By Kimberly Chun

Yes, you had to work like a dog for that Fourth of July hot dog - and to get ready for the long weekend. Wasn’t it worth it? Now’s the time to get out and get into trouble.

Sir Richard Bishop and His Freak of Araby Ensemble
The Sun City Girls son and Oakland resident also rises, this time in SF, with Oaxacan as his backing ensemble, on the closing show of his tour. For more on Bishop, go to this edition of Sonic Reducer. With Oaxacan and Rubber O Cement. Fri/3, 10 p.m., $10. Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., SF. (415) 621-4455.

Extreme Animals
The Pittsburgh-San Diego booty melters flaunt it at this light-show-bedazzled happening. With Nero's Day at Disneyland, Bulbs, and Teengirl Fantasy. Fri/3, 8 p.m., $6. Lobot Gallery, 1800 Campbell, Oakl. www.lobotgallery.com

Hospitals
The raging Adam Stonehouse project recently got a lotta love from UK’s Wire. With Photobooth and Baths. Fri/3, 9:30 p.m., $6. Hemlock Tavern, 1131 Polk, S.F. (415) 923-0923.

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Just when it seemed Brazil had maxed out its production of sexy songstresses, along comes Céu. This girl from São Paulo (or Paulistana) seems the antithesis of her polluted, overpopulated hometown: Céu means sky — a rare sight in Brazil's megalopolis — and the songs on Vagarosa, her new album coming out on Six Degrees Records, revel in a sensual world of languor. Her debut CD was a cafe staple that garnered Grammy and Latin Grammy noms, yet Céu's artful blend of samba, soul, jazz, and electronica has helped her earn her keep on São Paulo's underground scene. Her music embodies that city's contradictions: it's at once cosmopolitan, gritty, earthy, and languid. A breath of fresh air in the concrete jungle, indeed.

About a decade ago every boutique and lounge had the "new" Brazilian sound on heavy rotation, but what was once new now sounds dated — over-produced and digitally heavy-handed. Bucking that trend, Céu has cultivated an organic sound that combines acoustic elements with breezy, tasteful electronic embellishments. Collaborating with the likes of Curumin and Nação Zumbi, her path has subtly turned toward roots music, paying homage to the past while forging into the future. In that respect, Céu is spearheading a leisurely Brazilian music revolution ... it may not be televised, but you'll gladly sip a caipirinha to it.

CÉU
Saturday, July 18, 8 p.m., $25–$70
Herbst Theater
401 Van Ness Ave., SF
www.sfjazz.org
www.sixdegreesrecords.com

SFBG What was it like growing up in São Paulo?
Céu I was born in a neighborhood called Vila Nova Conceição that was founded by a Portuguese community. Back then, it used to be a very calm place, like a little countryside town. Today it's totally different and urban.

SFBG Brazilians are known for their beautifully mixed ethnic roots, with elements from the Amazon, to Europe, and on to Africa. What's your family's heritage?
Céu My family is definitely mixed, but it's hard to say what's what. Mainly Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, native Brazilian, and even American.

MISSION CREEK MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL LINEUP
All shows 21+ unless noted.

FRIDAY, JULY 10
The Knockout
SMiLE! presents
Benefit for Mission Creek Music & Arts Festival
9 p.m., $7
Featuring:
Trust
EFFT
Jeepster

SATURDAY, JULY 11
Rooz Cafe
1 p.m. – 11 p.m., $10 suggested donation
Grand Lake
Make Me
White Clouds
Blank Tapes
Colossal Yes
The Splinters:
Ghost in the City (Oakland)
Dashing Suns (Oakland)
Double U

SUNDAY, JULY 12
21 Grand, Oakland www.21grand.org
8 p.m., $7 suggested donation
Djun Djun Drum Heroes
Zoo
Ryder Cooley

MONDAY, JULY 13
Rooz Cafe
Flexions
Young Savage

WEDNESDAY, JULY 15
The Knockout
9 p.m.–2 a.m., $7
The Mission Creek Music & Arts Festival and SMiLE! present
The Aerosols
Dreamdate
My First Earthquake
Sonny & The Sunsets

Argus Lounge
9 p.m., $5
The Double U
Top Critters
The Why Because
Bocal Lobotomy

Ty Segall takes a dip in Mission Creek

El Rio
Colossal Yes
The Love Dimension
123 Picnic
Nick Jaina

THURSDAY, JULY 16
Argus Lounge
9 p.m., $5
Brandon Nickell
Al Qaeda
Horseflesh
Weird Habit

Cafe du Nord www.cafedunord.com
9 p.m., $10 Adv-$12 Door
The Lumerians
Graveyard (Sweden)
Citadelle

The Eagle
The Oh Sees
Meth Teeth (Portland, OR)
Buzzer
Ty Segall

Kimo’s
9 p.m. – 2 a.m., $7
Schande
Excuses for Skipping

Any show that ends with a bunch of people in a conga line has to be great. This past weekend, Pink Martini, a twelve-piece band hailing from Portland Oregon, joined the San Francisco Symphony for an electrifying performance that covered everything from classical concertos to foot stomping Brazilian street music. The range in styles of music this ensemble covers makes a single night at one of their concerts seem like twenty different musical experiences and then some. Being part Puerto Rican, I'm drawn to their more Latin based songs, like "Donde Estas Yolanda" and "Andalucia" but there's really no way not to love all their music, especially when they get a little help for our very own San Francisco Symphony.

French rock band Phoenix has canceled its Spectrum Festival headling performance tonight, June 27, due to illness: word has it vocalist Thomas Mars has a virus. Still, the Spectrum Fest sallies forth - the artists on the bill will continue to perform.

Phoenix's publicists report that all tickets will either be refunded or honored for the band’s next show in San Francisco (ticket holders should see their point of purchase for details). And according to Joan Rosenberg at Goldenvoice, Phoenix's next in SF will be at the Warfield Sept. 18.

Spectrum Festival
Sat/27, 9 p.m., $27.50-$70
Regency Ballroom
Van Ness and Sutter, SF
www.goldenvoice.com

If you're having trouble getting through the day after yesterday's great loss, then I got some medicine for you. Listening to Michael Jackson's amazing catalog might just be the most therapeutic way to lift yourself out of your sorrows. I'm currently rocking J Period's excellent mix-tape aptly titled, "The Man Or The Music", blending seamlessly MJ's hits, classics, and demos. Behind the fragmented mirror of his music and troubled life, you can hear a man unsure of himself. MJ's songs are at the heart powerfully uplifting and incandescent in spirit, but they evoke a darker side as well, a deep yearning for love, friendship and a lost innocence stolen away by America's celebrity-making machinery.

Listen to J Period's "Man Or The Music" A Tribute To Michael Jackson. (ZIP file)

Tracklisting:

Workin Day & Night (Demo Version)
Workin Day & Night
P.Y.T. (Re-Edit)
Wanna be Startin Somethin
Mama Say/Don't Stop Til You Get Enough (Interlude)
Don't Stop Til You Get Enough (Demo Version)
Let's Dance (Shake Your Body Down to the Ground)
Dancing Machine
Billy Jean (Demo Version)
Can You Feel It?
Off the Wall
Rock With You
Say Say Say
Smooth Criminal
In the Closet
Remember the Time
I Wanna Be Where You Are
It's Great to be Here (Remix)
Can't Help It
Ah One Two
Heartbreak Hotel
I'll Be There
Right Here Interlude
Human Nature

Have to admit I'm more blown away than I thought I wuld be by the new "Sun of Gao" joint by Mr. Raoul K. on local Afro-house wiz DJ Said's recently revived Fatsouls label. It's truly an Afrominimal journey that seems perfectly of the moment. The gently expanding elements never exactly build to a climax (a hallmark of current dance music production) but they flow over you like smiling waves ....

Said will be virtuosically throwing this and other choice cuts from his stable this Friday at Otis. If you missed it, here's what I wrote in my last Super Ego clubs column (with a couple corrections -- hey I was blazin' at the time). This one's not to be missed for everyone who takes an interest in the growing effervescent confluence of traditional and electronic sounds.

DJ SAID
A decade ago, when the Internet was still booming, Said Adelekan brought some serious dance floor spirit to that oft-soulless go-go period with his local Afro-House movement, his Fatsouls label, and his lovely Atmosphere parties. I'm absolutely delighted that he and Fatsouls have resurfaced — goddess knows we could use a little more Afro-injection — to release a new Fatsouls single called "Sun of Gao" by Mr. Raoul K. Joining Said (and many familiar friendly faces from those days, I hope) will be the luminous DJ Dedan of the great Brothers and Sisters party in Oakland. Expect everything deeply felt, from Afrobeat to minimal techno — oh, and Nigerian legend Rasaki Aladokun on the talking drum.

Friday, June 26, 10 p.m., free. Otis, 25 Maiden Lane, SF. www.otissf.com

By Kimberly Chun

I’m a music lover... get me out of the house! Guess what, help has arrived - in more forms than we could fit into print.

Sugar and Gold\
The Bay dance fiends refuses to drown in their own shit. With Music for Animals and Castledoor. Thurs/25, 8 p.m., $10. Rickshaw Stop, 155 Fell, SF. (415) 861-2011.

The Hunches
Knuckling down for a freaked-out, “Disease Free” frenzy, the Portland, Ore.-Bay Area garage oddballs slough into the sunset with a series of farewell shows. With Long Legged Woman and Blimp. Fri/26, 9:30 p.m., $8. Hemlock Tavern, 1131 Polk, S.F. (415) 923-0923.

For 15 years, the much-loved and lovable warm-weather Sunset parties have shaken various hills, isles, parks, patios, and boats with funky, techy house sounds. Launched by underground hero DJ Galen in 1994 (has it really been that long?), the outdoor Sunset gigs have amassed a huge following of excited party newbies and familiar old-school faces — and now their kids! Early on in the game, Galen was joined by fellow Bay favorite DJs Solar and J-Bird, and the three — collectively known as Pacific Sound (www.pacificsound.net) — have kept the vibe strong ever since. This year saw a remarkable expansion on the Sunset fan base: attendance at the season opener at Stafford Lake reached almost 4,000, and Pacific Sound just launched an annual — and truly moving — party on Treasure Island that had multiple generations putting their hands in the air. "The vision was to take electronic music out of the dirty warehouses, away from the dodgy promoters, and into the sunshine," says J-Bird. Summer's just begun, and Pacific Sound, with several gangbuster parties lined up, keeps delivering.

SFBG You guys have been a major part of the party scene here for a while. What do you think of it right now?

Pacific Sound There's a foundation for creativity in San Francisco — that is something that will never change. Also, there definitely is quite a bit more international talent coming here than 10 years ago. It's this constant exposure to musical stylings from around the world that will facilitate a thriving scene. The recent crackdowns by the SFPD and ABC may be dampening some spirits, but it will never stop our creative heritage.

SFBG You mean all the pressure on venues lately ...

Like so much music and art these days, turntablism is easier to find online than in a public space. A turntablist can easily record their scratch practice session, upload it to YouTube, and sit back and wait for feedback to show up on their screen. But for sheer enjoyment, creative interaction, and advancement of the art form, turntable pyrotechnics really need to be experienced in the live, raw setting of DJ battles or sessions. That's why Bay Area turntablist duo Deeandroid and Celskiii recently decided to revive their hands-on scratch DJ club night, Skratchpad. Bay Area turntable fiends, missing the party's lively conviviality since it shut down earlier in the decade, were getting antsy.

The super-skilled, Vallejo-born female scratch duo who've toured with the likes of KRS-One now tears it up twice monthly at the Cellar in San Francisco. There, DJs from the aspiring to the established (Swift Rock, Shortkut, and Teeko have each turned in memorable sets) join the two and others like Winst-One and Bizibeats to carry on the sacred Bay scratch tradition. Skratchpad boasts two rooms, one with open tables for guest beat-juggling and the other for just plain getting down, and takes mighty inspiration from legendary late-1990s hip-hop joint Beat Lounge, where Deeandroid and Celskiii — and many others on the scene — got their start. Skratchpad even hosts the occasional DJ Q&A session, but all answers must be phrased in the form of turntable pyrotechnics only.

SFBG Why revive Skratchpad now?

Celskiii If we want to keep the music and culture alive, then we have to pass it on. A lot of younger cats didn't grow up during that raw '90s era, but that doesn't mean they can't experience what we were so lucky to have been exposed to.

SFBG How exactly does the open turntable policy work?

Deeandroid You must bring your own needles, headphones, and records, sign up on the list, and wait your turn for the MC host of the night to call the DJ names. We have seven turntables and five mixers usually for the open turn session. DJs rotate after they do their thing twice or we tell them to switch.

SFBG Is it ever a problem with some DJ hogging the turns?

Reggae: still fresh? Yes. A lot of stereotypes have attached themselves to reggae over the years, not all of them good or true. But this is the Bay, a blazing nexus for the sound, and a spirit of liveliness and innovation can always be found here — especially if members of the classic Jah Warrior Shelter Hi Fi sound system are twisting it. Since 1988, the crew has been rocksteady on the roots scene — and hardly a evening goes by that you won't find Rocker T, Jah Yzer, I-vier, or Irie Dole lighting up the decks or the mic with his unique approach somewhere. Serious with that: besides Jah Warrior Shelter's weekly Bless Up joint at Milk every Tuesday (celebrating its five-year anniversary July 14) and Toppa Top blast at Club Six every Thursday night, the crew brings the fire to EndUp, Laszlo, Luka's, Pier 23, Oasis, Jelly's ... I-Vier co-helms KPFA's Reggae Express show with Spliff Skankin, the sound system has snagged numerous soundclash competition titles, and Jah Warrior Shelter mixtapes flow like rolling verbiage throughout the scene. Check out their mad productivity at www.jahwarriorshelter.com.

SFBG Why do you think reggae has found such a home here?

Irie Dole San Francisco has always been a hub for reggae music and performers. The hippie movement's peace and love vibration naturally attracted Rastas — foundation artists Jacob Miller and Hugh Mundell were known to be around the city quite a bit. With San Francisco's beautiful landscape, healthy food, and lax weed laws, reggae just fell into place with a lot of people of our generation. California is the ganja capital of the world, the Bay Area is the reggae capitol of California — San Francisco is the place to be.

SFBG Have you seen the scene evolve at all?

We all love drag gadabout Monistat -- even if we want to pinch her little chubby cheeks to death for sending us 20 texts a week demanding to be on the Guardian cover. Love! Now, she's making up for all her cray-cray by starting a weekly Tuesday night affair called Chaser, which offers a safe haven at EndUp for transgender people on the prowl, and dishes up some fierce drag performances to boot (recent theme nights: "The Aporkalypse: Swine Flu vs Avian Flu" and "Steampunk Circus.") Basically, it's almost beloved Trannyshack all over again. And Monistat possesses some real talent.

To kick off Pride -- or continue kicking off, if, like me, you went to far too many Pride kickoffs this past weekend (Kick it already, Lucy!) -- she's bringing in someone, someone apparently big, from RuPaul's Drag Race to make us all a bit fiercer, if perhaps also more amateur-fabulous. This person is named Ongina.

I think she's gonna do a few numbers? According to her bio: From one of the thousands of tiny islands in the Philippines comes a mighty, powerful force called Ongina! She's a mighty wind!

Chaser with Ongina
Tue/23, 10 p.m., $10
The EndUp
401 Sixth St., SF
www.theendup.com

By Kimberly Chun

Get out and lend an ear - it’ll be returned, perhaps changed. Here are more intriguing shows that didn’t make it to print.

Elvis Costello
Certified rock genius - up in the house! No secrets here: in true diehard music lover form, Declan MacManus gives back to music emporiums with his one-day “Amoeba Music Tour” performances here in the Haight and then at Amoeba Hollywood. Expect him to play acoustic versions of tunes from his new Secret, Profane and Sugarcane (Hear Music) alongside Jim Lauderdale, and to sign copies of the CD (copies purchased at Amoeba come with a poster silkscreened for the event). Mon/22, noon, free. Amoeba Music, 1855 Haight, SF. (415) 831-1200.

Nihlotep performing Mosaic and studio clip

Nihlotep
Drink in the unearthly screeches and high-drama doom metal sturm und drang from the San Jose group. With Vesterian and Condemned to Live. Tues/23, 9 p.m., $6. Hemlock Tavern, 1131 Polk, SF. (415) 923-0923.

Starfucker
The Portland, Ore., combo with the oh-so-naughty moniker has somewhat innocuous origins: Josh Hodges started out with just a borrowed drum set, loop pedal, and a mic - one-off, one-man entertainment for a house party. Now, with the addition of three bandmates, Starfucker is busy reproducing the 8-bit electro pop-dance punk off its mini-album, Jupiter (Badman).
With Atole and White Cloud. Tues/23, 9 p.m., $10. Bottom of the Hill, 1233 17th St., S.F. (415) 621-4455.

I’m bumping the Latin Project’s second full length record, Musica De La Noche, in my headphones right now. The signature Latin-Electronica blended sound is the brainchild of British producers, Jez Colin and Matt Cooper, who now call Los Angeles home. Listening to the music transports me to the surreal place of one of those Hollywood film sequences where the slick talker dude walks into the smoky (not cigarette smokey, but fog-machine smokey) disco ball club where epileptic lights flash all over the sweaty dance floor. All of a sudden, a sultry red light shines on a sexy maroon lipped lady, and the eyes of our two protagonists lock in a moment of tidal crashing bass. Magnetism.

For this release, the Latin Project produce a finely polished fusion of house, broken beat, Afro-beat inspired polyrhythms, Latin grooves and vibes, with an occasional sprinkle of buttered hip-hop lyricism. The bass hits hard in that clean type of way and the jazzy horn sections uplift the mood, crafting easy going, dance friendly grooves. Some of the remixes venture into more experimental electronic territory, hinting towards a fresh Latin sound with coarser curves and layered intricacy. But most of the night music lives comfortably in a world without ghosts or werewolves or any other eerie spirits lurking around the corner, where your problems disappear in the heat of dance floor and your feet take you away.

Renegade Rockers in action.

When a breakdance battle erupts -- whether in a club or gym, or on the block or Youtube -- heads heed and take note. In a swirling cypher, b-boys and b-girls display their skills on the floor in a back and forth rhythm, showcasing commando techniques and more daring, original styles to the appraisal of the crowd and their fellow crew members, and of course for themselves.

The electric dance style has come a long way since its formative years in the boroughs of 1970’s New York. The West Coast, and in particular the San Francisco Bay Area, has been at the center of many of the innovations contributing to the dynamic evolution of breakdancing. One of the legendary local crews still active, the Renegade Rockers, have been breaking boundaries since their founding at SF City College in 1983.

That longstanding history informs Renegades’ consistent dedication to the culture. In their upcoming 26th anniversary event, the crew plans to showcase the skills which keep them competitive with the top players of the worldwide breakdance community. “Organizing the Renegade Rockers anniversary events encourages the dance scene to keep pushing the limits and inspires new generations to come,” team captain Wicket tells me. Beyond the high energy battle competitions, the crew plans to spread the love by hosting a series of panel discussions on the history of street dance and workshops covering the basics, from foundational breaking to popping, locking, and rocking.