October 16, 2002

8 Days a Week

Jan. 1-8, 2003

START OFF THE new year on the right note – that is, laughing your ass off – at the second annual S.F. Sketchfest: The San Francisco Sketch Comedy Festival. For 2003, the event boasts a new venue and an impressively expanded list of performers. As at last year's inaugural staging, the lineup includes local favorites like Killing My Lobster, Kasper Hauser, the Meehan Brothers, White Noise Radio Theatre, and Totally False People – but word of the 2002 Sketchfest's success must have spread through the comedy universe, because groups are also steaming in from Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, New York, Austin, Montreal, and Portland, Ore., to participate in this invariably crowd-pleasing event. For comedy fans, this means a whole month of shows, with doubleheaders most Tuesdays through Thursdays, and other shows packed into weekend days and nights through January. And there are even some big-name celebrities in the mix: the Upright Citizen's Brigade take the stage Fri/3-Sun/5, and the immortal Fred Willard (Best in Show), along with his Hollywood Players, will surely cause a near-riot at the ticket booth for shows Jan. 11-12. The whole shebang kicks off Thurs/2 with an opening-night party highlighting several San Francisco-based groups; go to www.sfsketchfest.com for a full schedule. Jan. 2-26. Eureka Theatre, 215 Jackson, S.F. $15-$25. 1-866-468-3399 (tickets) or (415) 487-6443 (information). (Cheryl Eddy)

Jan. 1

Wednesday

Give it a chance Why, yes, it is National Hangover Day. And national goin'-to-the-gym-to-get-in-shape (this year for sure!) day. But if certain warmongering types have their druthers, 2003 is going to be a pretty bleak year, no matter how many martinis you guzzle or spinning classes you take. While it may not change the White House's mind, surely your own karma will benefit from the Peace Garden Project's New Year's Day meditation and prayer gathering for world peace. Mary Morgan from the First Unitarian Universalist Church is on hand to conduct the invocation at this event, which aims to unite folks from all backgrounds who would like to see peace prevail in the coming months. 3-4 p.m., Golden Gate Park, Circle of Peace, AIDS Memorial Grove, near Middle Drive East and Bowling Green Drive, S.F. Free. (415) 789-8203. (Cheryl Eddy)

Jan. 2

Thursday

Pulse points Northwest duo Point Line Plane rock the darkwave vein hard for fellas who come armed with only a drum kit and a synth. The year-old Portland, Ore., unit keep things chilly and menacing and kind of raw and unhinged at the same time – picture an angsty Hella or threadbare Trans Am hooked on Sisters of Mercy or Red Lorry Yellow Lorry. Singer-keyboardist Josh Blanchard rags on subjects such as art, trapped feelings, and disco, while Witch Mountain member Nathan Carson tries his darndest to sound like a drum machine. They'll be channeling their demons on their first album on Xeroid/Sincere Brutality this spring. 9 p.m., Eagle Tavern, 398 12th St. $5. (415) 626-0880. (Also, Fri/3, 10 p.m., Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., S.F. $7. 415-621-4455.) (Kimberly Chun)

Jan. 3

Friday

Don't fence them in Much in the same way the local dance collective known as the Foundry is difficult to categorize – they're dancers first, but also multimedia artists and experimental improvisers, and the list goes on – it's similarly daunting to simply sum up their latest venture, The Fleshing Memory. Now in residence at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the company, led by Alex Ketley and Christian Burns, adds to their résumé of site-specific works with a piece that combines a video installation of YBC's "hidden spaces," like the facility's boiler room, with movement both live, onstage and prerecorded, projected. Ultimately, the piece aims to show "the adventure and vulnerability of exploring intimate states in a public forum." If you've still got questions, make sure to stick around after tonight's show, which features a free postperformance discussion with Burns and Ketley. Through Sat/4. 8 p.m., Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission, S.F. $10-$12. (415) 978-ARTS. (Eddy)

Goode job Choreographer Joe Goode is widely known for his innovative approach to dance theater, in which he integrates song, spoken word, and visual arts into his works. His latest venture, Body Familiar, commissioned by the Magic Theatre, is a "play with movement" – the tale of a group of interlinked characters grappling with love, memories, and ghosts. This latest entry into Goode's "What the Body Knows" series brings together a cast of dancers and actors, and looks to be a powerful (and, if Goode's previous works are any indication, slyly humorous) theatrical experience. Through Feb. 2. Previews tonight, Sat/4, and Jan. 8-9, 8 p.m. Opens Jan. 10, 8 p.m. Runs Wed.-Sat. and Jan. 28, 8 p.m. (also Feb. 1, 2:30 p.m.; no shows Jan. 22-25); Jan. 19 and Feb. 2, 7:30 p.m. Magic Theatre, Fort Mason Center, Marina at Laguna, S.F. $17-$37 (opening night $50). (415) 441-8822, www.magictheatre.org. (Eddy)

Jan. 4

Saturday

Space cowboy The legend of Gram Parsons has always eclipsed the music made by the earthbound musician during his relatively brief career. Parsons looked and lived the way a legend should – and the fact that he brought at least a shred of rootsy credibility to a '60s music scene that lived by embezzlement only enhanced his image. Parsons went from the International Submarine Band to the Byrds, the Flying Burrito Brothers, and eventually out on his own. And in 1973, at age 26, he simply went out, once and for all. Parsons – the man, the music, and the myth – has inspired countess musicians, among them those putting on the fourth annual Sleepless Nights: Gram Parsons Tribute Concert. This year's lineup includes, among others, Dave Gleason's Wasted Days, Chuck Prophet and Stephanie Finch, Red Meat, Real Sippin' Whiskeys, and Eric Shea and Paul Tyler (of the recently departed Mover). The music will be good, the event will be fun, and the proceeds go to the Haight Ashbury Free Medical Clinic. 8 p.m., Great American Music Hall, 859 O'Farrell, S.F. $10. (415) 885-0750. (J.H. Tompkins)

Jan. 5

Sunday

In Xanadu What does it mean for the future of humanity when earthly paradise is inhabited by one woman and her pet drum machine and organ? Jenny Hoyston from Erase Errata answers this and other perplexing questions in a format you can dance to as Paradise Island, wherein she casts her trumpet aside and embraces the gospel of spooky-sexy robotics. Next on the bill, noisy disco synth rockers Dance Disaster Movement hail from sunny Long Beach (which may or may not figure in the title of their upcoming album on Dim Mak, We Are from Nowhere), wear only white, perform seizures onstage, and attempt to control the masses through a series of militaristically aggressive dance commands. Sample-happy fans of the 50¢-record DJ Me DJ You open the show, and – speaking out on behalf of nasty, cranky sex freaks everywhere – Gravy Train!!!! close it. 8:30 p.m., Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., S.F. $7. (415) 621-4455. (Lynn Rapoport)

Jan. 6

Monday

People like him You gotta wonder if Al Franken wants to throttle every person who sidles up to him in Starbucks and quotes his best-known Saturday Night Live character, Stuart Smalley ("I'm good enough, I'm smart enough ... ), back at him. Fortunately, going by the title of his new book – Oh, the Things I Know: A Guide to Success, or Failing That, Happiness – Franken sounds pretty well-adjusted. Besides his many years working on SNL, for which he earned five Emmys for writing and producing, Franken is noted for his on-target, biting political commentary in books such as the aptly titled Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations. Check Franken out tonight as part of the City Arts and Lectures series "On Art and Politics"; he'll no doubt have some choice words to share about the big fat idiot-laden current administration. 8 p.m., Herbst Theatre, 401 Van Ness, S.F. $18. (415) 392-4400. (Eddy)

Jan. 7

Tuesday

TCB Since you'll probably be spending tomorrow (Elvis Presley's actual birthday) in quiet remembrance surrounded by blue suede- and gold lamé-clad, like-minded friends and fellow fanatics (won't you?), tonight it's all about 'The Elvis Show: A Rock n' Roll Party.' Tennessee native Memphis Cotton channels the King with the help of the accompanying Beale Street Band, an enthusiastic familiarity with the big E's many hit songs, and a pair of remarkably Presleyan sideburns. Also on hand to get the party going are vocalists Martha Brown, Lila McDonald, and Miss Kitty Ultrasound; dress in 1950s or Elvis attire (Nic Cage and Col. Tom Parker look-alikes need not apply) to win appropriately themed goodies. 8 p.m., Plush Room, York Hotel, 940 Sutter, S.F. $15-$20. (415) 905-4433, (415) 885-2800, www.memphiscotton.com. (Eddy)

Beyond the sea For trombonist Steve Turre, the journey from the Bay Area suburb of Lafayette to a longtime gig in the Saturday Night Live band took him through San Francisco jazz clubs, including the Matador and Keystone Korner, where he blossomed during an intimate and pivotal apprenticeship with Rahsaan Roland Kirk. His artistic breadth, nurtured in musical relationships with Woody Shaw, Lester Bowie, and Dizzy Gillespie, finds extraordinary expression in his 11-piece Sanctified Shells big band, especially when he and three fellow trombonists put down their horns and coax gorgeous timbres and textures from variously pitched seashells. An Afro-Cuban rhythm section, featuring bassist Andy Gonzalez, conga player Pedro Paulo Martinez, and percussionist Adbu M'Boup, provides powerful polyrhythmic underpinnings, while Oakland-bred trumpeter Jon Faddis and sax legend Pharoah Sanders boost the all-star quotient of this unique jazz orchestra with their incendiary solos. Through Jan. 12. 8 and 10 p.m. (Sun/12, 2 and 8 p.m.), Yoshi's, 510 Embarcadero West, Jack London Square, Oakl. $5-$28. (510) 238-9200. (Derk Richardson)

Jan. 8

Wednesday

Want knot Portland, Ore., math rockers 31knots are going full-steam ahead, stealing from only the best: the trio's latest album title, A Word Is Also a Picture of a Word (54°40' or Fight!), was cribbed from Don DeLillo's Libra; their sound swipes Fugazi's muscular rhythms and Gang of Four's energetic musical dialectic, along with King Crimson and Yes' proggy forays into chord progressions unknown. It's all on the up-and-up, however, because the end result is so listenable – sharp edges, impassioned vocals, and all. Check Engine, which includes members of Sweep the Leg Johnny, and 31knots labelmates Caesura also perform. 9 p.m., Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., S.F. $7. (415) 474-0365. (Chun)