8 Days a Week

Sept. 24-Oct. 1, 2003

MOVE OVER, Buena Vista Social Club. The Blind Boys of Alabama – yep, formed at the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind in 1939 – are coming to town. Epitomizing the transcending of limits harmonized in their Grammy-winning gospel recordings, the Blind Boys (fronted by founding members Clarence Fountain, Jimmy Carter, and George Scott) headline the fifth annual Ever Widening Circle: An Evening of Entertainment Celebrating Art and Disability, presented by the World Institute on Disability and the Corporation on Disabilities and Telecommunication, with actor Danny Glover as honorary chair. Make no mistake: these septuagenarians do rock, with a repertoire of traditional spirituals as well as inspired renderings of Dylan, Stevie Wonder, and Funkadelic, among others. Having collaborated with the best names in eclectic music, including Bay Area locals Tom Waits and Michael Franti, they were inducted into the Gospel Music Association Gospel Music Hall of Fame last April and will open shows on Peter Gabriel's upcoming European tour. Sharing the stage at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts is Oakland's innovative and adventurous Axis Dance Company; Tanyalee Davis, a dynamo of stand-up comedy in a modest three-foot, six-inch frame; and renowned deaf performance artist, storyteller, and poet Peter Cook. It's a lineup that boldly moves beyond the bounds of the expected. Thurs/25, 7 p.m., Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater, 700 Howard, S.F. $15 and up. (510) 251-4370, www.wid.org. (Robert Avila)

Sept. 24

Wednesday

Sew true Shopping is often blessed, by happy consumers, for its therapeutic value. And yet it can feel more like an est seminar if you find your body type is out of fashion among the folks designing off-the-rack clothes. Local artist Jenny Zhang takes up a needle and thread to tackle this issue with Gauze, a series of workshops in which participants learn how to hand alter their clothes in ways that draw attention to problems with mass production and body image. The idea for the workshops came out of a video project Zhang did at Stanford University called "Gauze: Make Clothes Fit Bodies, Not Bodies Fit Clothes." Both the video, about making a piece of clothing that actually fits, and the end product, a dress with an extravagantly long train, are on view through Nov. 30 at the Independent Design Center, where the workshops take place. Participants of all experience levels can drop in at one workshop or attend all six to develop an ongoing project or two. Through Nov. 30. Workshops every other Sun. (next workshop Oct. 5), 2-4 p.m.; video and installation Wed.-Sun., noon-7 p.m., Independent Design Collective, 52 Mason, S.F. Free. www.jennyzhang.org. (Lynn Rapoport)

Sept. 25

Thursday

Dirty words If you've ever sullied your mind with James and the Giant Peach, you understand why such smut has been necessarily censored and removed from school libraries, bookstores, and other institutions over the years. Er, yeah. Since the early 1980s, Banned Books Week has existed to celebrate our basic right to read whatever the heck we want – even shocking material like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Of Mice and Men, The Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Outsiders (all on the list of "most banned" books). Tonight the San Francisco Public Library hosts a reading that pairs notable local poets and authors (including San Francisco poet laureate devorah major and Bay Guardian contributor Michelle Tea) with titles like Lord of the Flies, Native Son, and Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. In these Ashcroftian times, no freedom (including, and especially, the freedom to read Judy Blume at will) should be taken for granted. 6:30-8 p.m., San Francisco Public Library, Main Branch, Koret Auditorium, 100 Larkin, S.F. Free. (415) 557-4277, www.sfpl.org. (Cheryl Eddy)

Sept. 26

Friday

High-seas hijack Steeped in myth, shrouded in mystery, the Sounds of the Barbary Coast have existed for years like ghosts in the San Francisco underground. Shedding obscurity after a three-year absence, SOTBC have reformed from the ashes of Henry's Dress, the Ropers, the Church Steps, and the legendary NAM. Conjuring up, only to tear apart, elements of each band's previous work, the latest incarnation have transformed their trademark delicate sound into an energetic pile-up of distorted instruments and rousing vocals. Equally at home in a gallery as they are in a sweaty dive bar, members of the new lineup trade roles and instruments throughout every performance. This rotation of fresh blood has produced a constantly evolving hybrid of blown-out soul and rock and roll that even the most stoic, chin-scratching hipster must surrender to. Pete the Genius and Big Techno Werewolves also perform. 9 p.m., Edinburgh Castle Pub, 950 Geary, S.F. $5. (415) 885-4074. (John Lombardo)

Magnetic pole Take your favorite piece of studio equipment, accidentally drop it on the floor so it now adds random crackles, then base your compositions around this unpredictability – it worked for Stefan Betke, a.k.a. Pole. Although his recent eponymous album scrubs the static, Betke retains the microscopic attention to bare, essential detail that defines his work and brings his love of hip-hop to the fore, with guest rhymes courtesy of Ohio MC Fat Jon. Tonight Betke takes his minimalism live, while Pete Lawrence, cofounder of U.K. festival The Big Chill, keeps things ambient upstairs. 9 p.m., Club Six, 60 Sixth St., S.F. $12. (415) 863-1221. (Peter Nicholson)

Sept. 27

Saturday

The boomin' system Local clubber Betty Nguyen knows how to track the pulses of electronic music's most fun beasties, having championed an electro revival long before electroclash was coined, let alone before it became played out. Now Nguyen is putting her style in motion with a club night, Betty's Boombox II. The first installment included the "live death goth jumprope" of Double Dutchess and Imperial Teen member Will Schwartz's solo foray into pop-'n'-lock soul. For a follow-up, Nguyen has recruited Japan's Healthy Healthy, Warp artist Sote, and Tigerbeat6's Mochipet (whose next CD – a copyright-be-damned affair partly devoted to artists with "White" in their names, as well as Captain and Tennille – plops onto store shelves this November). Get ready for broke breaking beats. 10 p.m., Li Po Lounge, 916 Grant, S.F. $5. (415) 425-4835. (Johnny Ray Huston)

Picasso on the mic Local treasure DJ Collage is about to head off into the great white North. While Vancouver's gain is our loss, tonight's the chance to bid farewell to the affable MC whose singjay styles have graced tracks by Germany's Stereotyp, Different Drums, and Sofa Surfers. DJ Collage (the appropriately named Lawrence Chatman) has been busy on the home front as well, with spots on Meat Beat Manifesto's upcoming album, a collaboration with DJ/rupture, and plans for a solo joint. At Safe give him a proper send-off alongside selectors MikeBee (True Intent) and the U.K.'s Charlie Dark (Blacktronica). 10 p.m., Top, 424 Haight, S.F. $5, free before 10 p.m. (415) 864-7386. (Nicholson)

You are free The ghost of mail artist Ray Johnson visits San Francisco with the opening of "Free Mattress," a show of mixed media works and installations by S.F.-based David Larsen and Will Yackulic and Vancouver's Marc Bell and Amy Lockhart. In particular, Larsen and the Vancouver contingent revive Johnson's playful spirit, as well as his flair for creating "fun" works that, on closer inspection, possess biting content. A friend to and collaborator with today's poets à la Joe Brainard, Yackulic unveils moody new pieces that add optical and textual tricks to '80s video game cubes and grids. Post-"Mission school" starts here. Through Oct. 19. Reception tonight 6-10 p.m. (gallery hours Sat.-Sun., 3-8 p.m., or by appointment), Pond, 324 14th St., S.F. Free. (415) 437-9151. (Huston)

Sept. 28

Sunday

Pining for thee With shades of Saddle Creek – in a sleepy southland indie way – four-year-old L.A. trio Pine Marten dream like the other folks in their collective, the Ship, which includes Earlimart, Panty Lions, and Irving. On Beautiful Stakes and Power Poles, Pine Marten's debut and the first release off the Ship's label, Wild Hotels of the Sea, the band sound less like a traditional power trio than like a sleepy yet obsessive unit adept at churning out the kind of elastic, post-punk grooves that Modest Mouse and Built to Spill are so skilled at producing – all with a dark, droney Black Heart Processional cast. Los Halos and Continuous Peasant also play. 8:30 p.m., Make-Out Room, 3225 22nd St., S.F. $6. (415) 647-2888. (Also, with Los Halos Tues/30, 9:30 p.m., Starry Plough, 3101 Shattuck, Berk. $6. 510-841-2082.) (Kimberly Chun)

Sept. 29

Monday

On fire Out of Sunny Day Real Estate, once crowned the heirs to the modern rock throne, and into the Fire Theft, a band that seem destined for much of the same. Former SDRE vocalist Jeremy Enigk, bassist Nate Mendel, and drummer William Goldsmith continue to do their best to cannibalize their own past as well as that of classic power romanticists like the Who, AOR inbreds such as Rush, and '90s Zep-ophiles like Jane's Addiction. Now with Mendel and Goldsmith back from the Foo Fighter wars, the Seattle group have clearly chosen the epic path of heroes – regardless of whether you believe in Beowulf and the gang anymore. The band's self-titled Rykodisc debut goes for a mammoth, intense sound that rockets forcibly up to the misty mountaintops before taking it down a notch or two dozen for quiet interludes that might remind some of Sigur Rós. Laguardia also play. 8 p.m., Great American Music Hall, 859 O'Farrell, S.F. $16. (415) 885-0750. (Chun)

Sept. 30

Tuesday

Metal of honor Before maturing into the Napster-hating arena monsters we now know, Metallica spent five rowdy years recording some of metal's quintessential albums. Up until 1991's untitled but fittingly nicknamed Black Album, they revamped heavy metal into a brutal, prodigious, and socially conscientious machine. Even they know this, as their recent shows have skipped over five albums' worth of new material in favor of pre-Black Album gems like "Creeping Death" and "Blackened." If you'd rather not drop a tidy sum and sit through an opening act like Limp Bizkit to rediscover that old grandeur, go to the Cat Club tonight for Brewtallica, the closest, cheapest alternative. Stone (ex-member of underground metal attack Sangre Amado) and friends have taken on the selfless duty of covering purely old-school Metallica songs, and doing so with faithful accuracy. Their imitation is not so much a form of flattery as it is a necessity. The Lord Weird Slough Feg and Stone Vengeance also play. 9 p.m., Cat Club, 1190 Folsom, S.F. $5. (415) 431-3332. (Anup Pradhan)

Score! This year's MadCat Women's International Film Festival is just starting to wind down, but the fest – overall excellence aside – has saved one of its must-see events for (nearly) last. MadCat's seventh program, 'Clear Visions, Silent Filmmakers I,' should pack El Rio with fans clamoring to see essential films by experimental pioneer Maya Deren (1946's "Ritual in Transfigured Time," 1944's "At Land," and her signature "Meshes of the Afternoon," from 1943), as well as by the very first female filmmaker, Alice Guy-Blaché (1912's "Canned Harmony" and 1913's gender-bending "Officer Henderson"). Even better, the screening features live music by instrumental trio Secrets of Family Happiness, plus San Andreas and other special guests. Stay tuned for MadCat's closing program, "Clear Visions, Silent Filmmakers II," Oct. 5 at the PFA Theater, which highlights the works of early 20th-century mavericks Cleo Madison, Nell Shipman, and Lois Weber, with live accompaniment by Epic [Abridged] and guests. 8:30 p.m. (free barbecue 6:30 p.m.), El Rio, 3158 Mission, S.F. $7-$20, sliding scale. (415) 282-3325, www.madcatfilmfestival.org. (Eddy)

Oct. 1

Wednesday

Gamey types Denton, Texas's finest fivesome, Riverboat Gamblers, are the kind of band that aren't happy unless their album includes lots of crazed guitars and plenty of audible whooping it up, à la "Wheee-ooh," "Whooooah," and a few bouts of vicious hand clapping. Listening to the crowing on their second album, Something to Crow About (Gearhead), I'd even venture that they were misnamed: the Gamblers come off less like passive boating chaps who like to leave the steering to someone else than the sonic equivalent of hopped-up truckers superfueled by some high-octane garage punk, barreling down a rock 'n' roll highway to hell, and breaking the law like they were heading to the last Waffle House on earth. So don't get between these guys and their grits, and count on a live show that's said to have launched a few fierce bidding wars among various rapt labels. Bottles and Skulls and Jack Saints also perform. 10 p.m., Parkside, 1600 17th St., S.F. $7. (415) 503-0393. (Chun)