By M.P. Klier

WITH SLIM, undersalaried pickin's on the job front and prices for many concert tickets and CDs approaching highway robbery, what's a poor music lover to do? Sit home and listen to the radio? There's only so much between-song DJ banter one can take. Luckily there are plenty of other ways to hear the kinds of music you like without paying one hard-earned or EDD-dispensed cent – or lugging around a bass, trying to pretend you're in the band.

Cheap tricks

Search and recycle Check the newspapers. Last week there were more than 70 free music listings in the Bay Guardian alone – and that's not including "free jazz" bands. The Web version of Steve Koepke's great rock list (www.jon.luini.com/thelist) and the new-music oriented Transbay Calendar (www.sfsound.org/transbay/) are just two of the online resources you can search for freebies.

Beggars' banquet If there's a show you're dying to see, and you really don't have the cash, try turning on your undoubtable charm, explaining your plight, and hoping for the best. At some venues there's not a chance in hell this will work, but at others it isn't unheard-of for a door person to take pity on you and let you in, especially after intermission. You might also keep your eyes peeled for a kindly-looking patron with an extra ticket she or he is willing to donate.

Can I please see your ticket? If you're adept at ripping tickets and giving directions, being a volunteer usher is a great way to see shows for free. All you have to do is show up an hour or so before the doors open and work up a little wrist grease. If you like rock, one of the best places to do this is the Warfield. Call its volunteer-usher hotline (415-285-1950) to find out what shows are available, and if one strikes your fancy, leave your name and number, then show up at the call time wearing "dark, neutral colors" and wielding a flashlight. After a short meeting, ushers are given their assignments. Then it's all just a matter of "thank you very much, enjoy the show." Cal Performances also runs a volunteer-usher program, allowing would-be music patrons to see performers like Laurie Anderson and the Gyoto Monks for free. Competition for these spots is fierce, and many people have been ushering for decades. Applications are reviewed each June. For an application call (510) 643-6710 or e-mail volunteer@calperfs.berkeley.edu.

Outdoors and in-stores

You can see first-rate performers with no money down, courtesy of Bay Area festival producers and record stores. Stern Grove Festival celebrates its 65th year of bringing music to the huddled/sun-drenched masses. This year's festival runs June 16 through Aug. 18; the performance schedule is announced in May. Sun., 2 p.m., Sigmund Stern Grove, 19th Ave. and Sloat Blvd., S.F. (415) 252-6252, www.sterngrove.org.

The San Francisco Jazz Organization puts on a series of free midday concerts every summer: at Transamerica Redwood Park, 2 Embarcadero Center, and Levi's Park Plaza. Performers include a mix of Latin jazz all-stars, sultry cabaret singers, and jump, swing, and R&B bands. Transamerica Redwood Park, June-August, Fri., noon-1 p.m., 600 Montgomery, S.F. 2 Embarcadero Center, August-September, Thurs., noon-1:30 p.m., Promenade level, Davis and Clay Sts., S.F. Levi's Park Plaza, September-October, Wed., noon-1:30 p.m., Battery and Bay Sts., S.F. (415) 398-5655, www.sfjazz.org.

Thanks to UC Berkeley's SUPERB Productions you can listen to more than conga players on Sproul Plaza. Check out the Flipsides (April 5), Fetish (April 19), and Amador (May 3), among other acts, as part of SUPERB's free Friday concert series. Through May 10, Fri., noon-1 p.m., Bancroft at Telegraph, Berk. (510) 642-7477, www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~superb.

Superstore Amoeba Music not only has the Bay Area's lowest prices on CDs and records but also puts on some great, free, in-store concerts at its Haight Street location. You can hear top DJs every Friday, as part of the store's Mandala series, and live acts such as the Nels Cline Singers (Tues/26) and the Rebirth Brass Band (Fri/29). 1855 Haight, S.F. (415) 831-1200, www.amoebamusic.com.

Sign up for Aquarius Records' e-mail newsletter to find out about upcoming in-store events. 1055 Valencia, S.F. (415) 647-2272, www.aquariusrecordssf.com.

Virgin Megastore also offers a handful of free DJ and live shows. Did anybody see Jon Spencer Blues Explosion? 2 Stockton, S.F. (415) 397-4525, www.virginmega.com/default.asp?vms=6.

C'mon in

There's no lack of venues that consistently have free or very cheap music events week after week. Get yourself over to Polk Street's Hemlock Tavern for free country and honky-tonk sets by DJ Blaze Orange Sundays, 4-9 p.m., and the Punk Rock Sideshow with DJs Kut 'n' Paste and the Duchess of Hazard Mondays, from 10 p.m. Other nights there's bands and DJs for free to $5. 1131 Polk, S.F. (415) 923-0923.

The Sunday-afternoon shows at Bottom of the Hill are a darn tootin' steal once you factor in the all-you-can-eat barbecue (but I'm no buffet expert; see Dan "Cheap Eats" Leone's "Our Daily Bread," page 26). For around $6 you can enjoy grub (starting at 4 p.m.) by Di and G chords (around 5:30 p.m.) by the likes of the Quails and Fabulous Disaster. 1233 17th St., S.F. (415) 621-4455, www.bottomofthehill.com.

Not only does it cost $1 to dance Monday night away at El Rio's weekly Vroom!, but drinks are also just $1. Getting down to punk, funk, and soul with a great crowd of movers and shakers ... priceless. Mon., 8 p.m.-midnight, 3158 Mission, S.F. (415) www.elrio.com.

If you can splurge for two drinks, you can see performances at Jazz at Pearl's for free three to four nights a week. 256 Columbus, S.F. (415) 291-8255, www.jazzatpearls.citysearch.com.

Acme Observatory Contemporary Music Series presents cutting-edge international performers and Bay Area sound artists such as Kit Clayton, Fred Frith, and Henry Kaiser at Tuva Space. All shows have a sliding-scale admission fee of free to $20. Acme Observatory curator Matt Ingalls says, "The most important thing is that this music gets heard. We don't want the door admission to be a deterrent, but at the same time $20 isn't ridiculous because it goes straight to the artists, who definitely deserve more than we can pay them." 3192 Adeline, Berk. (510) 649-8744, www.sfsound.org/acme/index.html.

Listen and learn

In addition to providing low-cost music lessons, the San Francisco Community Music Center presents free classical and contemporary concerts by faculty and students at the Mission District branch. Its Concerts with Conversation series is a great chance to see top-notch performers like the exceptionally good pianist Richard Goode (Mon/25, 5:30 p.m.) gratis. "We try to reach young people, people that don't have money," CMC's Dominique Pelletey says. 544 Capp, S.F. (415) 647-6015, www.sfmusic.org/future.html.

At Mills College you can see free performances by contemporary music's foremost composers and performers as well as students – and some student thesis concerts give Other Minds a run for their $15-$26 tickets. You can still catch "Signal Flow," new works by graduate student composers (April 5-7) and experimental flutist Anne LaBerge (April 17) 5000 MacArthur Blvd., Oakl. (510) 430-2296, www.mills.edu.