman Gallery, SF. More info here.
MUSIC
Check out John-Paul Shiver’s Under the Stars column for great musical picks every week.
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SAT/12: SEUN KUTI & EGYPT 80 BAND I was blessed to see FELA and his Egypt 80 band just a couple of years before he passed in the late ’80s, and it was like James Brown pushing afrobeats and still fining musicians for their mistakes. Surreal, and that’s an understatement. Seun Kuti, the saxophone-playing, band-leading youngest son of the Black President, brings his version of his father’s landmark band into the old barn this weekend, and it should be masterful because that barn will, for sure, be swinging. Dancing is a requirement. 8pm, Great American Music Hall, SF. More info here.
SUN/13: HERBIE HANCOCK CELEBRATION Can we all agree that things would just not be things without the genius that is Herbie Hancock? For the past half-century, his mark, acumen, humanity, and creativity have resided all over musical culture. Jazz, especially anything he wrote or played on, has given life to hip-hop, pop, electronic music, and movie scores. So, on Sunday, the 4-Star will be showing, in his honor, the film he scored, BLOW-UP, featuring a live tribute set from the Samuél Gonzalez Group. Getting groovy has never been better. 6:30pm, 4 Star Theater, SF. More info here.
TUE/15: LOS MIRLOS When professionals who play in a certain vein of music—in this case Oakland’s own Combo Tezeta (we interviewed just a bit ago) and psychedelic cumbia—give you advice on whom to see live to conduct your own research on their dazzling genre you better listen. Combo Tezeta was quite strident with their admiration of Los Mirlos: “They’re the OGs of OGs of cumbia amazónica or selvática, which is a more jungle-inflected style, in contrast to the urban styles of the other progenitors.” Lo and behold, Combo Tezeta are now opening for them as well. 8pm, Great American Music Hall, SF. More info here.
FOOD & DRINK
Tamara Palmer’s Good Taste Good Taste food & drink column tells you every week what eats to seek out.
TAQUERIA COLIBRÍ NOW OPEN Colibrí Mexican Bistro in the Presidio has launched a weekday, fast casual taqueria in the backyard with $4.50 street style tacos and an array of tasty salsas; the guava is an early favorite. It’s a super treat to take these tacos out onto the Presidio’s Main Post lawn, where huge chairs and loveseats are waiting for you. Operating hours are Monday through Friday, 11:30am to 4pm. More info here.
THU/10: LEO’S TACOS STARTS DAILY IN SF Leo’s Tacos, the venerable Los Angeles truck and al pastor specialist, begins daily service in San Francisco at the corner of Lincoln and the Great Highway today. I was waiting for it last Thursday, when it pulled into the lot for the first time for a test run, offering free tacos and drinks to the 100 or so people who came out to see it; regular taco price is $3. I’ve got a full report in my California Eating newsletter.
SUN/13: BAKE FOR MYANMAR At least 25 local bakers are coming together for a sweet sale to benefit Doctors Without Borders’ earthquake relief in Myanmar. It takes place from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 18 Reasons (3674 18th Street). Notable donor-bakers include author Alice Medrich, Francis Ang of Abacá, and pastry teams from Kokkari Estiatorio, Kantine, Lion Dance Cafe, and Norte54, but it’s really a top to bottom dream team of a lineup.
STAGE
See more great things going on every week in our Arts & Culture section.
THROUGH APRIL 19: FAT HAM “Critically acclaimed playwright James Ijames reinvents Shakespeare’s masterpiece with his outrageously funny 2022 Pulitzer winner Fat Ham. Juicy is a queer, Southern college kid, already grappling with some serious questions of identity, when the ghost of his father shows up in the backyard, demanding that Juicy avenge his murder. It feels like a familiar story to Juicy, well-versed in Hamlet’s woes. What’s different is Juicy himself, a sensitive and self-aware young Black man trying to break the cycles of trauma and violence in service of his own liberation.” SF Playhouse, more info here.
THU/10-SUN/13: ODC/DANCE PRESENTS: DANCE DOWNTOWN Move your caboose downtown! ODC takes over the YBCA for an exhilarating program of thought-provoking works that invites audiences into the reflective, uplifting, and provocative power of dance. Fri/11’s special one night only Gala Night program features fan favorites from ODC’s expansive repertory and an excerpt of a new work by Brenda Way. YBCA, SF. More info here.
FRI/11-SUN/13: SEAN DORSEY DANCE Groundbreaking trans choreographer has been blazing his own trail with his company for 20 years now, and their great home season anniversary show—the perfect introduction to his open-hearted, hopeful work and fabulous dancers—is back by audience demand, bringing some queer movement magic to the Mission. Dance Mission Theatre, SF. More info here.
FILM
Dennis Harvey’s long-running Screen Grabs movie column has tons more flicks to recommend.
THE FRIEND The book this movie is based on is so meta-literary (a writer writing about writers writing, and not writing) that is seems impossible to film. Yet pared back into the tale of author Naomi Watts inheriting a giant Great Dane from Bill Murray, it provides an excellent, intelligent, and charming diversion. In Bay Area Theaters including Opera Plaza. More info here.
A NICE INDIAN BOY “Nice” is the operative word for this feature, which recycles tropes from both gay romcoms and the Big Fat Greek Wedding type centered on cute ethic culture-clashing. Naveen is an adorable, funny but shy guy, a doctor whose Indian American family tolerates his sexual identity so long as it’s an apparently unacted-upon abstraction. When he inevitably meets a bona fide Mr. Right, of course all hell breaks loose, rattling his parents and triggering a surprisingly hostile response from his sister. In Bay Area Theaters, including AMC Kabuki. More info here.
MISERICORDIA The tale of a hapless gay sociopath with enough twists and inventiveness to keep you interested: 30-something baker Jeremie has returned after a long absence to the village he was raised in, ostensibly to attend an older neighbor’s funeral. But he stays on, exploiting the hospitality of the widow even as he gets hostility from her son and others. Hijinx ensue. At the Roxie, SF. More info here.
NIGHTLIFE
Marke B. usually knows what’s up.
WED/9 + THU/10: BASEMENT JAXX Why so serious? The classic UK duo breathed fresh life into a flagging electronic scene at the dawn of the 2000s, with left-field, light-hearted mega-hits like “Romeo,” “Red Alert,” and “Where’s Your Head At”—infectious slices of technicolor pop that thumbed their figurative nose at the dour, paranoid trends of the time. With Coco and Breezy. 8pm, Regency Ballroom, SF. More info here.
FRI/11: BODY HIGH SOMArts parties are fantastic, and dancing outdoors in their vast space is just the ticket for spring-sprunging. For this 18+ femme, trans, and GNC-centered party, the fifth installment from the Body High crew, everyone can move their body freely to DJs Lady Ryan, VARSHA, and Blu Moon. 9pm-2am, SOMArts, SF. More info here.
FRI/11: SHHHHH Very interested in this! The Tokyo selector behind the El Folclore Paradox label/parties “brings you into his alternative world of psychedelic, folkloric/tribal techno: prepare for their intoxicating blend of percussive Latin American rhythms and dub techno” at one of my favorite spots, Bar Part Time. 9pm-2am, Bar Part Time, SF. More info here.
FRI/11: DJ GARTH One of the seminal wave of British DJs to kick off the San Francisco rave scene 35 years ago (he was part of the Wicked Crew), DJ Garth always embodied a certain debonair vibe that balanced out the hedonism nicely. He’s more of an LA guy now, with an acting career and family, but he’s swinging in for an all-vinyl set of ace tunes. 9pm-2am, Monarch, SF. More info here.
