Night+Day

wednesday
april 17
Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot Cafe Du Nord hosts "Towering Inferno," a costume party and dance to benefit the LAB, an alternative art venue. Latin rhythms and disco funk serve as the soundtrack and fiery film projections provide the backdrop for the '70s disaster-flick theme: Partygoers are encouraged to dress as an entire disaster film or film victim. DJ Otter spins tunes 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. at 2170 Market, S.F. Admission is sliding scale, $5 and up; call 864-8855.

Travels With Uri Israeli artist Uri Tzaig's object and video installation What's It Like to Speak a Lot of English resulted in a story of the same name, in which Tzaig described returning to his hometown. Tzaig's work is steeped in Fluxus tradition and often based on his travels. For instance, the video installation juxtaposes a soccer game in Israel with a basketball game in Ireland. Both games, filmed with multiple on-site cameras, are played with two balls instead of one and produce vivid movement patterns. Tzaig's work is at Refusalon, 20 Hawthorne, S.F., through May 25; a reception will be held Thursday, April 18, 5:30 to 9 p.m. Gallery hours are noon to 6 p.m. Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, noon to 8 p.m. Thursday. Free; call 546-0158.

thursday
april 18
Maceo, What Goes On? He honed his horn-blowing over a 20-year collaboration with James Brown, but saxman Maceo Parker can do more than R&B -- just ask George Clinton, Deee-Lite, Rod Stewart, or De La Soul. Parker's latest solo album, Southern Exposure, was recorded in New Orleans with his friends in the Rebirth Brass Band; it combines elements of the musical styles he has worked in over the years, from the jazzy "The Way You Look Tonight" and the hip hopped-up "Walking Home Together" to the Dixieland flourish on Joe Zawinul's classic "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy." Parker plays at 8 p.m. (and at 8 and 11 p.m. Friday) at the Great American Music Hall, 859 O'Farrell, S.F. Admission is $16; call 885-0750.

Loopy Aptly named for the joyful, dancing immortals of India in Tom Robbins' Jitterbug Perfume, Project Bandaloop blends dance with sport, ritual, and performance. Artistic Director Amelia Rudolph has been both a competitive gymnast and rock climber; from this, and her experience with contact improv, modern, and classical dance, she has taken movement to new heights (including off the walls of Yosemite's El Capitan). The company presents "In Celebration of Nature and the Body," an evening of multidimensional dance beginning on the roof of Theater Artaud and wending its way inside for on- and off-the-ground pieces set to a live original score, at 8 p.m. (through Saturday) at 450 Florida, S.F. Admission is $12.50-16.50; call 621-7797.

Dim Star Matthew Martin parodies much-abused Hollywood icon Bette Davis in Artfull Circle Theatre's drag sendup of The Star. Martin, as Davis, plays aging film diva Margaret Elliot, an Oscar-toting has-been. Between song and dance numbers, Martin/Davis/Elliot loses all her possessions to an auction, confronts her manager and her wretched relatives, drives drunk through Beverly Hills, and is diverted from becoming a department store drudge by a last-minute mercy screen test. The Star opens at 8 p.m. and plays through June 1 at the Cable Car Theatre, 430 Mason, S.F. Tickets are $15; call 956-8497.

Willful and Wicked San Francisco's Contemporary Shakespeare Company and Latin American Theatre Artists reset Measure for Measure, the Bard's "problem play," in late-'50s urban America, a seedy place populated by zealots, junkies, and pimps. Tanya Shaffer plays pious virgin Isabella as director Steven Cosson (Stupid Kids) retains the satirical premise of immoral officials trying to lay down moral law. Measure for Measure plays Thursdays-Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 7 p.m. (through May 5) at 450 Geary Studio Theatre, 450 Geary, S.F. Admission is $10-12; call 241-1511.

friday
april 19
You Must Remember Disc Over 20 local DJs band together for "Spin It! DJs Fighting for a Cure." The Box's Mixtress Page Hodel organized the dance party to benefit the Asian AIDS Project and the National Task Force on AIDS Prevention. The DJ roster ranges from Downtown Donna to Pete Avila, Matthew Consola to Ruben Mancias; Jocelyn Enriquez, Heaven, New Dealers, Sherwood, and Opie Bellas Quartette will perform. The party lasts from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. at Pleasuredome, 177 Townsend, S.F. Tickets are $8 in advance (available through A Different Light Bookstore, the Club Universe box office, and the National Task Force on AIDS Prevention office) and $10 at the door; tickets to the catered VIP reception at 7 p.m. are $35. Call 356-8108.

Author! Author! Expect to see scores of literary types hanging around this weekend at the Women's Building, site of A Different Light Bookstore's third annual Readers & Writers Conference. Over 100 local and national gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender writers will participate in panel discussions, performances, workshops, and readings. The conference opens with free performances at 7:30 p.m.: Joan Jett-Blakk and Kris Kovick host, while Mabel Maney's spoof on Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, along with work by youth troupe DramaDIVAS, takes the stage. Workshop titles run from "Switch Hitters" to "Keeping Your Day Job," and readings will be conducted in English and Spanish. This year also marks the conference's first poetry slam and the debut of two new anthologies featuring work by local authors. Conference hours are 7:30 to 9 p.m. on Friday, 1 to 10 p.m. on Saturday, and noon to 6 p.m. on Sunday. Pre- and post-conference readings are held at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday and Sunday at A Different Light, 489 Castro, S.F.; the Women's Building is at 3543 18th St., S.F. Admission is $10 for the entire weekend; call 431-0891.