8 Days a Week

Aug. 24-31, 2005

UNDER LA RAZA Centro Legal, the Day Labor Program has battled City Hall, the cops, and a handful of NIMBY-ist property owners over the right of day laborers – mostly impoverished, Latino immigrant men – to seek work along Cesar Chavez Street without being driven into isolated sections of town or ticketed and thrown in jail. The DLP has also helped workers recover wages owed them by crooked contractors. It has provided health care, English classes, and other badly needed services to one of the city's neediest populations; it has fostered leadership and civic participation among the jornaleros; and it has developed a parallel program, the Women's Collective, to provide jobs to female immigrants who find themselves in similar straits. Now the program is turning 15, and it's celebrating one of its hardest-won victories: the opening – after five years of struggle – of its new building and hiring hall on Cesar Chavez at 26th Street. It's a very special quinceañera indeed. Day laborers, allies, and friends will say good-bye to the dilapidated trailers in Franklin Square Park where the program has been housed and march to the new building, where spiritual leader and Instituto Familiar de la Raza founder Concha Saucedo will lead a blessing of the new site. Also on the bill: music by barrio DJs and by Francisco Herrera and Coro Obrero, danza by Xicoa Danza Azteca, food, children's activities, and trips down memory lane by community members intimately involved in making it all happen over the years. 10 a.m., meet at Franklin Square Park trailers, 17th St and Hampshire, SF. 11 a.m., building inauguration at 3358 Cesar Chavez, followed by street party until 3 p.m. Free. (415) 553-3404. (Camille T. Taiara)

Aug. 24

Wednesday

Swing kids With the demise of extracurricular programs in Bay Area schools, children are left with few resources to explore talents in areas other than academia. Often these kids' only options are the after-school activities of the street, leading to crime and incarceration. PeaceMakers is working to change that. Tonight it features the first installment of a dinner theater series titled 'Swingin' at the Apollo,' in which the Bay's 24-and-under crowd dances, sings, and performs spoken word while serving a gourmet catered meal to the audience. The proceeds from this event will help PeaceMakers open the Old Skool Café, where at-risk youths will learn every aspect of running a theater and a restaurant, and will soon manage and produce their own dinner theater events. Help change the lives of disadvantaged youths. 5 p.m., Café Cocomo, 650 Indiana, SF. $25. (415) 550-1852. (Jana Rogers)

Yeats rates Irish bard, playwright, and literary legend William Butler Yeats isn't ordinarily considered the most musical poet of his era – I'd think the sprung rhythms of his elder, Gerard Manley Hopkins, would lend themselves to melody more readily. Yet here we have the Bay Area's Speakers applying the Irish nationalist's works to song. What gives? And what makes the self-released album, Yeats Is Greats: The Speakers Sing the Poems of W.B. Yeats (and More), so, uh, greats? Perhaps it's the playful, intimate mixture of ambient instrumentals and balladry that drifts off into reverb-y thrums or fades in with a Doppler-ish drone. Jolie Holland's guitarist Brian Miller and Peter Musselman take their lengthy history making music together – one that goes back to their junior high band in Lancaster, Penn. – and puts it to excellent use, manipulating accordion, violin, banjo, organ, whistles, and more trad pop instrumentation to touching effect on lovely, down-low numbers like "Lost in a Crowd" and "The Delicate Conversation." Jaime and Becky, Matt Bauer, and Tom Brosseau also perform. 9 p.m., 12 Galaxies, 2565 Mission, SF. $7. (415) 970-9777. (Also Sept. 7, 9 p.m., Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., SF. $7. 415-474-0365.) (Kimberly Chun)

Aug. 25

Thursday

Kids in America Formed by brothers Adam, Mark, and Shawn Stern in 1980, Youth Brigade made their mark on the early California punk scene not only with empowering anthems like "Fight to Unite," but also with the DIY attitude with which they went about making their music. The trio's willingness to put their money where their mouths were became evident after they started the Better Youth Organization to promote shows when no one else would do it, and they eventually turned BYO into the independent record company it has become today. All this early momentum culminated in the staging of a national tour with Social Distortion, in 1982, the triumphs and hardships of which were all captured in the cult documentary film Another State of Mind. After more than 25 years, the three brothers still play with rebellious energy and emotion, and they have a new album in the works – they're seemingly determined to prove that as the years go on, their age has nothing to do with their outlook and punk spirit. The Forgotten, Reducers SF, and Low Downs also play. 8 p.m., Slim's, 333 11th St., SF. $14. (415) 255-0333. (Sean McCourt)

Not stereotypical Aside from the dudes in Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle and the guy who played Long Duk Dong in Sixteen Candles, Asian Americans barely show up on the cultural radar. But piNoisepop, an Asian American music festival founded by brothers Ogie and Jesse Gonzales, has been aiming to change that since 1998. The ninth edition of the event draws from independent artists and musicians in the Asian American underground around the country. Some of the acts playing are San Jose's ethereal folk-pop group the Stars Misplaced, Chinese American political hardcore thrashers Say Bok Gwai, and the jazz-rock, bass-and-drum instrumental duo Ninja Academy. Through Sat/27. Tonight, 8:30 p.m., Bindlestiff Studio, 505 Natoma, SF. $7. Fri/26, 8 p.m.; Sat/27, 6:30 p.m., SomArts Cultural Center, 934 Brannan, SF. $10. www.pinoisepop.com. (Alex K. Fong)

Aug. 26

Friday

Rock and roll deliverance Inspired by patients McKinley Libby and I Am the World Trade Center's Amy Dykes, Mindy Schweitzer plans to run a marathon in September to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Tonight she puts on a comedy and rock and roll show featuring alternative soul sextet Sugar and Gold – a band that possesses a fresher, more sincere, and more organic approach than the like-minded but dreadfully square Maroon 5. Guitarist Philipp Minnig, keyboardist Nicolas Dobbratz, Susana Cortes, and Fatima Fleming sing as bassist Jerome Steegmans and drummer Robin Macmillan kick out the groove. Stand-up comedian Mike Speigleman, Calling All Monsters (featuring members of Track Star), and the Stones (with musicians from Still Flyin') also perform. 9 p.m., Hotel Utah Saloon, 500 Fourth St, SF. $5-$15. (415) 546-6300. (Fong)

Art appeal Oakland schools' art programs are quickly vanishing due to budget cuts, leaving thousands of children without exposure to music, drama, dance, and the visual arts. Mighty hopes to raise awareness of this fact while also creating a space for San Francisco's talented female artists with its showcase 'Girls Girls Girls,' a benefit for the Oakland Arts Learning Fund. Self-proclaimed "reproducible cyber feminists" DPI create live art right before onlookers' eyes that'll get temperatures rising, while sexy latex-laden models and dancers on stilts groove to the tunes of local female DJs and bands (including DJ Ladyhouse, Uneaq, and DJ DRC). Male artists who represent the female form in their art also display tantalizing and erotic works. 7:30 p.m.-3 a.m., Mighty, 119 Utah, SF. $10, free before 9 p.m. (415) 626-7001. (Rogers)

Aug. 27

Saturday

Blow up No tender-hearted Truffaut pic here. The lean, mean motorscooters of 400 Blows have the nasty, hard-edged metallic bite and taut forward thrust of classic Amphetamine Reptile combos, as well as more-recent badasses like Death from Above 1979. Subtract a soupçon of the atonal buzz of the Locust, and add in something of the sleazy, witty tone of the Stranglers, and you have an LA band capable of winning hearts and minds – one show at a time, through relentless touring – and picking up the Best Punk Band title from LA Weekly. It's not hard to believe if you catch the threesome's power antics – particularly vocalist Skot Alexander as he lurches around in a cop uniform like a trooper on meth – and bend a damaged eardrum toward this spring's pulverizing full-length, Angel's Trumpets and Devil's Trombones (Gold Standard Laboratories). Year Future and the Mass also play. 10 p.m., Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., SF. $10. (415) 474-0365. (Chun)

The heat is on One day in summer, while Toad and Salmon were out skating, Toad said, "Salmon, let's have a chili cook-off and skateboard contest." "That's a grand idea," Salmon said. And so came about the idea for Toad and Salmon's Chili Bowl Cookoff. While the conversation may not have happened in that exact manner, the event is a real deal, and you don't have to be able to ride a bowl to be able to eat a bowl of hot, steaming chili. This sloppy good time – the brainchild of Antonius "Toad" Dintcho and Emile G. "Salmon" Janicot, and sponsored by a slew of skate-related affiliates including Good Times Board Store, SLAP and Thrasher mags, DLX, and FTC – features a heated skate contest and an even hotter and heavier chili-makin' competition. So bring on your best recipe (and your own crockpot) and your sick skills ... or maybe just a chair and a bib. 11 a.m.-6 p.m., Crocker Amazon Skateboard Park, 1600 Geneva, SF. Free, $5 for skate contestants, $1 for cook-off contestants. www.dlxsf.com. (Sarah Han)

Aug. 28

Sunday

Man show Ah, it's that time of year again – SF theoretical summer, the last few weeks of August or early September, when the weather warms throughout the Bay (not just south of Market) and men wear shorts for a few fleeting moments before the fog rocks in once more. And what goes better with heat, cricket chirps, and birdie bleats than free folk mysticism, glaring like Sun Ra on a sour note, flaring like bell bottoms never went out of style? This time, the ArthurFest brings the organic experimentalists out of the crannies, drawing Charlestown, Mass., ensemble Sunburned Hand of the Man for their first national tour since a '98 jaunt opening for John Fahey and the No Neck Blues Band. Just cock an ear hole toward their latest release, a magenta eponymous CD, originally released as a limited "bootleg" assembled with stolen tapes, as legend goes. Sax moan. Grown men's groans. Minds possibly blown. Bell-ringing, tambourine-clanging, head-rattling jingle jangle of the Animal Collective variety. And beneath noise, like jungly undergrowth, a groove that holds it all together. Sounds good to me. Cross-country noise-improv-punk threesome Magik Markers bring more chaos. Vholtz also perform. 9 p.m., Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., SF. $10. (415) 474-0365. (Chun)

Aug. 29

Monday

A musical gift The Oaktown Jazz Workshop has provided music education to Bay Area youths for more than a decade. A benefit concert tonight, featuring contemporary jazz saxophonist Najee and his band, helps raise funds for the workshop's mission. Najee has supported the organization many times before – he once donated a $10,000 saxophone for an auction. This evening, however, is the first time Najee will play a benefit for the workshop with his own touring group. He also comes to town in support of his new album, My Point of View (Heads Up International), which continues his "rhythm and jazz" approach and features guest appearances by vocalist Will Downing and keyboardist Rex Rideout. 8 p.m. and 10 p.m., Yoshi's, 510 Embarcadero West, Jack London Square, Oakl. $35. (510) 238-9200. (Fong)

Aug. 30

Tuesday

Total 'Bitch' fest Keeping up with who's humping whom in Hollywood, the top 10 videos on MTV, and the latest fashion trends doesn't necessarily mean giving up and/or giving in to the Man. So don't worry: You can renew your subscription to Us Weekly, but while you're at it, pick up a subscription to Bitch magazine just to be sure you'll never really become a brainwashed pop-culture consumer. The Oakland-based mag offers insightful ways of looking at pop culture (and the media that cover it) from a critical feminist perspective – but you knew that, savvy reader, didn't you? What you might not already know is that tonight, Bitch staffers, contributors, and fans are gathering at a Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books to celebrate the release of Bitch's newest issue, "Truth and Consequences." 7 p.m., A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books, 601 Van Ness, SF. Free. (415) 441-6670. (Han)

Aug. 31

Wednesday

The odyssey He might have walked 3,000 miles across the country with Teach for America in 2001, but Matt Vrba now spends his time in California as a singer-songwriter from the John Mayer school of introspective acoustic pop. The decision came after spending years in marketing, culminating in a high-paying position that satisfied his pocketbook but not his personal demands. So he dropped everything to play his music wherever he could, supporting himself along the way by becoming a waiter. The struggle paid off in 2004, when he completed his debut, self-released record, Everywhere in Between, a collection of many songs written during his journey. Teague Kernan of Shantytown, Brad Wolfe, and Pat Jordan also play. 9 p.m., Hotel Utah, 500 Bryant, SF. $6. (415) 546-6300. (Fong) The Bay Guardian listings deadline is two weeks prior to our Wednesday publication date. To submit an item for consideration, please include the title of the event, a brief description of the event, date and time, venue name, street address (listing cross streets only isn't sufficient), city, telephone number readers can call for more information, telephone number for media, and admission costs. Send information to Listings, the Bay Guardian Building, 135 Mississippi St., SF, CA 94107; fax to (415) 487-2506; or e-mail (paste press release into e-mail body – no text attachments, please) to listings@sfbg.com. We cannot guarantee the return of photos, but enclosing an SASE helps. Digital photos may be submitted in jpeg format; the image must be at least 240 dpi and four inches by six inches in size. We regret we cannot accept listings over the phone.