8 Days a Week

Sept. 3-10, 2003

THE SAN FRANCISCO Fringe Festival – along with all fringe festivals, actually (there's a loosely linked international network of them) – occupies a space of its own in the world of theater. The fest has unique fans (many of whom rarely go to other theater events during the year) who approach the shows with a good-spirited expectation that colors the entire event. On a weekend evening, you'll find crowds walking through the Tenderloin from venue to venue (every hour or so – all works are 60 minutes or less), talking and laughing like they've just left a party. This is theater without white gloves and evening wear; the festival lineup is uncurated, meaning that most shows are selected by a lottery of some sort and go up sight unseen. That also means the performances, which can take any size, shape, or style, are sometimes amateurish, sometimes anarchic, and often created and performed in the same freewheeling spirit audiences bring with them. This year's fest features some 56 plays, performed over 11 days – and truth be told, what I know about them isn't much. I am familiar with one performer – Liebe Wetzel, who, with her company, Lunatique Fantastique, has never met an object that couldn't be turned into a puppet, nor has she made a puppet that couldn't be used to create some imaginative theater. Overall, the Fringe is cheap and fun: life should always be like that. Through Sept. 14. Mon.-Fri., 7, 8:30, and 10 p.m. (also Fri., 11:30 p.m.); Sat., shows run 1-11:30 p.m.; Sun., 11:30 a.m.-8:30 p.m. Various venues, S.F. $8 or less per show (10-show pass, $55). (415) 673-3847, www.sffringe.org. (J.H. Tompkins)

Sept. 3

Wednesday

Hot club Tonight Kinky take to the Fillmore's stage with their unfettered, electro-pop dance-party music. The quintet of sexy Monterrey, Mexico, natives have enjoyed meteoric success since the release of their debut album last year, and they've packed music halls across the globe in addition to garnering a Grammy nomination. The band's music draws on elements as far-flung as rockabilly, samba, and traditional Mexican rhythms. Unlike many electronic outfits, their live performances rival the intensity and depth of their recordings; as a result, Kinky's audiences have been hard-pressed to resist dancing frantically to the band's unique sound. After the show, if you're still craving south of the border sounds, make your way back to the Fillmore Tuesday (8 p.m.; $20) for Café Tacuba, rock en español mainstays who play a mosh-worthy mix of rock, ska, hip-hop, and funk. 8 p.m., Fillmore, 1805 Geary, S.F. $19.50. (415) 346-6000. (Mirissa Neff)

Sept. 4

Thursday

Media mutiny Do you trust corporate America to control everything you hear, see, and read? If not, you're not alone. Last spring, in a tidal wave of popular outcry, more than two million Americans took the time to tell the Federal Communications Commission they opposed any further relaxation of the rules limiting how much of the TV, print, and radio industries any one company can own. FCC chair Michael Powell (son of you know who) and his two co-Republicans on the commission ignored our concerns and, violating their responsibility to safeguard the public interest, voted June 2 to slash several key media industry regulations – thereby opening the floodgates to unprecedented mergers and even further consolidating a handful of media behemoths' control over news and entertainment. Today the slash-backs go into effect. And although members of Congress have been taking some meager steps to turn back the tide, those moves simply don't go far enough and are by no means a done deal. Join media mutineers from Media Alliance, Global Exchange, Network Against Disinformation, and CodePink at a rally in front of KPIX-TV, KGO-TV, and Fox News Channel studios – part of a nationwide protest calling for the reversal of the FCC's roguish handout – and stand up for diverse, accessible, and accountable media. 5 p.m., KPIX-TV, KGO-TV, and Fox News Channel studios, 855 Battery, S.F. Free. (415) 575-5555, info@media-alliance.org, www.reclaimthefcc.org. (Camille T. Taiara)

Strings attached Wherever post-postmodernist leanings abound, there really ought to be some puppetry on hand to make them go down smoothly. Fortunately, there's Lavender Diamond and the Long Armed Lady present Birdsong Bauharoque, a combination of puppetry, performance, film, and lectures based on the philosophical concept of the Bauharoque. In his book Phenomenology of Revelation, artist and philosopher Paul Lafolley proposed the Bauharoque as the "last period in the Modern cycle," a time of unrivaled challenges for humankind just before the advent of the second Dark Ages. The abolition of cynical ideals is a prerequisite to the reclamation of Lafolley's age, so the puppets have their work cut out for them. 8 p.m., Artists' Television Access, 992 Valencia, S.F. $5. (415) 824-3890. (Anup Pradhan)

People on the stage Los Angeles's own-school hip-hoppers People under the Stairs team up with Portland, Ore.'s not-so-secret weapon Lifesavas for a night of bling-free beats with plenty of bounce. On PUTS's just-released Om Records album ...Or Stay Tuned, Double K and Thes One keep the emphasis on kicking back and feeling the groove, not stretching for the next thing so much that they lose the flow. Neither backpack nor indie rap, a PUTS joint is just plain old hip-hop: digging in the crates, looping some beats, and dropping rhymes that make you grin like a fool. Ugly Duckling also play. 9 p.m., Slim's, 333 11th St., S.F. $16. (415) 522-0333. (Peter Nicholson)

In touch Long before John Edward starting crossing over (and even before Dionne Warwick had any psychic friends), fortune-telling proved to be an endlessly fascinating pursuit among the metaphysically curious. In fact, at the turn of the last century, the San Francisco Call newspaper even employed a palmistry editor, one Madame Neergard, who recorded her readings of palms belonging to San Franciscans both distinguished and disreputable. Learn more – like, how was the palmistry page really that different from modern-day astrology columns? – when the Society of California Pioneers hosts a lecture by Meredith Eliassen. The historian discusses 'Palms of Famous People Read by Madame Neergard,' a circa 1899-1903 scrapbook that records a most unusual side of S.F. shortly before "the big one" hit. 6 p.m. (reception 5:30 p.m.), Society of California Pioneers, 300 Fourth St., S.F. Free. (415) 957-1849, www.californiapioneers.org. (Cheryl Eddy)

Sept. 5

Friday

No hate for Tate Blues performer Howard Tate could have used a break about a decade ago when he was coping with the death of his daughter and grappling with homelessness and drug and alcohol addiction. Things have been turning around for Tate of late, though – he gave a stirring performance at last year's San Francisco Blues Festival, and now he has a new album in the bag, Rediscovered (Private Music/BMG), of originals by his original producer-songwriter Jerry Ragovoy, plus one cowritten with Elvis Costello. There is justice. 9 p.m., Boom Boom Room, 1601 Fillmore, S.F. $15. (415) 621-4455. (Kimberly Chun)

Over the rainbow The ladies of the TilFriday drag cabaret hit the century mark in style with an all-out extravaganza in honor of their 100th performance. The two-part affair kicks off with a "Best of the Special Guests" show, featuring favorite guest performers from TilFriday's past. But the feathers (and rhinestones and faux fur) really begin to fly at midnight, when the core cast – Cockatielia, Sofonda Boyz, Karen Kill, Suppositori Spelling, Holotta Tymes, and the Bay Guardian's own Manley Lennox – reprises TilFriday's most popular show, a twisted homage to The Wizard of Oz. Expect this yellow brick road to be paved with a creative mix of music (the "Tin Woman" warbles "Heart of Glass," "Stop Dragging My Heart Around," and other ticker-themed songs), special effects (flying monkeys may or may not appear), Wiz references, and poppy field-enhanced mayhem galore. 10:30 p.m. and midnight, Club Rendez-Vous, 1312 Polk, S.F. $5. (415) 309-CLUB. (Eddy)

Sept. 6

Saturday

Along the way Photographer Ted Pushinksky's first assignment for his college newspaper was to shoot an anti-Vietnam War demonstration in Manhattan; 35 years later, he shot an anti-Iraq war protest for a German magazine. In between Pushinsky captured the world as it went by in finely nuanced, evocative snapshots he's put together in an exhibit called 'Between the Wars,' at a bar that sits directly above the Stockton Tunnel. Stop by if you're downtown. Through Oct. 3. Call for hours (reception Sept. 11, 6 p.m.), Tunnel Top, 601 Bush, S.F. Free. (415) 986-8900. (J.H. Tompkins)

Sept. 7

Sunday

From Russia with love Type "Siberia" into any search engine and you'll call up a tourism Web site that reassuringly notes there's more to the region than "frozen tundras and prison camps." Like, for example, Krasnoyarsk, the National Dance Company of Siberia – who save you the trouble of making the trip by performing locally at the Marin Center. The 43-year-old company specializes in folkloric dance (expect much athletic leaping and pirouetting from the male dancers) accompanied by music played on traditional instruments. The show, which also features an exquisite array of costumes, includes the intriguingly titled The Mother-in-Law Had Seven Son-in-Laws, as well as a Cossack dance, Krasny Yar. 3 p.m., Marin Center, Marin Veterans' Memorial Auditorium, Avenue of the Flags at Civic Center, San Rafael. $18-$32. (415) 499-6800. (Eddy)

Sept. 8

Monday

Umbrella optional It might seem kind of strange to have an outdoor sculpture exhibit planned for the months of September through December. But the folks at the University of San Francisco obviously aren't weather shy; come rain, rain, or rain, they're presenting Give and Take: Sculpture/USF/2003, their fourth annual outdoor sculpture exhibition. The works include Gail Caulfield's ceramic Adam and Eve statues (rendered actual size); Peter Eller's concrete Suitcases; Distance, a conceptual piece by Bill Ivey that incorporates a redwood tree; and variously nature-influenced works by Deborah Childress, Ann Weber, and Cheryl Coon (whose Organism floats in the library's fountain). The exhibit goes up today (stop by the main USF gate to pick up a map and information), plus there'll be an opening reception with the artists and a guided tour later this month. Through Dec. 21 (reception Sept. 26, noon-2 p.m.). University of San Francisco, 2130 Fulton, S.F. Free. (415) 422-5762, www.usfca.edu/library/thacher. (Eddy)

Sept. 9

Tuesday

Space is the place As the final days of summer expire, no band seems more deserving to pound out the funereal procession than Subarachnoid Space. Their muscular psychedelia and proggy space rock embrace the end of sunshine and flip-flops in the park: the partially improvised guitars and organ droning over compositions bubbling with texture and ambience leave behind the dreamy, lolling season in favor of a more complex, cerebral one. Helios Creed and Captured! by Robots also play. 9 p.m., Cat Club, 1190 Folsom, S.F., $7. (415) 431-3332. (Pradhan)

Sept. 10

Wednesday

Game of life The Lab opens the floodgates on its 20th anniversary season with an appropriately monumental work: Performing Objects Stationed in the Sub World, a new experimental play by noted poet, playwright, and prose writer Carla Harryman. Harryman – a longtime local luminary, though she's now a college prof in Detroit – enjoys a happy (if temporary) homecoming of sorts with the first full-scale production of the play. In typical Harryman fashion, Performing Objects was created collaboratively, with director Jim Cave, visual artist Amy Trachtenberg (set and costume designer), and musician Erling Wold (whose score incorporates operatic and avant-garde elements). The work traverses the borders of cities and suburbs, delving into relationships between people who confront each other under various circumstances. Exploratory and probing, and aiming to "describe an inter-cultural social conscience," Harryman's latest will no doubt delight her old-school fans, while also offering neophytes a chance to be properly introduced. Through Sept. 27. Opens tonight, 8 p.m.; runs Thurs.-Fri. (also Sept. 20, 27; no show Sept. 11), 8 p.m., Lab, 2948 16th St., S.F. $10-$20. (415) 864-8855, www.thelab.org. (Eddy)