Night+Day

monday
december 16
Bring the Beat Back "Howl" author Allen Ginsberg lets loose again at a reading and possible chanting performance held in the hospitable atmosphere of the Upper Haight. As one of the original beat poets, a world traveler, and a dabbler in Eastern religions and psychedelics, Ginsberg continues to expand his horizons with a new CD, The Ballad of the Skeletons, on which he is given musical backup by Paul McCartney and avant-garde composer Philip Glass. Ginsberg will give a performance based on Skeletons and his recently released anthology Selected Poems 1947-1995, sans McCartney and Glass, beginning at 7 p.m. at the Booksmith, 1644 Haight, S.F. Admission is free; call 863-8688.

tuesday
december 17
She's in Parties Before there was Parker Posey as a librarian with a sociable streak, there was Cyd Charisse as a '30s showgirl and former gangster's moll, in Nick Ray's 1958 film Party Girl. Charisse shows off her form in a couple of wicked, full-scale dance productions; Robert Taylor plays her beau, a Chicago lawyer with mob connections he'd just as soon shake. The CinemaScope formatting allows for a sweeping view of the film's lush trappings. The French love it. Party Girl plays at 7 p.m. at the Castro, 429 Castro, S.F. Admission is $4-6.50; call 621-6120.