Welcome to Big Week, our weekly guide to cool things to do, put together by our expert critics and writers.
GENERAL ARTS
Marke B. keeps an eye and ear and everything else out.
THROUGH TUE/21: ‘A FLAG WITH TEETH’ We’re halfway through July, and Pride Month is finally winding down. Those queens do know how to run an extra mile! In platform heels, no less. This show of more than 50 queer and trans Bay Area artists’ specially created flags in an old SOMA church is very much worth a visit to reflect on it all. The “flagifesto”?
We want a flag with teeth.
We want a flag with knives & armor.
We want a flag that belies our ceaseless existence across time & borders…
St. Joseph Arts Society, SF. Reservations for viewing can be made here.
SAT/18: BASTILLE DAY FESTIVAL The actual Bastille Day happened earlier this week—but let the French Revolution serve as an ongoing inspiration in these times of top-heavy political elites and trillionaire oligarchs. We were promised guillotines! Alas, no heads will roll at this Embarcadero celebration of French Independence, but you can fill up on French food, wine, beer, art, culture, and entertainment. Allons, Jean Valjean. 11am, Embarcadero Plaza, SF. More info here.
SAT/18: SUMMER WITH THE SYMPHONY: SUTTON FOSTER + KELLI O’HARA Two sassy young grand dames of Broadway come to SF to have their way with the Symphony—and you. “Inspired by Julie Andrews and Carol Burnett’s 1962 CBS special Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall, Sutton and Kelli team up for an evening of songs from their Tony Award–winning shows, filled with banter, laughter, and stories you won’t hear anywhere else.” 7:30pm, Davies Symphony Hall, SF. More info here.
SUN/19: AIDS WALK SF Keep on walking, babes! You can still register to participate and give. “On Sunday, July 19, AIDS Walk San Francisco celebrates its 40th Anniversary; a powerful milestone honoring four decades of remembrance, resilience, and action. What began in the early years of the epidemic as a bold act of love and defiance has grown into one of the most enduring HIV/AIDS fundraising and awareness events in the country.” 8am-3pm, Golden Gate Park, SF. More info here.
SUN/19: JAPAN DAY CELEBRATION Martial arts demos, origami workshops, taiko drumming, dance performances, and of course tons of delicious food at Post and Laguna Streets. (When will the glorious Peace Plaza please reopen?) It’s all a tribute to Japanese culture at the culmination of Japan Week. Noon-5pm, outside Hotel Kabuki, SF. More info here.
SUN/19: ¡FIESTA FUTBOLERA! FREE WORLD CUP FINALS WATCH PARTY AT YERBA BUENA GARDENS It’s all coming to a head, people! Will Spain or Argentina take the crown or whatever! 10am-4pm, Yerba Buena Gardens, SF. More info here.
WED/22: TOTALLY TUBULAR FESTIVAL I love these huge ’80s lineups, mostly because it proves we’re all still alive! Thomas Dolby, A Flock of Seagulls, The Motels, The Producers, Animotion, The Escape Club, and Tommy Tutone (none of them particularly “tubular” at the time, just awesome and slightly weird) will join forces to resurrect the synth sounds of yore. Good luck hearing them over all the singing along. 7pm, Castro Theater, SF. More info here.
MUSIC
Hit up John-Paul Shiver’s Under the Stars column for great tunes and shows every week.
FRI/17: MARGO PRICE is bringing her Wild at Heart tour to Sweetwater Music Hall perfectly on time. Price, who never seems to be asleep at the wheel, dropped a surprise new release mixtape of protest songs, Days of Unrest, very aptly over Fourth of July holiday. Recorded in Nashville, Memphis, and San Francisco, it features her takes on songs recorded by Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, and more. Expect a nice infusion of these selections when she touches down, making an already very inspired performer reach just a bit more. 7pm, Sweetwater Music Hall, Mill Valley. More info here.
FRI/17: CITY BEAT The legendary Make-Out Room is currently on the market for $450,000—who knows how long this monthly party from some of SF’s most respected DJs will last? Tom Thump and Centipede/Mophono put on their superhero DJ capes every third Friday for a kitchen-sink melange of disco, hip-hop, house, soul, Afrobeat, and whatever the hell else they’ve packed in those DJ bags. Simply put, it’s church. Make sure to partake in this special joint for as long as it’s here, because it may not be around that much longer, which is a big ass bummer for everyone. 10pm-2am, Make-Out Room, SF. More info here.
SAT/18: KAI ALCE Born in New York, now in Atlanta—but, crucially between those years, raised in Detroit—this Motown house master knows exactly what to slip on the decks to bring a vibe. “I don’t play tricks, I play MUSIC” is the motto, and he’ll kick things up into the stratosphere at Fatsouls Records’ terrific Higher Level party, with DJs Said and Eric Groove. 8pm-2am, The Foundry, SF. More info here.
WED/22: R.E. SERAPHIN Wacky Wednesday at Jack Kerouac Alley next to Vesuvio Cafe in North Beach is the six-year-old free concert series that’s forever informing you—tourists, book lovers, wine merchants—what bands need to be on your “I’m walking through the glorious SF fog; please don’t hit me, Waymo car” playlist. Enter R.E. SERAPHIN, a name that continually pops up on Bay Area indie projects again and again. Known for paisley pop, indie jangle, and warm ’70s hooks, he’ll let you know why he’s buzzing when you swing by this funky alley show. 7pm-10pm, Jack Kerouac Alley, SF. More info here.
FOOD & DRINK
Tamara Palmer’s weekly Good Taste column tells you where to stick your fork.
SAT/18 + SUN/19: INNER SUNSET’S PASTRY SIDEWALK SALE The Infatuation reported that Caché now has a pastry sidewalk sale on Saturdays and Sundays starting at 10am, and to expect a line at that hour. The line was only about five minutes long last Saturday at 11:30am, and more pastries were emerging from the kitchen to be placed on an already robust table. The French café itself, while lovely, is pretty much the most expensive spot in the neighborhood, so it’s smart to have these weekend sales, where most items are $5-$12.
Beverages available to go include a mixed red fruit juice, mimosas, and a full coffee menu. Given that I’m still swooning over my purchases—a thick chocolate caramel peanut cookie, a very subtle almond cake with lemon icing, and, best of all, a marbled chocolate and vanilla flan—I’m so ready to try more items, such as the small and large rounds of glossy brioche with various fillings, a chocolate babka baked into a hand-held spiral, and a popcorn bucket of little sugar-coated beignets. 10am until sold out. 1235 Ninth Avenue, San Francisco. www.cache-sf.com.
STAGE
Charles Lewis III checks out theaters and performance spaces every week in the Drama Masks column.
FRI/17 THROUGH AUG/7: THE BUMPY ROAD LESS TRAVELED For performer Anthony Michael Jefferson, the US “prison industrial complex” isn’t just a buzzy term thrown around, it’s something that features prominently in his life story. He starts that story with his optimistic grade school years before veering into the sort of tragedy that leaves lasting scars. It’s a personal account of how lofty ideals and ugly truths collide in the worst possible ways. Fridays at 7:30pm at The Marsh, Berkeley. More info here.
SUN/10 THROUGH AUG/2: LITTLE BIG MOUTH You probably wouldn’t recognize Pamela Gaye Walker if you saw her. Despite having worked alongside Peter Fonda and Rita Moreno (to name but a couple), the veteran performer has more often been the quiet co-star rather than the headliner. That changes now: Given a solo stage all her own, Walker is given one hour to raise her voice so loud that the audience will never forget her. Sundays at 5pm at The Marsh, Berkeley. More info here.
FILM
Dennis Harvey’s long-running Screen Grabs has tons more flicks to recommend.
OPENING FRI/17: LOVE LETTER Love is in the air at the Roxie with the re-release of All About Lily Chou Chou director-Shunji Iwai’s 1995 debut feature, a wintry whimsy in which Hiroko (Miho Nakayama), a young woman who lost her fiancee in a mountain-climbing accident two years earlier, decides to write him a letter at his last-known address. To her great surprise, that sentimental gesture gets a real world answer, from a woman with the dead man’s name—and an eerie resemblance to Hiroko. More info here.
SUN/19: BY HOOK OR BY CROOK The Roxie will also host a 25th anniversary showing of this newly restored LGBTQ+ classic, then-SF-based writer-director-stars Harry Dodge and Silas Howard’s road-trip buddy flick. Its shaggy, seriocomic take on both genre tropes and gender norms made it an immediate, unprecedented “trans-butch queer classic.” The afternoon screening (info here) will be followed by an in-person Q&A with Dodge and producer Steak House, moderated by Jenni Olson.
NIGHTLIFE
Marke B. usually knows what’s up.
FRI/17: SATOSHI TOMIIE How awesome is this Japanese legend, still going strong after 40 years in the game, turning house into a true global culture alongside Frankie Knuckles and other greats? Brilliant, deep, minimal, and smart techno-laced house and house-laced techno grooves that never fail to lift. He’s at the Texture Summit party with Groovewell and Philco. 9pm-3am, Monarch, Sf. More info here.
FRI/17-SUN/19: DIRTYBIRD CAMPOUT X NORTHERN NIGHTS MUSIC FESTIVAL 2026 Everybody’s here, everyone’s wearing funny camp ranger costumes, everybody’s dancing. More info here.
SAT/18: DJ SWINGSETT 25 years ago, the still-astonishing Sights Unseen album helped chart new directions in electronic soul. The slice, brought to us by DJ Swingsett & J.Warrin featuring Lisa Shaw, melded jazz breaks, melty drum & bass, deep dub, and experimental grooves—topped by Naked Music stalwart Shaw’s floating vocals—into something for both the sunny beach and the heady dance floor. Now it’s being re-released with some new mixes—including one by Bay fave Duserock, whose monthly free Revolutions: Staxx of Wax party will host the party, and who will DJ along with Swingsett and DJ Spun. 9:30pm-2am, Monarch, SF. More info here.
