San Francisco Weekly May 30, 2012 : Page 12

sfweekly.com FRI PAGE 12 The Loved Ones brings gore to prom night. SAT PAGE 13 Cyndi Lauper sings at the Black and White Ball. WED PAGE 14 “La Quebradora” wrestles its way into Mexican art. LETTERS Night + Day THU /5.31 [LIT] WEEK OF MAY 31-JUNE 6 | CONTENTS | FREE Twain Shall Meet It says something about our culture that young adult books keep blowing up. We’re not going to say what it says; we like reading them as much as the next thirtysomething preteen, and we also like how supposedly serious authors keep turning up in those stacks. Like local Lewis Buzbee , who’s there right now with Bridge of Time, released last week. Buzbee sort of hops back and forth — he’s previously won awards with Steinbeck’s Ghost and The Haunting of Charles Dickens for younger readers, and has penned a hand-ful of more literary efforts (you probably remember The Yellow Lighted Bookshop . If you don’t, stop everything and check it out). As for Bridge of Time, we don’t know how anyone of any age can resist it. It’s s like Buz-bee cracked open our brains and looked for keywords. First, it’s about time travel avel (we’re listening ...), it’s set in many different rent eras of San Francisco (he’s going to write rite about us!), and one character is a young g Samuel Clemens (Clemens as a boy? That’s t’s as good as Clemens as a San Francisco reporter). porter). We also get to see Clemens take a stab at contemporary slang: “I was also freaking the out.” We’d like Robert Downey Jr. r. circa 1984 starring in the movie, please. Lewis Buzbee appears at 7 p.m. at Books Inc., 2251 Chestnut (at Avila), S.F. Admission is free; call 931-3633 or visit www.booksinc. booksinc. net. MICHAEL LEAVERTON [THEATER] NIGHT+DAY to be sexual so that they can sympathize with their parishioners, but it forbids act-ing on that sexuality. No problem, right? His mother, Colleen (Tamar Cohn), is an Irish Catholic who “understands religion in a primal way, as part of her body” and clashes es with her errant son. At a time when, as Fisher says, “it’s hip” to hate on religion, 100 00 Saints serves as a compelling reminder of the value in asking the big questions. 100 Saints You Should Know starts at 7:30 0 p.m. (and continues through June 17) at the e Thick House, 1695 18th St. (at Arkansas), S.F. Admission is $10-$30; call (800) 838-3006 or visit www.therhino.org. LILY JANIAK | FRI /6.1 1 [FILM] Pretty in Pink (and Crimson) For most of us insecure (that is, normal) adolescents, Prom Night meant Prom Night-mare. A mine-field of potential humiliation, it began weeks in advance with the dreaded question of who to ask (or be asked by), involved a significant cash outlay, and cul-minated with a cheesy evening salvaged by a few laughs and a deep kiss. This litany of awkward-ness is heaven on a stick compared to the tortures endured by the “hero” of the 2009 Australian horror flick The Loved Ones . Brent (played by Xavier Samuel) has a girlfriend, so he understandably declines the dance invitation extended by Lola (Robin McLeavy). The demented gal isn’t par-ticularly understanding, however, and with the help of her THE STARS OF DANCE SHINE FOR CANCER PREVENTION Get in Front See Wednesday lad equally f’d-up father grabs the la succes-and torments him with a succes and sion of increasingly gruesome a teen-painful rituals. The twisted teen Ones age wasteland of The Loved One mor-served as a bloody late-night m Interna-sel at the San Francisco Interna ago, tional Film Festival two years a co-presenter and is resurrected by co-prese Peaches Christ with a twist: Prizes will be awarded for the wear.” “finest gore-couture prom w Dress to kill. The Loved Ones starts at 135 midnight at the Metreon, 13 Fourth St. (at Mission), S.F. Ad-mission is $9; call 369-6000 or www.peacheschrist.com. visit www.peacheschrist.com MICHAEL FOX sions of notorious figures including sio O’Reilly, Saddam Hussein, and Dr. Bill O’Re Phil (not to mention exaggerating the pill-hogging rants of Dr. Gregory House). But years since he completed the longest in the ye of any cast member, McDonald tenure o writes, produces, and directs for — who w Town — has brought his true ABC’s Cougar C comedic strengths to light as he pursues stand-up career as himself. His time on a stand-mainstream television has given him a fun mainstr jaded) perspective on pop culture that (if jaded allows him to skewer the boob tube — he thinks the inane reality TV show Keep-Up with the Kardashians should be ing U renamed Armenian Whorehouse , to rena offer a demure example. And because offe shares his name with the former he s lead singer of the Doobie Brothers, don’t be too shocked when a little dash don marijuana-infused humor slips into of ma mix. the mix Michael McDonald performs May 31-June 2 at Cobb’s Comedy Club, 915 Columbus (at Lombard), S.F. Admission is $22.50-$25; call 327-1937 or visit www.cobbscomedyclub.com. TAMARA PALMER EAT | FILM | BOOKS | SUCKA CITY | | SAT /6.2 [BALL] MUSIC Black+White for a Night If it’s June and after dark, and you see women tottering around Civic Center in gowns with color palettes from silent films and their dates’ tuxedo jackets on their shoulders, you’ve probably wandered upon the San Francisco Symphony’s bian-nual Black and White Ball . Preceding by a decade the identically named “pinnacle of New York’s social history” (Truman Capote’s famously lavish party at the Plaza Hotel), San Francisco’s Black and White Ball adds philanthropy to its hedonism — for more than 50 years the ball’s proceeds have supported the symphony’s robust music education programs, which benefit some 75,000 children each year. Ten bands on five stages, outdoors as well as inside the War Memorial Opera House and Da-vies Symphony Hall, perform music from each of the five decades of the ball’s exis-tence. Paul Simon headlines; other notable acts include Cyndi Lauper, the Wallflow-ers, “cybersoul songstress” Janelle Monae, The Drifters, and Dr. Bobby Rodriguez LatinJazz Group. Higher-priced tickets purchase entry into various VIP dinners, SF WEEKLY | What’s Behind the Target The mission of Theatre Rhinoceros ros has long been to produce gay theater that doesn’t simplify complex issues — or, in the he words of Artistic Director John Fisher, doesn’t “put a warm and fuzzy blanket over gay ay people.” In that spirit, Fisher’s crew refuses es to take potshots at even the easiest of targets: gets: the Catholic Church. A new production ion of Kate Fodor’s 100 Saints You Should d Know (in previews tonight and tomorrow) “captures the appeal of Catholicism and the e ten-sions of it,” Fisher says. The show w follows characters who feel that “the world rld isn’t completely explained by the newspaper wspaper and T.V.” and search for something ng larger. One, Matthew (Wylie Herman), is a gay priest struggling with one of his profession’s paradoxical man-12 dates: The Church wants priests M AY 30-J UNE 5, 2012 [COMEDY] Neither Doobie nor Hous House For 10 seasons on the sketch c com-edy series MADtv , Michael Mc-Donald masqueraded unde under Bible such original guises as Bib Dude and the Depressed Driver, Persian Tow Truck Driv and slayed with impres-Ph ot og ra ph s b y Q uinn Wh arto n

Night & Day

THU/5.31 [LIT] Twain Shall Meet It says something about our culture that young adult books keep blowing up. We’re not going to say what it says; we like reading them as much as the next thirtysomething preteen, and we also like how supposedly serious authors keep turning up in those stacks. Like local Lewis Buzbee, who’s there right now with Bridge of Time, released last week. Buzbee sort of hops back and forth — he’s previously won awards with Steinbeck’s Ghost and The Haunting of Charles Dickens for younger readers, and has penned a handful of more literary efforts (you probably remember The Yellow Lighted Bookshop. If you don’t, stop everything and check it out). As for Bridge of Time, we don’t know how anyone of any age can resist it. It’s like Buzbee cracked open our brains and looked for keywords. First, it’s about time travel (we’re listening ...), it’s set in many different eras of San Francisco (he’s going to write about us!), and one character is a young Samuel Clemens (Clemens as a boy? That’s as good as Clemens as a San Francisco reporter). We also get to see Clemens take a stab at contemporary slang: “I was also freaking the out.” We’d like Robert Downey Jr. Circa 1984 starring in the movie, please. Lewis Buzbee appears at 7 p.m. at Books Inc., 2251 Chestnut (at Avila), S.F. Admission is free; call 931-3633 or visit www.booksinc. net. MICHAEL LEAVERTON [THEATER] What’s Behind the Target The mission of Theatre Rhinoceros has long been to produce gay theater that doesn’t simplify complex issues — or, in the words of Artistic Director John Fisher, doesn’t “put a warm and fuzzy blanket over gay people.” In that spirit, Fisher’s crew refuses to take potshots at even the easiest of targets: the Catholic Church. A new production of Kate Fodor’s 100 Saints You Should Know (in previews tonight and tomorrow) “captures the appeal of Catholicism and the tensions of it,” Fisher says. The show follows characters who feel that “the world isn’t completely explained by the newspaper and T.V.” and search for something larger. One, Matthew (Wylie Herman), is a gay priest struggling with one of his profession’s paradoxical mandates: The Church wants priests To be sexual so that they can sympathize with their parishioners, but it forbids acting on that sexuality. No problem, right? His mother, Colleen (Tamar Cohn), is an Irish Catholic who “understands religion in a primal way, as part of her body” and clashes with her errant son. At a time when, as Fisher says, “it’s hip” to hate on religion, 100 Saints serves as a compelling reminder of the value in asking the big questions. 100 Saints You Should Know starts at 7:30 p. m. (and continues through June 17) at the Thick House, 1695 18th St. (at Arkansas), S. F. Admission is $10-$30; call (800) 838- 3006 or visit www.therhino.org. LILY JANIAK FRI/6.1 [FILM] Pretty in Pink (and Crimson) For most of us insecure (that is, normal) adolescents, Prom Night meant Prom Nightmare. A minefield of potential humiliation, it began weeks in advance with the dreaded question of who to ask (or be asked by), involved a significant cash outlay, and culminated with a cheesy evening salvaged by a few laughs and a deep kiss. This litany of awkwardness is heaven on a stick compared to the tortures endured by the “hero” of the 2009 Australian horror flick The Loved Ones. Brent (played by Xavier Samuel) has a girlfriend, so he understandably declines the dance invitation extended by Lola (Robin McLeavy). The demented gal isn’t particularly understanding, however, and with the help of her Equally f’d-up father grabs the lad and torments him with a succession of increasingly gruesome and painful rituals. The twisted teenage wasteland of The Loved Ones served as a bloody late-night morsel at the San Francisco International Film Festival two years ago, and is resurrected by co-presenter Peaches Christ with a twist: Prizes will be awarded for the “finest gore-couture prom wear.” Dress to kill. The Loved Ones starts at midnight at the Metreon, 135 Fourth St. (at Mission), S.F. Admission is $9; call 369-6000 or visit www.peacheschrist.com. MICHAEL FOX [COMEDY] Neither Doobie nor House For 10 seasons on the sketch comedy series MADtv, Michael Mc- Donald masqueraded under such original guises as Bible Dude and the Depressed Persian Tow Truck Driver, and slayed with Impressions of notorious figures including Bill O’Reilly, Saddam Hussein, and Dr. Phil (not to mention exaggerating the pillhogging rants of Dr. Gregory House). But in the years since he completed the longest tenure of any cast member, McDonald — who writes, produces, and directs for ABC’s Cougar Town — has brought his true comedic strengths to light as he pursues a stand-up career as himself. His time on mainstream television has given him a fun (if jaded) perspective on pop culture that allows him to skewer the boob tube — he thinks the inane reality TV show Keeping Up with the Kardashians should be renamed Armenian Whorehouse, to offer a demure example. And because he shares his name with the former lead singer of the Doobie Brothers, don’t be too shocked when a little dash of marijuana-infused humor slips into the mix. Michael McDonald performs May 31-June 2 at Cobb’s Comedy Club, 915 Columbus (at Lombard), S.F. Admission is $22.50-$25; call 327-1937 or visit www.cobbscomedyclub.com. TAMARA PALMER SAT/6.2 [BALL] Black+White for a Night If it’s June and after dark, and you see women tottering around Civic Center in gowns with color palettes from silent films and their dates’ tuxedo jackets on their shoulders, you’ve probably wandered upon the San Francisco Symphony’s biannual Black and White Ball. Preceding by a decade the identically named “pinnacle of New York’s social history” (Truman Capote’s famously lavish party at the Plaza Hotel), San Francisco’s Black and White Ball adds philanthropy to its hedonism — for more than 50 years the ball’s proceeds have supported the symphony’s robust music education programs, which benefit some 75,000 children each year. Ten bands on five stages, outdoors as well as inside the War Memorial Opera House and Davies Symphony Hall, perform music from each of the five decades of the ball’s existence. Paul Simon headlines; other notable acts include Cyndi Lauper, the Wallflowers, “cybersoul songstress” Janelle Monae, The Drifters, and Dr. Bobby Rodriguez LatinJazz Group. Higher-priced tickets purchase entry into various VIP dinners, But even the standard ticket price will keep you well-fed, boozed, and boogeying late into the night after the “midnight surprise” is revealed. (Are we the only ones hoping Gavin Newsom and Willie Brown will return for a mayoral freestyle rap-off?) The Black and White Ball starts at 8 p.m. at multiple San Francisco locations. Admission is $225-$5,000; call 864-6000 or visit www.sfsymphony.org. LARISSA ARCHER [PHOTOGRAPHY] Down to the Bone Dead men do tell tales. Especially when the bones of the dead men (and women) are neatly arranged in an ossuary or charnel house. One of the better known collections of human remains makes up the catacombs beneath the streets of Paris, a testament to how quickly the Black Plague took out a sizable portion of the city’s population. Faced with row upon row of grinning skulls, it’s hard not to reflect on the brevity of life. Yet beneath such a macabre surface, Paul Koudounaris is also fascinated by the ossuary’s religious and philosophical contexts. He put together a book on the subject; he sought an impressive number of bone houses across four continents, about 70 total, then photographed them and collected their histories. Thanks to Koudounaris’ photo exhibition, “The Empire of Death” (which shares a title with his book), you don’t have to travel the world to see the bones. Large-scale images from the book transform the upstairs gallery inside the retail store Loved to Death into something of a charnel house itself. Koudounaris also mixes in photographs from his current project, the jewel-bedazzled skeletons that were apparently a thing in the 17th century. We can’t be sure, but we think we sense a theme in his work. “The Empire of Death” opens today at 11:30 a.m. (and continues through June 28) at Articulated Gallery in Loved to Death, 1681 Haight (at Cole), S.F. Admission is free; call 551-1036 or visit www.articulatedgallery.com. HEIDI DE VRIES [DANCE] Moving the World There is nothing more transporting than the eerie, earthy sound of metallophones and gongs ringing through the soft summer air as firelight casts the shadows of demons on the wall and lissome women feather their fingers and flash their eyes. For more than three decades, the Ethnic Dance Festival has drawn exquisite and, sometimes, unlikely dancers from around the world. This year, regions represented are as disparate as Transylvania and Peru, but it is our own Gamelan Sekar Jaya that opens the monthlong fete tonight. Since 1979, the 60-member company of musicians and dancers has performed at the innovative Symphony Space in New York as well as small dirt-track villages in Bali, with material as traditional as the Ramayana and as far-flung as their collaborations with The Residents. The world premiere of Bayangan Jiwa e mploys shadow dancing and the seven-toned instrumentation of a Semarandana ensemble (rather than the more traditional four tones of Balinese gamelan) to invoke the spaces where spirits dream between light and darkness, silence and sound, stillness and deed. Co-headliner Pusaka Sunda offers gamelan degung music from West Java, with traditional masked dances and song, followed by a collaboration between ensemble leaders I Dewa Putu Berata and Pak Burhan Sukarma. Bayangan Jiwa starts at 8 p.m. at Cowell Theater in Fort Mason (Buchanan and Marina) S.F. Admission is $12-$20; call 345-7575 or visit sfethnicdancefestival.org. SILKE TUDOR SUN/6.3 [STREET FESTIVAL] Our “Change of Seasons” In some parts of the world, you can tell spring is turning into summer by reading naturally occurring signs of the seasons — the weather actually gets warmer, for instance. We San Franciscans under our blanket of summertime fog must look to other signals to guide us, namely the series of weekend events that occur this time of year, predictable as clockwork. We recently saw one in Bay to Breakers, with its rampant debauchery, albeit subdued a couple of notches. This weekend comes another: the Union Street Festival. It’s impossible to resist the allure of strolling from stall to stall in front of Union Street’s picturesque Victorians, grilled teriyaki stick in hand, searching for hidden treasures among the vendors or just for a deelybob you know your Aunt Mary will love. A snazzy fedora from Goorin Bros.? Delicious raw chocolate from Lulu’s? You’ll find those too. This year the festival brands itself as “eco-urban,” devoting two of its six blocks to green businesses (for the environmentally minded citizen) as well as craftspeople who take sustainability seriously in the making of their art. Elsewhere, a family fun zone supplements cooking demonstrations, while live musical entertainment comes in the form of opera, Persian flamenco jazz, and even a touch of prog rock. In other words, it’s summer. The Union Street Festival starts at 10 a. m. June 2-3 on Union (between Gough and Steiner), S.F. Admission is free; visit www. Unionstreetfestival.com. HEIDI DE VRIES MON/6.4 [EPHEMERA] Investigate a Literary Legend The many interpretations of Sherlock Holmes floating around in the multimedia ether make it too easy to forget his literary roots. (The current BBC series Sherlock is outstanding; the overblown Guy Ritchie movies starring Robert Downey Jr. Are not.) For those who would like to sweep away the mythologizing and mediafication, get thee to the exhibition “You Know My Methods: A Collector’s Approach to the Sherlockian Canon.” Thirty-five years in the making, Glen S. Miranker’s collection of Holmesiana began as a way to balance his graduate studies in computer science. Miranker went on to become a long-serving vice president at Apple Inc. Now, the Book Club of California — which celebrates its 100th anniversary this year — draws from Miranker’s collection to display original manuscript pages and Sidney Paget illustrations from one of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s best-known Holmes novels, The Hound of the Baskervilles. Also included in the exhibition are pieces of related ephemera, such as playbills and posters from the many stage and film adaptations of Baskervilles. The exhibition opens today with Miranker discussing the evolution of his collection and the items on display. The opening reception and talk for “You Know My Methods: A Collector’s Approach to the Sherlockian Canon” start at 5 p.m. at the Book Club of California, 312 Sutter (at Grant), S.F. Admission is free; call 781-7532 or visit www.bccbooks.org. CASEY BURCHBY TUE/6.5 [SEMINAR] Small Players, Big Changes The minutiae of daily life can be a formidable barrier to thinking beyond the afternoon, but fortunately we have a group of people whose quotidian mission is to posit the next 10,000 or so years of existence. San Francisco’s Long Now Foundation hosts monthly seminars about such long-term projections and brainstorming, hosted by founder Stewart Brand, who also started the vital old-school virtual community The Well and edits the Whole Earth Catalog. June’s subject, If Mayors Ruled the World, features guest speaker Benjamin Barber, political theorist and author of Strong Democracy: Participatory Politics for a New Age and Jihad vs. McWorld: How Globalism and Tribalism Are Reshaping the World. Barber explores the notion that mayors — who oversee relatively small political and social structures — are the most effective political pragmatists in office, and how much more might get done with them exercising broader political power. “Cities can make themselves global guarantors of social justice and equality against the depredations of fractious states,” Barber says. When our own Mayor Gavin Newsom instructed workers at City Hall to start issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, he cited basic civil rights as his reason — and set in motion a debate that quickly reached the state level. Imagine what other change might come of such rationale. If Mayors Ruled the World starts at 7:30 p. m. at Cowell Theater at Fort Mason Center (Marina at Buchanan), S.F. Admission is $10; call 561-6582 or visit www.longnow.org. TAMARA PALMER WED/6.6 [BENEFIT / DANCE] Dancing of the Stars If the city’s dance arts community were to form a rock ’n’ roll-style supergroup, it might look something like the choreographers and performers who have assembled for the charitable night dubbed the Get in Front Performance. San Francisco Ballet soloists Garen Scribner and James Sofranko culled superior members from their company as well as colleagues from Smuin Ballet, Amy Seiwert’s Imagery, Zhukov Dance Theatre, Ballet San Jose, and Margaret Jenkins Dance Company, among others, for a presentation of ballet as well as contemporary dance styles built from the collaborative choreography of the various company directors. The evening of original movement includes a silent auction and afterparty. It benefits the Cancer Prevention Institute of California’s efforts to “get in front of cancer,” making it a worthy consideration not only for local dance enthusiasts but for those seeking an introduction to the diverse scene. The Get in Front Performance starts at 7 p.m. at Herbst Theater, 401 Van Ness (at McAllister), S.F. Admission is $35-$125; call 392-4400 or visit www.getinfront.org. TAMARA PALMER [ART AND WRESTLING] Muchas Luchas La Quebradora, literally “The Crusher,” is a backbreaker move in lucha libre, the high-flying professional wrestling hugely popular in Mexico and other Spanishspeaking countries. It’s worked into the title of “La Quebradora: Lucha Libre in Contemporary Mexican Art,” an exhibit that references the iconography of the sport as a series of metaphors around identity and conflict. Curator Amy Pederson, an art history professor at Burbank’s Woodbury University, brings together new paintings, sculptures, video, and performance pieces by more than a dozen artists. She stresses that “this exhibition is intended not as a show about lucha libre, but as a show that uses lucha libre as a model for the production and reception of contemporary Mexican art.” Nonetheless, the art does revolve around the sport. Various pieces depict the legendary luchador Santos in a struggle against himself. Another shows an ephemeral mask, eroded by the wind and threatening To reveal the identity of its owner. In Juan Bastardo’s sculpture El Adversario, wrestlers are reduced to a spider-like tangle of fused arms and legs. Tonight’s reception features live performances, including a group wrestling match symbolically pitting the Black Panthers against the KKK. The opening reception for “La Quebradora: Lucha Libre in Contemporary Mexican Art” starts at 6:30 p.m. (and the exhibit continues through Aug. 4) at Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, 2868 Mission (at 25th St.), S.F. Admission is free; call 643-2797 or visit www.missionculturalcenter.org. MICHAEL SINGMAN-ASTE Calendar submissions can be mailed or delivered to 55 Francisco, Suite 710, San Francisco, CA 94133; or e-mailed (no attachments please) to calendar@sfweekly.com at least three weeks in advance of your event. Earlier is, as always, better than later. We make every effort to include all appropriate events in our online listings, available at www.sfweekly.com.

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