8 Days a Week

Aug. 20-27, 2003

TWO THINGS ARE sure about up-and-cumming Las Ultrasónicas, an all-female garage punk band from Mexico City: they've got a thing for sex, and they sure like to role-play. One moment they're independent women who reject girlie obsessions with romance and boyfriends in favor of free, uh, "love." The next they're sleazy coke whores who (as the song's chorus drives home) like to swallow. And although listening to their latest CD, Oh sí, mas mas (Oh yes, more more), a few times might leave some of us wishing, after a while, that these gals would proceed beyond defining themselves almost purely in relation to sex and men, it's also true that in many parts of the world outside San Francisco, women spitting in the face of sexual convention is still a radical thing. Either way, word is Las Ultrasónicas put on one hell of a show. With their aggressive, fuck-it-all attitude and coquettish high-energy punk rock with surf undertones, they're sure to get everyone hot, sweaty, and begging for more. With Human Life Index, Viki, and Mammal Fri/22, 9 p.m., Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., S.F. $7. (415) 621-4455. (Also with the Phantom Surfers, the Glamour Pussies, and the Graves Brothers Deluxe Sat/23, 8 p.m., Balazo/Mission Badlands Gallery, 2811 Mission, S.F. $7. 415-550-1108. With the Flakes, the Bobbyteens, Panty Raid, and the Poontang Wranglers Sun/24, 3 p.m., Stork Club, 2330 Telegraph, Oakl. $5. 510-444-6174.) (Camille T. Taiara)

Aug. 20

Wednesday

Age before beauty Let's not skate around the subject: Robert Pollard is getting old. He's already had twice as many birthdays as those cool new musicians from New York. But age hasn't stopped Pollard and his band Guided by Voices from becoming indie rock standards. GBV has been churning out brilliant lo-fi pop records since its conception in Dayton, Ohio, circa 1983. Town elder that he is, Pollard already has 14 full-lengths to his credit. Just this year he has put out a new LP, an EP, and a 7-inch. Apparently embarrassed by his dwindling productivity, Pollard has decided to release yet another 2003 full-length, titled Earthquake Glue (Matador). Not a man to tend gardens and watch golf, Pollard performs twice in San Francisco to support his new record, satiating fans with his Sonic-Youth-meets-British-invasion rock 'n' roll and high-kicking stage antics. Cherish it while the joint is still intact ... just kidding! Tommy Keene opens. 8 p.m., Bimbo's 365 Club, 1025 Columbus, S.F. $20. (415) 474-0365 (also Thurs/21, 6:30 p.m., Amoeba Music, 1855 Haight, S.F. Free. 415-831-1200). (Phil Herrick)

Aug. 21

Thursday

Local hero R&B vocalist Lenny Williams helped create some of Oakland's finest musical moments when – as a member of Tower of Power – he sang lead on songs like "What Is Hip?" and the huge hit "So Very Hard to Go." Williams left TOP in 1975, and though he never became a big star, he built a respectable solo career that included two successful albums for the ABC label in the late '70s. The bottom line is that Williams has a gorgeous tenor, and hit records or not, he's a veteran, solid performer. 5 p.m., Oakland City Center Plaza, near 14th St. and Broadway, Oakl. Free. (510) 628-8490. (J.H. Tompkins)

Aug. 22

Friday

Broadcast news These days even the Republicans hate the Federal Communications Commission. Sure, they hate it more in a Charlton Heston, "from my cold, dead hands" way than most San Franciscans, but regardless, Michael Powell's deregulation, media consolidations, and megamergers have got to go. On July 2 longtime microradio station San Francisco Liberation Radio (where I'm a volunteer DJ) was hit with a cease and desist order. Serving S.F. and the East Bay since 1993, Liberation Radio broadcasters include local activists, queer youth, and the San Francisco Tenants Union, and they're currently petitioning the San Francisco Board of Supervisors for their support while exploring legal options. Tonight SFLR presents a speech by antifascist researcher Dave Emory, who discusses the "Underground Reich" and its connection to Sept. 11; proceeds benefit the campaign to keep SFLR on the air. 7 p.m., New College of California, 777 Valencia, S.F. $10 requested donation. (415) 648-9222. (Katje Richstatter)

Aug. 23

Saturday

Joyful noise Nothing says summer like burnt, meaty treats on the beach and some dissonance under the sun. Get your fill of both at the second annual Noiserock Picnic, the free, generator-run outdoor debauch held at Warm Water Cove, affectionately known as Toxic Beach. Come gorge and sweat to bands including 400 Blows, Totimoshi, Lower Forty-Eight, Replicator, the Mae Shi, and Porch, who apparently feature a former member of Primus. Remember Primus? Bring your own grillables for Bill the Grill, who kindly cooks them for you, mom style. 1-7 p.m., Warm Water Cove, end of 24th St. (off Third St.), S.F. Free (donations accepted). home.earthlink.net/~noiserock/news.html. (Anup Pradhan)

All aboard Don't blink – you might miss a decade's worth of information in The Complete Condensed History of the Bay Area: Seafarers to Silicon Valley, a breakneck survey of key events that rips "from Ohlone to dot commers in two hours." Performed by energetic living-history proponents Michael and Renee Oakes of Live Oakes Educational Theatre, History – presented by the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park's 2003 fall theater series – makes use of real-life accounts from letters, journals, and other documents from the past. Though the show's pace clearly won't allow for in-depth exploration, it will no doubt vividly illustrate how far California has come in a relatively short time. And anyway, where else can you learn about Native Americans, the gold rush, the 1906 quake, beat poets, and the Summer of Love in one fell swoop? Added bonus: the show's setting aboard the vintage 1886 square-rigger Balclutha adds a unique dimension to the storytelling. Through Sept. 20. Opens today, 8 p.m.; runs Sat., 8 p.m. (no show Sept. 6); Sept. 7, 7 p.m. Aboard the Balclutha, Fisherman's Wharf, Hyde St. Pier, S.F. $10-$15. (415) 561-6662, ext. 11. (Cheryl Eddy)

Country time Anyone craving some of that small-town, county fair feeling without wanting to endure the long drive, crowds, rides, bugs, or direct sunlight should consider the California Country Rock Show and Chili Cook-Off. The early-afternoon extravaganza distills the quintessential carnival experience down to its most rewarding elements: food and music. Arrive early to partake in an endless flurry of Crock-Pot creations and honky-tonking. I See Hawks in L.A., the Bellyachers, Kaz Murphy, Dave Gleason's Wasted Days, Mike Stinson, and Johnny Dilks and His Visitacion Valley Boys provide a soundtrack of pure country crooning to eat your beans to. 2-9 p.m., Parkside, 1600 17th St., S.F. $6. (415) 503-0393. (Pradhan)

Aug. 24

Sunday

Carry that weight When artist Emily Duffy called for bra donations last year, obliging women all over the world stripped. She received more than 10,000 bras with which to build her sculpture BraBall, currently standing four feet high and weighing more than 1,000 pounds. The artist and her supporters (har, har!) add 7,000 bras to complete the work at the 'Final BraBall Roll-On' in an effort to make the ball's height match that of an average American woman. The benefit event features live music, poetry, refreshments, and Jen Speed's film Full Support: The Story of the BraBall. Proceeds benefit the San Francisco Women's Building, which offers resources to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community and underserved women and girls in San Francisco. 11 a.m.-5 p.m., SomArts Cultural Center, 934 Brannan, S.F. Sliding scale donation. (415) 552-2131, www.braball.com. (Elizabeth Lobsenz)

Appleseed of my eye From little seeds, epic emo comes. Giving up the funny, sunny salad days of the West Coast, the former Angelenos of Appleseed Cast went the way of all-naked lunches and relocated to William S. Burroughs's old stomping grounds, Lawrence, Kan., back in 1998. Since then they've been patiently laying the groundwork on the road (weathering several lineup changes and putting out five releases) for their large-picture, aired-out indie rock – a hybrid of Built to Spill, Modest Mouse, and Tristeza rooted somewhere between Idaho's grandiosity and San Diego's telescopic qualities. Making up, breaking up, and love and some of its many permutations are the subjects of the Appleseed Cast's latest full-length, Two Conversations (Tiger Style), as the fivesome eat from the tree of knowledge and come up sounding, at moments, like Cursive. The Mercury Program and Chin Up, Chin Up also perform. 9 p.m., Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., S.F. $7. (415) 474-0365. (Kimberly Chun)

Aug. 25

Monday

Alien nation Feeling left out, or weirdly different, or like a perpetual sore thumb – ironically, most folks can easily relate to that. Effortlessly popular types (Britney Spears, go home!) might want to give 'Being on the Outside,' an evening of monologues by Bay Area playwrights directed by Alice Shikina, a pass, but every other member of the human race will probably find some common ground. Artists participating in this "journey into the landscape of the exiled" include Margery Kreitman, Carl Thelin, Marilyn Crier Hughes, Melinda Fogle, Tony Pisculli, Aoise Stratford, Seana Magee, Melissa Klein, and Jane Chen. Through Tues/26. 8 p.m., Noh Space, 2840 Mariposa, S.F. $10-$15. (415) 621-7978. (Also Sept. 13-28, Sat.-Sun., 8 p.m., Jon Sims Center for the Arts, 1519 Mission, S.F. $12-$15. 415-771-0696.) (Eddy)

Aug. 26

Tuesday

Mars attracts Today and tomorrow, Mars reaches its closest approach to Earth in 100,000 years. To celebrate our space friend's brief visit, the Chabot Space and Science Center invites you to a Mars Mania Costume Party. Dress like a Martian (every visitor in costume receives a door prize; feel free to turn this into a Bowie thing if you need an excuse to wear glitter), see a planetarium show and movie previews, and get a good look at the surface of the red planet (and its little green men?) with Chabot's telescopes. This event is part of its "Summer of Mars" series, which examines the reasons for exploring Mars (including seeking out the possibility of water and life forms), in keeping with NASA's current missions to the planet. 9 p.m.-1 a.m., Chabot Space and Science Center, 10000 Skyline Blvd., Oakl. $8-$11. (510) 336-7300, www.chabotspace.org. (Lobsenz)

Acid casuals Help Caustic Resin. They've fallen, and they can't get up. Just listen to "People Fall Down," the opening track of their latest album, Keep on Truckin (Up), and imagine Ozzy as one of those dreaded death dwarves in Rust Never Sleeps or Don't Look Now, locked in a hypnotic, narcotic routine of Caustic Resin's murk rock. Fry-daddy Osbourne opens his maw to scream and wake himself from the nightmare, but to no avail – C.R.'s hellish hand tools, wah wah and reverb, drown out his howls. Ozz struggles, stumbles, and slows to a crawl as cymbal crashes kerrang through his fading consciousness. Ah, we should all be so lucky – this is the next best thing to retreating to a local cemetery with a pocketful of doobage, acid rock mix tapes, and your very own indispensable sour disposition. E-Zee Tiger and Crime in Choir also play. 9 p.m., Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., S.F. $7. (415) 474-0365. (Chun)

Aug. 27

Wednesday

Hell yeah Overshadowed by Michael Reeves's great Conqueror Worm, the icky German hit Mark of the Devil, and myriad subsequent exercises in screaming inquisition madness, 1971's The Blood on Satan's Claw – a very well-crafted thriller from director-cowriter Piers Haggard – remains one of the best witch-hunt horror films. Simple farmer Barry Andrews's accidental unearthing of a mysterious man-beast skeleton unleashes a wave of demonic possession in his rural 17th-century English shire. Soon comely schoolgirl Linda Hayden is recruiting other local youths to participate in the usual rash of rapes, orgies, ritual sacrifices, murders, self-mutilations, etc., which will ultimately lead to the resurrection of the original hairy, horned beast. Low on the typical genre clichés of burnings at the stake, purifying tortures, and bodice ripping, Blood pays attention to period detail and eerie, low-key pastoralism, which lends it a far more convincing atmosphere than usual for such exercises. It's well worth a look for horror fans, particularly given the lure of a studio vault print in this Pacific Film Archive presentation. 7:30 p.m., PFA Theater, 2575 Bancroft, Berk. $4-$8. (510) 642-1124. (Dennis Harvey)