Events

Now that Noise Pop's annual festivities are up and running, there's going to be a slew of exciting events and shows throughout the city that you won't want to miss. The Noise Pop-Up Shop has taken claim of the most awesome new event space in town (we're not biased, we swear) at The Bold Italic headquarters for the next few weeks, and they're kicking off their upcoming events with a bang in the form of Bloody Mary's and beats a-plenty. Show up to see live music, dance, get a daytime buzz, grab some eats and donate to charity - funds from admission will be donated to CMAC. Musical acts will include Niteppl, Realboy, Nisus, and Nanosaur, and Noise Pop is suggesting a $5 donation.

John Felix Arnold III introduces the new installment to his exhibition series, "Unstoppable Tomorrow : The World of Future Antiquity", entitled "The Love of All Above". One part solo art show, one part performance showcase, and one part audience participation, Arnold has created a recipe for gratitude in his exhibition. Set in a post-apocalyptic future, the installation is intended to make the audience reflect on their own lives, struggles, and thankfulness. Arnold's multimedia project will open with a provocative live performance showcase and an artist reception, complete with complimentary refreshments and h'ors d'oeuvres galore. The installment will be moved to Art Now SF (3075 17th St.) on February 6th-21st, and will be on view by appointment only. So check it out before it's gone! You can also contact John Felix Arnold III for viewing appointments at 917-543-5261, or email at felixthethird@gmail.com.

Julia Goodman's workshop last year, Radicle Papyrus, was an artistic success, and totally proved papermaking an underrated art form. This time, she's presenting her own work to the public, which takes normally average, boring paper to the next level. Goodman makes artisan paper out of beets through an ancient practice of papermaking that results in colorful brilliance. Local sound artist Scott Cazan will accompany the installation, and audience members will get to see Goodman's vibrant handiwork up close and personal. The exhibition is (amazingly) free, so there are no excuses for missing out.

Hot Mess SF is a local sketch comedy collective of talented local writers and actors. If improv-y comedy shows tickle your fancy, Hot Mess SF is guaranteed to up the hilarity with their February show, You Never Forget Your First. The show is a celebration of springtime in the City with all the raunch and provocative humor that Hot Mess SF has perfected. Score your tix in advance at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/221141 for $10 - they're $15 at the door.

For foodies and theater enthusiasts alike, 18 Reasons and Z Space presents some food and food for thought, in a combination of on-stage entertainment and delicious culinary offering. Food Stories introduces a discussion of food, literature, and the ways they are interconnected - all while promoting its tagline, "Pleasure is pleasure", in T. C. Boyle's "Sorry Fugu" and Alice McDermott's play, "Enough". The former puts Boyle's satirist reputation to work in a witty analysis of restaurants and critics, and the latter chronicles a woman's life and relationship with food. The event gives its audience what the City knows best - good food and great literature - in a collection of plays, director Q&A, talks from local gourmet experts, art, and a mouthwatering meal, of course. 18 Reasons is asking $65 for members, and $75 for the general public, and admission includes theater tickets and dinner. Buy tickets at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/220577 .

SF Indiefest kicks off this year with a smart-alecky Super Bowl. Watch the game (but only if the Niners make it, of course) while the guys from SportsSweaters give their always-snarky commentary and sarcastic two-cents. Witty, smart-ass personalities like David Cairns, OJ Patterson, and David Gborie are the commentators for the night, and they are bound to induce some gridiron revelry. The event is a benefit for SF Indiefest and The Roxie Theater, so admission is free but donations are encouraged.

Shannon O'Malley's blog, Apocalypse Cakes, presents an incredibly witty outlook on the impending end of the world. Each of her cakes gives a satiric nod to the crumbling state of the planet without putting a damper on her deliciously hilarious cakes. Omnivore Books is hosting a reading/tasting event on February 5th, featuring passages from O'Malley's new cookbook, Apocalypse Cakes: Recipes for the End (including recipes for her Black Deforestation Cake, Pharma Nation Nut Cake, Gay Wedding Cake, and more) and some apocalyptic delicacies that you'd better try before we all go up in flames at the end of this ominous 2012.

You've probably never been to a drawing class run by a lineup of San Francisco's most gut-busting comedians. Good thing Mission art space newcomer, We Are Will Brown, is taking the initiative in hosting such an event, where participants will figure draw local stand-up artists (including George Chen, Rajeev Dhar, Jesse Elias, Chris Garcia, Andrew Holmgren, Sean Keane, Duat Mai, Jessica Sele, Chris Thayer, and Alex White) in the midst of their craft. Quick comedy sketches mean super-speedy art sketches, so you'll have to crank out some masterpieces in record time. We Are Will Brown will provide the chairs, easels, paper, pencils, and booze, so all you need is your artistic ambition (or not, amateurs are encouraged) and a comedic spirit.

There's a good chance that amount of time accumulated living in San Francisco is directly proportional to one's level of addiction to chai. Anything warm and caffeinated is worshipped in this city, if the amount of coffee and tea shops per square block is any inclination -- and chai is certainly no exception. This explains 18 Reasons' upcoming workshop, Chai Traditions: History and Taste -- part history lesson, part chai-making tutorial, part tasting session. Complete with Indian street food. Tickets are $25 for 18 Reasons members and $35 for the general public. You can get them here: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/218026

The News is a brand new monthly outlet for queer performance in the City, featuring artists of all backgrounds, skill levels, and trades. This diverse artistic offering debuts on February 7th, and continues as a collection of queer creative expression every first Tuesday. The first installation to the curated selection of performance will feature performers like Rotimi Agbabiaka, DIAmanda Kallas II Dia Dear, La Chica Boom, Peter Max Lawrence, and Marissa Majickbe -- and will be followed by an informal Q&A session to broaden the scope of performance and inspiration within San Francisco's fabulously thriving queer community. SOMArts recommends getting advanced tickets, as space is limited. Purchase tickets here: http://www.thenewsperformance.eventbrite.com.

"Seeing Double" is a virtual time capsule of some of the most memorable moments in recent history captured by world-renowned photojournalists. A traveling exhibition organized by KONA Gallery and the Photojournalism Center of San Clemente, the show offers a chance to see more than 60 of the best photographs featured in the first five years of the award-winning quarterly magazine DOUBLEtruck. Part of the San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery's Art at City Hall program, the exhibition will be displayed on the ground floor of City Hall. It runs from February 8 - May 18, 2012.

SFAC will be celebrating the first five years of the critically-acclaimed quarterly magazine, DOUBLEtruck, and will present a collection of 60 of their most iconic, evocative photographs. The gallery will showcase a time capsule of the most notable moments in recent history, from war-torn Iraq to images of Indonesian floods and wreckage. The magazine's focus on photography that "illuminate[s] the human condition", says gallery director Meg Shiffler, makes for a pretty diverse (and sometimes gruesome) account of global suffering, and ups the social justice ante in order to make a positive change. Sounds good to us! This exhibition featuring world-renowned photojournalists is free and open to the public, and the installment will run until May 18th.

Chocolate, flowers, love potions -- it's a recipe for romance and you can experience it all at the Conservatory of Flowers this February 8 during a special, sense-ational Valentine's Day after hours event for the 21+ crowd. Sip an intoxicating elixir by Cocktail Lab or enjoy a hand crafted brew by the Richmond District's own Comrades Brewing, enjoy live music by Le Quartet de Jazz, stroll through our lush jungle of dazzling orchids and other tropical beauties, and snuggle up in a vintage Playland-by-the-Beach era photo booth. Then learn about the dark art of chocolate making with TCHO's chief chocolate wizard Brad Kintzer, who will take you on a journey from the cacao tree to the candy bar, exploring the key variables that influence chocolate quality. Kintzer's talk will include a guided tasting of chocolate flavors and diverse origins. 6-10 PM TCHO chocolate talks at 7 PM and 8:30 PM COST: $10 per person, $7 COF Members, $5 Drink Tix To get more details or advance tickets, visit: conservatoryofflowers.org/events/specialevents

With Singles Awareness Day (or Valentine's Day, for the spoken-for) rapidly approaching, some of us will be in need of some lovin' to fend of V-Day-induced depression. That's why the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition will be hosting a very bike-friendly dating game, Love on Wheels, to try to hook you up with a like-minded lover. Bike-enthused contestants will quiz each other and the winners will score a date paid for by the Coalition, so bring your bicycle know-how and it may be love at first sight. For the chance to find true love (or just to get some, if that's what you're into), email love@sfbike.org and tell them which way you roll (there's girl-girl, dude-dude, and guy-gal categories). It's 21+, and if you become an SF Bicycle Coalition member at the door you get in free! $5 for members, and $10 for non-members.

The folks at Noise Pop want to get your Wasted Wednesday started off right, with some happy hour libations and live musical performances over at TBI's badass new event space. Shortcircles and Giraffage - loyal SF locals - will hit the stage, in addition to the debut of Some Ember, a new project from Dylan Travis (Man/Miracle). Musical selections from EOTB and live visuals will get the party rollin' at the Noise Pop-Up Shop. $5, 21+.

Nina Katchadourian was born in Stanford, California and grew up spending every summer on a small island in the Finnish archipelago, where she still spends part of each year. Her work exists in a wide variety of media including photography, sculpture, video, and sound, and often involves whimsical insertions into everyday scenarios, interacting with nature or maps. Her work has been exhibited domestically and internationally at places such as MoMA PS1, New York; the Serpentine Gallery, London; New Langton Arts, San Francisco; Artists Space, New York; SculptureCenter, New York; and the Palais de Tokyo, Paris. In 2006, the Turku Art Museum in Finland featured a solo show of works made in Finland, and later that year the Tang Museum in Saratoga Springs exhibited a 10-year survey of her work and published an accompanying monograph entitled All Forms of Attraction. The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego presented a solo show of her recent video installation works in July 2008. In February 2010, she was the artist-in-residence at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery in Dunedin, New Zealand, where she had a solo show entitled Seat Assignment. She is currently at work on a permanent public piece, commissioned by the General Services Administration (GSA), for a border crossing station between the U.S. and Canada. Katchadourian is represented by Catharine Clark Gallery in San Francisco. www.ninakatchadourian.com

Hospitality House’s Community Arts Program (CAP) is pleased to invite you to the group exhibition Selections: Works from Hospitality House’s Permanent Collection, featuring works created by Tenderloin community artists utilizing the free-of-charge fine arts studio and gallery temporarily housed at the Luggage Store Gallery, 1009 Market Street at 6th Street. Since 1969, CAP has been providing resources and exhibition space to artists who might not otherwise have access to them. This exhibition showcases a range of works produced at the CAP throughout our history. “One of the remarkable things I witness on a daily basis is how the artists that use the studio are able to temporarily overcome the hardship they endure to produce outstanding works,” said Ivan Vera, CAP Program Manager. “What I find curious is how when the brain and the hand are focused on the task-at-hand the emphasis shifts from the artist’s day-to-day struggles to a personal appreciation of his or her creative achievements.” Through creativity, adversity dissipates, self-esteem is built, and self-sufficiency is strengthened, key components to Hospitality House’s mission. This special retrospective spans more than 43 years, featuring works by notable artists throughout the history of the program, including: James Scoville, Jeff Roysdon, Stephen McQueen, Gabriella Bardellini, Pepe, Angel Florentino, Harry Driggs, Rose Linda, Charlotte Redor, Milo Harkness-Smith, Charlene L. Godard, James Irvine Taylor/Jolene Spencer, David Brannam, E. Kolker, Ronnie Goodman, Donald Becerra, Pancho, Esteban Diaz, Charles Blackwell, Sean Desmond, Dedan Bryant, Cadillac Red, Midori Meissen, randalljohn, Elisha Brown, Marsha Campbell, Patti Walker, Janet Williams, Steven Harris, Ronald Barnett, Athena Landmeier, Roya Bozeman, Ruth Altman, and others. Selections runs from February 9 through April 13 with an artist reception on Thursday, February 9, from 5 to 8 PM. The reception is free and open to the public.

Local creative-types' favorite happy hour happening, So You Think You Can Paint?, presents a night of highlights from featured So You Think You Can Paint? veterans. Seasoned painters will display and sell some of their best work, and you'll have a chance to paint a masterpiece, as always. It's also a chance to score some cheap cocktails - and TBI fave, Ike's Place, is bringing free grub for the masses. In case the prospect of free (and beyond delicious) sandwiches doesn't persuade you, Bay Area local bands Capkins, NorthFolk, and Blackout Makeout are also playing to get your creative juices flowing. Should be a good time!

Found Local and massage therapy master, Sya Warfield, is the head honcho over at Mission massage and spa destination, Urban Oasis. And in honor of Valentine's Day, Sya and Urban Oasis are hosting an art opening and V-Day party at the spa, complete with music, work by local artist Trina Spiller, and Valentine's treats to keep you relaxed and happy.

Whether you've boarded the San Francisco cable cars a hundred times or brushed them off as a mere tourist trap, you're now invited to learn about a modern mystery story experienced while riding one up Nob Hill. Member author Jim Nelson has penned Everywhere Man, a high-tech mystery story and audio tour about San Francisco's cable cars. Readers and tour participants will learn about a stranger haunting millions of tourist photographs that are taken around San Francisco and posted on the Internet, a man whose image quietly frustrates the fabric of the city's digital history. His presence is detected inside a virtual cable car ride funded by an entrepreneur who fancies himself a modern Andrew Hallidie. Portions of the audio tour will be presented and the author will discuss the process of writing a book designed to be synchronized with a self-guided audio tour. Everywhere Man was published in October 2011.

1AM, in collaboration with artists, Optimist and Plantrees, are proud to present “The Truck Show SF”. The exhibit pays homage to the modern box-style delivery truck as an icon of graffiti and also is a charity event to benefit Visual Element, the public arts component of Oakland’s EastSide Art Alliance. Optimist and Plantrees have put together a killer line-up of artists, including infamous Bay Area graffiti writers like Satyr, Jurne and Pemex that have agreed to donate 100% of their proceeds to Visual Element. The organizers of “The Truck Show SF” hope to show that the graffiti writer’s love and respect for the art form is a powerful tool to help fuel and positively influence the next generation by giving back to their community even in a time of financial struggle. The opening reception is on Friday, February 10th, 2012 from 6:30 to 9:30pm and will run through March 4th, 2012. The organizers of “The Truck Show SF” are excited to partner with Visual Element. We both believe that murals educate, motivate to action, and inspire more creations of beauty. With a wide price range of artwork for sale, everyone interested will be able to take home a piece of graffiti history and support an important cause. For more information, follow “The Truck Show SF” at www.thetruckshowsf.com or visit www.1AMSF.com.

Not a strict adaptation but a collage-like modern dance performance based on the imagery, music, and character of Haruki Murakami's books. Inspirational imagery includes a man dressed as a sheep, a tank of jellyfish, and a woman lost inside a television set. The director chose the music based on Murakami's references to sound scatted throughout the pages of his works, so you'll hear everything from Secret Agent Man to the sounds of cicadas. This should be interesting. Black tie attire is requested! Buy tix here: http://counterpulse.org/?tribe_events=hotel-in-a-bottle

With Valentine's Day around the corner, you'd better start searching for the goods to make your V-Day memorable for your significant other. Or if your single, no worries, because Rare Device's upcoming trunk show-gone-moving sale is perfect for picking up a gift or treating yourself to some local treasures. A few Bay Area vendors are offering up goodies for the occasion: Kelly from Elizabeth Street Cosmetics will have lipgloss and lipstick on hand, Samantha from Noteify is selling artisan cards and paper goods, and Laura from Sidesaddle Kitchen's raw, vegan, and gluten-free indulgences will be a must-try. In addition to these lovely local offerings, the goods at Rare Device will be a steal -- they'll put out $5, $10, and $20 sale bins in order to make room for their move to Divisadero. We're in!

The happenings during SF Beer Week are among the most anticipated all year, and Brewtruc's annual beer tasting event is no exception. For 20 bucks, you will get your beer-thirsty hands on 10 drink tickets that grant access to a selection of local breweries' specialty suds. There will be plenty of brews to try, food trucks a-plenty, and live performances to accompany the imbibing. The beer garden event is a benefit for charities endorsed by Night Train Swimmers, so you can help out some locals in need while getting your drink on. See the rest of SF Beer Week's upcoming escapades here: http://sfbeerweek.org/schedule

The upcoming release of the Mission's very own map of highlights makes us wonder why such a map wasn't thought of before. The collaborative effort of The Pretty Pretty Collective, Fabric8, and Benny Gold has resulted in a useful and localized guide to exploring the Mission, featuring 122 of their favorite dwellings - including 500 Club, Skull & Swords tattoo shop, Lost Weekend Video, Boogaloo’s, Dolores Park, and Mira Mira. The map will also debut as an interactive iPhone app, so you can hit up the most happening haunts on-the-go. Be among the first to check out the map at its release party at 111 Minna Gallery.

Adorable 16th St. shop Needles and Pens is always filled to the brim with the D.I.Y. goodies, badass zines, and quirky artwork that make the SF art scene so unique. Same goes for Kelly Ording's new book, Paths and Ways, which is a 75 page monograph printed in an edition of 50 by SF local publishing house, Land and Sea. Her new book gig will get some love via a reading by Ording herself, and will include an exhibition of Ording's latest drawings. You'll be able to support local art and purchase her book at the reading, too.

With Peter Orner & Peter Godwin Peter Godwin’s The Fear chronicles the violence, suffering and chaos of his native Zimbabwe under the rule of Robert Mugabe. In Peter Orner’s Hope Deferred, Zimbabweans recount their experiences of losing their homes, land, livelihoods and families as a direct result of political violence. Godwin and Orner join in a discussion about the astonishing courage and resilience of a people who challenged a violent dictatorship, and the power of story telling to fight tyranny. “[The Fear is] a document that should be read by anyone interested in the sacrifices that people are willing to make for the sake of democracy.” – The New York Times “Hope Deferred might be the most important publication to have come out of Zimbabwe in the past thirty years.” – Alexandra Fuller, Harper’s Magazine tickets: http://bit.ly/orner_godwin

The central motif of renowned Spanish artist Dora García's work is the analysis of the paradigms and conventions of art. She often uses texts and stories as a basis for scenarios that, while witty and entertaining, raise complex ethical and moral questions. Her projects invoke problematic sources such as Abbie Hoffman’s 1970 Steal this Book, Lenny Bruce’s incendiary stand up comedy, and the films of legendary underground filmmaker Jack Smith. García studied at the University of Salamanca and at the Rijksakademie of Amsterdam, and has had solo exhibitions in Spain and abroad at MACBA, Barcelona; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid; MUSAC, León, Spain; SMAK, Gante, Belgium; GfZK, Leipzig, Germany; CGAC, Santiago de Compostela, Spain; Galeria Civica di Trento, Italy; Kunsthalle Bern, Switzerland; and Index Stockholm. She has participated in prestigious international exhibitions including Manifesta 2, the 8th Istanbul Biennial, 17th Biennale of Sydney; Xe Biennale of Lyon; 2nd Athens Biennale; 29th Bienal de São Paulo; and the 2011 Venice Biennale, where she represented her home country of Spain. Her work will be included in Descriptive Acts, a media arts exhibition at SFMOMA, which runs from February through June of this year. http://www.doragarcia.net/

What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank A regular contributor to the New Yorker, Nathan Englander won the PEN/Malamud award for his first collection, For the Relief of Unbearable Urges, an international bestseller. Of his first novel, The Ministry of Special Cases, the New York Times wrote, “one reads this novel in awe of Englander's talent.” His play, The Twenty-Seventh Man, based on a story from his first book, will premiere at New York’s The Public Theater this year. He joins us to discuss his new book, What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank, eight short stories that grapple with the great questions of modern life. The title story, inspired by Raymond Carver’s masterpiece, is a provocative portrait of two marriages in which the Holocaust is played out as a devastating parlor game. tickets: http://bit.ly/englander

If you're looking for the perfect Valentine's Day date night, search no further than a celebration of beer and film - you can't get much more San Francisco with this match made in heaven. SF Beer Week features Bay Area beers and breweries throughout the City from February 10th to 19th, and this film screening at 18 Reasons is a definite brewfest highlight for the most romantic day of the year. You'll see the Pacific NW documentary The Love of Beer, and a short about the experts at the local Almanac Brewery. 18 Reasons are also doling out an Almanac seasonal beer selection and TCHO chocolate, to stay true to the Valentine's Day occasion. Grab a date (or don't - beer, movies, and chocolate still rule when you're single. Probably even more so) and purchase tickets at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/216793. Tickets are $15 for 18 Reasons members and $20 for the general public.

Shari Frilot is curator of the Sundance Film Festival’s New Frontier program, an exhibition and commissioning initiative that focuses on cinematic work being created at the intersections of art, film, and new media technology. As the programmer and curator, Frilot reviews work from new artists, decides which innovative projects she wants to put in front of the Sundance audience, and works to answer the question: How to show film art in an art film context? Previously, Frilot was the Festival Director of the MIX festival in New York and Co-Director of Programming for OUTFEST. She is also a filmmaker, of works including Strange & Charmed, A Cosmic Demonstration of Sexuality, and the feature documentary Black Nations/Queer Nations?. She is the recipient of multiple grants, including from the Ford Foundation and the Rockefeller Media Arts Foundation.

SF Beer Week always brings the imbibed enthusiasm. Local SF brewing masters – Speakeasy Brewing, Trumer Pilsner, 21st Amendment, Anchor Steam, Mad River Brewing Company, Drake's Brewing, Bear Republic Brewing, Santa Cruz Ale Works, Lagunitas Brewing, and Marin Brewing Co – prepare to school you in the art of beer making and will offer some sample brews at the California Academy of Sciences' Nightlife event. In collaboration with Noise Pop's 20th anniversary this year, the event will round up some 'class acts' to accompany the local libations: SF-based musicians of Class Actress and epicsauce DJs, as well as poster artists Lil Tuffy, Alan Hynes, Small Stakes (Jason Munn), GigArt (Gregg Gordon), Alan Forbes, and Monkey Ink (John Howard), will all make an appearance. It's $12 per person ($10 for Academy members), and you can score tickets at the door or via the interwebs at www.calacademy.org/event_tickets/.

In Blood, Butter and Bones, Gabrielle Hamilton charts her unorthodox trajectory to becoming a top chef and owner of the renowned Prune restaurant in Manhattan. She provokes us to consider how we approach our meals and our families—the ones we’re born into, the ones we make with our partners and children, and the ones that are born of work and sweat. “Magnificent. Simply the best memoir by a chef ever.” —Anthony Bourdain “Hamilton has changed the potential and raised the bar for all books about eating and cooking.” —Mario Batali tickets: http://bit.ly/blood_butter_bones