8 Days a Week

Feb. 4-11, 2004

A GIRL WITH short, bobbed hair, wearing a puffy-sleeved blouse and elegant bead earrings, drops us a sidelong glare, as if to say, "What are you looking at?" We're staring at the tuberlike antlers sprouting from her head, of course, but we're trying not to be so obvious, lest we hurt her feelings. The deer girl is one character in Oakland artist Kelly Lynn Jones's "Family Secrets," an exhibit of her latest mixed-media works on display at National Product. Jones draws spare, thin black lines, but adds surprising elements of texture and color with fabric, thread, paper, and paint that bring each work alive. Components of her art are quaint and girlie – Jones often sticks with muted pastels and fills her works with cute creatures – like the embroidery and needlework your grandma used to make. But her pieces are too twisted and strange to be included in that homespun genre; they depict a dream world in which anything and everything can happen. "Family Secrets" includes sculptural pieces, a mural, portraits, and wearable items, all themed around Jones's fanciful antlered friends, that'll have you fawning with adoration. Through March 13. Gallery hours: Wed.-Sat., 11 a.m.-7 p.m.; Sun., noon-5 p.m. (reception Fri/6, 7-10 p.m.), National Product, 1845 Market, S.F. Free. (415) 255-1920. (Sarah Han)

Feb. 4

Wednesday

Bare bones When William Elliott Whitmore sings, "It was the year of aught-one / And our life had begun / No perils could make us this strong," it's a toss-up as to what century he's referring to. His Hymns for the Hopeless (Southern) swims in time-warped currents of naked Mississippi blues, junkyard percussion, gospel harmony, and ragged banjo. With a voice at times crisp and raw like a chilling river breeze or deep, husky, and profound like an impassioned minister, Whitmore sings evocative, heart-wrenching songs of love, death, redemption, and beautiful tragedies taken from his own world-weary life. True, he treads the same ground as countless broken blues musicians before him, but the essence of the blues provides bottomless inspiration, and Whitmore clearly feels it deep in his bones. Pay serious attention tonight and the tear in your beer may be your own. Murder by Death and New Rhythm Method also play. 9 p.m., Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., S.F. $7. (415) 621-4455. (Jonathan Zwickel)

Feb. 5

Thursday

Golden gods Sebadoh cofounder Eric Gaffney and his band, Fields of Gaffney, specialize in a psych-punk-metal-folk-pop combo that fans of the landmark album Sebadoh III (Homestead) will find quite pleasing. On top of it, Gaffney is a pretty nasty guitar player, messing with the accepted classic rock vocabulary enough to make it sound like he's some kind of reincarnation of Buck Dharma (read: expect Gaffney to blow your mind when he sets his guitar to "stun"). Openers Aaron and David Nudelman of the Nudelman Brothers have been playing in innumerable bands in the Bay Area for years (Three Stoned Men, Icky Boyfriends, Resineators, and Sunless Day, to name a few), but as Dave is moving to Hawaii, this is your last chance to catch one of the city's true rock gods. 10 p.m., Hemlock Tavern, 1131 Polk, S.F. $6. (415) 923-0923. (Mike McGuirk)

True sounds Now that his gubernatorial run has ended, Jack Grisham of TSOL is free to take off the suit, throw the skirt back on, and rock the fuck out. And while other punk reunion acts haven't written a worthwhile song since they were bitching about Reagan, the True Sounds of Liberty have overcome the deluded hair metal of their late '80s incarnation and released Divided We Stand (Nitro), a lucky 13 tracks of visceral punk fury tinged with the melancholy, deathrock gloom that made their early '80s slabs Dance with Me and Beneath the Shadows enduring classics. You can be a pinched purist if you want, but the new record really does stack up. Which isn't to say you won't have a swell time singing along to "Code Blue," their infamous old-school ode to corpse humping. And while other states may think it's cool we have a steroidal android movie star for a governor, we can safely admit California will never be cool enough to vote a guy like Grisham into office. Can you imagine? Kids would recite the lyrics to "Abolish Government/Silent Majority" instead of the Pledge of Allegiance. Thought Riot and Red Tape round out the show. 7 p.m., Pound-SF, 100 Cargo Way, S.F. $12. (415) 826-9202. (Duncan Scott Davidson)

Feb. 6

Friday

Roman poems Because of its candid and erudite early sections, Gary Indiana's book on Pier Paolo Pasolini's Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom qualifies as a standout among the British Film Institute's ongoing series of books devoted to particular films. The sole entry in the "anti-trilogy" Pasolini planned to follow his Trilogy of Life series, Salò – currently fetching outrageous prices on DVD – is the foreboding final chapter of 'Pasolini: The Erotic Films,' a monthlong Friday-night series curated by Joel Shepard that presents new 35mm prints of the writer-director's last four movies. The program begins tonight with the Renaissance-inspired Boccaccio adaptation The Decameron, in which Pasolini further frames the action by playing the artist Giotto. Bring a Catholic! 7:30 p.m., Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission, S.F. $4-$7. (415) 978-2787, www.yerbabuenaarts.org. (Johnny Ray Huston)

Art for the Ashcroft era Lately mad scientist-artist-inventor Kal Spelletich has been building a lot of mutant polygraph machines, fusing the electrical guts of lie-detector devices – heart-rate, perspiration, and voice-stress analyzers – with strange and ominous robotics. One machine blows spinning halos of fire. Another uses a pen-equipped mechanical arm to scribble away on sheets of paper. All are hooked up to humans. Talk shit and these machines know – and respond. "This is kind of my PATRIOT Act twist," laughs Spelletich, the driving force behind the Seemen, a critically lauded robot art troop. "I'm experimenting with the same medium our government is." Spelletich brings an assortment of his interactive nightmare machines to the close confines of Valencia Street's Jack Hanley Gallery for an intimate exhibition running through Feb. 28. Though he won't be showing any of his massive flame-spitting pyro-robots, visitors get to play with a bunch of smaller, slightly less menacing interactive machines, like the Portable Castrator (which features a pair of snapping steel jaws) and a clawed steel hand that drags itself across a blackboard. Tonight's opening features DJ Ragi Da Lawyer. Through Feb. 28. Opens tonight, 6-8 p.m. (gallery hours: Tues.-Sat., 11 a.m.-6 p.m.), Jack Hanley Gallery, 395 Valencia, S.F. Free. (415) 522-1623, www.jackhanley.com. (A.C. Thompson)

Only the lonely In the competitive Southern R&B circuit, receiving the blessing of an elder statesman can break a band out of obscurity and into stardom. When Willie Nelson cited San Angelo, Texas's Los Lonely Boys as his new favorite band, the music world took notice, and the band ran with the recognition. Composed of the three brothers Garza – guitarist Henry, bassist JoJo, and drummer Ringo (nonironically; it's his given name) – Los Lonely Boys put down their musical roots before puberty as their dad's backing band. Now ranging between 21 and 25 years old, the brothers have matured into a ballsy Texas blues-Spanglish R&B band. Henry's passionate guitar rides the high plains between Stevie Ray Vaughan's haunting blues and Santana's Latin-rock grooves, and the brothers' velvety three-part harmonies and bilingual lyrics reveal a young band in tune with the legends and blazing into the open range. John Eddie opens. 9 p.m., Slim's, 333 11th St., S.F. $14. (415) 255-0333. (Zwickel)

Feb. 7

Saturday

To remember The senseless murder of artist Daniel Price touched so many people and prompted questions that are as simple as they are deeply felt: Why did this happen? And how is it that a life so full of promise – he was just 28 years old – could be taken without notice? Along with the sorrow and shock his passing generated, Price's death is a reminder that tomorrow is not guaranteed, that we must treasure each moment we are alive. Solstice Restaurant and Lounge is sponsoring a benefit in Price's memory, with music all day and a silent auction of art donated by local artists. Anyone wishing to donate who is unable to attend can mail contributions to NOCCA Institute, Re: The Daniel Price Memorial Fund for Aspiring Artists, 2800 Chartres, New Orleans, LA 70117. 1 p.m.-2 a.m., Solstice Restaurant and Lounge, 2801 California, S.F. $25. (415) 359-1222, www.solsticelounge.com. (J.H. Tompkins)

Doctor Jay House DJ and producer extraordinaire Jay-J has been doing his deep, soulful thing since way back when house music was an underground phenomenon, not the soundtrack for mobile-phone adverts. He's kept his own vision for the dance floor, started the successful Moulton Street Studios with cohort Chris Lum, and managed to ride along with house's steady journey aboveground, picking up a Grammy remix nomination along the way. As his new mix for Loveslap reminds us, Jay-J definitely knows how to get down. At tonight's Foundation, Jay-J performs with Miguel Migs and Julius Papp. 10 p.m.-4 a.m., Endup, 401 Sixth St., S.F. $10-$15. (415) 357-0827. (Peter Nicholson)

Feb. 8

Sunday

Foul-weather friends Aptly named for the states of hypnosis their listeners can slip into, the Fog Trio roll out a textured carpet of atmospheric drums, prayerful guitar, and sumptuous bass. From the trio's nimble call and response on Cole Porter's "How Deep Is the Ocean?" and smooth sailing on Herbie Hancock's "Sorcerer" to their scrappy chords on Sting's "Fields of Gold" and subversive remix of John Lennon's "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," they merge bebop, rock, and R&B. Yeah, it's probably a skip and jump from your living room to Palo Alto, so grab friends and make a picnic of it. The intimate venue offers the best acoustics for live jazz in the Bay Area. See for yourself. 7:30 p.m., Stanford University, Campbell Recital Hall, Palo Alto. $5-$20. (650) 736-0324. www.stanfordjazz.org. (Daniel King)

Rubber soul The second-most famous band from Liverpool is easily Gomez. It's not a bad standing for the young quintet, given the legacy of their Beatle-hatching hometown. These ambitious lads pepper Britpop's swirling psychedelia, perky arrangements, and electronic experimentation with a healthy dash of soulful blues and rubbery funk, creating an absorbing, endlessly upbeat sound all their own. Gomez's four studio efforts – culminating with 2002's In Our Gun (Virgin) – have been cheered by critics and fans, but for a band so widely acclaimed in the U.K. (they won the English equivalent of the Album of the Year Grammy for their '98 debut), their eclectic style has yet to sink into the American pop fondue. Their last Fillmore show was a high-volume rock 'n' roll rave-up, and now you've got a second chance to take a dip. Leona Naess opens. 8 p.m., Fillmore, 1805 Geary, S.F. $25. (415) 346-6000. (Zwickel)

Feb. 9

Monday

SWAK There's no escaping Valentine's Day, evidenced by the sheer volume of romantic gifts now available at a Walgreens near you – including, but not limited to, foil-wrapped hearts, Lizzie McGuire greeting cards, and dancing hamsters wielding tiny pitchforks that shake it to "(You're the) Devil in Disguise." Fortunately, the Aurora Theatre Company has a handle on the real reason for the season: love, baby, love. The latest incarnation of benefit reading series Aurora Stories sees local actors bringing everything from rip-roarin' passion to chaste affection to the stage, with Colin Thomson reading Woody Allen's "The Kugelmass Episode," Julie Eccles reading Edith Wharton's "Roman Fever," and Crystal McCreary reading Katherine Heiny's "How to Give the Wrong Impression." Proceeds benefit the Aurora Theatre Company Building Fund. 7:30 p.m., Aurora Theatre, 2081 Addison, Berk. Free ($20 suggested donation). (510) 843-4822, www.auroratheatre.org. (Cheryl Eddy)

Feb. 10

Tuesday

Dead parrots society An audience with a bona fide Minister of Silly Walks only comes around once in a comet's spin, so you'd best answer the door when the opportunity to see the funniest British man alive knocks. Luckily for us, Monty Python alumnus John Cleese waxes poetic over film clips spanning his career not once but three times in the next week, gracing San Rafael, San Francisco, and Palo Alto with his presence to benefit the Esalen Institute, a nonprofit alternative-education center in Big Sur. KQED Forum host Michael Krasny interviews His Cleeseness onstage during the shows at the Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center and Herbst Theatre (David Kipen takes over the duties in the South Bay), followed by a Q&A session. But be forewarned: Cleese probably won't be signing any dead parrots after the show, and the constant yelling of "In!" may get you booted from the theater by your annoyed fellow patrons. Tonight, 7 p.m., Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center, 1118 Fourth St., San Rafael; Feb. 11, 7:30 p.m., Herbst Theatre, 401 Van Ness, S.F.; Feb. 13, 7 p.m., Spangenberg Theater, Gunn High School, 780 Arastradero, Palo Alto. Tickets $30-$50, $150 for show and reception. Tickets for all shows available at (415) 392-4400 or www.cityboxoffice.com. (David Fear)

Feb. 11

Wednesday

Good vibes Carrying the Bobby Hutcherson-Milt Jackson torch, up-and-coming vibes master Stefon Harris explores the vibraphone's outermost regions, soloing with imagination and a chiseled tone. Whether he's writing epics, toasting Blue Note buds Jason Moran and Joe Lovano, or teaching Bay Area kids how to jam, he brings virtuosity to all corners. His versatility earned him an artist-in-residency appointment at San Francisco Performances in 2001, a position he holds to this day. The post strengthens his bicoastal renown and commercial liftoff and allows him to eclipse every other living vibraphonist. Bassist Marcus Shelby, drummer Kim Thompson, and pianist Adam Shulman complete his quartet. 8 p.m., Intersection for the Arts, 446 Valencia, S.F. $12-$15 (415) 626-ARTS. (King)