8 Days a Week

August 17-24, 2005

THE CREATORS OF the Downtown Berkeley Jazz Festival hope this year will be the first of an annual institution in the downtown area, which boasts a newly flourishing arts scene. The current program celebrates Latin jazz and involves a veritable who's who of jazz pedagogy. Favored Nations recording artist and Jazzschool teacher Mimi Fox plays guitar with her acoustic trio Thurs/18. Steve Erquiaga, another guitarist and educator, performs with fellow guitarist Ricardo Peixoto Thurs/18 and with his Trio Paradiso Fri/19. Salsa expert and City College of San Francisco instructor Rebeca Mauleón and her sextet rip through Afro-Cuban and Caribbean jazz standards and originals Sat/20, as does Mark Levine, author of The Jazz Theory Book, with the Latin Tinge. Other events include a capoeira demonstration, poetry readings, and a screening of Louis Malle's film Elevator to the Gallows, featuring a Miles Davis soundtrack. Participating venues include Anna's Jazz Island, Heyday Books, and French bistro La Note, which will be offering fixed-price menus. Aspiring dancers take note: The opening reception includes a salsa lesson. Wed/17-Sun/21, various times and venues, Berk. Free-$40. (510) 845-5375, www.jazzschool.com. (Alex K. Fong)

August 17, Wednesday

Mind's eye Beethoven showed the world that you don't necessarily need to be able to hear to compose some of the most beautiful music ever created. And 'Insights,' an annual juried exhibition, proves that sight is not a prerequisite for creating visual art. This groundbreaking show features work by 33 artists from around the country – all of whom are blind or visually impaired. The artists conquer a variety of media, including photography, painting, mixed media, and sculpture. Each piece reveals a unique perspective through the lens of a person who truly experiences the world differently from most. Among the talented group is Pete Eckert, a blind photographer who uses sound, touch, and light to compose his portraits, which reveal the way he perceives the world around him. The show challenges the audience to transcend their own notions of impairment to gain a refreshing glimpse into the limitless possibilities of art. Through Oct. 28. Reception Aug. 31, 5:30-7:30 p.m.; gallery hours Mon.-Fri., 8 a.m.-8 p.m.; Sat., noon-4p.m., San Francisco City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Pl., SF. Free. (415) 554-6080. (Morae Kim)

August 18, Thursday

Sound onslaught Now in its sixth year, the San Francisco Electronic Music Festival takes the effective strategy of pairing establishment legends with up-and-coming noisemakers. Past years have featured some major players in the field, such as Ikue Mori, Keith Fullerton Whitman, and Stilluppsteypa's Sigtryggur Berg Sigmarsson. The diverse talent represented in this installment, now a four-day event, includes San Francisco Tape Music Center founder and Buchla synth pioneer Morton Subotnick alongside relative young guns Blevin Blectum and Sutekh. Another name that should have ears perked is New York-based Zeena Parkins, whose work with prepared harp and digital processing spans appearances on 70 recordings over the past 20 years. Her output includes the group Skeleton Crew with Tom Cora and Fred Frith, scores for film and theater works, playing in Anthony Braxton's orchestra, and even backing up Hole on MTV Unplugged. Also appearing are Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians member and Columbia University professor George Lewis, "network ensemble" the Hub, sound installation artist Matt Heckert, and others. Through Sun/21. 8:30 p.m., SomArts Cultural Center, 934 Brannan, SF. $12-$45. www.sfemf.org. (George Chen)

August 19, Friday

Piece by piece Tijuana transplant and OG graphic artist Andrés Cisneros-Galindo has spent the better part of his life absorbing conflicting cultures and life experiences, processing them into art, and teaching others to do the same. A cofounder of Taller Sin Fronteras in Oakland, Cisneros-Galindo is also a veteran printmaking instructor at the National Institute of Art and Disabilities, in Richmond. People describe his own work – an anthology of linoleum prints, woodcuts, silk screens, paintings, and sculptures, often incorporating found objects like industrial detritus discovered along local railroad tracks – as abstract, multilayered, and subliminal, but also politically engaged. Today Balazo18 honors Cisneros-Galindo on his 60th birthday, with 'Vestiges, Fragments/Vestigios, Fragmentos,' a solo exhibit of some of his more recent mixed-media work, drawings, prints, and sculptures. Edgar Santamaría spins "sonido urbano" – a hybrid soundscape incorporating Latin American electronica and break beats, and norteño and Caribbean sounds, spiced up with dashes of old surf and punk from Mexico and farther south. 7 p.m.-2 a.m., Balazo18 Art Gallery, 2183 Mission, SF. $5 after 10 p.m. (415) 255-7227. (Camille T. Taiara)

August 20, Saturday

Steppin' out Thankfully tap dance has come a long way since the cringe-worthy days of Mr. Bojangles. As a distinctly American art form, tap has evolved for generations from jazz-inspired rhythms to hip-hop influenced beats and Broadway musical melodies. The Bay Area Tap Festival celebrates all things tap in its culminating performance, the 'Bay Area Rhythm Exchange.' The program features a diverse cast of dancers, ranging in ages and styles, set to the sounds of a live jazz trio. Highlighting the show is the original song-and-dance man, Arthur Duncan, whose impressive career spanned two decades, including collaborations with legends such as Sammy Davis Jr. Duncan shares the stage with current tap all-stars in a performance that is sure to get your feet a-tapping and your hands a-clapping. 8 p.m., Herbst Theatre, 401 Van Ness, SF. $15-$22. (415) 392-4400. (Kim)

August 21, Sunday

Audio orchestration Thirty string players, a full woodwind section, a trombone, a tuba, French horns and trumpets, percussionists on drum kits, congas, bells, timbales, Brazilian sticks, Middle Eastern desert drums, and steel pans – oh my! And if that's not impressive enough, DaKAH Hip Hop Orchestra turns up the energy with dancers, beatboxers, MCs, vocalists, and DJs in any combination at any given time. Pioneering in its approach, DaKAH has been dazzling the ears of hip-hop skeptics for years; hip-hop does evolve and grow. You don't have to tell that to the Youth Speaks slam champions, whose melodic and rhythmic tones also captivate and educate. 2 p.m., Sigmund Stern Grove, 19th Ave. and Sloat Blvd., SF. Free. (415) 252-6252, www.sterngrove.org. (Jana Rogers)

August 22, Monday

Instrumental gratification Percussionist Ches Smith performs in many different kinds of ensembles, including jazz and rock. But in his Congs for Brums project, he wrote a series of solo vibraphone pieces with motivic ideas he hopes to translate onto his drum set, unifying the two instruments, without being obvious. Free Porcupine Society will release an already-completed recording of the compositions in January. Tonight Smith plays those pieces on vibraphone and drums. Singer Jesse Quattro and Nels Cline Singers contrabassist Devin Hoff, who possesses a magnificent arco sound, also perform. Smith and Hoff play again the next night in their duo, Good for Cows. 7 p.m., Mama Buzz Cafe, 2318 Telegraph, Oakl. $4-$5 donation. (510) 465-4073, www.chessmith.com. (Good for Cows play Tues/23, 9:30 p.m., Hemlock Tavern, 1131 Polk, SF. $6. 415-923-0923, www.goodforcows.com). (Alex K. Fong)

August 23, Tuesday

Heartbreak troubadour Tales of love and loss permeate the songs of Joe Firstman, a 23-year-old singer-songwriter from North Carolina. Though he first played keyboards and sang for a jam band, a brush with the simple stories of bluegrass and events in his own love life compelled him to change musical directions. He moved to Los Angeles after saving up enough money, leaving behind his old group and the love of his young life. On his debut Atlantic Records release, The War of Women, he continues his maturation with songs that delve deeper into the personal while recalling Elton John and the Counting Crows. Join him for a solo acoustic evening. Tony Lucca also plays. 8:30 p.m., Cafe du Nord, 2170 Market, SF. $12. (415) 861-5016. (Fong)

August 24, Wednesday

Odd couples Stoners and the rockers who love them – now is your chance for a night of shared musical, if not conjugal, bliss! The quartet Habitforming combine the atmospherics and strange textures of Pink Floyd with the out-and-out vocal panache of Joe Strummer tripping on a heavy dose of cock rock and spiritualized minimalism. The group, which formed in San Francisco in 2002, perform their ninth show tonight, despite having already recorded three albums. Their newest record, Involved, is being considered for release by various labels. In the meantime, see them live and lay off the weed – experts say it affects the libido perniciously. That means bad! Oranger also play. 8 p.m., Cafe du Nord, 2170 Market, SF. $7. (415) 861-5016. (Fong)

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