March 5 2003

8 Days a Week

March 5-12, 2003

APATHETIC TYPES BE warned: the organizers of 'Movement,' a celebration of International Women's Day being held, appropriately enough, at the San Francisco Women's Building in the Mission District, are not gonna let you just sit back and watch the show. Though "a vision of a better world" is the overall theme of the event, a coproduction of the Women's Building, Brava!, Loco Bloco, Underground Railroad, and Mission Girls, the first portion of the evening – an art installation depicting the world at its worst, particularly in relation to women's issues – offers a harsh dose of the obstacles standing in the way of that goal. Next up is a performance that uses dance, spoken word, and song to imagine what could happen "after the revolution": a world created by and for women, with a violence-free and more family-friendly environment. Finally, the audience and artists will adjourn to an outside alleyway for an interactive street performance aimed at inspiring all in attendance to get involved in making that vision a reality. Folks lending their talents to "Movement" include event curator Rhodessa Jones (Cultural Odyssey, the Medea Project), artist María Elena Gaitán (a.k.a. Chola con Cello), Loco Bloco's young women's ensemble, Sisterz of the Underground, and others. Fri/7-Sun/9, 7 p.m., San Francisco Women's Building, 3543 18th St., S.F. $5-$30. (415) 431-1180, ext. 17. (Cheryl Eddy)

March 5

Wednesday

Male bonding San Francisco's Baldyrock Productions is onto a good thing: if theater is the art that contains all of the others, why not use theatrical productions to display the work of local artists? That's just the idea behind their new show, 'Boys' Life,' which features the work of graffiti artist Dave Warnke, comic artist Nate Van Dyke, sculptor Alex Marshall, fashion designer Yugala of A Motion Studios, and many others. The play, which garnered a Pulitzer Prize nomination for playwright Howard Korder, portrays the follies and failures of three former college buddies in a series of comic vignettes. Set in the late '80s and satirizing the masculine approach to sex and friendship, the play offers an exposé of what some are pleased to call the "male mind." Through Wed/12. Previews tonight and Thurs/6, 8 p.m. Opens Fri/7, 8 p.m. Runs Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m. Actors Theatre of San Francisco, 533 Sutter, S.F. $10-$20. (415) 436-9400, www.boyslifesf.com. (Amir Baghdachi)

March 6

Thursday

Catch the wave It might just be me, or the state of high anxiety we're all in, but we seem to be getting a lot of unsolicited yet welcome advice from album titles nowadays. First Cat Power tells us You Are Free, then indie popsters Nada Surf bid us Let Go, the name of their third album. It seems odd to be soothed by the music of artists who have been through the wringer themselves – in Nada Surf's case, it was the fact that Elektra "didn't hear a single" in the follow-up to their debut, High/Low, which spawned the hit "Popular." Still plenty popular in Europe, very much the neo-Spoon poster children with media types, and quite the B.M.O.C. at their current label, Barsuk, the band drift into town with pop hooks in tow, playing with Sondre Lerche, the Long Winters, and the People. 8:30 p.m., Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., S.F. $10. (415) 621-4455. (Kimberly Chun)

Sister act Shrewdly noting that plays combining violence, obscenity, and nuns are few and far between, intrepid Last Planet Theatre is out to remedy the situation with the Bay Area premiere of 'Ursula: Fear of the Estuary.' Written by controversial British playwright Howard Barker, who dubs his style the "theatre of catastrophe," the play is a warped and wicked version of the legend of St. Ursula, who promised to marry a man without breaking her vow of virginity. In Barker's savage retelling, the pious Ursula is flanked by her strange Christlike groom, a blind vagrant, a mother superior with amorous feelings of her own, and an auxiliary squadron of eight virgins. As always with Last Planet's surreal spectaculars, expect to leave the theater groping for normality. Through March 23. Previews tonight, 8 p.m. Opens Fri/7, 8 p.m. Runs Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 7 p.m., SomArts, 934 Brannan, S.F. $12-$15 (preview, audience members receive $1; opening night $20). (510) 845-2687. (Baghdachi)

March 7

Friday

Depth perception More than money and recognition, artists need space and time – to try out ideas, to fail, to focus, to work. Last fall New College of California, long an artist-friendly institution, started the Experimental Performance Institute, where Erica Shuch workshopped her promising piece Vis-à-vis (which has since been performed at the Magic Theatre). Now it's inkBoat member Tanya Calamoneri's turn with 'Bottomless Pit: The Descent,' a collaboration with video artists Andrew Lyndon and Paige Sorvillo and musician Damon Smith – who create an environment where Calamoneri can place her choreography, which in the past has hovered between experienced and imagined reality. Much like the "woman-child" character in Bottomless Pit tries to find her bearing in an unfamiliar visual-aural surroundings, Calamoneri is trying to get to that mysterious place where different media/modes of expression find a common ground and spark off one another. Through March 16. Fri.-Sun., 8 p.m., New College Theater, 777 Valencia, S.F. $13 (no one turned away for lack of funds). (415) 437-3487, ext. 9. (Rita Felciano)

March 8

Saturday

Future's so bright Get a glimpse of San Francisco's next wave of dance talent at 'Jumpstart: Generations Rising,' the first-ever youth festival cosponsored by ODC Theater, Zaccho Dance Theatre, and Chitresh Das Dance Company. Don't go expecting an amateurish recital designed to appeal only to doting grandparents – these kids, who range in age from 9 to 17, take what they're doing very seriously. Participating groups include the ODC Dance Jam and the ODC Jellies, who incorporate modern and ballet techniques; Zaccho Youth Company, who fly through the air performing Joanna Haigood's aerial choreography; and North Indian Kathak dance troupe Chitresh Das Youth Company. Through Sun/9. 2 p.m. (also tonight, 7 p.m.), ODC Theater, 3152 17th St., S.F. $7-$10. (415) 863-9834. (Cheryl Eddy)

March 9

Sunday

California toughie While a future Geraldine Fibbers reunion purportedly isn't completely out of the question, fans awaiting another round of countrified punk catharsis from that much-missed Los Angeles band should check out the Carla Bozulich Revue. Along with guitar guru Nels Cline and San Francisco's own Todd Sickafoose, the former Fibbers' singer-guitarist promises a medley of material culled from her past and present musical projects. And while that includes highly anticipated selections from the catalogs of the Fibbers and improv-prone Scarnella, it just might be the songs from Bozulich's upcoming retelling of Willie Nelson's Red Headed Stranger – on which the country legend himself guests – that steals this show. El Fay (a.k.a. Seven Year Bitch/Mudwimin's Lisa Fay) and Carla Kihlstedt's 2 Foot Yard also perform. 9 p.m., Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., S.F. $7. (415) 621-4455. (Jimmy Draper)

Jingling baby One of videomaker Art Jones's recent MTV critiques looks back to a time when LL Cool J was simply big and not enormous (a recent Armond White review of Deliver Us from Eva compared LL's head to a "ten-pound garbanzo bean") and gives him another body. Jones's short works are often in video format – lasting the length of a song – but he subverts visual expectations and foregrounds lyrics. Thus, in "Nurture," Ol' Dirty Bastard's "Brooklyn Zoo" is paired with footage from an actual trip to the Bronx Zoo (and some terrific digital animation), a matchup that somehow intensifies the trembling, on-the-verge-of-explosion quality of ODB's vocals. Both videos are part of "Mama Said Knock You Out One More Time: The Media Manipulations of Art Jones," an evening that also includes a VJ performance by Jones. 7:30 p.m., San Francisco Art Institute, 800 Chestnut, S.F. $4-$7. (415) 552-1990. (Johnny Ray Huston)

March 10

Monday

'Round the bend Guitarists have been at the forefront of jazz fusion ever since John McLaughlin broke out of the Tony Williams and Miles Davis bands to form the Mahavishnu Orchestra. With each new CD, the Bay Area's Jack West bids to join McLaughlin, Scofield, Frisell, DiMeola, et al. in the pantheon of innovative crossover pickers. Using a custom eight-string acoustic guitar, West is able (like Charlie Hunter) to play his own bass parts while plucking his intriguing melodies. His band Curvature – Joel Davel on electronic "marimba lumina," David Phillips on pedal steel, and Peter Valsamis on drums – gives West's tricky compositions bright counterpoints, moody country and western atmospherics, and a funk-tinged foundation. The band's new CD, Around About Now (Ahead Behind), becomes available tonight. 8 and 10 p.m., Yoshi's, 510 Embarcadero West, Jack London Square, Oakl. $10. (510) 238-9200. (Derk Richardson)

March 11

Tuesday

Televised revolution Do yourself a favor – break away from MSNBC's shouty Hardball and venture a few clicks up the dial to San Francisco's public access station, channel 29. Tonight marks the second installment of 'Independent Media Network,' a half-hour program devoted to stories the mainstream news outlets don't (or won't) cover, underground films and docs, and all manner of good old-fashioned culture jamming. Last week's debut show featured the Guerrilla News Network's "AfterMath: Unanswered Questions about 9/11"; the theme continues this evening with the group's "S-11 Redux: (Channel) Surfing the Apocalypse," a short film that reconsiders Sept. 11, 2001, through sound bites from the corporate media. Also on the program are spots by Adbusters that spoof ads and public service announcements; vintage propaganda films; R. Room's "Unhappy Meal," which takes on McDonald's; and "Pie Fight '69," Sam Green and Christian Bruno's short about a pastry-laden ruckus at the 1969 San Francisco International Film Festival. And it ain't stopping here: the activists behind Independent Media Network hope to eventually expand to public airwaves in Portland, Ore., Seattle, Brooklyn, and other locations across the United States. 10 p.m., Access San Francisco, channel 29, www.imntv.org. (Eddy)

March 12

Wednesday

The one Whether he's playing a master criminal (Heist), an angel (A Life Less Ordinary), or something in between (Judge Clarence Thomas in Showtime's Strange Justice), actor Delroy Lindo has a talent for improving whatever Hollywood movie he's in. With his striking mixture of charm and menace, Lindo first won acclaim with his roles in Get Shorty and Malcolm X. But the actor's magnificent presence serves him even better on the stage, earning him a Tony nomination in 1988 for his portrayal of Harold Loomis in Joe Turner's Come and Gone. Lindo, a graduate of San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater, speaks tonight on the strange and marvelous topic "Maintaining Integrity in Hollywood." Come early (5:15 p.m.) for the reception and hobnob with the only thing that ruled about The Cider House Rules. 6 p.m., Commonwealth Club, 595 Market, second floor, S.F. $15, free for members. (415) 597-6705. (Baghdachi)