This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

Wednesday, August 13, 2003
NBC's Tuesday night summertime elimination show Last Comic Standing was no American Idol, ratingswise. But with local funnyman Rob Cantrell displaying his surreal silliness to millions of viewers, San Franciscans had a rare chance to cheer a hometown boy on a national level. Despite a fine showing, Cantrell was the third voted off, leading many reality-TV fans to complain that he was robbed. It's no surprise to us, however, that an S.F.-er was just a little too unique and unusual to be appreciated by the masses in the flyover states. Cantrell's quirky witticisms will no doubt find a more amenable home tonight, when he headlines an evening of comedy with local cutups Jim Short, John Hoogasian, and W. Kamau Bell supporting. The badinage begins at 9 p.m. at the Great American Music Hall, 859 O'Farrell (at Polk), S.F. Admission is $12; call 885-0750 or visit www.gamh.com.

Thursday, August 14, 2003
If you feel surrounded by friends every time you go to the library, you're one of us. We bibliophiles love to smell, feel, and look at books as well as read them. The tradition of book art, however, transcends even our fetishism: The drive to create trumps the desire to appreciate. "Phineas and Cecilia Brice & Associates: A Fantastical Collection From Two Extraordinary Collectors" celebrates this urge, exhibiting the ephemera, artists' books, and booklike structures of 24 artists. Said bound works have been collected and curated by the witty and beloved Pacific Center for the Book Arts. Docent tours lead the public through the objets every Thursday and Saturday at 6 p.m. at the Mechanics' Institute Library, 57 Post (at Market), S.F. Admission is free; call 393-0101 or visit www.pcbaonline.net.

Friday, August 15, 2003
In almost every sense, Follow Me Home is a small movie. The story of a cross-country journey by five people of color intent on painting a mural on the White House was made on a shoestring by fledgling director Peter Bratt (brother of local celeb Benjamin Bratt, who makes a cameo in the film). The picture also addresses issues utterly absent in major mainstream cinema: racism, classism, the tyranny of patriarchal culture, the power of images to create reality. In a lesser filmmaker's hands this high-minded rhetoric might have descended into well-meaning proselytizing bullshit. But with Bratt's naturalistic direction, defiantly real characters, and an unflinching, funny-yet-tender gaze at the friction that occurs between the races every day in America, Followbecomes a movie that looms large in your heart and mind. See it at 7:30 p.m. at the Victoria Theatre, 2961 16th St. (at Capp), S.F. Admission, $8-12, benefits nonprofit Speak Out; call (510) 601-0182 or visit www.speakoutnow.org.

Saturday, August 16, 2003
With locals eager to buy retro goods, Bay Area thrift stores can be somewhat picked over; groovy antique duds, housewares, and furniture are snatched up swiftly. Vintage-gear lovers could pay premium prices at secondhand boutiques. But the loot is both sweeter and cheaper at the annual Bernal Heights Hillwide Garage Sale. About 100 households sell their outmoded stuff on the street, and since the enclave is traditionally home to artists and outré types, mighty fine bargains can be had on some delightfully weird objects. Shoppers can contain their blowout to the Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center at 515 Cortland (at Andover), which hawks hundreds of donated items. Or they can visit the Center to pick up a map of associated single-family bazaars, and then hit the hills in search of booty. The spree begins at 9 a.m. in Bernal Heights, S.F.; call 206-2140.

Sunday, August 17, 2003
Tenure in a group of longtime buddies can feel almost like a seasoned marriage. There's little excitement, but plenty of the soothing contentment that comes from knowing relationships will continue on their predictable path forever. Unless, of course, they don't. Playwright David Margulies won a Pulitzer for his Dinner With Friends, which examines the shock waves that emanate from the dissolution of wedlock. Of course, the devastation suffered by a divorcing couple has been examined in many a drama. Margulies' winning strength is that he focuses instead on the split-up partners' best friends, who weather the disruption of their own lives in ways both sad and amusing. The Theater and Film Lab/SF company presents Dinner at 8 tonight (and thrice more through Aug. 24) at A Traveling Jewish Theatre, 470 Florida (at Mariposa), S.F. Admission is $15-22; call 294-5221 or visit www.theaterfilmlab.com.

Monday, August 18, 2003
A lot of you work downtown, so you may already know: The Market Street Association loves you. It knows you're stuck down there, running around like ants, so it's generously arranged to have music for you to enjoy at lunchtime: "People in Plazas" is a summer concert series that runs five days a week through the end of September at various spots on or near Market Street. Some of the recommended shows are the Reverend Rabia's Delta blues (Sept. 4) and the Django Reinhardt stylings of Le Jazz Hot (Sept. 8). Today, the traditional jazz of the Gas House Boys peps you up and gets your little ant feet tapping, starting at noon at 101 California (at Front), S.F. Admission is free; call 362-2500 or visit www.marketstreet.citysearch.com for a complete schedule.