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
Caitlin Donohue guides you to some cool things. There’s tons more to do and support right here.
THU/4-SEPTEMBER 13: HUMP! FILM FESTIVAL Those familiar with sex columnist Dan Savage’s two-decades-old XXX fest know that serious, it is not. The assembled shorts call upon the silly and weird of erotic couplings as much as they do the strictly hot ‘n’ heavy. At the shows this weekend, drag babe host Mary Vice will get things going. Brava Theater, SF. More info here.
FRI/5-OCTOBER 5: THE DAY THE SKY TURNED ORANGE As much as a considerable slice of us would like to forget the heady depths of 2020, there is no denying that one day, we will have to process all that went down that year. The world premiere of this musical play from San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Company takes a compelling stab at it, following a San Francisco school teacher on the day forest fires flipped every one’s already-frazzled world over again. Z Space, SF. More info here.
FRI/5: FAT SLUT Who, I ask you, could resist a contest to crown The Fattest Slut in all of San Francisco? Perhaps the more relevant question is, why would you want to? Come support one of the city’s soon-to-close drag meccas at this party and show hosted by Meatball and featuring a bountiful cast. Oasis, SF. More info here.
SAT/6: LEGIONS AND LEGACIES An unprecedented site-specific performance amid the museum’s permanent collection from the troupe Megan Lowe Dances promises to express thorny issues of Eurocentric art tradition in relation to diverse and contemporary creative forms like turf dancing. Today is its last dance. To dive into the process behind this ground-breaking work, check out Lucia Verzola’s incisive article, in which she speaks with Lowe herself regarding its surprising origin story. Legion of Honor, SF. More info here.
SAT/6: NORI REED This stand-up cut her chops in the clubs of our very own comedy mecca, but has since gone on to Hollywood, even penning the Disney Channel’s first out trans character. Her set tonight promises to be a candid look at the joys and jams of living trans in the Trump era. Check out her interview with 48hills’ Joshua Rotter to get ready to laugh, despite it all. Club Fugazi, SF. More info here.
SUN/7: OAKLAND PRIDE Have a joyful moment on the downtown Town streets with this bespangled tribute to feeling nice and LGBTQIA+. Headliners will be delivering thee anthems: “Finally” CeCe Peniston, “Why You Always Hatin’?” Kamaiyah, and Martha Wash of The Weather Girls and Sylvester back-up fame, who will of course assure that “It’s Raining Men.” You’ll be ready to move amid all that, so make sure to pay the crew at the Mighty Real T-Dance a visit—DJs David Harness, Nina Sol, Charles Hawthorne, and more will keep it going. Broadway & Thomas L Berkley Way, Oakland. More info here.
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MUSIC
Hit up John-Paul Shiver’s Under the Stars column for great tunes and shows every week.
SAT/6: SWEATER FUNK You’ve been waiting a month, practicing your poppin’, your lockin’, your top rockin’, your booty shakin’, and expect the Sweater Funk crew to assist in helping you work it all out this Saturday. Two killer guests this month include Mr. James Pogson of essential imprints Symphonical Records and Fantasy Love Records and Laurent Reus of Mr Revolver Records and Deep Cliff Soul Weekender, who, by the way, is also a spear fisher from Portugal. Expect Sweater Funk classics and deep cuts as they throw down the funkiest boogie in the Bay on wax all night long. The Knockout, SF. More info here.
SAT/6: ORQUESTA AKOKÁN I’m always ready for the concept of free, but when it comes to seeing Orquesta Akokán of the famous Daptone imprint, no cover? Run, Son—that’s just a no-brainer. A Cuban dance party overflowing with irresistible grooves of mambo, son montuno, guarachas, cha cha cha, and boleros on the great lawn of Yerba Buena Gardens, and pre-show music from KALW DJ Margarita Azucar to boot? Go to bed early Friday night; you’ve got a full day ahead of you. Yerba Buena Gardens, SF. RSVP and more info here.
SUN/7 THROUGH SEPTEMBER 28: CRUCIAL REGGAE SUNDAYS Speaking of free, but never cheap… Just about every Sunday from 4:20pm, heh, to 7:30pm at the Golden Gate Bandshell, you can get your cool runnings in order amidst the trees and breeze for no cost. Crucial Reggae Sundays brings free, family-friendly reggae music to the historic bandshell at the Music Concourse in Golden Gate Park. Hosted by residents Irie Dole (Jah Warrior Shelter Hi-Fi), Guidance (Infinite Guidance Sound/Nice Up Radio), and DJ Sep (Dub Mission), the day party features special guest live performances and DJ sets every week. Coming up, look out for JustOne & G. Davis from Tropicali Crew with Guidance (Sun/7), Lot 49 with Irie Dole (September 14), Ras Rican from Sonido Baylando Crew and Irie Dole (September 21), and New York’s Dub-Stuy Showcase featuring Q-Mastah, Edica+, and Jonny Go Figure, with Guidance and the birthday-celebrating Irie Dole on September 28. Music Concourse in Golden Gate Park, SF. More info here.
TUE/9: GRÁINNE HUNT There’s a lot of excitement building around this Irish folk singer-songwriter, who travels the world captivating audiences with her incredible vocal range that evokes deep emotions. She’s making a special stop for one night in San Francisco on her world tour to showcase her powerful voice. Her signature tagline of “a queer, nu-folk singer-songwriter with a voice like complex coffee” describes a show you cannot afford to miss. The Lost Church, 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!
THU/4: KITCHEN TABLE’S COMEBACK A recurring poetry and snack salon with the tagline of “food, writers, and food writers” returns to San Francisco after more than a year, with guest readers Sam Sax, Jacqueline Tran, and James Cagney discussing their work and the current local climate. Read our interview with co-founder Paolo Bicchieri, who is also planning to host a political food writing workshop in the fall. Bicchieri describes Thursday’s session as Kitchen Table’s “comeback event.” Kitchen Table will take place at York Street Collective on first Thursdays through the end of the year. York Street Collective, SF. More info here.
FRI/6: FORT MASON NIGHT MARKET West Coast Craft, Fort Mason, and Off The Grid’s new seasonal series returns with food vendors including Berkeley’s Gregoire (soon to open a second location in San Francisco), Richmond’s quesabirria specialists El Garage, Indonesian truck D’Grobak, and the Señor Sisig Filipino truck. Fort Mason Center for Arts and Culture, SF. More info here.
SUN/7: BIZERKELEY FOOD FEST The fifth edition of the Bay Area’s largest vegan festival will set up outside the North Berkeley BART station, with an international lineup of food from the likes of YoSoyCeviche, Cocobreeze, Jollof Kitchen, Green Flour Bakery, and more, plus a beer and wine garden, animal adoption, and a pickleball tournament. If the lines look daunting, there’ll be an “online food court” for preordering. North Berkeley BART Station. More info here.
STAGE
Charles Lewis III hits up theaters and performance spaces every week for his Drama Masks column.
THROUGH SEPTEMBER 13: LEGENDS & LAUGHTER Of course, one can’t mention Killing My Lobster’s latest show without acknowledging that it’ll be the company’s last for the foreseeable future. We begin with our quintet of Craigslist-gathered players coming together for a standard game, only to find themselves transported into the fantasy setting itself. (Yes, they mentioned the Jumanji-ness of it all.) This leads to the traditional KML opening song parody, in which the Flashdance theme “Maniac” instead describes an orc attack. Like you do. The production is a high note on which to leave longtime KML fans and the newly curious alike. It’s a genuinely funny show with more strong points than weak ones, and it’s a exemplary of the skills at which the company excels. Eclectic Box, SF. More info here.
FILM
Dennis Harvey’s long-running Screen Grabs has tons more flicks to recommend.
THU/4-SAT/6: BERNAL HEIGHTS OUTDOOR CINEMA Fresh-air film, anyone? On Fri/5, the fest has a special focus on local filmmakers, and features a Film Crawl on Mission amongst four indoor venues. Fri/5 brings Film Crawl On Cortland, another odyssey through different indoor venues featuring a wide variety of shorts. On Sat/6, Under the Stars in Precita Park presents a two-part al fresco bill again encompassing documentary, narrative, animation, experimental, and other genres. Various Mission District and Bernal Heights venues, SF. More info here.
OPENING THU/4: TWINLESS An odd-couple cringe comedy, with writer/director/star James Sweeney playing a majorly off-putting character in Dennis, a somewhat exasperating loner who bonds with Roman (Dylan O’Brien) at a support group for people who’ve lost their twin sibling. They are opposites in most ways, but they find unlikely companionship in each other, which is nice. Twinless doesn’t end up being as satisfying as Sweeney’s previous film Straight Up was, though it does similarly manage to get us involved and empathetic towards some personalities we’d probably run screaming from in real life.
SAT/6: OTHER CINEMA Rapidly approaching its 40th year is Other Cinema, whose founder Craig Baldwin will be launching another fall season this weekend with a combination book launch party and “Archive Fever” show. Among the latter’s “16mm anomalies” will be cinema chestnuts like 1953’s Treasures in a Garbage Can, a UCLA production highlighting how that city’s Department of Sanitation makes sure “nothing is wasted” from your household discards. Artists’ Television Access Gallery, SF. More info here.
NIGHTLIFE
Marke B. usually knows what’s up, but he is AWOL so you’re out of luck this week. Check out his club The Stud for more great parties.
