October 16, 2002

8 Days a Week

Dec. 25, 2002-Jan. 1, 2003

WITH A MISSION to "envision the classics with color," the African-American Shakespeare Company presents theater audiences with European classics, reworked to include African American cultural perspectives. After a six-month hiatus, the nearly 10-year-old company begins its 2002-03 season with a holiday presentation of Cinderella. This production offers a few twists to the familiar fairy tale, including a "funky groove-strutting godmother," "two muscled beefy biceped ugly stepsisters," and audience participation involving the prodigious glass slipper. Upcoming shows on the AASC's calendar include a modern retelling of Othello set in a Fortune 500 company and Antigone, which the company has transformed into an urban tale featuring rap dialogue. Fri/27-Sat/28 and Mon/30, 8 p.m. (also Sat/28, 3 p.m.); Sun/29, 2 and 7 p.m., Palace of Fine Arts, 3301 Lyon, S.F. $17-$22. 1-866-462-2838, www.acteva.com/go/Shakes. (Cynthia Dea)

Dec. 25

Wednesday

Bring it on Sure, The Sound of Music, My Fair Lady, and Grease have their champions. But if you start ranking the greatest film musicals of all time, 1961's West Side Story is a serious contender for first place (after Phantom of the Paradise, of course). After all the gifts are unwrapped and the ham has been inhaled, gather the troops and head to the Castro Theatre to watch Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins's multi-Oscar-winning, big-screen adaptation of the Broadway hit. The movie, a 1950s New York street gang update of Romeo and Juliet, has it all: great songs, great performances (including Best Supporting Actress winner Rita Moreno), and more dance-fighting than a "Beat It" video marathon. So what if Natalie Wood didn't do her own singing? Through Thurs/26. 1:30, 4:15, and 7:30 p.m., Castro Theatre, 429 Castro, S.F. $4.50-$7. (415) 621-6120. (Cheryl Eddy)

Dec. 26

Thursday

Or give me death The upside of the new jazz brain drain that has funneled Bay Area talent to the Big Apple is that the expat players – including Kenny Wollesen, Vijay Iyer, and Rob Burger, to name a few – have typically fallen in with good influences and returned "home" for visits with a wealth of fresh material and honed chops. Guitarist Liberty Ellman left four years ago, after working here with Iyer, the San Francisco Mime Troupe, Midnight Voices, the Coup, and Ledisi and Anibade. In New York he's scored gigs with Henry Threadgill, Greg Osby, Butch Morris, Steven Bernstein, Pete Seeger, and Arlo Guthrie. Expect to hear eclecticism inspired by Duke, Monk, Miles, Bartók, and Björk when he returns for a one-night showcase of his original compositions in a quartet with saxophonist Eric Crystal, bassist Devin Hoff, and drummer Derrek Phillips. 9 p.m., Bruno's, 2389 Mission, S.F. $5. (415) 540-7455. (Derk Richardson)

The year in yuks Comedian and satirist Will Durst considered politics such a big joke that he decided to run for mayor of San Francisco in 1987. He spent $1,200 on his campaign and finished fourth out of 11 candidates. Since then Durst has been busy making witty appearances on David Letterman's show, CNN, Comedy Central, PBS, and NPR. With such a busy schedule, he still finds time to close 2002 with the 'Big-Fat Year-End Kiss-Off Comedy Show X,' his 10th annual evening of stand-up, improv, and sketches, featuring Durst and others, including Johnny Steele, Debi Durst, Michael Bossier, and Steven Kravitz, who all help put the entire year in perspective in their usual irreverent fashion. The show hits Berkeley tonight and continues on to Pleasanton, Walnut Creek, Petaluma, and Redwood City before closing out in San Francisco. 8 p.m., Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College, Berk. $17. (925) 798-1300. (Also Tues/31, 7 and 10 p.m., Cowell Theatre, Fort Mason Center, Marina at Laguna, S.F. $25-$40. 415-345-7575. For information on additional performances go to www.willdurst.com). (Cynthia Dea)

Dec. 27

Friday

Psyched out Ex-Faust guitarist Steven Wray Lobdell of the Davis Redford Triad has a direct connection to the spirit of Jimi Hendrix, no shit. And I'm not talking about "Wait until Tomorrow" Jimi; I'm talking about the Jimi that expanded the language of rock guitar and scared the hell out of people in 1967. The Davis Redford Triad's Mystical Path of the Number 86 (Holy Mountain) sounds like Sonny Sharrock's Guitar, which means it's nasty. Opener Grady Runyan was the driving force behind Monoshock, an Oakland-based noise rock journey-into-outer-space band that took that part of the Stooges' "Loose" where everything kind of slides and chugs on a single chord and married it to that part of "Sister Ray" that does the same thing and then fed it bad acid. Scary. This is a night of guitar-god mayhem that anyone who has a taste for the powerful surge of energy that comes from topping out an amplifier's capabilities will not want to miss. 10 p.m., Hemlock Tavern, 1131 Polk, S.F. $5. (415) 923-0923. (Mike McGuirk)

Dec. 28

Saturday

Trouble loves me Crazy shit is bound to happen at 'Trouble 8: Do You Dance? Party.' Chic ladies and dapper gents will get busy on the floor to whacked-out beats and fucked-up jams kicked out by DJs Kid606, Kit Clayton, Philip Sherburne, and Bay Guardian contributor George Chen. Tonight's Trouble event also features a live audiovisual performance by Soft Pink Truth, Drew Daniels's latest undertaking, in support of his new album Do You Party? (Soundslike). This solo project has Daniels (better known for his part in S.F. electronic duo Matmos) taking a stab at the sleazy and flashy underbelly of house music. Star Eyes also plays. 9 p.m.-2 a.m., Amnesia, 853 Valencia, S.F. $5. (415) 970-8336. (Sarah Han)

Dec. 29

Sunday

Homecoming You may have wondered why you haven't seen Owen Ashworth – the keyboard-toting mastermind behind Casiotone for the Painfully Alone – on the streets of San Francisco lately. You may have checked his old Web site (www.cassingleusa.com) and been shocked (or perhaps, titillated) to find that it's been transformed into a porn site. But fear not, though Ashworth relocated to the Northwest in June 2001, he has recently returned to the Bay Area. Tonight he plays his first show since coming back, and you won't wanna miss it – who knows how long he'll be staying this time around. Cuspidor also plays. 10 p.m., Hemlock Tavern, 1131 Polk, S.F. $5. (415) 923-0923. (Han)

Dec. 30

Monday

Hot stuff Today's a tough day – the Monday after Christmas and the day before New Year's Eve. Since it's definitely not a good time for anything high-impact, slouch on over to Jezebel's Joint and eyeball the silver screen's original sex symbol, Rudolph Valentino, in 1921's The Shiek. Released the same year as his breakthrough film The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, this desert-set romance isn't exactly what you might call politically correct in these polite times – errr, see, there's this sorta sleazy Arab who rescues/kidnaps this British chick, and she ends up falling in love with him – but you can't beat a chance to witness Rudy's trademark staredowns with those famed bedroom eyes. Bonus points if you show up dressed as "the woman in black," who legendarily lurked at Valentino's grave for years after his untimely passing. 8 p.m., Jezebel's Joint, 510 Larkin, S.F. Free. www.sfindie.com. (Eddy)

Dec. 31

Tuesday

Auld lang anarchy sign My that's a very lovely old-school punk New Year's Eve hoedown you have there, Mrs. Cleaver. The members of Oakland's Eddie Haskells have been banging around in the Bay Area Gilman/house party scene forever, in bands such as Your Mother, the Dread, and Blasting Agents. They've refined their supercatchy, thrashy technique on the new split single with Fracas, writing tunes about Dumpster diving and other urban outdoor sports like sex in cars. Next the band will bare their love-hate relationship with the East Bay punk scene in Maximum Rocknroll and release a five-song EP full of civic pride ("It's Going Down in the East Bay"). And while you're in the throes of punk nostalgia, go back even further in Bay Area punk history with the Lewd, the mythic, headbanded Seattle-Bay Area punk combo best known for its late-'70s single "Kill Yourself," after which drummer Christopher Reece went on to join Social Distortion. Tramps and Drink Tickets also play. 9 p.m., Stork Club, 2330 Telegraph, Oakl. $10. (510) 444-6174. (Kimberly Chun)

Jan. 1

Wednesday

The legend continues The enormity of the contributions to jazz made by the late John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (1917-93) are too easily taken for granted, in part because he outlived his bebop founding comrade Charlie Parker by nearly four decades and in part because his latter-day music was sometimes eclipsed by his humorous hipster image. Committed to honoring and extending the master's legacy, the Dizzy Gillespie Alumni All Stars have recorded two small-group albums, Dizzy's 80th Birthday and Dizzy's World, and a big-band disc, Things to Come, and mount concerts and tours under the musical direction of Dizzy's foremost protégé, trumpeter Jon Faddis. For this extended gig the sextet feature saxophonist James Moody and trombonist Slide Hampton joining Faddis in a front line that knows Gillespie's book and spirit inside out, and a rhythm section of pianist Billy Childs, bassist John Lee, and drummer Dennis Mackrel. Through Jan. 5. 8 and 10 p.m. (Jan. 5, 2 and 8 p.m.), Yoshi's, 510 Embarcadero West, Jack London Square, Oakl. $5-$24. (510) 238-9200. (Richardson)