It's a big fucking deal all over again

You can't really call this season we're in "summer" until the city's major radio stations host an outdoor audio orgy to kick things off in style. So here's Live 105 stepping up to the amphitheater with its annual BFD extravaganza. During the day, the Shoreline welcomes the hot, the lukewarm, and the Echo and the Bunnymen — the big event's heavies include AFI, Franz Ferdinand, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Wolfmother, the Sounds, and other swap-the-city-and-the-bands-probably-stay-the-same alt radio favorites, alongside local lovelies like DJ Mike Relm, Birdmonster, and the Herms. If you don't blow your wad on the lawn, the BFD Afterparty kicks off later at Mezzanine with Rock Kills Kid (i.e., Interpol Takes Another Prisoner) and DJ sets from the afternoon's headliners. Both gigs promise more than their fair share of entertainment for the cash. BFD 2006 is Saturday, June 10, at Shoreline Amphitheater (gates open at 10:30 a.m.). Admission is $31.50-49.50; visit www.live105.com for more info. The afterparty is the same night at Mezzanine at 10. Admission is $10; call 625-8880 or visit www.mezzaninesf.com for more info. — Jennifer Maerz

The current karaoke version of the Dead Kennedys may have been the big draw at the Fillmore's "Fab Mab Reunion" show last April, but the surprise high point of the evening was delivered by notoriously sloppy Mabuhay-era mavericks Flipper. Frequently singled out as one of the most universally hated bands on the San Francisco scene of the late '70s and early ‘80s, Flipper gave the finger to the hardcore aesthetics of the time with its abrasive, noise-rock approach and plodding tempos while laying down a heavy-groove template that would later be refined to perfection by the Melvins. Even with auxiliary player Steve DeMartis filling in for the band's late founder and singer Will Shatter, principals Bruce Loose (bass/vocals), Steve DePace (drums), and Ted Falconi (guitar) managed to stir up a thick, obnoxious sludge with their chaotic takes on such classic Flipper anthems as "Sex Bomb" and "Shine." If you skipped the sold-out (and admittedly overpriced) Fillmore reunion, don't miss out when the local legends headline a far more intimate show on Saturday, June 10, at the Elbo Room at 9:30 p.m. Admission is $10; call 552-7788 or visit www.elbo.com for more info. (Note: the band also plays the Haight Street Fair on Sunday, June 11).— Dave Pehling

As a founding member of the Sun City Girls, Sir Richard Bishop has been blowing people away for decades with his stunning guitar work, but in recent years he's really come into his own as a solo artist. On his recent Southern Records disc Fingering the Devil— a gorgeously packaged collection of work that basically went out of print as soon as it was released — Bishop delivers an in-studio rendition of his current live performance, and it's a fluidly played, minor-key steel-string masterpiece spontaneously knocked out late one night in a London studio. Similar sounds can be found on the much more available Improvikaon Locust Music. And speaking of the Locust label, Bishop has a vinyl LP coming out on that imprint called Elektronika Demonika, an experimental electronic album with no guitar. It's being released on 6/6/06 of course, and might well be far scarier than that Omenremake. Sir Richard Bishop performs live and premieres his film God Damn Religionon Sunday, June 11, at the Hemlock Tavern at 8:30 p.m. Admission is $7; call 923-0923 or visit www.hemlocktavern.com for more info. — Mike Rowell

As anyone who watches Animal Planet can tell you, the mountain goat is a particularly hardy beast of the wild. Perhaps that's why John Darnielle chose Mountain Goats as his nom de musique — the band's defiantly low-fidelity ways are a shortcut to disaster for some, yet Darnielle and his flexible posse of provocateurs make the limitations work. For a long spell, the Mt. Goats issued songs in the now virtually antiquated cassette format, wherein tape hiss is as valid an instrument as Darnielle's unrefined acoustic guitar. Unlike some of their malformation-happy brethren, the Goats' oeuvre isn't smugly whimsical/amateurish for its own sake — 2005's The Sunshine Tree is a song cycle recounting the obstacle course of adolescence with the handicap of an abusive stepparent. Darnielle's affinity for affable melodies and contrast gives Tree a rosy afterglow borne of catharsis and an unbowed spirit. Attend the Monday, June 12, (all ages) or Tuesday, June 13, (21+) performance at Bottom of the Hill at 9 p.m. and be renewed. Admission is $14; call 621-4455 or visit www.bottomofthehill.com for more info.— Mark Keresman