8 Days a Week

June 2-9, 2004

FEW MUSICIANS ARE content to play backup for their entire career, yet equally few truly shine when they play lead. Amp Fiddler is an exception. After years as a studio and touring musician – including a decade spent on the road with George Clinton as a P-Funk All Star and countless recording sessions with the likes of Prince, Carl Craig, and Too Short – the Detroit keyboardist has come correct with a solo album, Waltz of a Ghetto Fly (Genuine/Pias). While the album finds him playing host to Raphael Saadiq, J Dilla, and Clinton, it's really all about Amp. With a smoky tenor aged by years of ups and downs, he croons of love, loss, and hope. It's classic R&B subject matter made fresh by an indefatigable sense of swing and a dash of electronics, a groove that's found fans as far away as Germany's Jazzanova and the BBC's Gilles Peterson. His band's sold-out stints at London's Jazz Café have become the stuff of legend, yet on Waltz Amp holds his talents at the keys in check – this man doesn't need to prove anything. Expect nothing but brilliance from Amp, who makes soul new again when he steps into the spotlight. Andrew Jervis (Ubiquity) sets the mood behind the decks. Fri/4, 9 p.m., Cafe du Nord, 2170 Market, S.F. $15. (415) 861-5016. (Peter Nicholson)

June 2

Wednesday

With heart A huge number of local artists, many of them Mission District-based, are contributing to the one-night auction 'Trabajos del Corazon.' One hundred percent of the profits from the event benefit a border-crossing collaborative project that unites artists, teachers, and students from San Francisco and El Salvador (specifically, the rural village of Colima) so they can draw, paint, and create together. In addition to live and silent auctions, the fundraiser includes music, pupusas, and a cheap-art wall. Jo Jackson, Alicia McCarthy, and Total Mobile Home are just 3 of more than 50 individuals and groups contributing work. 6-9 p.m., Lab, 2948 16th St., S.F. Free. salvadorauction@yahoo.com. (Johnny Ray Huston)

June 3

Thursday

Golden girl In her debut solo show, I Look like an Egg, but I Identify as a Cookie, comedian Heather Gold riffed on lesbianism, junior high, the Left, and other topics while whipping up a batch of chocolate-chippers for the whole audience. Though there's no baking involved in her latest production, The Heather Gold Show, the ingredients will no doubt be just as witty and thought-provoking. The performance is styled like a talk show with "my entire living room as a set," according to Gold's Web site, www.subvert.com. Expect more late-night Daily Show than, say, daytime Ricki Lake, with much skewering of current events, guest interviews, audience participation, and more. 8 p.m., Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, Kanbar Hall, 3200 California, S.F. $10-$12. (415) 292-1233. (Cheryl Eddy)

June 4

Friday

Not-so-hidden talents During the day they're students, acupuncturists, copy writers, nurses, and construction workers. At night they turn into glamorous stars, high-kicking Broadway dancers in love with show business. Once a year some 135 performers known as the Don't Quit Your Day Job Dancers pack the Palace of Fine Arts with a show that's fast-paced, entertaining, and always a hoot. This weekend's concoction, Fables and Felons, takes on Chicago and Mother Goose at once, when a dozen or so gangster molls go on a crime spree in the name of love. Fri/4-Sat/5, 8 p.m.; Sun/6, 3 p.m., Palace of Fine Arts, 3301 Lyon, S.F. $25. (415) 388-0792 or (414) 339-1390, www.dontquityourdayjobdancers.com. (Rita Felciano)

Great chops Over the course of 10 years and 50-plus releases with Lambchop, Nashville's Kurt Wagner has distinguished himself as the penultimate porch-front curator in the vast realm of intimate American music. His mellow drawl has been layered over a range of styles and recalls Curtis Mayfield as easily as it does Lynyrd Skynyrd; his tact is reigning it all in, never letting anything get too far ahead. On Lambchop's latest double-CD release, Aw C'mon and No, You C'mon (Merge), Wagner's patented heartfelt canter is set among lush orchestrations featuring the Nashville String Machine (arranged by Lloyd Barry) and strange noise interludes, resulting in something both soothing and pleasantly different. Local alt-folk-country rockers the Court and Spark open, setting a soulful atmosphere that should last the night. 9 p.m., Fillmore, 1805 Geary, S.F. $20. (415) 346-6000. (Ethan Goldwater)

Hat's entertainment The fairy tale continues as Beach Blanket Babylon commemorates its 30th anniversary with a series of gala performances celebrating the arts. The San Francisco institution, started by Steve Silver and friends in 1974, has made a generous gift of more than $400,000 to seven Bay Area arts organizations on behalf of the Steve Silver Foundation and Beach Blanket. Each organization is being honored on a separate night, beginning with the San Francisco Opera tonight. As for the floor show, since Silver's death in 1995, his wife, show producer Jo Schulman Silver, has kept the musical adventure of Snow White en route to Prince Charming as sharp, fun, and outlandish as ever. But it's surely Beach Blanket Babylon's fresh infusions of pop culture iconography – regularly culled from the pages of People, Teen Beat, and the Economist – that help make it the longest-running musical revue (and that's ever). Where else could one watch George W. Bush meeting the cast of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy? Nowhere but at Club Fugazi, eight times a week – if you can get a ticket. Anniversary shows Fri/4-Sat/5 and Mon/7, 8 p.m.; Sun/6 and June 12, 19, and 26, 7 p.m., Club Fugazi, 678 Beach Blanket Babylon Blvd. (Green St.), S.F. $25-$250. (415) 421-4222, www.beachblanketbabylon.com. (Robert Avila)

June 5

Saturday

All together now Pride Month is busting out all over, and the seventh annual National Queer Arts Festival is upon us, packed as usual with a huge array of performances, art exhibits, spoken word events, cabaret shows, and more. The whole shebang is ushered in by the 'Q Ball,' which crams just about every element of the fest into a single night. Get in the spirit by checking out Mazz Imàge's exhibit of photos from pride parades across the globe, the trailer for the upcoming San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, and L.Z. Love's musical tribute to Sylvester – "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)". Plus there's live music, queer-wedding videos, and food and drink. 6 p.m., San Francisco Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Community Center, 1800 Market, S.F. Free. (415) 334-0722, www.queerculturalcenter.org. (Eddy)

June 6

Sunday

Swingin' tough Although the swing music fad of the late '90s may be over, Royal Crown Revue are still going strong, with a new album, Greetings from Hollywood (RCR Records), and some special gigs lined up for their loyal fans. One reason RCR are still around is that they started performing and perfecting their version of the classic swing style long before the MTV mainstream decided to give the music and dancing of the 1940s its 15 minutes, and RCR stand above the wave of other so-called neo-swing groups – has anybody heard from Cherry Poppin' Daddies lately? Live favorites such as "Hey Pachuco," "Zip Gun Bop," and "Salt Peanuts" are sure to get the cool cats and hip chicks jitterbugging up a storm in their sharpest threads. Mr. Lucky's Cocktail Band also play. 9 p.m., 12 Galaxies, 2565 Mission, S.F. $12. (415) 970-9777. (Sean McCourt)

June 7

Monday

Three for the road The pungent shot of sarcastic nihilism administered by Welsh trio Mclusky is some of the most bitingly digestible punk rock around these days. With a razor-sharp guitar cutting through chunky, chaotic rhythms, the group spare no obscenity in their noisy assault. Striking out in 2002 with the Steve Albini-recorded Mclusky Do Dallas (Too Pure), the group havw toured since then, squeezing in another session with Albini for their recently released follow-up, The Difference Between Me and You Is That I'm Not on Fire (Too Pure), an even darker and heavier effort. The band are on tour with fellow U.K. dynamos Oceansize; opening are the Standard, the Portland, Ore., group Rolling Stone recently dubbed the American version of Radiohead, probably the worst compliment these eclectic Americana art-rockers could receive. 9 p.m., Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., S.F. $8. (415) 621-4455. (Goldwater)

June 8

Tuesday

King of the stone age As a founding member of Dinosaur Jr., J. Mascis helped map out one of the sonic blueprints for the alternative rock scene in the early '90s. In the process Mascis also gained a well-deserved reputation as one of its guitar gods – coaxing bone-crushing sounds out of his beat-up Fender Jazzmaster and blasting the results through his vintage Marshalls at ear-shattering levels. After Dinosaur Jr. came to an end, he embarked on a new project, the Fog, a sort of revolving-door punk rock super group that's also featured guest musicians like Mike Watt (Minutemen, fIREHOSE) and Ron Asheton (the Stooges) lending their weighty talents to the mix over the years. This time around, Mascis welcomes Dave Schools from Widespread Panic to the stage, so pack your flannel and earplugs. All Night Radio also play. 9 p.m., Slim's, 333 11th St., S.F. $16. (415) 255-0333. (McCourt)

June 9

Wednesday

Head shots Leave it to the fabulous Joani Blank, along with Marianna Beck and Jack Hafferkamp, to dream up a movie like Orgasm! The Faces of Ecstasy, a close-up study of men and women as they climax in which the camera focuses only on the faces, offering no clue as to what's going on down below. Orgasm has some great moments – including a few that involve the moment of truth (it's a great equalizer; everyone looks self-involved and vulnerable) – and Blank's conversations with participants are sometimes funny and revealing, although a couple show the damaging effects of overdosing on pop psychology literature. In any case, the movie is – like most of Blank's projects (she founded Good Vibrations, which means the entire country owes her a debt of gratitude) – worth whatever it sets you back to see (which in this case is nothing). Tonight excerpts from the movies are shown, and five participants are on hand to answer questions. 8 p.m., Good Vibrations, 2504 San Pablo, Berk. Free. (510) 841-8987, www.goodvibes.com or www.facesofecstasy.com. (J.H. Tompkins)