Calendar of Events in San Francisco

Friday, May 24
• 
  Audium 9
  Audium-Theatre of Sound-Sculptured Space

  The Audium was started in 1965 by composer Stan Shaff and equipment designer Doug McEachern. Shows are Fridays and Saturdays, and you have to be there on time — they lock the door. The room fits 50 people or so. There are chairs arranged in a semicircle. There are something like 180 speakers arranged around the room. After a short speech, they turn off all the lights and you listen... Read more about this event >>

• 
  American Tripps, Singin’ and Pingin’
  Z Space Studio

  Musical chairs, ping-pong, and a karaoke DJ walk into a theater together — no, it’s not the setup for a bad joke — it’s the hilarious event concept from American Tripps, Singin’ and Pingin’. A semi-regular occurrence, tonight’s Pingin’ will mix the Berlin style of group ping-pong tournaments with a karaoke dance party. Berlin-style ping-pong... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Live at 851
  The Squat

  A little over a year ago, Janey Smith started putting on readings in the derelict apartment above her own: Without electricity, The Squat is lit with an abundance of tea candles and authors read from a stage composed of dirt swept up from the unfinished floors, surrounded by a huddle of attendees. The first night boasted an ossified rat on the mantle; where that disappeared to is... Read more about this event >>

• 
  "Smart Bomb V.2"
  Legionnaire Saloon

  "Don't tell anyone." "It's no good here." "Stay in San Francisco." Talk to enough people living in Oakland and a fairly bleak picture tends to emerge — but don't believe them. As it happens, our neighbor to the east has gotten pretty good lately, with a creative community that rivals, and maybe surpasses, the one here in San Francisco. Its nightlife has bubbled up from the warehouse... Read more about this event >>

• 
  "theLIFT: Bay Area Edition"
  Public Works

  While terrestrial radio may be declining in the United States, Britain still holds the medium dear. One of UK radio's most established stars is Gilles Peterson (listen to this mix), a DJ and broadcaster who for the past 30 years has made a career of crossing the globe to connect the dots between jazz-minded and forward-thinking music of all stripes. That means his sets include such disparate... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Twin Shadow, Elliphant
  Great American Music Hall

  Sometimes, it's best to completely disregard musicians' thoughts on their own work. Case in point: Elliphant architect Ellinor Olovsdotter described her music as "pop punk with some electronic influence" in one interview. Based on that assessment, this one-woman project should resemble Motion City Soundtrack or maybe Matt and Kim, right? The truth is her sound has nearly nothing in common... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Raw SF
  1015 Folsom

  Sure, standing around in the stairwell of 49 Geary drinking champagne during its First Thursday gallery openings can be fun. But it's not a great way to see the best artwork this city can offer (unless you view getting trampled as a form of crowd-sourced, contemporary performance art). Switch your booze-fueled art cruise day to later in the month instead, when Raw SF hosts its huge, monthly... Read more about this event >>

• More Friday Events >>

Saturday, May 25
• 
  Kings of the Mic Tour: L.L. Cool J, Ice Cube, Public Enemy, De La Soul
  Shoreline Amphitheatre

  Thanks to his steady work on the hit crime drama NCIS: Los Angeles, LL Cool J is better known as an actor than a rapper to a whole generation of hip-hop fans. Of course, it hasn't helped that most of his output since seminal 1990 effort Mama Said Knock You Out has fallen far short of his self-proclaimed status as "Greatest of All Time." New album Authentic doesn't change that, with its... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Kylesa, Blood Ceremony, White Hills, Lazer/Wulf
  Slim's

  Along with fellow Georgian metal mavericks Mastodon and Baroness, Savannah quintet Kylesa has taken a place at the vanguard of heavy music over the past decade. Anchored by the guitar/vocal tandem of Phillip Cope and Laura Pleasants, Kylesa forges an ever-evolving brand of psychedelic sludge that has made quantum leaps with each new album. 2006's Time Will Fuse Its Worth first introduced a... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Mikal Cronin, Audacity, Michael Stasis
  Rickshaw Stop

  The wind on this Thursday night in Austin sags with the din of a dozen hopeful rock bands and the stench of stale beer. In a dark alley behind of a row of clubs on Sixth Street, Mikal Cronin leans into an alcove and tries to light a cigarette. It's tough, both because of the wind and because he's nervous. In about an hour, Cronin will be on the other side of this brick wall, vying for his... Read more about this event >>

• 
  "Lights Down Low: Seven-Year Anniversary"
  Mezzanine

  Lights Down Low has come a long way since its humble beginnings in the closet-sized basement of 222 Hyde. Now one of the most respected party crews in San Francisco, the party will celebrate its seventh birthday with an epic, house-oriented bash that combines old-school street-cred with plenty of name-brand appeal. Headlining the whole thing is Azari & III (listen to "Hungry for the Power"),... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Twin Shadow, Elliphant
  Great American Music Hall

  Sometimes, it's best to completely disregard musicians' thoughts on their own work. Case in point: Elliphant architect Ellinor Olovsdotter described her music as "pop punk with some electronic influence" in one interview. Based on that assessment, this one-woman project should resemble Motion City Soundtrack or maybe Matt and Kim, right? The truth is her sound has nearly nothing in common... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Tera Melos, TTNG, EV Kain
  Bottom of the Hill

  For a while there, it didn't look like the Sacramento trio Tera Melos was ever going to get serious about anything besides keeping its songs both technically proficient and structurally and semantically indecipherable. But then it found a way to shape up and cohere without sacrificing the core weirdness of its twitchy brand of anthem-prog. The proof is in its second full-length, X'ed Out,... Read more about this event >>

• 
  The Clock
  San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA)

  Since the beginning, artists have yearned to stop time, or at least to examine their nagging awareness that it's unstoppable. But only San Rafael native Christian Marclay has so successfully managed to turn the anxious sport of clock-watching into a weird and highly mediated form of transcendental meditation. He calls it The Clock, and it's simple: just a day-long movie made up entirely of... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Drop-in Family Ceramics Workshop
  Randall Museum

  Many of us remember coming home from our elementary schools with freshly glazed pinchpots, cups, or whatever else our young imaginations could conjure up. Saturday mornings at the Randall Museum can bring that memory back, or create a new one for the youngsters. Ceramics make great gifts -- especially on Mothers' and Fathers' Day. Hop on board for the Randall's once-weekly class, and for $6... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Loni Love
  Cobb's Comedy Club

  Thank goodness Loni Love quit her electrical engineering job to pursue a career in comedy. Electrical engineering is cool, sure; I mean, circuits? And there’s money and probably some stability in it, but when your friend’s dad tells jokes about, say, how he’s thinking about getting one of those earrings that connects by a chain to a nose ring, you won’t laugh, except... Read more about this event >>

• More Saturday Events >>

Sunday, May 26
• 
  Carnaval S.F. 2013 Grand Parade
  24th Street & Bryant

  “You don’t cancel Christmas, and you don’t cancel Carnaval,” said organizer Roberto Hernandez back in March, when it looked like the cultural festival might not happen this year due to fiscal troubles. Since then, Hernandez and a coalition of nonprofits have been hustling overtime to bring the event’s cost down from $900,000 to a more reasonable $300,000. This... Read more about this event >>

• 
  San Francisco Comedy Explosion
  1772 Market Street

  The Hella Gay Comedy Show, one of the Bay Area’s active gay comedy groups, is getting hella straight this week in honor of its strongest comedy-world allies. Normally the Hella Gays shine the spotlight on LGBT comedians in the Bay Area, but now they’re switching it up to let their allies shine. The SF Comedy Explosion will feature a handful of straight comedians who’ve been... Read more about this event >>

• 
  "As You Like It"
  Monarch

  It's easy for just about anyone with a laptop to create decent electronic dance music. But while these new tools are powerful, they often lack the creative unpredictability associated with the hardware of yesteryear. This discrepancy has caused many contemporary producers to look to the past for new production ideas. Enter Magic Mountain High, a European supergroup comprised of David Moufang... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Drunken Spelling Bee
  Cafe Royale

  “L-L-L-L-Lfffff.” What word is spelled like that? Nothing, but you never know how you might start spelling words when you’re drunk. That’s the idea behind the aptly-named Drunken Spelling Bee, during which competitive spellers can get all the beer they want for just $15 until they get a word wrong. There will be ESPN-style commentary just like on TV, and if spellers... Read more about this event >>

• More Sunday Events >>

Monday, May 27
• 
  Alcatraz Night Tour
  Alcatraz Island

  Alcatraz -- "The Rock" -- is one of those tours that you have to take at least once, whether you're local or just visiting. The abandoned prison sitting on an island about a mile and a half off the city's north shore was home to some of the most infamous names in crime, including Al Capone, it was the site of a Native American occupation, and it's still home to the oldest operating lighthouse... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Mark di Suvero at Crissy Field
  Crissy Field

  With Mark di Suvero at Crissy Field, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art starts off big with its plans to go beyond its walls during the museum’s expansion project. In partnership with the National Park Service and Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, eight of di Suvero’s large-scale steel sculptures will be installed at Crissy Field. The museum’s director, Neal... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Stand-Up Paddleboarding Lessons
  Boardsports

  When the ancient Polynesians invented surfing, they often used a paddle to help them navigate. Fast-forward a few millennia, and Stand-Up Paddleboarding, or SUP, finds itself trendy again. Part of its increasing popularity is that standing upright allows surfers to spot waves more easily and thus catch more of them, multiplying the fun factor. Paddling back to the wave becomes less of a... Read more about this event >>

• More Monday Events >>

Tuesday, May 28
• 
  Sketch Tuesdays
  111 Minna Gallery

  Sketch Tuesdays, founded in 2006, is a monthly event where 20 or so local artists hang out and make their art on a small scale. When the artwork is completed it becomes available to purchase by the audience mingling nearby -- and often for cheap! If you like the funky fresh art up on the wall just go find the artist seated at a cafeteria-style table and buy the art directly from the source.... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Mikal Cronin
  Amoeba Music

  The wind on this Thursday night in Austin sags with the din of a dozen hopeful rock bands and the stench of stale beer. In a dark alley behind of a row of clubs on Sixth Street, Mikal Cronin leans into an alcove and tries to light a cigarette. It's tough, both because of the wind and because he's nervous. In about an hour, Cronin will be on the other side of this brick wall, vying for his... Read more about this event >>

• 
  DocFest
  Roxie Theater

  If you are so excited about documentaries that you always can’t even wait another minute to see one, you’re in luck. Two of the most talked-about documentaries showing during SF Docfest will be previewed Tuesday night at the Roxie. There’s the film 10th Parallel, in which a Brazilian director takes the audience on a journey 300 miles into the Amazon to visit one of those... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Funkytown: Tuesday Night Skate
  Inner Mission

  Think love in the roller rink only happens in ’70s cult classics and that thoroughly enjoyable (we swear) 2005 flick Roll Bounce, starring Bow Wow? San Francisco’s very own Godfather of Skating David Miles met his wife of 32 years while skating in Golden Gate Park, where he’s been holding internationally infamous weekly skating events since 1989. Burners might also have... Read more about this event >>

• More Tuesday Events >>

Wednesday, May 29
• 
  Beach Blanket Babylon
  Club Fugazi

  Every San Franciscan has a list of local activities they haven't done that the average visitor to this city probably has. For us, that was Beach Blanket Babylon, the North Beach musical revue famous for its huge hats and culture-skewering whimsy. The show comes recommended by seemingly every travel guide, as well as local newspaper critics. But BBB is one of those things, like going to... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Kunst-Stoff Arts Fest 2013
  Kunst-Stoff Arts

  They say it takes three weeks to create a habit, and the third annual KUNST-STOFF Arts Fest gives you three and a half of them to take dance classes, participate in workshops on choreography and creative-intuition, and attend performances loosely centered on the theme “Inhabit.” Curated by KUNST-STOFF artistic director Yannis Adoniou, events feature local and visiting artists... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Humpday Happy Hour Workshop
  Good Vibrations

  Not everyone is comfortable talking about sex. In fact, just hearing the word in public is enough to make some people uneasy, even here in liberal San Francisco. For those of you looking to explore your sexuality in the new year (or are just curious what the fuss is all about), head on over to Good Vibrations for its recurring (and often free) workshops. There’s something for everyone,... Read more about this event >>

• 
  Anna and the Annadroids
  The Garage

  Plastic, fantastic, sarcastic robot dolls on the loose: Anna and the Annadroids presents Dullface, the newest quarter of their tetralogy Man(u)fractured. Anna Sullivan’s works are surrealist meditations on replication, mechanization, and objectification danced by a regiment of kabuki-faced cyber-marionettes. It’s geishas meet the funhouse, Dr. Coppelius meets Dr. Who, Betty Boop... Read more about this event >>

• More Wednesday Events >>

Thursday, May 30
• More Thursday Events >>