Night+Day

Another Opening Since scores of gallerygoers attend openings just for the free wine and cheese, the Gallery of Low Self Esteem offers "The Four-Hour Art Show," an exhibit and sale of bad art by Seth Maxwell Malice, Godzilla art by Noah, mayhem by Seemen's Kal Spelletich, and an installation involving bloody bunnies by Leslie Weinstein. Don't ask: Just go. The show begins at 7 p.m. at the Gallery of Low Self Esteem, 3246 16th St., S.F. Admission is free; call 241-9196.

Move It Roald Dahl's enchanting Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and photographer Eadweard Muybridge's trailblazing snapshots of animal and human motion inspired OnSite Dance Company's The Motionarium, a walk-through dance and performance installation. Audience members should wear comfortable clothing; they get to participate in the piece, which is conducted as an interactive tour throughout the building. Graffiti artist Barry McGee, techno-sculptor Neil Grimmer, and the Splatter Trio's Myles Boisen lend their talents to this show created by Paul Benney and Jessica Lutes, whose work is characterized by innovative partnering and an athletic, improvisational base. The Motionarium begins at 8 p.m. (and runs through Dec. 15) at ODC Performance Gallery Theater, 3153 17th St., S.F. Admission is $8-12.50; call 863-9834.

Rock 'n' Roll Lock Down Deadbolt's voodoobilly is freakier than the Reverend Horton Heat's psychobilly, thicker and twangier than Dick Dale's surf guitar, and funny in the over-the-top kind of way that an album called Tijuana Hit Squad, by guys calling themselves "the scariest band in the world," would almost have to be. Russ Meyer and the Cramps echo through songs like "The Day I Got My Spine Back," in which a hit man spends a day holed up in his hotel room watching John Wayne movies. Cape-wearing Portland, Ore., five-piece Satan's Pilgrims join the surfboard-scorching, head-busting free-for-all. Cockpit opens at 9 p.m. at Kilowatt, 3160 16th St., S.F. Admission is $6; call 861-2595.

sunday
december 8
A 'Shroom of One's Own Learn to separate the tasty from the toxic types of fungi at the Mycological Society's San Francisco Mushroom Fair, where Dr. Bill Freeman speaks on "The World's Deadliest Mushroom Family," amanita. There were 12 mushroom poisonings on the West Coast last year, including one fatality and two liver transplants, after foragers ate "Death Caps," a type of amanita. On a lighter note, Oritalia chef Bruce Hill and cookbook author Janet Hazen give demonstrations on easily prepared mushroom dishes, while Vivande chef Carlo Middione speaks on "Mycelium: Myth, Metaphor, and Magic" and mycology professor Mo-Mei Chen discusses techniques for growing edible and medicinal mushrooms. Cultivation and identification tables will share the space with mushroom kitsch items. The fair begins at 10 a.m.; Freeman speaks at 10:30 a.m., Middione at 1 p.m., and Chen at 3:30 p.m. in the San Francisco County Fair Building, Golden Gate Park, Ninth Avenue & Lincoln Way, S.F. Admission is $5; call 759-0495 for information on the fair and the wild mushroom foray held the previous day.

Stepping Out Chopsticks and Sneakers, L.A.'s collective of Asian-American and Asian-Pacific-American dancers and choreographers, travels north for a one-night gig at the "A Month of Sundays" series curated by Fellow Travelers Performance Group. Using contemporary dance steeped in the cultural traditions of China, Japan, the Philippines, and Korea, the 13-year-old collective illustrates some of the riches and clashes borne from the ways multicultural identity translates in America. The show begins at 8:30 p.m. at the Dancer's Group Studio Theater, 3221 22nd St., S.F. Admission is $10; call 824-5044.

monday
december 9
Playing Around It's time for the 10th installment of "PlayGround," a festival of 10-minute original plays penned by up-and-coming playwrights. As in previous shows, all the plays are inspired by the same topic and written in just five days. Professional and community directors take charge of the productions in this play-development project launched by SFSU two years ago. See what comes of theme- and deadline-driven unions between academics and thespians. The show begins at 8 p.m. at A Traveling Jewish Theater, 2800 Mariposa, S.F. Admission is free; call 399-1809.

Ping Happening After testing the professional waters as a member of Meredith Monk's performance group the House Foundation, artist Ping Chong decided to create his own material, beginning with the 1972 theater work Lazarus. The New York-based Chong still collaborates with Monk, but he continues to search for meaning in contemporary theater and art as the director of Ping Chong and Company, which has shown its work at such adventurous venues as the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Next Wave Festival. Chong will speak on his work as an installation artist, videographer, director, and choreographer at a slide lecture beginning at 7:30 p.m. at ODC Performance Gallery, 3153 17th St., S.F. Admission is a suggested $4-7; call 346-6456.

tuesday
december 10
Rites of Passage Larry Clark's Passing Through, hailed by many cinephiles as one of the best jazz films around, screens locally with a live introduction by the filmmaker, an SFSU cinema department faculty member. Clark, a kind of filmmaking Renaissance man, has served as producer, writer, editor, and director on several independent films -- his latest creation, the feature-length Cutting Horse, is scheduled for release in 1997. "An Evening With Larry Clark" begins with a reception at 6 p.m. in Room 101 of the Arts & Industry Building, SFSU campus, 1600 Holloway, S.F. Admission is free; call 338-1629.