Night+Day

You Gotta Have Harp You know the world's gotten mean when harpists start getting into nasty snits. The second annual Bay Area harp event showdown (Harps of the World vs. Festival of Harps) continues this week. The S.F. Festival of Harps includes jazz harp by Deborah Henson-Conant; Celtic classical harp by Rudiger Opperman and Cynthia Mowrey; neogothic harp by Musica Divina; and avant-garde harp by Barbara Imhoff and Diana Trimball. The plucking starts at 8 p.m. at Grace Cathedral, Taylor and California, S.F. Tickets are $16-18; call 759-1028.

Cinemaniacs Over four intensive weeks this summer, each film/video student at California State Summer School for the Arts viewed 120 short and feature films, then produced four videos, three Super 8 shorts, and two 16mm shorts. "Teenage Riot" showcases some of the best works produced. Titles include The Green Hornet and His Bitch by Zoe Crowhurst-Robinson, I Dream of Pee by Daniel Talbott, and The Elevator Dalai Lama by Tony Le. Scope it out at 8 p.m. at Artists' Television Access, 992 Valencia, S.F. Tickets are $5; call 824-3890.

saturday
november 18
Faster, Baby! Go! Go! Whereas most S.F. gender-bending events cater to a particular type of drag, DragStrip -- a monthly shindig produced by Merkinstock's Lu Read -- aims to bring together kings, queens, strippers, transsexuals, and more. Shirley "Cha Cha" Muldowney won't be there, but Pussy Tourette, Arturo ("Patsy Cline") Galster, Connie Champagne, Elvis Herselvis, Deke & Zeke, and the Fishstix will. Other enticements include a preview of Artful Circle Productions' upcoming show Women's Prison Xmas and music by DJs Alvin a-go-go and Deena Davenport. A benefit for LYRIC, the night starts at 9 p.m. at Transmission Theatre, 314 11th St, S.F. Tickets are $11; call 861-6906.

Twist Barbie In late 1993, the Barbie Liberation Organization claimed to have switched the voice boxes of hundreds of dolls, so -- come Christmas -- youngsters were treated to G.I. Joes that said, "I love to shop with you!" and Barbies that yelled, "Vengeance is mine!" Through a carefully planned strategy of media manipulation, the BLO's alleged activities received worldwide coverage. Organization member Igor Vamos screens news footage of the elaborate prank and other actions -- including "Malcolm X Street," "Quayle/Vomit," and a work-in-progress on penis enlargement -- in a program titled "Private Eyes/Public Spaces." Also featuring Melinda Stone, the show starts at 8:30 p.m. at Artists' Television Access, 992 Valencia, S.F. Tickets are $5; call 824-3890.

Drums Along the Campus Dedicated to traditional Japanese drum music, the International Taiko Festival was created in 1968 by Seiichi Tanaka of San Francisco Taiko Dojo. Tanaka's local ensemble -- which has the largest taiko drum in this hemisphere, a 12-foot, 1-ton whopper priced at $500,000 -- is just one of seven groups performing at this year's event. The thunder and rumbling starts at 8 p.m. (also Sunday at 3 p.m.) at Zellerbach Hall, Bancroft and Telegraph, UC Berkeley campus. Tickets are $17-25; call (510) 642-9988.

Micro Masterpieces Q: Who -- besides your cat -- makes sculptures out of hair and dust? A: Hagop Sandaljian, whose works can only be appreciated by peering through a microscope. A presentation of Sandaljian's art is one part of an afternoon program that also includes films about wee and huge creations. Windsor McCay's The Pet is about a huge domestic beast; Rene Laloux's Les Escargot pits a farmer against giant snails; Folly of Dr. Tube by Napoleon director Abel Gance (with live musical accompaniment from members of the Clubfoot Orchestra) is a silent short that could've been called Honey, I Shrunk the Guests. Ooh and aah at the "About the Size of It" series beginning at 2 p.m. at the Exploratorium's McBean Theater, 3601 Lyon, S.F. Admission is $2.50-9; call 563-7337.

sunday
november 19
Oy, What an Entuhtainuh! Tovah Feldshuh gushes talent. Can she sing? Go ask Christopher Plummer, with whom she starred on Broadway in Cyrano. Can she act? Check out her ongoing roles on TV's Law & Order and As the World Turns. And for one night only, Feldshuh fanatics can witness her in Tovah Crossovah, her knock-'em-dead one-woman show that incorporates Gershwin, Sondheim, and a gallery of characters from ages 8 to 80. The show comes via New York's Algonquin Hotel to the Hoytt Theater at the Osher Marin Jewish Community Center, 200 N. San Pedro, San Rafael. Curtain is at 5 p.m.; tickets are $9-18; call 479-2000.

The Good, the Bad, and the Pathetique Sewage treatment plants, theme parks, Las Vegas casinos, and Mexican wrestling contests are just some of the cultural delights Ralph Rugoff captures in Circus Americanus, a new monograph. As a columnist for LA Weekly, Rugoff first coined the term "pathetic art" for contemporary work (by people like Mike Kelley and Cary "Candyass" Leibowitz) that obsesses on failure, ineptitude, and social humiliation. He'll talk and show slides at 6 p.m. at City Lights, 261 Columbus, S.F. Free; call 362-8193.

monday
november 20
Celluloid Swan Song It was 1960, and two of America's brightest stars -- Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe -- had faded to the back row of Hollywood's pantheon. Enter director John Huston and writer Arthur Miller (Monroe's third husband) with a screenplay about a disgruntled, restless divorcee (Monroe) and her coterie of existentialist cowboy buddies (led by Gable). The Misfits sounds like an overwrought melodrama, but it turns out to be a poignant drama -- and the last screen credit for both of its stars (Gable died in a tragic accident before seeing the final cut; Monroe committed suicide a year and a half later). Supporting scene-chewer Thelma Ritter gets off a few crackling one-liners. The Misfits screens at 6 and 8:30 p.m. as part of a weeklong mini-retrospective of Monroe movies at the Casting Couch, 950 Battery, S.F. Tickets are $7; call 986-7001.