Welcome to our calendar feature BIG WEEK, wherein our expert Arts & Culture writers recommend the best things in Arts, Music, Food & Drink, Stage, Film, Nightlife, and more.
GENERAL ARTS
Marke B. guides you to some cool things. There’s tons more to do and support right here.
THROUGH SEPTEMBER 21: FLOWER PIANO Who doesnt like a like a little tinkle as they traverse Golden Gate Park? This delightful annual affair fills the park with pianos that are free to use—and also some lovely programed performances as well, that might include everything from violins to bongos to your own hooting voice. More info here.
FRI/19-OCTOBER 5: “SHOUT IN THE DARK: A GUIDE TO HOPE AND GOOD GRIEF” “What if there’s something I can do, something difficult and terrifying and real. What if I have to be brave and honest and vulnerable and what if that helps? Hope is a bet that the future is better than the past. And hope is cruel because it’s a bet we could lose.” These are the precepts Deborah Slater Dance Company will animate in its latest show, lighting a way forward with hope. Studio 210, SF. More info here.
SAT/20: “WE GOT THE POWER”: ARTISTS AGAINST PROJECT 2025 Artists from all over the city are joining with those all over the world for “We Got the Power,” the inaugural action of “The People vs Project 2025.” organizer Andrew Wood told me, “The goal of The People vs. Project 2025 is to organize and stage a national network of coordinated large-scale public arts actions across the country that draw attention to the myriad dangers of the Trump administration and Project 2025 in the run up to the mid-term congressional elections in 2026 and the presidential election in 2028.” Besides a flash performance of SNAP’s eternal dance hit, “We Got The Power” features performances and poetry readings by two dozen ensembles, individual artists and poets including Amos White, Antoinette Payne, Audrey Williams, Basma Edrees, Bellamy Ackrell, Christine Kammler, Dance Brigade, Extinction Rebellion, and Genny Lim. 10am-1pm, Civic Center Plaza, SF. More info here.
SAT/20: KING OF THE STREET LOWRIDER PARADE Time to ride, hop it up! The first ever televised Lowrider Parade is hitting the streets, with tons of community spirit, music, and activity for the whole family. Produced by the San Francisco Lowrider Council, founded in 1981, these automotive marvels will fill the streets with cool nostalgia and hope for the for the future. Of course there’s a hopping competition, and plenty of food. 1pm, Mission Street between 17th and Cesar Chavez, SF. More info here.
TUE/23: PINO PALLADINO Not many people, let alone bass layers, can claim to represent the sound of a generation—but if you listened to music at all in the 1980s, that fretless bass slithering below synthy hits from Paul Young, Gary Numan, Tears For Fears, David Knopfler, Dream Academy, Go West!, Don Henley, even Elton John emanated from maestro Pino’s board. He later defined Neo-soul with D’Angelo and Erykah Badu, and 2000s pop with John Mayer. Oh yeah, he also played with Nine Inch Nails and The Who. That’s just scratching the surface, but the introspective solo work he has made with guitarist Blake Mills is a species of its own—fascinating, sinuous, personal. Don’t miss this rare live appearance. 8pm, Freight & Salvage, Berkeley. More info here.
MUSIC
Hit up John-Paul Shiver’s Under the Stars column for great tunes and shows every week.
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THUR/18 THROUGH SAT/20: THE RON CARTER QUARTET According to the Guinness World Records, he is the most recorded bassist in jazz history. It’s not just the talent; he’s the best ever. Period. A resume that reads like a Ph.D.-level music course. He’s backed up Miles, Aretha, Jobim (yep, that Jobim), filled in doing overdubs for Bootsy…You get the picture. Flawless, Son. I’ll fight you if you disagree, and you’ll lose. I know TAE-BO. Carter’s supple, expressive moments, more often than not, appeared on other artists’ records. Not his. You can theorize the reason forever. Taking directives on how a session should go bypasses critical thinking. That’s a fact. Do the gig and leave. The heavy lifting resides in selecting who you want to play. Trust. Ron Carter gone bring the skill set. Your job? Hit record. Come see the (arguably) top jazz bass player, at 88 years young, to ever walk the earth. As Q-Tip once said, “Ron Carter is on the bass.” 7:30pm, SFJAZZ. More info here.
FRIDAY/19 & SATURDAY/20: THE WARRIORS What doesn’t kill the most powerful city in the world sparks a cultural and artistic revolution. New York City in the late ’70s was left for dead. City Hall corruption, burnt-out buildings in the outer boroughs, the city on the brink of bankruptcy, and a metropolis that never sleeps, with constant crime, looting, and a sanitation strike that left huge piles of trash rotting in the streets. Believe it or not, all of that—let’s call it difficulty—helped inspire the rise of punk, nurtured the beginning of hip-hop culture, and, according to Mick Jagger, inspired The Rolling Stones’ 1978 album Some Girls. The visual cinematic adaptation of that dark yet rousing period in time would be Walter Hill’s emblematic The Warriors. (Name sounds familiar, eh?) The film that depicted, and at times exploited, gang violence, teen panic, and dystopian horror would become not just a cult classic but a fictional account that seems light years away from how New York City operates today.A big salute to the Vogue Theater, cause they don’t make ’em like this anymore. 10pm, Vogue Theater, SF. More info here.
FRI/20 + SAT/21: PORTOLA FESTIVAL The first South Korean woman to DJ at Berlin’s techno institution Berghain, playing 200 shows worldwide in 2018, and pumping “Fluorescence,” an all-timer statement of chill from 1993 by the iconic local legends Spacetime Continuum on her 2019 DJ-Kicks mix….. You can see how Peggy Gou and “Gou-mania” took off. She climbed the electronic music ladder her own Gou-way. That’s the sauce of authenticity she brings to Portola Festival when it hits town this weekend. Kelley Lee Owens, The Rapture, LCD Soundsystem, and dozens more will keep this sprawling electronic music festival clicking with the fans, for sure. Pier 80, SF. More info here.
FOOD & DRINK
Tamara Palmer’s weekly Good Taste column tells you where to stick your fork. Sign up for the new Good Taste newsletter here!
THURS/18: A SHAKIRA DINNER TRIBUTE Parche is spending the next several Thursdays celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month with albums they love while introducing new fall dishes. Chef Paul Iglesias’ listening party series begins on Thursday with a tribute to Shakira’s Sale el Sol. There’ll be an album-themed cocktail and two new autumn specials available to order: Chicharrón Crispetas (puffed pork belly, yucca croquettes, and jalapeño mint aioli) and Agüita de Mango (jumbo shrimp cocktail, crispy shrimp heads, mango sorbet, and tomato leche de tigre). The series continues with Bomba Estéreo’s Amanecer (Sept. 25), Celia Cruz’s La Negra Tiene Tumbao (Oct. 2), and Bad Bunny’s Debí Tirar Más Fotos (Oct. 9). I love recommending this restaurant to friends on normal nights because it’s delicious, festive, and offers a number of gluten-free dishes, and I think the experience will be even more special on these particular dates. 2295 Broadway, Oakland.
THURS/18: CAKE PICNIC TICKET RELEASE You may have seen pictures of a massive cake potluck at the Legion of Honor’s 100th anniversary. As of this writing, over 3600 people are on the waiting list to try and snag a spot for the next community Cake Picnic, where you have to bring a cake in order to participate. Date and location info will be revealed when the ticket release is unleashed at 5pm at this link.
SAT/20 and SUN/21: DONUT PETIT PRESIDIO POP-UP While interesting mobile vendors pop up around the Presidio every day, this weekend the Outpost plays host to a phenomenal Alameda donut shop called Donut Petit. If you haven’t made it to the East Bay store, this is a prime opportunity to get a taste. It’s a rare operation that nails the classics, invents clever new forms (like the donut hole kebabs), and has solid vegan options. Ask if they brought their Monte Cristo kouign amann, a glorious ham and powdered sugar pastry. 10am to 3:30pm at The Outpost, Presidio Tunnel Tops, 210 Lincoln Boulevard, SF.
STAGE
Charles Lewis III checks out theaters and performance spaces every week for his Drama Masks column.
THROUGH SEPTEMBER 21: “HOLE” It really says something about the Bay Area arts scene when saying “I’m gonna see holes dug up on a beach in SF” gets the reply “You’re gonna have to be more specific.” The SF Neo-Futurists literally dig their hands and heels into the sand, creating a hole in the beach. As our cast members ponder the literal and figurative nature of holes—graves? chasms? busy-work?—a great many jokes are made about the title word. There are several more audio clips played, some with instructions on how to properly dig, some with further songs that incorporate the title word. (Yes, we hear “Head Like A Hole.”) The results are funny, unique, and profound. Various San Francisco locations. Tickets and more info here.
FILM
Dennis Harvey’s long-running Screen Grabs has tons more flicks to recommend.
THU/18-NOVEMBER 2: CHERYL DUNYE SELECTS BAMPFA presents a six-week series curated by the Liberia-born, Oakland-based writer, director, producer, and teacher who made one of the key New Queer Cinema features of the 1990s with The Watermelon Woman. That multilayered 1996 mockumentary, ostensibly about a (fictitious) Black actress of Hollywood’s “golden age,” kicks off a schedule that also includes her forceful 2001 telepic Stranger Inside and a compendium (on October 15) of her shorter works, going back as far as 1990. But there are also movies by others, from Ivan Dixon’s neglected 1973 The Spook Who Sat By the Door to Julian Schnabel’s 2000 biopic Before Night Falls, with a heavy emphasis on vintage guilty pleasures: There’s Lewis Seiler’s 1955 Women’s Prison, an Eisenhower-era blueprint for a genre that would become much more violent and sexploitative in coming decades; Harry Kumel’s 1971 “lesbian vampire” classic Daughters of Darkness; and Milton Moses’ 1973 The Werewolf of Washington, a Watergate satire masquerading as a horror movie. Dunye will be present to introduce most programs in the series. BAMPFA, more info here.
NIGHTLIFE
Marke B. usually knows what’s up. Check out his club The Stud for more great parties.
FRI/19: PORTOLA NIGHT SHOW: PROSPA Portola Music Fest hits this weekend (see above), but much of the major action is in the satellite shows and parties outside the fest, like deep EDM groovers Prospa at the Midway, filling the huge club up with fresh takes on house classics and even some disco surprises. 8pm, Midway, SF. More info here.
SAT/20: PAULY D Don’t judge! How could I resist Jersey’s Shores’s hunkiest hair-hopper hitting the decks at Temple. Bottle service is absolutely required and you better get that GTL out of the way. (He’s actually a very good DJ for his milieu.) 10pm-2am, Temple, SF. More info here.
SUN/21: DAYTIME REALNESS What do you get when you combine drag with great music, and put it out on a hot patio? A sweaty, glorious mess of Daytime Realness, the party the late Heklina kicked off, continued by DJs Carnita & Stanley Frank with a cavalcade of sunlit queens performing. Very special guest on the decks this week is Kim Anh, the NYC Club Queen who kills it on the decks (and patios). 2pm-8pm, El Rio, SF. More info here.
