This week is a quickie Big Week, because we just put out our 52nd edition of Best of the Bay! Check out the winners for some great suggestions on where to go and what to eat. And grab tickets for our 13th Annual Gala and Best of the Bay Party on October 27!
GENERAL ARTS
Marke B. keeps an eye and ear and everything else out.
THROUGH SUN/11: OTHER MINDS FESTIVAL Contemporary and experimental music are alive and well in the Bay Area, and this annual gathering—its 30th—bolsters the scenes with performances and debuts by avant-jazz pianist Sylvie Courvoisier, guitar/electronics and drums duo Foreign/Domestic, Black electronic music scholar and hero King Britt, 79-year-old “sovereign of embodied minimalism” Charlemagne Palestine, and many more. Brava Theatre, SF. More info here.
FRI/9 + SAT/10: “UNSEEN VISIONS: A NEW AGE MUSIC AND CULTURE SYMPOSIUM” New Age music long ago beat back accusations of schlock and has become a lifeline to many in the age of machines. “Celebrate the pioneers of New Age music and media at this two-day symposium, featuring performances by Robert Rich, Steven Halpern, Kat Epple(Emerald Web), and Larkin, with visuals by Ken Jenkins; screenings of visionary films by Jordan Belson, Jeanette Stobie, and Dorothy Fadiman; and presentations by scholars Erik Davis (TechGnosis, High Weirdness), Continuum dancer/artist Georgianne Cowan, and Jacob Smith (Bridge to an Unseen Shore: New Age Music as Visionary Art).” Gray Area, SF. More info here.
SAT/10: ELECTRIC FIELDS This free, all-ages, outdoor dance party at Golden Gate Park Bandshell from outstanding party crew Green Gorilla Lounge brings some fantastically diverse tunes from the likes of Reggae Jams, Discoseo, Ledet & J Key, Carrieondisco, and Dj M3 & Dj Cira. Pack a picnic basket and some dancing shoes and let the sonic wind blow through your hair. Yes, there’s an afterparty! 1pm-6pm, Golden Gate Bandshell, SF. More info here.
SUN/11-NOVEMBER 6: PSYCHED! FEST Fabulously independent Psyched! FM Radio is putting on this lollapalooza of a “festival arts, music, diversity, and counterculture” that takes over venues on both sides of the Bay for almost a month, bringing gonzo lineups including Peaches, Allah-Las, DIIV, DJ X’ces, Illuminati Hotties, Pixel Grip, Carrion Kids, Los Gaiteros de San Jacinto, Buena Vista Orchestra, and so many more. So stoked to have another indie fest happening that doesn’t feel co-opted by corporatism. Let’s get Psyched! More info here.
WED/14: SEX PISTOLS: 50 YEARS OF PUNK Legends Steve Jones, Paul Cook, Glen Matlock long ago replaced pissy conservative jerk Johnny Rotten (who, unfortunately, still puts on a good show of his own in Public Image Limited) with Frank Carter, and fans seem to be just as into it. “God Save the Queen” has never felt more comfortably nostalgic, but you can bet there will be more than a whiff of that old punk energy in the air. 8:30pm, Warfield, SF. More info here.
MUSIC
Hit up John-Paul Shiver’s Under the Stars column for great tunes and shows every week.
FRI/9: HIGH ON FIRE A name, a brand forever attached to “redrafting” what a high-velocity metal power trio can do. High On Fire, the nationally recognized and Bay Area-beloved outfit, is touching down in Berkeley this Friday. When the New York Times descends from its throne and launches, earplugs in, into the sweaty pit to declare you the “sludgy resin from 30 years of super-hard-rock history,” somehow your heresy, bombast, and hall-of-fame heaviness have become literally etched in stone. Not too bad. Come early to support bands Windhand and Penury. 7pm, UC Theatre, Berkeley. More info here.
SUN/11: DERYA YILDIRIM & GRUP ŞİMŞEK PLUS THEE MARLOES This is the type of show we refer to around these parts as a ‘two-fer.’ We earmarked Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek last month. They’re the ’70s Turkish funk, acid rock, and psychedelic soul outfit that takes Anatolian folk songs and flips them into evergreen melodies with retro grooves. Shot through a prism of hallucinatory ’70s vibes? Essentially, they slap. HARD. But we missed Thee Marloes. Cousin. This Indonesian trio pulls off both neo-soul and psych-soul while still infusing that energy and appeal of jazz and pop. This IS an Outernational night of sound that SF bookers just love to curate. On this Sunday? Oh, the Chapel gotcha back. 7pm, The Chapel, SF. More info here.
FOOD & DRINK
Tamara Palmer’s weekly Good Taste column tells you where to stick your fork.
OKLAVA CAFE July brought the debut of Palo Alto’s Oklava Cafe into San Francisco’s Saluhall—the owners are also behind SoMa’s nearby Turquaz Cafe, which opened in 2025. Both places lead with pastry cases full of housemade and imported sweets, but also excel at savory breakfasts and flatbreads. Like Turquaz, having Oklava—and its Turkish coffee—right near Muni in the city will make me generate reasons to be in the neighborhood and grab a snack and drink. 945 Market Street, SF. More info here.
STAGE
Charles Lewis III checks out theaters and performance spaces every week in the Drama Masks column.
FRI/13 AND SAT/14: RACHEL SARAH THOMAS With so much political focus on the Middle East, it’s easy to forget that it’s one of the most artistically rich regions in the world. Here to remind us is ground-breaking Assyrian performer Rachel Thomas with two shows interweaving both English and Aramaic. Expect lush music with influences from Iran, Iraq, and Syria, and rich story-telling from the performer not known for keeping silent about the politics of her home region. The Palace Theater, SF. Tickets and more info here.
SAT/14 THROUGH SUN/22: HA HA HA HA HA HA HA Yes, that’s the title. The critically-acclaimed solo show (it triumphed at the Edinburgh Fringe Fest) brings its whirlwind US tour to the City by the Bay for a night of “part clowning, part surreal social experiment, part connection-forging alchemy.” We’re not entirely sure, what that means, but playwright-performer Julia Masli’s solo show has built up a devout fanbase across half the world already. It’s about time for SF to see what her self-therapy hath wrought. Theater 33, SF. Tickets and more info here.
FILM
Dennis Harvey’s long-running Screen Grabs has tons more flicks to recommend.
OPENING FRI/9: NEVER AFTER DARK This twisty horror thriller avoids genre cliches by mixing both supernatural and serial-killer elements in an effectively matter-of-fact way. Airi (Moeka Hoshi) is a loner who travels from gig to gig, albeit not strictly solo—she has a late sister whose ghost only she can see and speak to. Gifted with paranormal abilities, her unique profession is “to help souls come unstuck and move on to the next world.” That’s now led her to a remote former hotel recently acquired as a private home by a somewhat ditzy widow, who’s been frightened by appearances of a restless spirit. Overriding her adult son’s skepticism, she’s hired Airi, who promptly banishes the two in order to get down to work. Almost immediately, specters and poltergeist-like disturbances reinforce the client’s claims. Jaded Airi begins to grasp that these hauntings might be trying to warn about something else: A “flesh and blood monster” very much to be feared. New People, SF. More info here.
