AQUARIUS RISINGFEB. 1-7, 2006 By Johnny Ray Hustonjohnny@sfbg.com
Welcome to February. With Balance's new album, Young and Restless, set to blaze into record stores, perhaps the time is right to check out his "Nice Girl" collaborator – and recent Goldie winner – Baby Jaymes at Blake's this weekend (Fri/3, to be exact). In fact, the time is always right to check out Jaymes, who brings the singing and showmanship, not to mention a smile as big as Marcos Baghdatis's. If you like your music a hell of a lot sadder but just as soulful, check out the beautiful Townes Van Zandt movie, Be Here to Love Me. This week Sonic Reducer features an interview with director Margaret Brown, while I review the documentary in the Film section. ARTIST: Amy Browne TITLE OF PIECE: Untitled 2006 THE STORY: This selection from Amy Browne's most recent collages regards modern media and the printed word. Untitled 2006 primarily consists of opera programs.
Feb. 1 LITERARY EVENT A 1913 literary evening The historic 1913 Armory Show, in New York City, brought together significant modern artists from around the world, including Duchamp, Van Gogh, Renoir, Matisse, Lautrec, and Gauguin, in an event that would transform the way Americans thought about art. Also in 1913, revolutionary Mexican president Francisco Madero was murdered, and Pancho Villa led a successful rebel uprising in northern Mexico during the Mexican Revolution. It's no surprise, then, that a Bay Area journal whose interdisciplinary approach to art challenges conventional genres would choose to name itself after such a revolutionary year. Come celebrate the publication of the second issue of 1913 with its contributors: Hillary Gravendyk Burrill, Chris Chen, Joshua Clover, Stacy Doris, Scott Inguito, Susan Maxwell, and Stephen Ratcliffe. (Jenny Miyasaki) 7-9 p.m. The Lab 2948 16th St., SF $5-$15 sliding scale (415) 864-8855
Feb. 2 MUSIC Jah Wobble and the English Roots Band While some people misconstrue the direct correlation between experimental dexterity and punk aesthetics, Jah Wobble's ingenuity as a musician stretches beyond being "that dude from Public Image Limited." Since his departure from the post-punk explosion of the late 1970s, Wobble has pioneered explorations into more musical genres than most punk rockers can pronounce. Critics have praised JW's pilgrimage into dub, and his dabbling in third-world and ambient influences has revolutionized the alternative dance music scene. Wobble continues to break through barriers with each release and has collaborated with Brian Eno, Primal Scream, Björk, and the Edge. His new album, Mu (30 Hertz), pairs him with old PIL crony Mark Lusardi and extracts heavily from the British reggae craze of the late 1960s. Though the bass extraordinaire has confined his touring schedule to Europe in recent years, Wobble, along with his English Roots Band, has scheduled a brief visit to North America for a handful of club dates. It looks like there's still life after punk. (Christopher Sabbath) With Giant Haystack and Tryptophan 9 p.m. Bottom of the Hill 1233 17th St., SF $12 (415) 621-4455
Feb. 3 ART "Pieces of China" When San Francisco ceramicist Liz Worthy spotted an ad for a residency at the Sanbao Ceramics Institute, near Jingdezhen, China, she couldn't pass up the opportunity to spend a month in the porcelain capital of the world. But working with the fine-grained clay proved more difficult than she'd anticipated, and one afternoon she found herself hunched in frustration over the school's fish pond. As the yú (fish) glinted beneath the water's surface, she had a moment of inspiration and rushed back to her studio to begin fashioning, scale by scale, a fish of her own. The fish soon morphed into vases and other whimsical forms, on display tonight at the opening of her show "Pieces of China." Included are a Mao dishware set, a collection of talking and dancing animals with clay heads, and pisces whose pieces are held together by wire and springs. Ms. Worthy, good for yú! (Caitlin Van Dusen) Through Feb. 20 Reception tonight, 6-9 p.m. Daily, 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Ruby's Clay Studio and Gallery 552A Noe, SF Free COMEDY Book Burning Comedy Showcase Smart people can take comfort in "cheap" laughs. The Book Burning Comedy Showcase is the first program of what will hopefully become a monthly spotlight for Bay Area comedians. The show's inception reflects upon the same do-it-yourself ideal that punks and indie rockers hold so dear to their hearts. The organizers of the BBCS – who feel authentic comedy should be readily available for under $10 – were also influenced by the documentary The Comedians of Comedy, which featured alternative comics performing outside the conventional comedy-club atmosphere. The AK Press, a book publishing collective that promotes positive ideals, seems like a natural venue for tonight's event. The BBCS features the talent of Will Franken, fresh off the Comedy Central Main Stage and from a stint at the SF SketchFest, and John Hoogasian, who has performed alongside such all-star comedians as Mitch Hedberg and Dave Attell. Phillip Watson, Samantha Chanse, and Rusty Mahakian perform as well. (Sabbath) 7 p.m. AK Press 674A 23rd St., Oakl. $5 (510) 208-1700 ART "Go." Duke Ellington once said, "We aren't worried about posterity – we want it to sound good right now." We know how that story ends, of course. Oakland artist Michael Braithwaite and her partner, writer Page McBee, present an innovative and provocative response to the timeless question of art and immortality in their monthly, revolving collaborative art series, "Go." Given only a theme and a tight deadline, a visual artist, a writer, and an audio artist work together to create a cross-media exhibit on display for one night only. February's theme is "Wingless Flight" and features a performance piece created by this month's artists: Katina Papson, Judith Jordan, and Jasmine Moser. "Go." takes place on the first Friday of every month at Varnish Fine Art, and it is sure to be San Francisco's most satisfying one-night stand. (Miyasaki) 6 p.m. Varnish Fine Art 77 Natoma, SF Free (415) 222-6131
Feb. 4 ART Mike McConnell Wall art – it has its place in the world, but doesn't it sometimes seem a little ... static? Wouldn't it be cool if you could just get your favorite artist to paint you a nice T-shirt to walk around in, or maybe slap something on the back end of a cute pair of undies? The proprietors of My Trick Pony are here to help. Each month the custom graphic design shop invites a different artist to showcase his or her work within the medium of wearable art. This month local artist Mike McConnell spruces up all our wardrobes with an array of sad bunnies, embarrassed puppy dogs, and stoic deer, all trademarks of his emotive animal kingdom. Pick your blank-canvas apparel at tonight's reception, or stop by anytime in February to flip, tattoo parlor-style, through the artist's book of designs. (Lynn Rapoport) Through Feb. 28 Reception tonight, 7:30 p.m. Tues.-Sat., 11 a.m.-7 p.m.; Sun., noon-5 p.m. My Trick Pony 742 14th St., SF (415) 861-0595 MUSIC Scissors for Lefty and Tartufi It's some of the best of the indie Bay, yessiree, when jagged little wonders Scissors for Lefty get with the classy lassies (and lad) of Tartufi. SFL recently were signed to England's Rough Trade Records outside North America, and as if their last stellar, self-released full-length, Bruno, isn't enough, they hope to release their next record this spring or summer. A demo passed to me in the dead – and din – of the night finds the band heading out to the disco with ever more polished and pop dance rock tucked into their slacks. And let's not forget Tartufi, whose new EP, Trouble, on the impeccable Spanish label Acuarela, is anything but. Feted at this show and recorded by Trans Am's Phil Manley, the disc finds the feisty threesome digging into the math (rock) with all their familiar passion and verve and developing into a new, more complex creature than our Dream Police had ever imagined. Yar. (Kimberly Chun) With Hijack the Disco and Lemon Sun 9 p.m. Bottom of the Hill 1233 17th St., SF $7 (415) 621-4455
Feb. 5 FILM Camp In 1964 Susan Sontag's famous essay "Notes on 'Camp'<\!q>" introduced what had hitherto been a gay underground aesthetic to the mainstream intelligentsia. The cultural chain reaction that ensued is reflected in "Fame as Form," a Cinematheque series presented in conjunction with SF Camerawork's new print journal of the same name. First up is Andy Warhol's "response" to Sontag – the seldom seen 1965 Camp, 67 minutes of Factory high- and low-jinks featuring some superstars still remembered (Gerard Malanga, Baby Jane Holzer, Mario Montez) and others deservedly forgotten. Their amateur-hour "acts" – including the least entertaining rendition ever of "Let Me Entertain You" – are shown up by none other than Flaming Creatures auteur Jack Smith, whose combined indifference and willfulness reduce the camera from giggling voyeur to cowering slave. Filling out the program is "Four of Andy Warhol's Most Beautiful Women," a 10-minute quartet of unidentified "screen tests" whose mute, deer-before-headlights lovelies include a shockingly tearful Sontag herself. (Dennis Harvey) 7 and 9 p.m. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts screening room 701 Mission, SF $5-$8 (415) 978-ARTS
Feb. 7 MUSIC Ascended Master Musical mysticism – be it Satan corrupting teens via "Louie Louie" played backwards, Magma's Christian Vander growling in his made-up language, or any other tonal witchery – always has its place at the cultural table. San Francisco's Ascended Master have seated themselves well into this other-worldly area of noise music. Their sound is like laptops and electric guitar integrated into a psychedelic tribal practice. Like Atari shamans, they play twisted reveries that belong to no identifiable creed (to my heathen ears) but still sound unmistakably holy. (Sean Patrick Maylone) With Oaxacan and Grouper 9:30 p.m. Hemlock Tavern 1131 Polk, SF $5 (415) 923-0923 FILM San Francisco Korean American Film Festival Yes, IndieFest is here – but carve out time for the fourth annual San Francisco Korean American Film Festival, which boasts both premieres and returning favorites on its slate of narratives, docs, and shorts. Highlights include Je-gyu Kang's Shiri and TaeGukGi: The Brotherhood of War (both of which have played SF before but deserve second looks); Chanwook Park's pre-Vengeance Trilogy entry JSA: Joint Security Area; and the opening-night feature, Duelist, an occasionally odd (but visually stunning) mix of crude comedy, melodrama, and swordplay from Nowhere to Hide director Myung-se Lee (directors Lee and Kang both appear in person at the fest). Also notable: the fest's sole horror entry, Choi Ik-hwan's The Voice, the latest entry in Korea's "high school ghost story" series that includes Whispering Corridors and Memento Mori. (Cheryl Eddy) Through Feb. 12, various times, Various Bay Area venues $6-$8 (415) 286-8447
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