GENERAL ARTS
Marke B. is on it (mostly).
THU/23-SUN/26: GUSH DANCE FESTIVAL The Joe Goode Performance Group remains an absolute local gem. For this fourth iteration of the annual festival, local dance-maker Goode gathers long-time artistic collaborators whose creative relationships span more than three decades. The festival features a reimagining of Joe Goode and Liz Burritt in Doris in a Dust Bowl (1987), along with works by long-time company members Marit Brook-Kothlow, Melecio Estrella, Damara Vita Ganley, Mo Katzman, Wailana Simcock, Jessica Swanson, and Patricia West. GUSH 2026 asks: “What endures? What is carried forward? And how might these relationships support the future of dance in the Bay Area?” Joe Goode Annex, SF. More info here.
FRI/24+ SAT/25: KAREN MASON’S “BROADWAY BABY” The legendary singer and performer is riding a wave of milestone moments. She recently celebrated her 75th birthday with a sold-out performance at New York’s legendary Birdland Jazz Club. Mason has also announced a major new theatrical project, Unfinished Business, a play she has written and will star in that tells the story of her transformative relationship with her late music director and friend Brian Lasser. features songs from Mamma Mia!, in which Mason originated the role of Tanya in the Broadway company; Sunset Boulevard, where she served as standby for Norma Desmond, covering Glenn Close, Betty Buckley and Elaine Paige for more than 1,000 performances; and beloved standards. This one’s for the true theater-lovers. Feinstein’s at the Nikko, SF. More info here.
SAT/25: FOGLIFTER ISSUE 11 RELEASE PARTY The invaluable local publication is a window into the world of emerging writers and poets, and undergirds the scene with true transgressive feeling—remember that? Featuring readings from contributors Cal Calamia, plum.e champlin, Isaac Dwyer, Rose Jenny, Rebecca Morton, Jake Rose, Laurel Roth, D. M. Spratley, and Eden Julia Sugay. 6pm-8pm, The Stud, SF. More info here.
SAT/25: DAHLIA SOCIETY OF CALIFORNIA PLANT AND TUBER SALE We here at 48 Hills are HUGE fans of the Golden Gate Park Dahlia Dell, which, when in full bloom, is truly one of the wonders of the city. You can start one of your own at this hotly anticipated (really!) annual plant and tuber sale, featuring “a variety of show-quality tubers (including a special section of hard-to-acquire ones), plus well-established cuttings that are ready to go in the ground.” 10am-they sellout (around noon). SF County Fair Building, more info here.
SAT/25 + SUN 26: SHIPYARD OPEN STUDIOS I love this annual showcase of local art: “Most people have never set foot inside Hunters Point Shipyard—one of San Francisco’s most fascinating hidden landmarks. Twice a year, this historic naval base transforms into the city’s biggest art event, when the artists who call it home open their studio doors to the public. This spring, explore the working studios of over 100 painters, sculptors, jewelers, ceramicists, photographers, and more—including music, entertainment, and food—all in one walkable weekend. Hunters Point Shipyard, SF. More info here.
THROUGH MAY 10: LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT Director Kevin Copp writes: “In 2019 I played James Tyrone in a production of Long Day’s Journey Into Night that took me from Danville—where Eugene O’Neill lived when he wrote the play—to New Ross, Ireland, for the International O’Neill Festival. On my way to Ireland, I stopped in New London, Connecticut, to visit Monte Cristo Cottage, the O’Neill family’s summer home and the setting of the play. Sitting at the table in the room where the entire drama unfolds, I was struck by its scale—how small it is, how inescapable. That sense of confinement became the starting point for this production. The 49-seat Phoenix Theatre allows the audience to be fully inside the Tyrone household, with the action unfolding just feet away on three sides. We are presenting an estate-approved abridged version that brings the running time to approximately two and a half hours, while preserving the play’s emotional trajectory.” Phoenix Theatre, SF. More info here.
MUSIC
Hit up John-Paul Shiver’s Under the Stars column for great tunes and shows every week.
THU/23: DOC’N ROLL, RAVE CULTURE: A NEW ERA Some non-interested interviewer once asked Method Man of Wu-Tang Clan, when the group first began, what he would be doing if he wasn’t rapping, and without missing a beat, he hurled back, “Busting through your window, stealing your television.” Rave Culture: A New Era is a 2026 documentary exploring the origins of late-’80s British rave culture. The film, directed by Eduardo Cubillo Blasco, captures in living color and blunt-speak dialogue how this new music, made with used instruments that had blinking lights, allowed new ears to loop sections of records into a driving rhythm of revolt and ecstasy. Sometimes all at once. Bringing different shades of folks from different corners of culture into this blooming flower of unity over a breakbeat. With interviews from pioneers such as DJ Rap, Goldie, Jumpin Jack Frost, Bryan Gee, DJ Hype, Fabio, DJ Brockie, and loads more, it’s informative, entertaining, and a sneaky good introduction to how drum and bass took over SF in the mid-’90s as well. 7:30pm, 4 Star Theater, SF. More info here.
BLACK GOLD SUN Art is a funny thing. While waiting for inspiration, sometimes the most obvious, heinous things can piss you off so hard you form a friggin’ band to release the burn. That’s how the free jazz quintet with an experimental punk mentality, Irreversible Entanglements, formed (they met during a Musicians Against Police Brutality concert in 2015, protesting the murder of Akai Gurley by an NYPD officer), and a similar origin story can be made about the Bay Area punk trio Black Gold Sun. Band members Anita Carol Lofton, Veronica, and Q Lynn were aggressively motivated by the last election night results and immediately decided the world needed a Black girl punk band. What followed was a spontaneous sidewalk show outside a San Francisco skateboard shop, a second gig at The Ivy Room, and a fast track to Doll Fest 2026. Upon a quick listen to an advance copy of the trio’s upcoming debut album, it’s the fuzzy, feedback needed to cut through all the noise Fox News keeps shoving down our throats. So get your ass in order and see Black Gold Sun at Flowerfist Market in Sacramento, Saturday, April 25, before that debut drops on Juneteenth. Follow Black Gold Sun here.
STAGE
Charles Lewis III checks out theaters and performance spaces every week in the Drama Masks column.
THROUGH APRIL 26: BURDEN OF PROOF Based on the true story of Pilipina nurses Leonora Perez and Filipina Narciso, who were wrongfully convicted and incarcerated for the 1975 deaths of patients at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Alleluia Panis of KULARTS’ long-gestating dance piece seems timeless because it’s not the first time people of color have found themselves helpless under the boot of American law enforcement. If anything, it’s a rebuke to moderates and liberals who only became aware of the danger in the past few months by watching ICE agents shoot white Americans in cold blood. Panis’ piece is grown from the anger of experiences that violence first-hand. Incorporating a variety of movement styles into the show as well as music, sound design, illustration, and projection, Burden of Proof is a must-see for our times. Bindlestiff Studio, SF. Tickets and further info here.
FILM
Dennis Harvey’s long-running Screen Grabs has tons more flicks to recommend.
FRI/24-MAY 4: SFFILM FEST Film festivals are an inherently ever-evolving thing, but few have undergone more changes, over a longer span, than the San Francisco International Film Festival, commonly known these days by its organizational umbrella monicker SFFilm. This year marks the 69th edition of what remains the longest-running event of its type in the Western Hemisphere. Its form these days is considerably altered from those decades when it had few competitors, locally or nationally. But this “celebration of global cinema” still offers a diverse selection of upcoming commercial releases, arthouse fare that may not surface locally again (particularly as the Bay Area’s arthouse scene has drastically shrunk), shorts programs, tributes, and more. Various venues, more info here. Various venues, more info here.
WED/29: THE CELLULOID CLOSET This culture-transforming do was adapted from the late Vito Russo’s book about 20th-century Hollywood’s erstwhile scurrilous caricaturing (and/or downright exclusion) of gay characters. This 30th anniversary showing of a new 4K restoration at Castro Theater will feature directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman in person, plus very special guest (and onscreen interviewee) Lily Tomlin. 7pm, Castro Theater, SF. More info here.
NIGHTLIFE
Marke B. usually knows what’s up.
FRI/24-MAY 3: MERE MORTALS Since this “techno AI ballet” at SF Ballet—with a score by Floating Points, who will be performing it live—debuted a couple years ago, it has rarely left my mind. I have seen it the last two times it’s come around, and although they sadly lowered the booming volume and light spectacle the last time, the exhilarating choreography, costumes, and open-ended yet intimate riff on the myth of Pandora that spans (maybe?) galaxies and millennia made me leap from my seat. The AI part has only grown more complex; I see it as an ironic commentary, and almost nostalgic, with a prominent joke about those multi-fingered early Gen iterations. All I can say is: Go. War Memorial Opera House, SF. More info here.
FRI/24: PARANOID LONDON The ultra-vibey, acid-drenched UK duo have been ultimate “DJ’s DJs” for years, their crowd reflecting those truly in the know—and the knowledge is that it is time to actually dance. They’re being presented by hot-hot-hot promoters program:audio, heroes for setting up radio station in that adorable Haight Street former Photomat. 10pm-4m, Club Six, SF. More info here.
