Welcome to our calendar feature BIG WEEK, wherein our expert Arts & Culture writers recommend the best things do.
GENERAL ARTS
Caitlin Donohue has her eye on the situation.
THROUGH MARCH 1: OAKLAND MUSEUM OF CALIFORNIA’S WHITE ELEPHANT SALE We can neither confirm nor deny this 60-year tradition’s claim to being northern California’s largest rummage sale, but it is undeniable that you will find in it a prime-time place to immerse yourself in secondhand good glory, all will supporting the museum with your purchase. 333 Lancaster, Oakland. More info here.
THROUGH MARCH: MAGNOLIA SEASON And despite it all, the magnolias have budded yet again. The frothy flowers are well worth checking out for an afternoon of bold beauty. Head to Golden Gate Park’s Botanical Gardens—the site of the country’s first exotic cup and saucer magnolia blooms!—stat, where 63 species and an entire “magnolia exploration zone” await. SF Botanical Gardens. More info here.
THROUGH MAY 15: WE’VE GOT SOLE Homage to the flyest among us: the SF Library has curated an expo dedicated to the way Black youth shaped sneaker culture, from the early B-boys, standout ’70s and ’80s NBA players, and beyond. Main Library, SF. More info here.
WED/4: ROSA LA ROSE FILLE PUBLIQUE This screening of a 1986 tale of Parisian sex worker Rosa’s questioning of the world around her comes to us courtesy of issue #2 of Narrow Margin Quarterly, which you would do well to peruse before this evening’s cinephile gathering. Artists’ Television Access, SF. More info here.
THU/5-SAT/7: THERE AND BACK RAWDance bets on dance audiences feeling a little off-balance this year with its three-show offering. The triad features Art is a Guarantee of Sanity, which pulls from Susannah Cahalan’s memoir Brain on Fire as source material, and “navigates a path through an eerie, harrowing world in which our minds sometimes betray us”, according to the company. ODC Theater, SF. More info here.
SUN/8: ICE OUT OF THE SUPER BOWL PROTEST Community members will rally against Kristi Noem’s proposed operations at Levi Stadium during the Super Bowl. Show up for your neighbors and against even the suggestion of high-profile fascist maneuvers. Surely, Bad Bunny will be there in spirit. 2800 Mission College Blvd, Santa Clara. More info here.
FRI/6 THROUGH MARCH 14: DESIRE ON THE COUCH An exhibition exploring the impacts that psychologists and other therapists have had on our understanding of our own lust. The show features pieces from the Kinsey Institute, and even that freak Freud’s letter to a worried mom with a gay son in which the psychoanalyst called homosexuality “nothing to be ashamed of, no vice, no degradation; it cannot be classified as an illness.” California Institute of Integral Studies, SF. More info here.
FRI/6: SF BONDAGE BALL Thee moment to debut that little PVC number, this post-apocalyptic celebration of the beauty of bondage welcomes kinksters of any kind. Three dance floors, a squadron of comely hosts, and DJs all night long are beckoning at this so-called “sensory overload spectacle”. DNA Lounge, SF. More info here.
SAT/7-TUE/10: CODEX BOOK ART FAIR During an era in which ignorance is being demanded of us, spending a few days learning of the glory of the book can’t be a bad way to bolster oneself. Come through for this sprawling fair and symposium that celebrates just such literary wonders. Program highlights such as an exhibition entitled Who is America at 250?: Artists’ Books on the State of Democracy will await your perusal. Speakers include IBé Crawley, a researcher whose latest project focuses on the lives of Black women before the Civil War. Oakland Marriott City Center. More info here.
SAT/7: LOVE LETTERS TO ALIENS Iranian curator Sholeh Asgary designed this group visual art show to consider “the notion of the alien in its most expansive sense—from the extraterrestrial to the intimate”, and it features work by powerful voices like Maryam Tafakory and the Bay’s Xandra Ibarra. Today’s closing event features a ritual entitled “Standing on the Earth Beneath our Feet” by Roco Cordova and prisoner letter writing workshop orchestrated by prisoner solidarity project Flying Over Walls. Southern Exposure, SF. More info here.
MUSIC
Hit up John-Paul Shiver’s Under the Stars column for great tunes and shows every week.
FRI/6: GZA FEAT. PHUNKY NOMADS It’s the 30th anniversary of GZA’s Liquid Swords, and this show is a must-see—provided everyone arrives on time and performs a proper soundcheck. Having witnessed this founding member of the legendary hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan perform his classic album at GAMH a couple of summers ago, I expect GZA to engage with the audience, rapping directly to patrons, cipher style, with complete breath control. He’s touring with the Phunky Nomads band, and this concert is located at the Golden State Theater in Monterey. It is your perfect anti-Super Bowl getaway. Gas up the car. Golden State Theater, Monterey. More info here.
SAT/7: OAKLAND INTERFAITH GOSPEL CHOIR The group celebrates its 11th Black History Month celebration at the iconic Freight in Berkeley, and the timing could not be any more on point. Its yearly presentation of dual shows on Christmas Eve at the Great American Music Hall is a San Francisco tradition and long-standing, bandwidth-widening custom for the GAMH-Slim’s family. But sometimes—well, almost all times—we need churching up in a moment of crisis. As Minneapolis has shown the world, the Devil is always at work. This renowned performance choir, led by the upbeat Terrance Kelly, has appeared in award-winning works by Tramaine Hawkins, MC Hammer, and Linda Ronstadt, in addition to having performed at the opening of the National LGBTQ Center for the Arts. We are fortunate to have this top-notch organization, which “weaves together a family of more than 55 singers from a wide range of faiths, races, and cultures,” according to the group’s artist bio, in our midst. With the current state of the world, there is a high demand for uplifting joy every day. The Freight, Berkeley. 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.
GO ON A FUN BEV SIDE QUEST Looking for some delectable liquid nourishment? Some recommendations to wet your whistle (in a booze-free manner): Al Pastor Papi‘s cold brew horchata, banana oat milk matcha latte at Dogpatch’s SŌHN, Grandma’s molasses-black walnut iced coffee at Brenda’s Meat and Three, Rose Maiko (grenadine, rose water lemon) at Arquet, and heytea‘s Grape Boom.
FILM
Dennis Harvey’s long-running Screen Grabs has tons more flicks to recommend.
NOW PLAYING: SEND HELP This tale of Rachel McAdams as a corporate wallflower marooned on a desert island with her boss cranks up familiar pulp plot elements a few notches to ends that, while occasionally squirm-inducing, are closer to cartoonish black comedy than serious thrillerdom. It is thoroughly enjoyable without ever quite touching the greatness director Sam Raimi is capable of. But why quibble: He’s having fun, and so will you. Various Bay Area theaters.
THU/5-FEBRUARY 12: MOSTLY BRITISH FILM FESTIVAL Nearly two decades highlighting comparatively mainstream films from the U.K. and its erstwhile “empire” have passed like a flash for this fest. This year’s program encompasses not just new films, but ones about to be released, like Emerald Fennell’s imminent Wuthering Heights, a few you may have missed in limited recent release such as Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight, Grand Tour, and the excellent Urchin, and some archival golden oldies. The Vogue, SF. More info here.
THU/5-FEBRUARY 15: SF INDIEFEST This festival remains, as it was from the start almost three decades ago, a home for enterprising, adventurous, often highly personal projects. There are no lack of big ideas, however, starting with this year’s opening night selection of Santacon, Seth Porges’ documentary charting the evolution of what’s now alternately embraced and abhorred as an annual “Bromaggedeon” of public intoxication. Other standouts include Kip Andersen and Chris O’Connell’s Join the Club, a stirring nonfiction flashback to the career of late SF pot dealer Dennis Peron, and Marie Losier’s Barking in the Dark, a documentary about long-running, stubbornly anonymous avant-garde “rock” music and art collective The Residents. Roxie Theater, SF. More info here.
NIGHTLIFE
Marke B. usually knows what’s up.
FRI/6: SPACE THREE: ARTHUR ROBERT Berlin-based, Romanian-descended Austrian DJ Arthur Robert brings heady Detroit influence and a drum and bass background to his meticulously constructed techno sets, which often lift off into hypno-psychedelic territory. The term, as they say, is “quality.” Local wiz Kudeki opens up at the Space Three party. 9pm-3am, F8, SF. More info here.
FRI/6: FREE AGENTS Turntablism legends QBert and Shortkut (who is thankfully behind decks after suffering a debilitating stroke less than two years ago) join forces for some much needed cutting and scratching, and general musical mayhem. With JP Breganza and Starfari. 9pm-2am, Public Works, SF. More info here.
SAT/6: REPARACIONES: AN AFRO-LATINE CELEBRATION The (temporary!) closure of Oasis left many parties venue-less, but Nicki Jizz’s perennial Best Drag Show Reparations—”If you don’t tip, you’re racist”—is now getting hot at the White Horse in Oakland, joining forces with the Chillonas party for a very Bad Bunny-inappropriate Super Bowl eve hoe-down. 10pm-2am, White Horse Inn, Oakland. More info here.
