8 Days a Week

Nov. 12-19, 2003

NOT ALL ARTISTS and authors are helped along in their endeavors by wealthy patrons and big-ticket sales. POOR Press, a new media-access project of POOR Magazine, distributes works by extremely low- to no-income youths and adults and brings new voices into the publishing world. POOR Magazine's Digital Resistance Program provides graduates with the skills and the means to design and produce their own works of art and expression, allowing even the most destitute visionary the opportunity to break into the biz. At 'Just Resistin' and Getting Heard,' a book-release party and benefit, African American youth and adult poets, visual artists, and journalists present portions of their latest books and CDs. The participants have overcome intense hardships in order to bring their words and music – which draw on their personal experiences with deprivation, racism, resistance, and the struggle for survival – to the public. Turn out for an afternoon of talent and creativity, and chip in a donation to help the financially fragile POOR Magazine continue its important work. Sun/16, 2 p.m., San Francisco Main Library, Latino/Hispanic Community Room, 100 Larkin, S.F. $3-$10. www.poormagazine.org . (Melissa McCartney)

Nov. 12

Wednesday

Game on It's OK to admit it: these days just about everyone seems to be out of work. Get the lowdown on a growing career field that has nothing to do with double-decaf, sugar-free vanilla soy lattes. Video gaming is hot, and lots of us have been sucked in by those crazy puzzle adventure games that somehow make entire evenings vanish. Well, how about getting paid for playing? The Art Institute of California hosts 'Career Day: Breaking into Animation, Games, and Visual Effects,' with representatives from Industrial Light and Magic, Dreamworks, Wild Brain, Electronic Arts, and other notable companies on hand for a panel discussion covering career advice, job-hunting tips, and more. 7 p.m., Art Institute of California, 1170 Market, S.F. $5. (415) 865-0198, www.aicasf.aii.edu. (Cindy Emch)

Nov. 13

Thursday

Good morning, Captain Hailing from some deep, dark forest in rural Pennsylvania, Temple of Bon Matin are a free-form rock band, with the emphasis on the word free. For the past 12 years or so drummer Ed Wilcox has been collecting musicians and extracting from them a version of rock music that contains elements of Hawkwind, Judas Priest, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Don Cherry, UFO, Twisted Sister, MC5, the Doors, Ornette Coleman, Foghat, Monoshock, L.A. Guns, the Stooges, Humble Pie, Slade, the Godz, Exuma, Albert Ayler, Van Der Graaf Generator, Sun Ra, Paternoster, the Master Drummers of Burundi, Y&T, Joe Satriani, Trad Gras Och Stenar, Beefheart, early Krokus, the Soft Machine, Toto, those Moroccan pipe players poor dead Brian Jones was into, Amon Duul, Jimi Hendrix, Rainbow, Charlie Mingus, Pink Fairies, Flamin' Groovies, Cecil Taylor, Howlin' Wolf, and the Scorpions. Don't believe me? Just come to the show. Parts and Labor and Tyondai Braxton also perform. 10 p.m., Hemlock Tavern, 1131 Polk, S.F. $6. (415) 923-0923. (Mike McGuirk)

Blank degeneration "You fake your best impersonation of a functional human being," Tod A, leader of New York's Firewater, sings on "Too Much (Is Never Enough)," from the band's fourth full-length, The Man on the Burning Tightrope (Jetset). Mr. A has branched out considerably from his salad days with industrial noise-knockers Cop Shoot Cop and writes tunes of glorious, depraved destitution: say, it's five minutes until the strip club closes, the room's spinning, the bouncer's standing behind you cracking his knuckles, and you're slurring marriage proposals while trying to buy your last lap dance on credit. Firewater provides music to contemplate suicide to when you've lost your last bit of cash and self-respect at the nickel slots. Be prepared for some warped cover songs from their forthcoming Jetset release, Songs We Should Have Written, due in January and featuring alternate takes on Tom Waits, Robyn Hitchcock, Johnny Cash, Lee Hazlewood, and Sonny Bono, of all people. Full Moon Partisan and the Ebb and Flow also play. 9:30 p.m., Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., S.F. $10. (415) 621-4455. (Duncan Scott Davidson)

Chat show Mission District gallery space, theater, and all around happenin' venue Spanganga is at the forefront of cutting-edge art and performance – so it's no surprise that Stuart Eugene Bousel's new play, Speak to Me, presented by No Nude Men Productions and opening at Spanganga tonight, looks to be a little something different. Tapping into the complexities of a relationship between a charming ex-newscaster and a budding novelist, the docudrama captures the philosophical space we all live in as we try to make sense of how illogical our world can be. With cameos from modern archetypes like fashion models and wrestlers – who discuss topics along the lines of art, media, integrity, and betrayal – the play looks to tread intellectual water without losing its sense of humor. Through Nov. 22. Opens tonight, 8 p.m. Runs Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m., Spanganga, 3376 19th St., S.F. $10. (415) 752-2084. (Emch)

Good for laughs Nothing can hold down Cobb's Comedy Club – not even the fire that closed the venue's former Fisherman's Wharf location. Cobb's triumphant, long-awaited reopening at a 400-plus capacity theater in North Beach brings back a valuable Bay Area comedy resource: the place is independently owned (no Clear Channel here) and makes a point of booking a diverse array of stand-up performers. This week, the Olsen twins' own TV dad, Bob Saget, headlines a three-night run (Thurs/13-Sat/15) with locals Johnny Steele, Mark Pitta, and others. Plus, there'll be an all-female show with Suzanne Westenhoefer, Janis Lipton, and Reannie Roads (Sun/16), the ongoing All-Pro Comedy Showcase (Mon/17), and a preview of the upcoming San Francisco Sketch Comedy Festival (look for it in early 2004) with perennial favorites Kasper Hauser and Totally False People (Tues/18). Thurs/13-Tues/18, 8 p.m. (also Fri.-Sat., 10:15 p.m.), Cobb's Comedy Club, 915 Columbus, S.F. $15-$25. www.cobbscomedy.com. (Cheryl Eddy)

Nov. 14

Friday

Brazil via Berkeley The afternoon is hot and sunny, the skies are endlessly clear, and a barefoot woman in a breezy skirt ambles across the sand as the surf rises and falls in perfect rhythm to the song and dance of life. It's gorgeous, sensual, a peak experience: just another day on the beaches of Bahia. Let Superbacana – San Francisco's freshest faces on the samba-soul scene – take you there without ever leaving the dance floor. Snaking sax, buoyant flute, and sensual Portuguese vocals combine with funked-up guitar over those unmistakable timbale-driven Carnival rhythms, forcing one hip after another to sway until you feel you might become completely, unabashedly unhinged. The group celebrate the release of their four-song self-titled EP, a follow-up to their single on Ubiquity Records' Rewind! Vol. 2 compilation. 10 p.m., Lucre Lounge, 2086 Allston, Berk. $5. (510) 841-1390. (Jonathan Zwickel)

Nov. 15

Saturday

High jinks for a cause If there's one thing that links the artists featured at Footloose's Rockin' Performance Party for Venue 9, it's their ability to pull tricks that other folks can't get away with – like leading pep rallies for hipsters or singing about cowboy lingerie stores and female NFL quarterbacks. Show host Kirk Read is a Southern storyteller cum geeky cheerleader known for a writing style that's revelatory and also charming. Other acts include the Gun and Doll Show, a six-piece band whose music encompasses both psychedelic rock and comic battles of the sexes – with each side wanting the other to win – and glammy '80s throwback Lipstick Conspiracy. This party is gonna be a hoedown for spastic guitar wranglers, snazzy gender-benders, and whacked-out motivational speakers; mostly, though, it's all about the resurgence of dorks. Proceeds benefit Venue 9, a soon-to-relocate local performance space. 3-8 p.m., El Rio, 3158 Mission, S.F. $10-$25 sliding scale. (415) 626-2169. (Rachel Swan)

No cats "I don't think that's funny at all," a friend grumbled, peering over my shoulder at the multimedia montage accompanying Themselves' latest CD, The No Music of AIFFS: The No Music Remixed (Anticon). Yeah, it's pet-ty stuff: a desiccated cat carcass is deconstructed – through a sketchy, psychedelic lens – as indie-rap comic episodes, rough cartoons, and a plastic skeletal model. Regardless, Themselves – rapper doseone (Adam Drucker of cLOUDDEAD) and beat-generator jel (Jeffrey Logan of Deep Puddle Dynamics) – get off on making fun of, and having fun with, their own music here, submitting undomesticated tracks from their last, acclaimed album, The No Music, to feral remixes by fellow Anticonmen and non-'Cons such as Hrvatski, Why?, Hood, Alias, Fog, the Notwist, and Electric Birds. Clue to Kalo also perform. 9 p.m., Slim's, 333 11th St., S.F. $15. (415) 522-0333. (Kimberly Chun)

Nov. 16

Sunday

Sunday mass While Ruben Mancias hasn't been DJing quite as long as the EndUp itself has been around (happy 30th!), he is a veteran driving force behind San Francisco deep house. After stints at two of the city's most legendary nights in the '90s, Lift at DV8 and Breathe Deep at 1015 Folsom, Mancias has settled into his own groove at the EndUp on Sunday nights with Devotion (also the name of his fledgling record label). Here he shares a blend of soulful beats and booty-wiggling bass with a friendly crowd of proud diversity. New York legend Timmy Regisford (Shelter) also plays. 8 p.m., EndUp, 401 Sixth St., S.F. $10. (415) 778-8845. (Peter Nicholson)

Nov. 17

Monday

Crowd pleasers Many West Coast jazz bands stimulate elderly crowds who snap their fingers routinely to 3/4 rhythms, but San Francisco's Collective West Jazz Orchestra present grinding climaxes, emotional solos, and ferocious interplay that appeal to all age groups. It's provocative music, and that's why they've been performing at Jazz at Pearl's for the past eight years with a rotating cast of 17 musicians. They get buoyant, energetic, frantic, and rough on 2002's Monday in the City (Jazznation), and few bands match harmony with rhythm so fluently anymore. Tonight's performance features vocalist Duane Lawrence. The Collective West Jazz Orchestra perform at Pearl's every Monday. 9 p.m., Jazz at Pearl's, 256 Columbus, S.F. $5. (415) 291-8255. (Daniel King)

Nov. 18

Tuesday

Out of the wilderness Their name is a variation of the Greek word for soothsayer, and it's clear these Twin Cities beat hounds have their own powerful vision of where the future of urban expression lies. Heiruspecs follow in the lineage of hip-hop acts like the Roots but wear their indie, underground cred on their hoodie sleeves. The band have laid down the bounce behind iconoclastic trailblazers like Aesop Rock and Atmosphere, with their stripped-down jazzmatazz of catchy guitar licks and restrained organ held together by moody bass lines and skintight drums. MC Felix comes with the easy-flowing introspection that marks the Midwestern sound, and counterpart Muad'dib balances with vocal acrobatics. Their latest release, Small Steps (Interlock), is a snapshot of a group defining their style, incorporating relaxed, dark melodies, intricate rhythms, and dense wordplay to create some of the truest organic hip-hop on the streets. Heiruspecs perform tonight at "Issue #9," a weekly hip-hop open mic night hosted by Charles Cooper. 9 p.m., Last Day Saloon, 406 Clement, S.F. $5. (415) 387-6343. (Zwickel)

Blown away For the past 35 years, alto saxophonist Bobby Watson has been performing with a tough, hammering aggression that every music fan should witness – his music embodies urgency. Watson injects circular breathing into his solos, "playing long lines with balance," as he explained over the phone from his home in Kansas City, Mo. This stand pairs the veteran altoist with a gifted assortment of musicians – pianist Cedar Walton, trumpeter Eddie Henderson, trombonist Curtis Fuller, bassist David Williams, and drummer Kenny Washington – in a tribute to Art Blakey's hard-bop songbook. Through Sun/23. 8 and 10 p.m. (Sun., 2 and 8 p.m.), Yoshi's, 510 Embarcadero West, Jack London Square, Oakl. $5-$26. (510) 238-9200. (King)

TV eyed What do you get when you cross Peter Gabriel with Cat Power and the Ink Spots? Something like Brooklyn's TV on the Radio, no doubt. On the trio's recent Touch and Go EP, Young Liars, vocalist Tunde Adebimpe (a former painter, cartoonist, and filmmaker) warbles like a multitracked lost member of Genesis, alongside multi-instrumentalist, singer, and tin sheet-player David Andrew Sitek and vocalist Kyp Malone. With a posse including members of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the Liars, and Love Life throwing contributions onto Young Liars – and hey, they probably owe Sitek, who has roadied for, engineered, and produced the aforementioned groups – it's safe to say the band prove you can keep your hipster credentials and show some gospel- and doo-wop-inflected soul at the same time. Kill Me Tomorrow and Birdland also play. 9 p.m., Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., S.F. $8. (415) 474-0365. (Chun)

Nov. 19

Wednesday

SITI pretty Rodan is long-gone. Egon Schiele was the main man on their first full-length. And Matmos was their playmate on their last release, a split EP. That was then, and Rachel's are now touring in celebration of their recent collaboration, documented on their fifth CD, Systems/Layers (Quarterstick). Merging classic chamber ensemble with washes of barely audible ringing and dark rumblings, the group (named after a certain Toyota Corolla) settled down to work with New York City theater and dance collective SITI Company for the mostly instrumental piece, which traces the lives of eight people during a single day in the city, sketching out their activities with dashes of field recording, bittersweet melody, fluttering strings, and more than a bit of minimalism. Matt Pond and Eve Miller and Brightblack also perform. 9 p.m., Cafe du Nord, 2170 Market, S.F. $10. (415) 861-5016. (Chun)