Welcome to our calendar feature BIG WEEK, wherein our expert Arts & Culture writers recommend the best things to do.
GENERAL ARTS
Caitlin Donohue is keeping an eye on the situation.
THU/12: ALYSA LIU GOLD MEDAL RALLY You better believe that this Town celebration of the beloved, raccoon-haired champion Olympian is already at-capacity on registrations. I’m including it here, rather, because maybe you’ll want to want to raise a toast at a nearby bar in downtown—or at the very least, watch the joyful proceedings on the City of Oakland’s Youtube channel. Doors open 9am, program starts at noon. Frank Ogawa Plaza, Oakland. More info here.
THU/12-APRIL 25: ASSISTANTS Let’s hear it for the artist’s assistants, shall we? Not enough is said about the importance of collaboration in the creation of art, but this show, featuring Jennifer Bartlett, Tony Feher, David Gilbert, Wyatt Kahn, and Elizabeth Murray, explores it deeply, beginning with the five creatives’ interconnected professional web itself. Rebecca Camacho Gallery, SF. More info here.
FRI/13: BABYLON BURNING 50TH ANNIVERSARY PARTY A half-century of radical printmaking will be ever-so-rightly feted at this SF legacy business. Food, drinks, tunes, and of course, live demonstrations of the ink laying that brought them here await you in SoMa. Babylon Burning, SF. More info here.
FRI/13: PEACHES CHRIST: EAT THE RICH This event’s title will be approached from artistic and idealistic angles at a showcase of ideas, ranging from an original performance from the city’s beloved freaky drag star Peaches Christ to words by Congressional candidate Saikat Chakrabarti and Maggie Tokuda-Hall, whose hit children’s book Love in the Library tells the story of her grandparents falling in love at the Minidoka Japanese internment camp. 6pm. Commonwealth Club, SF. More info here.
FRI/13: WOMEN WHO RIDE An excellent moment to revel in the tenaciousness of Oakland’s first Black women’s motorcycle club, D’Vious Wayz, in a documentary on the group’s mission to make the streets their own, despite injuries, pandemic, and bumps on the road. 7:30pm. KALW Public Media, SF. More info here.
FRI/13: NOIZE MC After voicing full-throated opposition to governmental impunity and invasions of Ukraine going back to the 2014 partial invasion, this Russian MC had to move his family to Lithuania. Trust that he hasn’t lowered the volume on his hip-hop though—tonight he performs old classics and song from new album Not All There alike. Doors 7pm, show 8pm. UC Theatre, Berkeley. More info here.
SAT/14: PI DAY Surely there is little more joyous to do with your weekend than attend the 39th annual celebration of that oh-so-magical numeric beauty, π. The science museum invites you to loft a digit, parade about the place 3.14 times, eat a slice of that other pie, and enjoy a passel of mathematical activities. Exploratorium, SF. More info here.
SAT/14: FULL QUEER WRESTLING PRESENTS PI HARD Spandex, math, and sass will surely be on order at this queer wrestling extravaganza. LGBTQ bruisers like Fabuloso Fab and Richie Coy encourage you to put a ring on it. 1pm. Standard Deviant Brewing, SF. More info here.
SAT/14: COLLAGE DES CULTURES AFRICAINES PERFORMANCE SHOWCASE All weekend long, the Diamano Coura West Africa Dance Company will be presenting movement and sound by performers from Guinea to Congo, Senegal, Brazil, and more. Stop in for the Saturday evening showcase, which carries with it the theme “Evolving Generations”. 8pm. Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School, Berkeley. More info here.
SUN/15: RENEGADE ORCHESTRA I cannot describe this concert any better than its event description: “The pure unbridled fury of some of the Bay Area’s top orchestra players unleashed on classic rock songs backed up by a hard-hitting rhythm section.” The new season is based on sounds inspired by San Francisco! 2pm. Community Music Center, SF. More info here.
MUSIC
Hit up John-Paul Shiver’s Under the Stars column for great tunes and shows every week.
THU/12: MARIA BC AND LUCY LIYOU On a night that falls between the 4 Star’s Wednesday showing of Hoosiers and the theater’s Friday screening of The Long Goodbye, Ohio-born, Oakland-based ambient producer Maria BC will perform their new release Marathon at their local record release show. This is an artist who writes and sings with the same dimness found on Springsteen’s non-pop albums. Cinematic bleakness, friend, pass the popcorn and soda! Doors at 7pm, show at 8pm. 4 Star Theater. More info here.
SAT/14: GLOOMY JUNE This four-piece California moody pop band’s rendition of Metric’s “Black Sheep” makes for a fine soundtrack as you sprint to catch the 49 Van Ness. “We write emotional and bittersweet songs that are really fun to dance to; like the idea of a California summer curtained in fog, our songs often subvert the expectation of a fun pop song,” Belchere told 48hills in an email interview last year. Doors at 7pm, show at 8pm. Bottom of the Hill, 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.
STAGE
Charles Lewis III checks out theaters and performance spaces every week in the Drama Masks column.
THROUGH MARCH 27: PARANORMAL ACTIVITY Between Levi Holloway’s crackling script and the actors’ natural performances, the show bathes in immersion-through-performance. None of the dialogue feels forced or melodramatic, with a joke about literal gaslighting nearly bringing down the house. The audience had both theatre and film folk (the latter of whom needed shushing) curious as to whether a play could be terrifying. Needless to say, they got their answer, and then some. ACT’s Toni Rembe Theater, SF. More info here.
THROUGH MARCH 29: LOOKING FOR JUSTICE The Marsh often seems like a place for Bay Area elders to purge their issues about the hippie era. Amy Oppenheimer’s latest is one such show, wherein a New Yorker follows a spouse to Berkeley in ’71, only to eventually discover her lesbianism and passion for the law. What results is a mostly-fascinating reminiscence about the old Bay Area and a tangled criminal justice system. The Marsh, Berkeley. More info here.
THROUGH MARCH 29: ALL MY SONS This play begins so deceptively milquetoast that Anna Louizos’ gorgeous set seems to have grown from its own synthetic lawn. But the Arthur Miller he script hasn’t lost any of its anti-capitalist power after eight decades. Berkeley Rep. More info here.
FILM
Dennis Harvey’s long-running Screen Grabs has tons more flicks to recommend.
THU/12: EARLY IRISH FILMS San Francisco Film Preserve and Consulate General of Ireland are co-presenting these recently restored silent-era rarities, accompanied live by traditional musicians Cormac Gannon and Kyle Alden. 1912 narrative short You Remember Ellen, adapted from “national bard” Thomas More’s poem, portrays a farming lass from a “lowly shed” who casts her lot in marriage to a well-mannered apparent hobo/nobleman in disguise. “The Gault Collection” is a series of ethnographic miniatures 1925-26 by ornithologist Benjamin True Gault. In addition to capturing regional aviary life, his fine camera eye caught street scenes in urban Cork, horse races, hunts, country dances, potato harvesting, and so forth. Roxie Theater, SF. More info here.
OPENS FRI/12: MY FATHER’S SHADOW This dynamic first feature from Akinola Davies Jr. is set in 1993 Nigeria, when the first presidential election was held since the military coup of a decade prior. There are occasional stylistic gambles that don’t quite work, but for the most part, the film has a mix of propulsion and intimacy that is striking as well as involving. Young Sope Dirisu, a British actor of Nigerian heritage, carries the film with the ease of a natural-born star. 6pm. Roxie Theater, SF. More info here.
SAT/14 THROUGH MARCH 21: SAN FRANCISCO GREEK FILM FESTIVAL Since 2004, this fest has provided a local showcase for new screen work from the “cradle of Western civilization” still most associated with its contributions to arts and ideas in the ancient world. This latest edition brings together eight fictive features, sixteen documentaries of various length, and nine narrative shorts. The opening night selection on Sat/14 is Yannis Economides’ Broken Vein, a taut suspense drama about a businessman whose financial straits drive him to some extreme, and disastrous, decisions. Eight days later on Sat/21, the fest closes with another, albeit less lethal, tale of economic duress: Amerissa Basta’s Life In A Beat, which has as its protagonist a 20-year-old Athenian desperate to move out of her quarrelsome family’s cramped flat, only to discover she’s being downsized. Delancey Screening Room, SF. More info here.
NIGHTLIFE
Marke B. usually knows what’s up.
FRI/13: DUSEROCK The longtime local DJ and musicmaker’s funky electro-nu disco mixes from a decade ago still absolutely bang, and I love that I’m seeing his name again. This time around he’s teaming up with vocalist D!SHA for their first collaboration on single “Sleepless Nights,” from Finely Tuned Records. This release party also included sci-fi breakbeat fiend Guillaume and evocative producer DIRTYHERTZ. 9pm-2am, Bella, SF. More info here.
FRI/13: SHAPESHIFTERS One of those terrific and mystifying instances when one of the biggest touring house DJs in the world is popping into an intimate “boutique lounge” venue. UK DJ Simon Marlin has kept the momentum up since his (former) duo bulldozed global dance floors with “Lola’s Theme” in 2004. His uplifting disco-tinged sets will give you some more springtime life. 9pm-3am, MadaRae, SF. More info here.
SUN/15: DAYTIME REALNESS This unsinkable queer patio party has proven that drag actually might work better sometimes in full sun. Dearly departed butt-muncher Heklina launched this fiesta 15 years ago with DJs Carnita and Stanley Frank Sensation; hop into the quinceañera party wagon for an onslaught of drag and dancing with special guest Brown Amy. 2pm-8pm, El Rio, SF. More info here.
