Like Mardi Gras and Ash Wednesday, the heathen revelry of Halloween is shadowed by the sobering introspection of Catholic-based holidays All Saints' Day (Nov. 1) and All Souls' Day (Nov. 2), which coincide with Dia de los Muertos/Day of the Dead observances in our part of the world. Because this is San Francisco, traditional celebrations of the lives of the deceased -- grave-site restoration, altar creation -- bump up against unorthodox tributes like "Gypsy Rose Lee's Home Movies," an All Saints' Day homage to the "patron saint of striptease." This fascinating personal history, which traces Lee's career from her burlesque beginnings through her S.F.-based talk show with home movies, old news clips, and rare performance footage, is narrated by Lee's son, Erik Lee Preminger. It screens with the Rosalind Russell-Natalie Wood musical classic Gypsy and a live strip show at 7 p.m. Sunday (Lee's home movies and Gypsy also screen without strippers at 1 p.m.) at the Castro Theater, 429 Castro (at Market), S.F. Admission is $7-10; call 863-0611.
Music to raise the dead, meanwhile, ranges from opera to metal: The Tenderloin Opera Company, whose inaugural production Phrenic Crush dealt with the deadly history of TB, offers a concert of original songs and contemporary opera selections related to spirituality with "Arias for Saints and Souls" 5 p.m. Sunday at St. Boniface Church Theater, 133-135 Golden Gate, S.F. Admission is by donation; call 995-2350. A rockin' Dia de los Muertos Concert, with Cara Dura, Nativo, and L.A.'s Metal Aztlan, features an altar exhibition as well, and benefits Chiapas victims of Hurricane Georges. It starts at 6 p.m. Sunday at La Pena Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck, Berkeley. Admission is $8; call 821-4191.
On Monday, the city's traditional candlelit Dia de los Muertos Procession begins at Bryant and 24th Street at 7 p.m., travels down 25th Street to Mission, doubles back through mural-lined Balmy Alley, and ends at Garfield Park (25th Street & Harrison), where participants can add offerings like food, gifts, and photos of loved ones to the five altars created there. "Labyrinth: A Day of the Dead Exhibit" mixes traditional altars with modern interpretations like the McMuertos fast food restaurant and a lonely desert vista haunted by baying dogs (Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission, 978-ARTS). Additional Day of the Dead exhibits include ArtBeat Gallery's altar installation (3266 21st St., 643-8721), Galeria de la Raza's artistic survey of the Spanish-American and Mexican-American wars (2857 24th St., 826-8009), the SFSU Art Gallery group show in the Cesar Chavez Student Center (1650 Holloway, 338-2580), the Oakland Museum altar installation (1000 Oak, Oakland, 888/OAK-MUSE), and Laney College's group show (900 Fallon, Oakland, 510/464-3586). Check calendar and music listings for additional events. (
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