8 Days a Week

March 31-April 7, 2004

PUBLIC SCHOOL ART programs are under fire – especially during our Terminator-era budget crisis – so San Francisco is lucky to have the School of the Arts. SOTA is a public high school that emphasizes independent thinking in promising arts students while ensuring they receive an appropriate academic foundation. Of course, this takes more money than the state is willing to cough up, so local musicians Hyim and the Fat Foakland Orchestra, the Garrin Benfield Band, and the J.P. Cutler Band have stepped up to help out with the 'Mission Family Groove.' With Cutler's ambient Americana, Benfield's acoustic guitar-focused rock, and Hyim's eclectic, emotional blend of folk, hip-hop, and Caribbean sounds, this musical showcase should provide a varied palette of music that mirrors the diverse backgrounds of SOTA students. Songwriters Holcombe Waller, Paige, and Wendy de Rosa also perform on a second stage, visual artists Cara Gayle, Melody Hauser, and others show their work, and the good sorts from Bread and Roses, Rock the Vote, and Not in Our Name lend their presence. With continued support for SOTA, San Francisco can look forward to future nights of homegrown talent as rich as this. Sat/3, 8:30 p.m., 12 Galaxies, 2565 Mission, S.F. $8. (415) 309-9240. (Peter Nicholson)

March 31

Wednesday

Roll with it Check out tonight's fourth annual New Jewish Filmmaking Project Screening, and a few years down the line you might be able to brag you saw the first efforts of the latest big-name feature or documentary director. The event is part of a San Francisco Jewish Film Festival-sponsored program that gets kids ages 15 to 19 excited about making movies – they watch and discuss films, participate in workshops, and eventually write, direct, shoot, edit, market, and exhibit a collaboratively created final product. The lineup includes a work in progress, tentatively titled Young and Old, about grandparents and grandchildren in immigrant families; 2002's Not Another Jewish Movie; segments from last year's Short Films about Love; plus a handful of 2002 shorts about life in contemporary Israel. 6:30 and 8:15 p.m., Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission, S.F. $6-$7 (free for teens, who are encouraged to attend the 6:30 p.m. show; RSVP to 415-206-1235). (415) 978-2787. (Cheryl Eddy)

April 1

Thursday

Joke chain Join host Al Madrigal for 826 Valencia's Second Annual Comedy Night, an evening of guffaws to benefit the Writers' Room at Everett Middle School and 826 Valencia, which helps students ages 8 to 18 with their writing skills as well as sponsors college scholarships for Bay Area teens. Local laugh-inciters Brian Malow, Jasper Redd, Comics of the Future, and Kasper Hauser ply their trade alongside political comedian Patton Oswalt (The King of Queens) at this 18 and up event. 7 p.m., Everett Middle School auditorium, 450 Church, S.F. $12-$20 sliding scale. (415) 642-5905, events@826valencia.com, www.826valencia.org. (Peter Nicholson)

Ride on Listening to any of the dozen releases by Dirt Bike Annie will have you grinning from ear to ear, bobbing your head, and pogoing around the room. Tight harmonies, dueling vocals, and sweet pop-punk sensibilities make these tunesmiths somewhat reminiscent of early Fastbacks, or perhaps a pumped-up-on-Ritalin version of the Vaselines, but they still put their own spin on the tried-and-true formula. The New York City foursome continue their tradition of writing irresistible ditties on Show Us Your Demons (Dirtnap), including songs such as "Not an Eagle Scout" and "Two Ton Wait," which, along with spurring off-the-cuff fits of clapping along to the beat, should cement the band's place in the underground music scene, as well as in the hearts of fans. Smirk and Nubs also play. 10 p.m., Parkside, 1600 17th St., S.F. $6. (415) 503-0393. (Sean McCourt)

Begin again Playback Theatre ensembles form an international network of improvisational theater companies operating in 20 countries (the original formed in upstate New York in 1975). Their unique brand of often site-specific improv begins and ends with an audience member's own experience and has as its goal the enhancing of community through the honoring of individual stories, whether centered in schools, prisons, or the offices of IBM. Pacific Playback Theatre's sub-specialty may be the social drama of the workplace, but any and all stories are welcome during the San Francisco company's three-night run, which begins tonight under the rubric "Tricksters and Fools." Nevertheless, opening night will emphasize the hijinks and lowjinks of the office, so if you have a story about work – and no doubt you do, maybe even a short treatise on outsourcing jotted down on a bathroom stall – Pacific Playback can stage it for you and your coworkers. It sounds rash, but in fact people (and more ominously perhaps, managers) seem to like it. Through Sat/3. 8 p.m., Traveling Jewish Theater, 470 Florida, S.F. $15-$20 sliding scale. (415) 282-8558, www.acteva.com/go/playback. (Robert Avila)

The hunger A dance piece about cannibalism? Is this the one to break the last taboo? Not really, if you think about it. We all have hungers inside of us that can overwhelm otherwise perfectly civilized and rational human beings. Loves that "devour" the object of our devotion, or hates that "eat us up." Though inspired by a true tale on cannibalism, Erika Shuch's All You Need takes on the subject in her usually idiosyncratic manner, drawing on the talents of her Erika Shuch Performance Project singers, actors, dancers, musicians, and video collaborators. Calling her choreography for this piece "organized and precise chaos," Shuch does what she always does: examine the human heart in all its absurd contradictions. Through April 17. Thurs.-Sat., 8 p.m., Intersection for the Arts, 446 Valencia, S.F. $9-$15 (Thurs., pay what you can). (415) 626-3311, www.theintersection.org. (Rita Felciano)

April 2

Friday

Bein' Green San Francisco Board of Supervisors president (and the man who should've been mayor) Matt Gonzalez hosts spoken word benefit 'Green Wedge' to help pay off his campaign's outstanding debts. The evening features the talents of local Green Party luminaries Jello Biafra, Medea Benjamin, and Kevin Danaher, plus musical guest Sun of Mercury. Biafra, who made his own bid for mayor back when he was the singer of the Dead Kennedys, has informed and entertained audiences over the past several years with his spoken word set. Sometimes he reflects on what's transpired in the past; other times he rallies against what's going on in the present political and global climate. Either way, he always performs with his signature sarcastic bite, backed up by his immense knowledge of the subject matter – all delivered with a voice that's like no other. 9 p.m., Great American Music Hall, 859 O'Farrell, S.F. $15. (415) 885-0750. (McCourt)

Legacy of brutality "The year that punk broke" left a lot of sad kids in its wake. The Bay Area DIY punk scene rose to epic proportions and then crashed under the backlash of cries of selling out. Following this era has been tough, but for the past two years A Light in the Attic and Takaru have been quietly booking and playing shows at community centers, galleries, and all-ages spaces (such as 924 Gilman, where they play tonight) all over the West Coast. Both bands have developed a diehard following, and on Monday they play an all-ages, DIY hardcore show at Bottom of the Hill, a first for the venue in years (maybe ever?). Sharing members, instruments, slabs of vinyl, and kitchen space, the two acts have been producing some of the tightest, most brutal, mosh-inducing hardcore ever to emerge from the Bay Area. Don't let those baby faces fool ya – these boys mean business. Takaru and ALITA play both shows with headliners Yaphet Kotto. Confidante and Tafatka support tonight; Funeral Diner play Monday. 8 p.m., 924 Gilman, Berk. $5. (510) 524-8180. (Also Mon/5, 8:30 p.m., Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., S.F. $6. 415-621-4455.) (John Lombardo)

April 3

Saturday

Don't blink Stalwarts of the Los Angeles experimental music scene for the past 20 years, Joseph Hammer (Dinosaurs with Horns, Steaming Coils, Debt of Nature), Rich Potts (ditto, plus L.A. Free Music Society, Le Forte Four ...), and Steve Thomsen (World Imitation Productions, Monitor) combined their individual formidable forces of musical nature to form Solid Eye in 1992. From their 1993 debut, Electromagnetic Field and Stream of Consciousness (Senseworks), to the recent Voyage to See What's on the Bottom (Melon Expander), Solid Eye have mastered the art of liquefying musical expectations while producing haunting and subtly hilarious works utilizing tape collage, ragtag instrumentation, and surrealist tendencies. Come hear the history and future of "avant-schmaltz" at Solid Eye's show with the one, the only, the favorite band of arachnophobes everywhere, San Francisco's Spider Compass Good Crime Band, L.A. sound sculptor Mitchell Brown, and mixicologist extraordinaire Loachfillet. 9 p.m., 509 Cultural Center, 509 Ellis, S.F. $5-$10 (no one turned away for lack of funds). (415) 255-5971. (M.P. Klier)

New order Audio Noir (Mush), the latest release by avant-hop artist William Marshall, a.k.a. Octavius, occupies another realm – one that's vast, erratic, and cagey. His soundscape simultaneously induces euphoria and fear. Made up of tweaked-out electronics, bleeding noise, deep moody beats, and chopped-up instrumentation, Audio Noir reconstructs the hip-hop paradigm. Electro-tripping Sote (Warp Records) and L.A. dance thugs Secret Society of the Sonic Six play first. 10 p.m., Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., S.F. $8. (415) 474-0365. (Ethan Goldwater)

April 4

Sunday

Siguen controlando Our southern neighbor's preeminent rap band and pioneer in Spanish-language hip-hop, Control Machete are back. Hailing from Monterrey, Mexico, the group recently suffered setbacks that left fans wondering what the future might hold. In a rather bizarre turn of events, MC Fermin IV became a born-again Christian and went solo. And Manicomio, the label that first launched Control Machete into fame, was laid to rest by a Universal buyout. But now, four years after the group released their second album, Artillería pesada (Manicomio/Polygram Mexico), and director Alejandro González Iñárritu tapped their hit "Sí señor" for the Amores Perros soundtrack, MCs Toy Hernández and Pato Elizalde are making a comeback, demonstrating they've still got that special touch. Their latest release, Uno, Dos: Bandera (Universal Latino), maintains just enough of the original band's characteristic sinister, rebellious sound to be recognizable to any fan, but with sufficient new elements to keep it fresh. Tonight Bay Area audiences get to see the results for themselves. Locals Orixa open. 8 p.m., Slim's, 333 11th St., S.F. $25. (415) 255-0333. (Camille T. Taiara)

April 5

Monday

Fun with Jane Remember a few years ago, when Jane Austen was suddenly, randomly, the height of pop-culture cool? Her timeless tales of romance – most often, the kind that's hard-won after much longing, and with plenty of clever banter along the way – were co-opted for a hive of adaptations, both faithful (Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Persuasion, Mansfield Park) and corset free (Clueless, Bridget Jones's Diary). Now the original purveyor of chick lit serves as muse to local performer Andrea Mock, whose latest work, Jane Austen in Berkeley: Episode One, follows a single mother who searches the personals for Mr. Right (or is that Mr. Darcy?) while penning a novel she hopes will be a best-seller. In this workshop production, described as a "radio play live onstage," Mock dances and acts opposite prerecorded dialogue and Victor Spiegel's original music; it's the first segment in a planned six-part work. Tonight, April 12, and 19, 8 p.m., Epic Arts, 1923 Ashby, Berk. $7. (510) 841-9441, www.andreamock.org. (Eddy)

April 6

Tuesday

Bite me Lately, it seems both small- and big-screen vampires are having a, well, sucky time of it. Buffy is no more, Angel was recently staked, and Underworld blew big time. And have you seen the Van Helsing trailer? Holy C.G. crap! Fortunately, creatures of the night get their due in grand Bram Stoker tradition in The Mammoth Book of Vampires, an anthology edited by Stephen Jones with blood-chilling tales by Clive Barker, Robert Bloch, Ramsay Campbell, Harlan Ellison, Neil Gaiman, Edgar Allen Poe, and others. Jones and contributor Chelsea Quinn Yarbro stop by Borderlands Books tonight for a signing and discussion in honor of the tome's soon-to-be-released new edition. 7 p.m., Borderlands Books, 866 Valencia, S.F. Free. (415) 824-8203. (Eddy)

April 7

Wednesday

Good humor "Scott's a fag from San Francisco," the bio on comedian Scott Capurro's Web site cheerfully begins and continues with offhand observations like this gem: "Nowadays, of course, any fuck willing to pay 2,000 a month to crawl around in a tiny post-war shit hole can rent in S.F." He's right – of course – and he knows it, which is why his comedy is so funny, forthright, and oh so razor-sharp. No doubt his new play, Loaded, will make for a hilarious night at the theater, packed as it is with discussions of Capurro's correspondence with pen pal (and noted tag-team patricidal maniac) Erik Menendez, among other topics. Opening-night tickets benefit the Haight Ashbury Free Clinic. Through April 17. Opens tonight, 8 p.m. Runs April 8-11 and 13-17, 8 p.m., ODC Theater, 3153 17th St., S.F. $18 (tonight, $35) (415) 863-9834, www.odctheater.org. (Eddy)