Night+Day

wednesday
march 22
Throwing Muses Can Sire recording artists Throwing Muses pull off the tricky crossover from '80s cult superstars to '90s mainstream megahit? Place your bets as the sometime teen-angst darlings of Britain's power-pop scene hit Slim's. Singer-songwriter Kristin Hersh, now 28 and a mother of two, founding drummer David Narcizio and former roadie Bernard Georges, the band's third bassist so far, are in town promoting University, the recently released, self-produced album described by their publicists with that sometimes fatal phrase: "their most accessible to date." The show starts at 9 pm at Slim's, 333 11th St, S.F. Tickets are $15; call 621-3330.

Coming Home Way back in 1975 when "choreopoems" were just a glimmer in the theater world's eye, Ntozake Shange brought the first incarnation of for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf to a bar outside Berkeley. In the 20 years since, Shange's performance piece -- which revolves around seven women who relate their life experiences via prose, free verse, music and dance -- has won a Tony in its Broadway premiere and has been translated into more than a dozen languages; stops on the play's current tour included a stint at Joseph Papp's Public Theater and another at London's West End Royal Court. Preview the 20th anniversary celebration at 8 pm at the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, 620 Sutter, S.F. The production also previews Thurs-Fri, March 23-24, opening Sun, March 26, and continuing through April 16. Tickets are $18-22; call 474-8800.

thursday
march 23
Art of the Other MŽxico: Sources & Meanings With immigrant-bashing at a sustained fever pitch, Center for the Arts Galleries exhibits an important collection of painting and sculpture by 20 American artists of Mexican descent. Developed by Chicago's Mexican Fine Arts Center and Museum, the traveling show is the first and largest major exhibition organized, curated and participated in solely by Mexican Americans. "Art of the Other Mexico is an important development in the self-determination of Mexican artistic expression in the United States," writes curator Rene H. Arceo-Fueros. That self-determination hinges on three major themes -- land, family and afterlife -- as a means of exploring the relationship between Mexican ancestry and contemporary Chicano culture. Among the featured artists are six from the Bay Area: Rupert Garc’a, Ester Hern‡ndez, Carmen Loma Garza, Frank López Garza, Patricia Rodr’guez and Peter Rodr’guez. Opening on the same day are two other exhibits, Dear Robert, I'll See You at the Crossroads: A Project by Renee Stout, which examines links between African and New World black culture; and Life Work, Art Work, an exhibition of pieces by senior residents of the Yerba Buena Gardens neighborhood. All three exhibits are open Tues-Sun, 11 am-6 pm (Thurs till 8 pm) through May 14 at Center for the Arts, Mission & Third St, S.F. Admission is $4; call 978-ARTS.

Bettie Serveert Catch the strains of Bettie Serveert's heart-rending grunge before they soar out of reach: The Dutch band, after the success of last year's Palomine, became a magnet for major-label talent scouts hungry for the next big alternative thing. Led by singer Carol van Dijk, the quartet brings its own special brand of ethereal, chiming yet gritty rock to the Fillmore in support of its recent Matador/Atlantic release, Lamprey. Giant Sand opens the all-ages show. Doors at the Fillmore (1805 Geary, S.F.) open at 7 pm; the show starts at 8 pm. Tickets are $12.50; call 346-6000, BASS or Rough Trade.

Bastards of Film "The most unrespectable underground films being produced on unemployment and minimum wage paychecks ... hated by Christians and film school professors alike." What other recommendation do you need? Maybe three shorts by Tamra Davis (Guncrazy, CB4, Billy Madison) -- including a 20-minute flick with that Yber-hipster couple, Adam Horowitz (King Ad Rock of the Beastie Boys) and Ione Skye (Say Anything, Gas Food Lodging) -- would sweeten the bill. Or I Was a Teenage Serial Killer, a film loved by Sassy magazine and the Film Threat Video Guide alike. Eight featured shorts play in sets of four: "Sinister Bastards" at 7 pm and "Tough Little Bastards," 9 pm, March 23-25, at the Victoria Theatre, 2961 16th St, S.F. Tickets are $5 for one show, $8 for both; call 928-1745.

friday
march 24
Avant Banjo Bay Area artist Bob Davis has made it his mission to prove that banjos aren't just for Deliverance anymore. An aficionado of American folk music, Davis strings together influences as diverse as John Cage and Barney Davis, Bob's vaudevillian grand-father. In Banjo, the one-man show first heard as a work-in-progress at the second High Tides festival in 1994 and later excerpted on KQED's Fog City Radio, Davis combines theatrical monologues, instrumentals and songs performed on banjo-based instruments into a peculiarly American artifact of new music. The so-called "Pete Seeger of the avant-garde" plays Thurs-Sat at 8 pm at the Climate Theatre, 252 Ninth St, S.F., through April 15. Tickets are $10-12; call 626-9196.

Otra Luz/Other Light This exhibit of photography from Mexico, which complements Center for the Arts' current Mexican American exhibition, freeze-frames our southern neighbor in a transitional period of political and spiritual upheaval. Join the photographers at 6:30 pm for an opening reception with food and music at the CARE Gallery, 25 14th St, S.F. Call 703-0264.