Welcome to our calendar feature BIG WEEK, wherein our expert Arts & Culture writers recommend the best things to do. In this edition, opportunities to make the finale of Black History Month count, in community and creativity.
GENERAL ARTS
Caitlin Donohue is keeping an eye on the situation.
THROUGH SAT/28: BLACK HISTORY MONTH COMEDY FESTIVAL SF’s only Black-owned comedy club is going big for this month: every night in February, you’re getting a lineup of four to five rising comedians ready to make you crack a smile. It’s $20 to $25 at the door, but free (and a two-drink minimum) with your RSVP. The Function, SF. More info here.
THROUGH MARCH 7: REBEL FORMS “Abstraction can free Latinx artists from the burden of performing their identities for the market or a specific audience,” the curator of this expo Erik Barrios-Recendez told Marke B. on a recent gallery visit. “But it can also give them space to touch on big and pressing topics that concern Latinx identity—immigration, spiritualism, colonialism, and the constructed realities of identity itself. Abstraction can tap into our futurity […] Or, you know, artists can just be free to have fun and make beautiful things.” Go see this group show to revel in that meaning. Romer Young Gallery, SF. More info here.
THROUGH MARCH 31: 60TH ANNIVERSARY BLACK PANTHER PARTY ART EXHIBIT Never been a better time to be inspired by the revolutionary drive of Oakland’s own Black Panther Party. The Town’s library has this showing of imagery from the party’s good works running through Black History Month and beyond. 81st Avenue Library, Oakland. More info here.
WED/25: YOU ARE WHO I LOVE In tribute to the composer, who died in 2024, Harold Meltzer’s work “focused on the everyday efforts of people finding ways to live in the catastrophes of our times” with poet Aracelis Girmay unfurls tonight courtesy of chamber choir The Crossing, with a pre-show talk with Girmay and the evening’s conductor Donald Nally. 7:30pm, Bing Concert Hall, Stanford. More info here.
THU/26: THE VOICE OF HIND RAJAB It can feel impossible to take in the panorama of suffering and injustice that continues to be Palestinians’ daily reality, which is likely part of the reason that filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania focused in on the life and death of five-year-old Hind Rajab, whose desperate calls to the Palestine Red Crescent Society were cut short by her murder by Israeli troops. This documentary was nominated for an Oscar, go find out why. 6:40pm, Roxie Theater, SF. More info here.
THU/26: OAKLAND’S CENTENNIAL BLACK HISTORY MONTH CELEBRATION Dress code is “African Swag or Business Attire” for this free celebration with Oakland leaders to finish out your Black History Month. Expect live performances, and wine tastings and soul food courtesy of local Black businesses. An RSVP is required. 6-9pm, Henry J. Kaiser Center for the Arts, Oakland. More info here.
THU/26: ZOË AQUA AND HER TRANSYLVANIAN STRING BAND A timeless sound, that of this folk music expert, who will be delivering the In a Sea of Stars album, an homage to Transylvanian folk tradition that also pulls on klezmer, Yiddish, bluegrass, and Irish fiddle notes. 7pm, Jewish Community Center, SF. More info here.
THU/26: ROAR SHACK LIVE! Dr. Bittinger takes the stage tonight, a rock, rap, and rhythmic blues project fronted by local performer Juba Kalamka. He says he named the group for the MD who delivered his father in West Virginia—a doctor who Kalamka suspects was an avid music fan who endowed his family with a love for sound that has served them well. 7:30pm, 34 Seventh Street, SF. More info here.
FRI/27: SUNSET NIGHT MARKET The first of four editions of this local food explosion pops off in honor of Lunar New Year. Gallop through for a grand time in the avenues, featuring crafts, performance, and delectable Asian street snacks. 5-10pm, Irving between 20th to 25th Avenues, SF. More info here.
SAT/28 + SUN/1: BLACK CHOREOGRAPHERS FESTIVAL A stunning display of Black excellence in motion, this yearly happening founded in 1989 gathers the most talented of dancemakers for a display of powerful works exploring the outer realms of performance. There is an entirely different program both evenings this weekend, maybe you’ll want to see it all? 7:30pm, Dance Mission Theater, SF. More info here.
MUSIC
Hit up John-Paul Shiver’s Under the Stars column for great tunes and shows every week.
THU/26: FAGJAZZ A collective built to uphold the long-standing tradition of queer folks coming together to foster community and make great art. This queer and trans POC-led group, based and founded in Oakland, was created for queer musicians and other artists to connect, collaborate, and support each other outside of cisheteronormative spaces. Its first release, The Strayhorn Sessions Vol. 1, celebrates the life and music of one of the most cherished queer ancestors: Billy Strayhorn. Take it from the legendary American composer, pianist, and jazz bandleader Duke Ellington himself on how important Strayhorn was to his compositions: “Billy Strayhorn was my right arm, my left arm, all the eyes in the back of my head, my brainwaves in his head, and his in mine. Wanna support this collective or just hear some good jazz? This promises to be stellar. 7 and 9:15pm, Black Cat Jazz Supper Club, SF. More info here.
SAT/28: CHULITA VINYL CLUB This group gets it done, Son. Every time. Begin, middle, or end your night by listening, swooning, and grooving to some of the best selecters in the city. A trailblazing all-vinyl, all-genre DJ collective of women, gender-nonconforming, non-binary, LGBTQ+, and self-identifying people of color constantly reminds all mortals that DJs wear capes, too. As stated on their site, EL DISCO ES CULTURA—and they back it up with a vast collection of vintage vinyl that will get you there in no time. Keep your ears and mind open, and I guarantee a night full of cherished memories. 10:30pm, Kilowatt, 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.
TADAIMA’S NEW LOCATION The popular local Japanese sando and matcha café Tadaima has just opened its third location, this one in the Inner Sunset, and the weekend lines have been robust. Aside from the more typical matcha and hojicha drinks, some of the more unusual beverages on the menu include Dirty Matcha Cream Latte (with coffee), an Americano with salted cheese foam, and Kinako Cream Latte. There are grab and go onigiri for a light snack, but I’d advise tucking into a super substantial tempura shrimp sandwich, as it’s truly one of the best in the area. 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., 1248 Ninth Avenue, SF.
SUN/1: BAY AREA RAP MIXTAPE BOOK RELEASE PARTY (WITH MAC ‘N’ CHEESE) I’m self-publishing a book called Bay Area Rap Mixtape that’s based on decades of interviews and concerts as well as published and unpublished writing, and we are celebrating with an official SF Music Week finale partner event on Sunday. I’ll give away free digital copies of the book on USB sticks and via AirDrop, and print copies will be available to pre-order. We’ll screen the Mac Dre: Legend of the Bay documentary (2015) at 7pm. I’m doing this in partnership with Fault Radio and Studio Aurora, and Studio’s chef/owner Dario Barbone will serve free Mighty Mac + Cheese. Come party with us! 5-9pm, Studio Aurora/Fault Radio, SF. More info here.
STAGE
Charles Lewis III checks out theaters and performance spaces every week in the Drama Masks column.
FILM
Dennis Harvey’s long-running Screen Grabs has tons more flicks to recommend.
SAT/28: EMERYVILLE INTERNATIONAL LGBTQ+ FILM FESTIVAL If you can’t wait until June and Frameline for a big dose of gay images onscreen, this Sat/28 brings this day-long fest. Formerly known as Drag Me to the Cinema, it’s got four two-hour blocks of thematically tied shorts, from places like Australia and Luxembourg as well as the U.S. A first show at noon, “Pure.Queer.Joy,” is “family-friendly-ish.” The remaining three at 2, 4, and 6pm are recommended for viewers age 18 and over. AMC Bay Street 16, Emeryville. More info here.
SAT/28 + SUN/1: WINTERFEST There’s a pretty substantial cinematic menu on tap at this two-day residency at SF’s Vogue Theater whose eight programs encompass a wide gamut of movies from around the world. There are feature-length documentaries about late filmmakers, with Guillaume Ribot’s All I Had Was Nothingness examining the creation of Claude Lanzmann’s landmark Shoah, while Alan Berliner’s Benita memorializes experimentalist B. Raphan. It ends Sunday night with Yes, a reportedly savage 150-minute social satire whose left-leaning Tel Aviv jazz musician antihero perversely accepts a commission to compose a new, implicitly right-wing patriotic anthem. Vogue Theater, SF. More info here.
SUN/1 THROUGH MAY 10: PSYCHEDELICS AND CINEMA A film series whose very existence offers heartening evidence that the “spirit of the Sixties” endures, at least a bit. It features mainstream Hollywood stabs at depicting hallucinatory insight (Roger Corman’s 1967 The Trip, Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey), and esoteric visions of the same from farther afield like Colombian director Ciro Guerra’s 2015 Embrace of the Serpent, Jodorowsky’s 1973 The Holy Mountain, Richard Linklater’s 2006 Philip K. Dick-derived A Scanner Darkly, Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s 2021 Memoria, and Jessica Beshir’s Ethiopia-set Faya Dayi.
NIGHTLIFE
Marke B. usually knows what’s up.
FRI/27: SQUISH X FLUXIONS: MAARA (LIVE) Energetic trance and progressive are the sounds on tap, as this Montreal favorite hits the queer-oriented Squish x Fluxions crew team-up, with sedef, adasï, sinéad, subfeels, vertigo, and ek:) rounding out the femme-centric lineup. 10pm-4am, F8, SF. More info here.
SAT/28: CLUB DARC: CHRIS STUSSY Golden Voice and the SF Giants(!) have teamed up to transform Pier 48’s Shed A into a giant “seasonal” nightclub, and I have to say they are kicking things off with a stellar lineup: Dutch house meister Chris Stussy delivers delectable sets, here backed up by DJ Tennis b2b DJ Seinfeld, both of whom have very singular leftfield sounds. An issue for these Goldenvoice affairs has been a lack of Bay talent (and intrusive VIP packages that can run up to $4000), but this time they have local Skiis opening up—and a giant warehouse full of good dance music in SF is certainly something to celebrate. 6pm-2am, Pier 48 Shed A, SF. More info here.
SAT/28: I HATE MODELS Whatever you think of French DJ Guillaume Labadie’s famous little dance behind the decks (think restless leg syndrome writ large), he will pound you down with relentless hard beats that incorporate everything from classic ’90s techno bangers to remixes of 2000s emo hits. Somehow it all melds together into mass catharsis: His set at the underground stage of Detroit’s Movement Fest last year melted my mind, and my problems, clean away. 9pm-3am, Palace of Fine Arts, SF. More info here.
