Calendar of Events in San Francisco

Tuesday, January 22
• 
  John Mackey
  Commonwealth Club

  Many of us who call this expensive city home spend nearly all of our income on rent. This leaves us with little cash leftover, besides a few bucks for essentials, like food (and beer). And if you’re like many in San Francisco who are concerned about the food they consume, then you might occasionally drop part of your “whole paycheck” at Whole Foods. With locations popping up... More >>

• 
  The Avengers of Comedy
  Punch Line

  Recognizing that the noble pursuits of geekery and nerd culture are alive and well in San Francisco, The Avengers of Comedy have arrived to celebrate and skewer the culture of flamboyant intelligence that thrives in this region. Tonight’s installment is the sequel to an idea local funnymen Sam Davidoff (who serves as the host) and Dash Kwiatkowski (who headlines the show) had last year,... More >>

• 
  Tuesdays Are Jillarious
  Tommy T's Showroom

  Stand-up comedy is an all-or-nothing game, economically speaking. All comics -- including some of the best we know -- basically have to do it for free unless and until they get "discovered," which roughly translates to "move to L.A. or New York in order to make a living." Which brings us to our next point: San Francisco is one of the nation's most active incubators for comics who want to be... More >>

• 
  "High Fantasy"
  Aunt Charlie's Lounge

  Weekends are for amateurs — the really good stuff happens during the week. Well, that might be a little hyperbolic, but it's certainly true in the case of High Fantasy. Going on for over two years now, the weekly Tuesday night party at Aunt Charlie's is your midweek destination for a dose of high-concept gender-bending insanity. Madcap promoters Myles Cooper and Vivian Baron host an... More >>

• More Tuesday Events >>

Wednesday, January 23
• 
  Guided Tours of Coit Tower Murals
  Coit Tower

  Coit Tower has its history, and it's definitely got its views -- and some of the best of each is inside the tower itself. The murals, commissioned during the beginning of the New Deal in the 1930s as a way to get artists back to work were painted by some masters in modern art history. After Diego Rivera's Man at the Crossroads was defaced at Rockefeller Center for including leftist ideas,... More >>

• 
  Gojira, The Devin Townsend Project, The Atlas Moth
  The Fillmore

  For a metal band, Gojira sports a name so fantastic that it's shocking no one snapped it up earlier. The Bayonne, France-based outfit nods to Godzilla's original Japanese moniker (before legal complications, the group called itself Godzilla), even though the four-piece's sonic traits don't quite mimic its namesake. Godzilla famously stomps and battles with movie-monster-in-a-china-shop... More >>

• 
  "Desert Jewels: North African Jewelry and Photography from the Xavier Guerrand-Hermès Collection"
  Museum of the African Diaspora

  While some people collect Hermès purses, a fifth-generation descendent of the French luxury empire turned to North Africa in search of historic jewelry and photographs. Xavier Guerrand-Hermès spent over 30 years amassing treasures from the late 19th to early 20th century, many of which can now be seen at “Desert Jewels: North African Jewelry and Photography from the Xavier... More >>

• 
  SFJAZZ Center Opening Week
  SFJAZZ Center

  Randall Kline founded SFJAZZ 30 years ago, so he's had lots of time to consider how the perfect space for the organization would look. This week, with SFJAZZ opening the first standalone center for jazz on the West Coast, Kline's vision has become a reality that anyone can see into. Wearing his hard hat and construction vest to tour the 35,000-square-foot, $65 million space on the corner of... More >>

• 
  Sex and the City: Live!
  Rebel

  Still reeling from the stiletto-sized hole in your heart since The Golden Girls Christmas Episodes closed for the season? Us too. But you can wipe the glitter-encrusted tears from your eyes, because Trannyshack is back with drag renditions of the popular, cosmo- and shoe-obsessed HBO series Sex and the City. Drag dynamo Heklina stars as Carrie, D’Arcy Drollinger (who also does a... More >>

• More Wednesday Events >>

Thursday, January 24
• 
  "Images from Chinatown: Four decades of Photographs"
  Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco

  San Francisco’s Chinatown is the oldest in North America and the largest Chinese community outside of Asia. It’s also one of the densest neighborhoods in the country, with over 75,000 people per square mile. Chinatown attracts more tourists than the Golden Gate Bridge, yet most people only know it as a place to get cheap commodities, illegal fireworks, or good dim sum. But a new... More >>

• 
  The Walkmen, Father John Misty
  The Fillmore

  It's been over a decade since The Walkmen's debut full-length, and after last year's unusually joyous album Heaven, it's fair to say the band is a different animal these days. There's still no one on Earth who can go from a croon to a wail quite like Hamilton Leithauser, but the dapper indie rock quintet has transformed in many other ways. The great thing, of course, is that The Walkmen now... More >>

• 
  "Popscene"
  Rickshaw Stop

  Ordinarily, a London-based soul chanteuse has zero reason to beef with a hulking 1990s rapper from the Bronx — but that's not the case for Jessie Ware and the late Big Pun. The ultra-chic up-and-comer and producer Julio Bashmore sampled a line from Pun's "Dream Shatterer" ("I'm carvin' my initials on your forehead") for Ware's light-footed gloom-pop tune "110%." Then Ware had a legal... More >>

• 
  "Speak Your Peace"
  SOMArts Cultural Center

  We hate to state the obvious, but the world really doesn't seem like such a peaceful place right now. Shootings in our cities and in our schools, a prison system intent on perpetuating cycles of poverty and crime, never-ending unrest in the Middle East -- It's enough to make any sane person want to bury their head in the sand. However the artists in the group exhibition "Speak Your Peace"... More >>

• 
  SFJAZZ Center Opening Week
  SFJAZZ Center

  Randall Kline founded SFJAZZ 30 years ago, so he's had lots of time to consider how the perfect space for the organization would look. This week, with SFJAZZ opening the first standalone center for jazz on the West Coast, Kline's vision has become a reality that anyone can see into. Wearing his hard hat and construction vest to tour the 35,000-square-foot, $65 million space on the corner of... More >>

• 
  "Downtown"
  Spare Change Artist Space

  We do what we have to do to live in our glorious Bay Area, but it’s hard not to wish for a smidge more economic security from time to time. Local artist John-Mark Ikeda takes those anxieties and runs with them, seeing America’s growing awareness of (and protest against) the country’s wealth disparity as a classic example of the moment a long-held myth collides with cold,... More >>

• More Thursday Events >>

Friday, January 25
• 
  The Walkmen, Father John Misty
  The Fillmore

  It's been over a decade since The Walkmen's debut full-length, and after last year's unusually joyous album Heaven, it's fair to say the band is a different animal these days. There's still no one on Earth who can go from a croon to a wail quite like Hamilton Leithauser, but the dapper indie rock quintet has transformed in many other ways. The great thing, of course, is that The Walkmen now... More >>

• 
  "Hand Jobs"
  24K Gallery

  While the rest of us were sleeping, a generation of entrepreneurial women revolutionized the art of the fingernail. Forget old clichés like a diamond is forever — these ladies are serious about nail art. You could even say they get out of hand with it. But don’t take our word for it, head to the aptly and hilariously titled show “Hand Jobs” tonight. Artist... More >>

• 
  "NEVABAWARLDAPECE"
  Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

  If anyone is up to the task of presenting critical movements in American history in the form of dance — from the violent actions employed by the abolitionist John Brown to the participatory democracy of the Occupy movement — Robert Moses is. Dance company Robert Moses’ Kin, now in its 18th season, presents “NEVABAWARLDAPECE,” which explores the liberation... More >>

• 
  SFJAZZ Center Opening Week
  SFJAZZ Center

  Randall Kline founded SFJAZZ 30 years ago, so he's had lots of time to consider how the perfect space for the organization would look. This week, with SFJAZZ opening the first standalone center for jazz on the West Coast, Kline's vision has become a reality that anyone can see into. Wearing his hard hat and construction vest to tour the 35,000-square-foot, $65 million space on the corner of... More >>

• 
  "Baxtalo Drom"
  Amnesia

  If it's dancing girls you want, or if it's a dancing girl you are, Baxtalo Drom is your jam. Deep, deep in the steampunk jungle, this belly-dance-flavored club is rife with old-timey aesthetics, exposed tattooage, and feathers in hairdos. The evening is organized by the very pretty women of Sister Kate, a shimmying troupe with extensive costume options and roots in the local-famous tribal... More >>

• More Friday Events >>

Saturday, January 26
• 
  Civil War Living History Day
  Fort Point

  Between 1853 and 1861, Fort Point was constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to prevent entrance of a hostile fleet into San Francisco Bay. The fort was occupied throughout the Civil War, but the invention of faster, more powerful rifled cannons made brick forts obsolete. In 1886, the troops were withdrawn, and the last cannons were removed around 1900. During World War II, Fort... More >>

• 
  An Evening of Silent Films with Dorothy Papadakos
  Grace Cathedral

  For a portion of the population, “church and organ” are synonymous with “church and God.” The Lord didn’t compose His entrance on the kazoo, did He? Now consider, for a moment, what powerhouse emotions might be summoned if the instrument and the space were devoted to another purpose. We’ve entered the province of Dorothy Papadakos, the altogether remarkable... More >>

• 
  Niki and The Dove, Vacationer, DJ Aaron Axelsen
  The Independent

  There's a moon-goddess mysticism in the electro-pop of Niki and The Dove, something that brings a primal warmth to the icy pop sensibilities they share with similar Nordic acts (The Knife, Robyn). Their underrated 2012 release, Instinct, harnesses these humanizing influences: Prince, Kate Bush, Adam Ant, and Stevie Nicks, adding flamboyance and connection to the usual aloof-pop template. It's... More >>

• 
  SFJAZZ Center Opening Week
  SFJAZZ Center

  Randall Kline founded SFJAZZ 30 years ago, so he's had lots of time to consider how the perfect space for the organization would look. This week, with SFJAZZ opening the first standalone center for jazz on the West Coast, Kline's vision has become a reality that anyone can see into. Wearing his hard hat and construction vest to tour the 35,000-square-foot, $65 million space on the corner of... More >>

• 
  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... More >>

• 
  "Icee Hot: Three-Year Anniversary"
  Public Works

  Icee Hot has come a long way since it first began as a monthly workout in the cramped basement at 222 Hyde. Yet even though it now regularly hosts huge parties in the city's larger venues, one thing has remained the same: its consistently cutting-edge bookings. This month marks the party's third anniversary, and it's celebrating hard with a two-night massive at Public Works. Dutch... More >>

• More Saturday Events >>

Sunday, January 27
• 
  Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
  Buriel Clay Theater

  African-American Shakespeare Company’s production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof excises neither “redneck” nor the n-word from the original script. Director L. Peter Callender “hasn’t changed a word,” aside from creating his own hybrid of playwright Tennessee Williams’ multiple endings. “I wanted to make sure that people don’t see this as a... More >>

• 
  Everything New
  Hotel Rex

  Readings in San Francisco are constantly evolving. Traditional lit events involving a person, a microphone, and a hushed audience are still around, but more often than not, you’ll find the literati combining their love of words with such variables as yo-yo artists, acrobatics, kink, paint-by-number contests, and even charades. Whether such pastiche succeeds or fails is still largely... More >>

• 
  "Educate! Amuse! And in Colors! Selections from the George M. Fox Collection of Early Children’s Books."
  San Francisco Main Library

  You know what ensures that children’s books stay in good condition? Keeping them away from children. That’s why Mr. George M. Fox’s collection, which contains more than 2,000 early British and American children’s books, looks so pristine. Donated to the S.F. Public Library in 1978, the collection consists of books older than 130 years, but they have never before been... More >>

• 
  SFJAZZ Center Opening Week
  SFJAZZ Center

  Randall Kline founded SFJAZZ 30 years ago, so he's had lots of time to consider how the perfect space for the organization would look. This week, with SFJAZZ opening the first standalone center for jazz on the West Coast, Kline's vision has become a reality that anyone can see into. Wearing his hard hat and construction vest to tour the 35,000-square-foot, $65 million space on the corner of... More >>

• More Sunday Events >>

Monday, January 28
• 
  Classical Revolution
  Revolution Cafe

  Armed with stringed instruments and intense training from the likes of Juilliard and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Classical Revolution is on a mission to change the way classical music is perceived and performed in this city. Conceived in late 2006, the collective's intent has been to inject a different sound into the Mission District music scene. What started as a quartet has now... More >>

• 
  SF Sketchfest: Sound Effects Summit
  The Independent

  For lovers of laughter, the next few weeks (Jan. 24-Feb. 10) will be an orgy of hilarity filling every crevice of this city, from prestigious museums to dingy video store basements. Inventive and inspired, the 12th annual Sketchfest offers everything from competitive erotic fan fiction to improvised Shakespeare onstage, with festival highlights including Bruce “The Chin” Campbell,... More >>

• 
  “Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs: The Creation of a Classic”
  The Walt Disney Family Museum

  Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, for all its legendary impact and influence, was an enormous gamble on the part of Walt Disney. His Mickey Mouse and Silly Symphony cartoon shorts had been successful, but producing a feature was another venture entirely. The Hollywood press saw Snow White as a quixotic risk, and Disney also had to contend with objections from his brother and business partner,... More >>

• 
  Explore the Living Roof with Naturalists
  California Academy of Sciences

  Forty-five bird species. Fifty-two plant species. Twenty orders and 39 families of arthropods. All these have been identified at the California Academy of Sciences, but it’s probably not what you think; these life forms aren’t preserved in exhibits indoors. Rather, they inhabit the top of the museum — on the outside. Once a week you can see them at Explore the Living Roof... More >>

• More Monday Events >>