Join us at our 11th Annual Wine Tasting and Silent Auction where we will honor District 11 Supervisor John Avalos and celebrate our accomplishments from the year. Our annual event draws over 150 local San Francisco leaders ranging from politicians, CEOs, and community activists who all share our vision of “Building a World of Opportunity for All.” This is a great event to meet and interact with people who are making the decisions within your community.

Proceeds from this year’s event will go directly to support our 11 afterschool programs and our citywide truancy efforts which reduce drop out rates and increase the number of San Francisco students who graduate from high school.

FRIDAY, JUNE 7, 2013 6:00pm - 10:00pm ZEPHYR SHOWROOM 2277 Alameda Street, San Francisco, CA 94103 HONOREE John Avalos, San Francisco District 11 Supervisor

TICKETS Purchase tickets online at http://pouryoursupport.eventbrite.com/ Pre-Sale: $65 At the Door: $70

Urban Services YMCA is the social services branch of the YMCA of San Francisco. Our mission is to provide life-changing programs that strengthen families, build successful communities, and promote educational excellence throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Our organization works to develop programs that build family resilience, health, and stability.

BE A PART OF A GREAT EVENT AND A GREAT CAUSE

Presented by The Booksmith + Write Club SF:

Good theatre for bad literature? Marital aid for book nerds? Competitive erotic fan-fiction at its finest? Shipwreck is all of these things, plus an open bar.

Six Great Writers will destroy one Great Book (this time, The Great Gatsby), one Great Character at a time, in service of the transcendent and the profane (and also laughs). Marvel as beloved characters are plucked from their worlds and made to do stuff they were never meant to do in places they were never meant to see.

You choose the best Ship. The winning writer chooses the book for the next Shipwreck.

All stories will be recited by Shakespearean Thespian in Residence, Sir Steven Westdahl, from his private chamber at Booksmith Castle, both to preserve the majesty of the written work and to ensure the honesty of the audience when voting for a winner.

FEATURING THE TALENTS OF: Ken Grobe Sarah Griffin Nate Waggoner

Inspired by Allen Ginsberg’s collection of inscribed snapshots on view in the exhibition Beat Memories: The Photographs of Allen Ginsberg, Bay Area artists and scholars will create a unique performance-based tour of the gallery. Performances will be drawn from encounters with Allen Ginsberg and his legendary cohort of Beat writers, artists, and lovers. Performers and scholars include Jewelle Gomez, Richard Meyer, Tirza Latimer, Justin Chin, Jaime Cortez, and DL Alvarez.

Created by the Queer Cultural Center.

Please join us for a screening of San Francisco�"Still Wild at Heart, the award winning documentary directed by Melissa Peabody. Still Wild at Heart is a virtual case study of the arrival of coyotes in our urban communities. This film has been described as “uplifting, lyrical, moving” and “an absolute treasure of a film.”

Unfolding first in San Francisco, the film follows the story of the coyote across the national canvas�"to New York City’s Central Park; to Chicago, where more than 2,000 coyotes live today; and to rural California, where sheep ranchers find promise in innovative non-lethal predator control methods to protect their livestock.

A discussion with Brent Plater of the Wild Equity Institute will follow the film.

About the filmmaker: Melissa Peabody’s credits include Turner Broadcasting (Dolphins In Danger) and an Animal Planet 13-part series (Wyland’s Ocean World), as well as many other documentaries for international TV broadcast. She is the executive producer and owner of Living World Films LLC.

RSVP requested at http://wildequity.org/locations/3088 or

http://www.meetup.com/San-Francisco-Wildlife-Enthusiasts/events/113613472/

Light refreshments provided.

Breakfast and Front Row Seats at Sausalito's Charming 4th of July Parade

Sparrow Creek School rally's the community once again for their annual Fourth of July Pancake Breakfast Fundraiser. Where neighbors and newcomers are invited to sit side-by-side eating delicious blueberry pancakes at family style eating tables delightfully decorated by the children of Sparrow Creek School. Live music entertains the festival goers and children dance in the street while they wait for the charming annual 4th of July Parade to pass by.

The $9 breakfast is served from 8am to noon at 304 Caledonia Street directly on the parade route. In addition to all-you-can-eat blueberry pancakes with real maple syrup, festival goers will enjoy Starbucks coffee, orange juice, bacon, strawberries, and watermelon. Raffle tickets will also be sold for a chance to win exciting prizes, such as dinners at local restaurants and luxurious overnight getaways near and far.

This marks Sparrow Creek's nineteenth anniversary for the all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast fundraiser. All proceeds go to the school's scholarship fund which is committed to bringing Montessori preschool education to children whose families cannot afford it.

Presented by Sparrow Creek Montessori School

June 8, 7:30PM West Valley College, Saratoga; June 9, 7:00PM Trinity Cathedral, San Jose

"RACH" + "ROLL" Rachmaninoff's enduringly popular Piano Concerto #2 conducted by Winchester Orchestra's music director Henry Mollicone, featuring award-winning pianist, Alex Wang, and Haydn's grand and fanciful ("Drum Roll") Symphony No. 103 in E-flat under the baton of guest conductor, David Sloss. Also on the program Sullivan's rousing Overture to The Yeomen of the Guard.

We are a community orchestra dedicated to supporting the greater San Jose Area in an effort to bring classical music in an innovative, affordable manner to the community. We welcome families and encourage the attendance of those not normally drawn to classical music. We continue to welcome qualifying high school students to play with our orchestra.

Saturday, June 8th 7:30 p.m. West Valley College Theater, 14000 Fruitvale Ave., Saratoga

Sunday, June 9th 7:00 p.m. Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, 81 N. Second St. (corner of Second and St. John), San Jose

Presented by Winchester Orchestra of San Jose

Chef Martin Yan will host a Friends of James Beard Benefit Dinner at M.Y. China. Chef Yan is delighted to welcome James Beard Award winner and friend of more than 25 years, Chef Charlie Trotter, to a Sunday supper “Celebrating the Family Table”. Chef Yan is also excited to welcome featured Chefs Michael Rotondo of Parallel 37 at The Ritz-Carlton, San Francisco, Executive Chef and Master Noodle-Puller Tony Wu of M.Y. China, and Pastry Chef Yigit Pura of Tout Sweet Pâtisserie in San Francisco. This special dinner will be limited to 100 guests and will be held to raise funds for the James Beard Foundation and the Chef Martin Yan Scholarship. The event will commence with a cocktail reception at 6pm, followed by dinner at 7pm and a live auction. Priced at $200 per person and $175 per person for James Beard Members, guests can purchase tickets at mychinasf.com or by calling 415-580-3001. Seating will be family style. In celebration of this special private event, M.Y. China will be closed to the public.

The American Decorative Arts Forum's June 11th illustrated presentation is by John Stuart Gordon, curator at the Yale University Art Gallery. Mr. Gordon's lecture draws from his exhibit, "A Modern World: American Design from the Yale University Art Gallery, 1920 - 1950," and explores the varied influences and myths surrounding the appearance of modern decorative arts during the Jazz Age.

Though skeptical at first, Americans eagerly embraced modernist design during the 1920s and applied its aesthetic to furniture, housewares, textiles, silver and glass. Mr. Gordon shows how modern design was more than merely another decorative style and implied a new world view. Modernism became equated with modern life and was associated with progressive social and cultural issues of the day.

Modern objects were fabricated from newly-discovered polymers, utilized novel manufacturing processes, or adapted industrial materials for domestic use in ways that proclaimed their liberation from past traditions. Innovations in transportation, radio broadcasting and film all became equated with modern design, as did social issues, like the evolution of gender norms and anti-prohibition sentiments which were closely aligned with modernist designs.

Our mini-exhibit, which opens at 7:15PM, adds another fascinating dimension to each month's lecture topic. Come and view sleekly sophisticated Art Deco and streamlined objects brought by ADAF members from their collections. Mr. Gordon's lecture begins at 8:00PM. A question and answer period follows the lecture and members and guests are encouraged to participate. All ADAF lecturers are also very approachable after the Q+A session.

The June 11th lecture is held at our alternate location, the Walt Disney Museum in the Presidio at 104 Montgomery Street, San Francisco 94129.

Presented by American Decorative Arts Forum of Northern California

David Sleeth's Site/Structure opens with an unframed collage depicting stonewalls surrounding Tell en-Nasbeh, a site northwest of Jerusalem that was excavated by William Frederic Badè between 1926 and 1935. With a focus on experimental archeology and an interest in sculptural work, David Sleeth uses lithics (tools), iron implements, ceramics and other small artifacts, as well as original photographs of Tell en-Nasbeh, for a related series of pen and ink drawings. He also includes a sculptural piece made of wood, carved through the traditional process of burning and scraping, adding a dimension to this compelling study of material, fabrication and object.

Exhibition opening June 6, 2013 5:00pm- 7:00pm

Refreshments and live music included

Regular gallery hours: Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, 10:00am- 3:00pm

Fight Club, Burning Man, flash mobs, urban exploration, and culture jamming are among the surprising and impressive range of subversive trends in pop culture inspired by the radical exploits of the Cacophony Society. At its zenith, the shadowy group hosted chapters in over a dozen major cities, influencing much of the 1980s and ‘90s underground.

More than a simple history of a revolutionary subculture, Tales of the San Francisco Cacophony Society serves as a “How-To” manual for pranksters, artists, adventurers, and anyone interested in rampant creativity.

Come hear co-authors John Law and Carrie Galbraith weave spellbinding tales of creativity run amok and sign copies of the hardbound, full-color, tome which includes a Foreword by author Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club, Choke) and an Afterword by Charlie Todd (founder of Improv Everywhere).

You may already be a member!

Itz 1970s San Francisco. In a hood bulldozed by "urban renewal," an intergenerational, multigendered, pansexual gang of badasses �" a rainbow of Blackness! �" bands together to raise CLUB MYSTIQUE from the rubble of gentrification. The joint is jumpin' with a crowd-of-all-colors-genders-sexualities singin' "the only home we have is the love we have for ourselves" as they participate in SWEET SWEET BLAQ'S BAADASSSSS VARIETY SHOW.

The communi-tay takes 1970s Blaxploitation flix like Superfly, Coffy, Blacula, Black Shampoo, Cleopatra Jones, Black Belt Jones, and The Spook Who Sat By The Door and turns them inside out in this night of interactive performance, music, dance, spoken word and film that gets down with SOUL POWER. Dress code iz 1970s disco, soul & funk, dig it?

SHAFTED features Star Amerasu, Brock Cocker, Sheila Collins, M. J. Isabell, Ernest Jolly, Dennis Jones, DaCarla Kilpatrick, Derek Lassiter, Mia McKenzie, Marc Scruggs and Anthony Julius Williams �" with special appearance by Agatronica, Gail Burks and Loan Hoang �" and vinyl by DJ Lamont!

This production be dedicated to anyone searching for home.

June 7-9, 8pm-10pm

Push Dance Company combines episodic dance, new music, dramatic set design and physical story-telling with the world premiere of choreographer/director Raissa Simpson's UNLOCK in 3 performances June 7-9, 2013 at Zaccho SF performance space in San Francisco. Simpson will use author Zora Neale Hurston's iconic 1937 novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, as a jumping off point to interweave her own experiences as an African-American and Filipina-American woman to investigate skin-color bias and mixed ancestry among African Americans. Simpson, who was featured in the February 2013 Black Choreographers' Festival in San Francisco, will collaborate with set designer Benito Steen and composer and cellist UNWOMAN to create a new, multi-tiered dance work that embodies influences of the human spirit.

One of the most successful black women writers of the twentieth century, Zora Neale Hurston transports readers of Their Eyes Were Watching God to a world where her characters live by a code of survival. Simpson's UNLOCK will bring these stories of self-discovery and love to the physical world while adding a 21st century twist from another strong African-American woman.

Push Dance Company (Push) under the direction of Raissa Simpson, melds music and media, deftly weaving inter-generational and inter-community voices to create a potent force that advances the idiom of dance. Articulating details that run through the whole body, Push builds vibrant cross-cultural works to gain a deeper understanding of the challenges attributed to mixed heritage by using non-traditional dance forms. Edgy, sleek, and sexy, each moment generates a fresh perspective from intermingling diverse dancers in raw situations- aptly described as emotional and kinetic. Showcasing rarely seen, discussed or presented topics in public settings, Push provides an opportunity to examine issues that surround and affect us all.

Presented by Push Dance Company

Come celebrate creativity + community at this free family-friendly Fair! Free shuttle to and from North Berkeley BART every half-hour. Open 10am - 6pm both days. Showcasing affordable contemporary art, fine crafts, jewelry + accessories, clothing, quilts + baskets, sculptures + functional art. Enjoy kid-friendly entertainment: live music, magic shows, puppet shows + face painting. Visit excellent food purveyors including Edible East Bay presenting Edible Tastings�"samplings/tastings benefiting People’s Grocery at 11am-5pm. Live Oak Park provides an exquisite setting among the trees + creek.

HOW: Street parking. Free shuttle runs every 30 minutes from the North Berkeley BART Station to the Fair throughout the weekend. The park is wheelchair accessible with paved pathways for strollers.

No Cost: FREE Admission

Information: Phone (510) 227-7110 or www.liveoakparkfair.com.

The Yerba Buena Alliance is proud to announce the Spring 2013 Yerba Buena Gallery Walk-an afternoon showcasing the artistic offerings of the Yerba Buena neighborhood between Market and Harrison and 2nd and 5th Streets in downtown San Francisco.

On Saturday, June 8, 3- 6 pm, 13 renowned galleries open their doors for visitors to enjoy exhibitions, events, and refreshments, highlighting the area as a home of art and culture in the city of San Francisco.

Starting at 2pm at Crown Point Press, and end your day at the After Party at Temple Night Club from 6 to 8pm.

Yerba Buena is home to a thriving art scene, offering unique spaces for the work of contemporary, local, international, established, and emerging artists, and the Spring Gallery Walk is a wonderful opportunity to explore the galleries, interact with other art fans from all over the Bay Area, and enjoy complimentary refreshments.

Participating Galleries include:

111 Minna Gallery 871 Fine Arts California Historical Society Chandler Fine Art Crown Point Press Gallery Wendi Norris Modernism Mirus Gallery RayKo Photo Center SFMOMA Artist Gallery (Window Exhibition) UC Berkeley Extension Varnish Fine Art Visual Aid Gallery Walk Schedule

2-3pm, Pre-Event Champagne Reception Crown Point Press, 20 Hawthorne Street

3-6pm Gallery Walk Visitors can also enter a prize drawing

6-8pm, Gallery Walk After Party 7pm, Prize Drawing, Temple Nightclub/Mirus Gallery 540 Howard Street

Between Market and Harrison and 2nd and 5th Streets in downtown San Francisco. Visit the galleries in the 3- by 4-block area surrounding the Yerba Buena Gardens, and enjoy a variety of exhibitions, events, talks, and refreshments. Visitors participating in the walk can also enter a prize drawing by dropping a card at each of the galleries. The more galleries you visit, the more opportunities you'll have to win unbelievable prizes. The prize drawing will take place at the Gallery Walk After Party.

Presented by Yerba Buena Alliance

In this highly anticipated opening salvo of the exhibition Beat Memories: The Photographs of Allen Ginsberg, join the National Gallery of Art’s Curator of Photography, Sarah Greenough, in a talk about Ginsberg, his life, and the making of this exhibition. Following the talk will be an original musical arrangement of Ginsberg’s 1956 poem “America” by Conspiracy of Beards’ musical director Daryl Henline. The evening will also include a pop-up poetry salon, drop-in zine making with Rad Dad creators, a typewriter petting zoo, and a cash bar.

Here are some facts of life: A drop of seawater contains 100 thousand bacteria and millions of predatory viruses; a pinch of soil swarms with cryptic microbes whose activities are a mystery; the atmosphere is misted with 50 million tons of fungal spores that affect the weather; and, our bodies are farmed by vast populations of bacteria and viruses that control every aspect of our wellbeing. The more we learn about microbial biodiversity, the less important become animals and plants in understanding life on earth. The flowering of microbial science is revolutionizing biology and medicine in ways unimagined just a few years ago and is inspiring a new view of what it means to be human.

Nicholas Money is Professor of Botany and Western Program Director at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. He is the author of more than 70 peer-reviewed papers on fungal biology and has authored four books, including Mushroom (2012), described by Nature magazine as a “brilliant scientific and cultural exploration.”

The talk will start at 7PM, and he will be signing copies of Mushroom (available for purchase in store) afterwards.

The Jack Curtis Dubowsky Ensemble, an alt-classical multimedia group, returns to San Francisco to present a new production at the prestigious New Music Series curated by Outsound.

CURRENT EVENTS is a presentation of live music and electro-acoustic structured improvisation to five new electrifying motion picture montages exploring the Flight AF447 disaster, Drone Warfare, Futurist Cities, Polar Ice Caps, and the Desert.

Jack Curtis Dubowsky Ensemble is an internationally recognized new music group that combines acoustic instruments, electronic hardware, composed material, and structured improvisation. Hear analog synthesizer as an unpredictable vintage performance instrument. The Ensemble's electro-acoustic music is performed and recorded live, with no overdubs or sequencing.

"redefining musical boundaries" San Francisco Classical Voice 9/1/09

JCDE has three albums. JCDE has presented extensive programs of live music to experimental film. In 2010, JCDE attracted global attention with concerts of Depeche Mode's Violator, performed entirely live, start-to-finish, with a complement of strings, to mark the album's 20th anniversary. JCDE has played chamber concert series, new music series, galleries, and alternative performance spaces nationwide, including The Tank (NYC), AS220 (Providence RI), The Lilypad (Cambridge MA), Meridian Gallery (SF), Cafe Du Nord (SF), Trinity Chamber Concerts (Berkeley), The Whistler (Chicago), The Frequency (Madison WI), and Vaudeville Mews (Des Moines IA).

Also appearing: Electric Emergency String (X)tet This electrified version features Bob Marsh - cello/violin, Doug Carroll - cello, David Michalak - lap steel guitar, Kanoko Nishi - bass koto.

The Luggage Store Gallery New Music Series is the longest-standing experimental music series in the Bay Area, with weekly Thursday night shows since 1991. Since 2002 the New Music Series has been curated by Outsound Presents and local improvisers/sound artists Rent Romus and Matt Davignon, who present a wide cross section of sound artists from every experimental genre. Outsound Presents a non-profit organization whose mission is to encourage experimental musical composition, improvisational performance, and the invention and use of new musical instruments by presenting public performance, co-op promotion, and education. The Luggage Store Gallery is a non-profit corporation funded by the City of San Francisco, grants, and public contributions.

Guest Attendee: Paul Spaan on Leveraging 3D Printing To Bootstrap

Paul Spaan worked as a mechanical engineer for more than two decades at major Silicon Valley technology firms before launching Spaan Enterprises to explore his long term interest in 3D printing. He will share some lessons learned from the installation and bringup of two 3D printers and bring examples of prototypes he has designed and printed for a seven minute "show and tell" and take part our regular roundtable discussion.

Paul anticipates that 3D printers that now cost less than $20,000 --and in many cases much less than $20,000-- will enable new categories of small scale manufacturing businesses in the same way that personal computers and high performance workstations enabled new kinds of information and knowledge processing businesses.

Bring your questions about the business opportunities for bootstrappers that 3D printing is now enabling.

Presented by Bootstrappers Breakfast

Memorial Day Weekend May 24-26, 2013

CELEBRATION Friday May 24, Doors Open 7pm Gala Show Benefiting Girl Raks Bellydance & Body Image Program Hosted by Radiance in Jack London 278 4th Street, Oakland, CA

COMPETITION Saturday May 25, 12:30-10:30pm Six Cabaret and Tribal Style Categories El Cerrito High School Performing Arts Theater 540 Ashbury Avenue, El Cerrito, CA

WORKSHOPS Sunday May 26, 11am-3:30pm with 2012 Competition Winners Radiance in Jack London

BDOY is the longest0-running and most respected belly dance competition. Performances by top belly dancers from the Bay Area and beyond! Details and tickets available online! www.bellydanceroftheyear.net

May 24 + 25, 7pm; May 26, 2pm

An evening of awe-inspiring dance performed by LINES Ballet Training Program artists! Featuring works by acclaimed local choreographers, Kara Davis, Gregory Dawson, Maurya Kerr and guest artists Iraxte Ansa, Sidra Bell and Sandrine Cassini.

Presented by Alonzo King LINES Ballet Training Program

Jack London Square will showcase more than 60 vintage vehicles from the 1920s to 1960s at the Rod + Custom Car Show over Memorial Day Weekend. From car buffs to casual enthusiasts, the waterfront will transform into an auto mecca showcasing rare Model As, Roadsters, Thunderbirds and more, for all to enjoy. The Pavilion Stage will also host live music throughout the event and attendees are encouraged to dine at one of Jack London Square’s tasty waterfront restaurants. Visitors can bike, ferry or drive to Jack London Square.

Saturday, May 25: 7:00 p.m. + Sunday, May 26: 2:00 p.m.

Dancers will perform beloved masterworks such as Balanchine's Chaconne and Katchurian's Masquerade as well as vibrant new pieces by American composer Leroy Anderson and Pineapple Poll by Arthur Sullivan.

Presented by Valley Dance Theatre

An Evening with PAULA POUNDSTONE Presented by the Kanbar Center for the Performing Arts at the Osher Marin JCC + The Other Café Comedy Showcase Saturday, May 25, 2013 <at> 8:30 At Angelico Hall at Dominican University of Ca.

An evening of unsurpassable laughter with the star of NPR’s “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me”, HBO Comedy Specials and one of the funniest stand-up comics working today. She draws her material from her own complex life with 3 kids, 2 dogs and 13 cats, motherhood, a demanding job, crazy travel schedule, aging frustrations and a bag of neuroses including her famous inability to ever shut up.

Attending a Paula Poundstone performance will leave you marveling at her ability to interact spontaneously with audience members in conversations bound to garner riotous laughter. Armed with nothing but a stool, a microphone and a can of Diet Pepsi, Paula’s ability to create humor on the spot has become the stuff of legend. Little wonder people leave Paula’s shows complaining that their cheeks hurt from laughter, and debating whether the random people she talked to are “plants” �" which, of course they never are.

PARKING: Parking is in the Grand Avenue Lot located next to the Conlan Recreation Center on the west side of Grand Avenue. Parking attendants will be available on site for directional needs.

More on Paula Poundstone Her spontaneity and intelligent humor has made her the perfect panelist for NPR’s Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me, where she matches wits with some of our nation’s leading pundits. Paula was the first woman to win an ACE award for Best Standup Comedy performance and the first woman to be invited to perform at the distinguished White House Correspondents dinner. She has starred in solo specials on HBO and BRAVO, has made frequent TV appearances on all the major talk shows and Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion. She is also an author, lecturer and her editorial pieces can be heard on NPR’s Morning Edition. Seeing Paula Poundstone is believing she’s the funniest standup comic working today!

The Kanbar Center for the Performing Arts is the Performing Arts Department within the Osher Marin Jewish Community Center in San Rafael, California. For over 20 years we have spread the power of music, voice, humor, taste, culture, movement and words throughout the community by presenting classical music, club style dancing events, comedy, musical concerts, theater and performance in the grand Hoytt Theater, lectures. chats and demonstrations in the Kurland lounge and great world music + dancing for all ages outdoors under summer skies on Swig Field. All are welcome, no membership is required to attend. The Center is centrally located in Marin County and just 1/4 mile east off Hwy 101 About the Other Café

The Other Café, the legendary Haight-Ashbury comedy club, is a San Francisco establishment. Founded in 1977, The Other Café -- along with the Punchline, Cobb's and the Holy City Zoo -- was one of four full-time comedy clubs operating in San Francisco alone with comics such as Dana Carvey, Bob Sarlatte, Bobby Slayton, Michael Pritchard, Jane Dornacker, Whoopi Goldberg, Jay Leno, Henny Youngman, Howie Mandel, Gallagher, Brit Jasper Carrott, and pioneer lesbian comic Robin Tyler. Upcoming Events 2013 Summer Nights Outdoor Music Festival 7/13 �" Hot Buttered Rum 7/20 �" Rupa and the April Fishes 7/27 �" Hapa 8/3 �" LoCura/ Los Pinguos 8/10 �" Andrea Thierry + Zydeco Magic

Just Added! Sunday, May 26, 11am All tickets $5

The third annual edition of our family showcase presents the best shorts from the acclaimed New York International Children’s Film Festival. While last year featured the best of Pixar, this time around we offer nine films from six different countries. The British animation The Gruffalo’s Child, based on the popular book, has voices by Helena Bonham Carter and Robbie Coltrane. Highlights also include the candy-colored Balloon Moon and Keenan at Sea (with a hummable song by acoustic pop group The Girls), as well as Twist and Shout (with a visit to Abbey Road), Ernesto, about a boy whose baby teeth are making him miserable, and B/W Races, the hilarious animation from Italy. Finally the venerable (and irresistible) Aardman Animation uses a big beach to tell a tiny tale in the sand. Films are all in English or are non-verbal and therefore friendly to non-readers. This program serves as a preview of the entertaining children’s films to be enjoyed at the Mill Valley Film Festival in October. Program approximately 60 min. Nine short films from six countries including The British animation The Gruffalo's Child, the candy-colored Balloon Moon and Keenan at Sea, Twist and Shout, Ernesto,about a boy whose baby teeth are making him miserable, B/W Races, the hilarious animation from Italy and Aardman Animation's use of a big beach to tell a tiny tale in the sand.

It’s been so long since there’s been an East Bay Tweed Ride, Nan and I decided we should throw our own.

Who: Everyone who loves cycling, merriment, having fun, old-timey tweed outfits, and dancing to old-timey music

Where: Beginning at the Pillars at Lake Merritt, 577 Grand Ave, Oakland, CA and ending at B.Spoke Tailor, 989 40th St, Oakland, California

When: We will be gathering at 1:00 PM and rolling-out at 2:00 PM on May 26th, 2013.

Why: Bicycles are awesome, cyclists are awesome, Tweed is awesome

What (we’re doing): We’ll be cycling to UC Berkeley with a stop at a Pub on the way. We’ll go up Telegraph (once we get near downtown), and stop on the campus to dance and socialize. Afterwards we’ll go back down Telegraph and end up at B.Spoke Tailor for beer and music; there will be a live band or two.

Facebook Invite: https://www.facebook.com/events/472068862873608

Visitors will have a rare opportunity to observe working artists as they draw, in real-time, from five elegant birds of prey. This Quick Draw program will benefit both the Bedford Gallery and Native Bird Connection. Come let your imagination soar at the Bedford!

Sat May 18 at 3pm and Sun May 19 at 4 pm

Viva la Musica Choir and Orchestra presents two performances of its spring program "Blue Skies, Blue Grass" Saturday May 18, 3 pm, and Sunday, May 19, 4 pm, at Transfiguration Episcopal Church, 3900 Alameda de las Pulgas, San Mateo. The program features two Masses by living composers: Norwegian native Ola Gjeilo's Sunrise Mass and American composer Carol Barnett's The World Beloved: A Bluegrass Mass, both listener-friendly and uplifting. The Sunrise Mass is at once spiritual uplifting and earthily romantic. The peppy Bluegrass Mass combines traditional Latin text with syncopated rhythms, gospel lyrics, and Bluegrass guitar, fiddle, mandolin, banjo, and upright bass. The St Paul's Suite by Gustav Holst is a set of charming English country dances for string orchestra. The eclectic concert opens with a short Vivaldi antiphonal piece, and the concert is rounded out by Down to the River to Pray and Scott Joplin's Maple Leaf Rag.

Every winter and spring, Viva la Musica performs major classical and modern works: Mozart Requiem, Handel Messiah, Schubert Magnificat, the West Coast premiere of Vivaldi's third Dixit Dominus, recently discovered by scholars in a royal archive in Saxony. Major modern repertoire has included Benjamin Britten Ceremony of Carols, Jenkins L'Homme Armee, and the Spanish Misa Criolla by Ariel Ramirez. Holiday concerts include traditional carols in Latin, Spanish, French, German, Haitian creole, and Catalan. Multicultural offerings have featured traditional South African songs in Swahili and Yoruba and a text by St. Francis of Assisi set to a Caribbean rhythm and accompanied by steel drums.

"We invite new patrons to our upcoming performances: Come and hear why Viva concerts sell out! We also invite new singers to join us. Members find the Viva experience enjoyable, educational, and personally uplifting," says Shulamit Hoffmann., Viva la Musica's choir director.

For tickets and Information see www.vivalamusica.org or call 650-281-9663.

Presented by Viva La Musica!

The Speakeasy Syndicate Presents : THE TRANS BALKAN EXPRESSWAY! GYPSY BASS EXPLOSION A rowdy, sexy night of Balkan Beats, Gypsy Bass, Klezmer House and Trap Slap smashers! Swing your ass off to the bass thump of the dirty, crazy remixed sounds of wild horn bands and flaming accordions! From Bosnia Crunk to Yugoslavian Cyber Funk. This communist party is going make sure everyone has the same amount of FUN!

Let the vodka flow and come get BUCK DAMN WILD with us! There is also ...

THE MURDER STREET DAMES BURLESQUE TROUPE!
These Ladies will be barring heart and soul and maybe more! for you lucky bastards! Low down
and dirty BURLESQUE at it's finest with a gypsy twist that will pop your top!
THERE IS NO WAY YOU CANNOT GO TO THIS!
THE MUSIC WILL BE INSANE!
THE WOMEN WILL BE DANGEROUSLY HOT!
THE DRINKS WILL BE ICE COLD!
Put on your finest hat and striped pants and come to dance and swing and rip your damn shirt off! SPECIAL PRIZES WILL BE AWARDED FOR PURPLE AND STRIPED OUTFITS! WOOOOOOOOOOO!!

DOORS OPEN AT 8:30 8$ 21 AND UP!

The May Koinonia will feature:

Myles Boisen (with John Schott) and Pale Reverse (with Lorin Murphy)

Myles Boisen should be served up with little introduction. A staple of the Bay Area Music scene, Myles has cast a wide net in a vast array of musical projects. For the festival Myles will be treating us to a work entitled "Rauschenberg #2, a musical collage by Myles Boisen".

Gregory Hagan (Pale Reverse) graces projects for notable local outfits such as Thomas Carnacki and Grale. Gregory will be treating us to a performance called "Analogue and Digital Sound and Vision: Pale Reverse with 16mm films by Lorin Murphy"

The Koinonia Festival is a unique opportunity to explore the inner workings of unusual music. Hosted monthly through The Berkeley Arts Festival, each event features two performers who will speak about the philosophy and aesthetics of their work and then do a performance. There is time at the end for Q+A's with the performers.

Join us for a lovely, intimate evening of thought and music! $10-20 sliding scale. In the heart of Downtown Berkeley. 2133 University Ave. at Shattuck

Find Myles here: http://www.mylesboisen.com/

Here's some samples of Pale Reverse: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eH3N793zDI http://vimeo.com/31697258 http://vimeo.com/47647012

Sunday, May 19, 1:00 Tuesday, May 21, 6:30

One of the greatest Romantic ballets, the story of the transcendental power of a woman’s love in the face of betrayal is exquisitely rendered in choreographer Peter Wright’s production (after Marius Petipa) starring, in one of ballet’s most demanding roles, the Critics’ Circle National Dance Award winner Marianela Nuñez, with fellow winner Rupert Pennefather as Albrecht. 150 min. including intermission.

The award-winning Oakland Youth Orchestra (OYO) will present a spring concert focused on folk roots. The afternoon will feature the world premiere of Bay Area composer Jack Perla's "The Rhyme Is Reason," specially commissioned by Oakland Youth Orchestra and supported through a grant by the National Endowment for the Arts. Joining OYO on stage for the premiere will be members of the Oakland Unified School MUSE Orchestra for an exciting performance conducted by John Kendall Bailey. The concert will also feature Pablo de Sarasate's "Zigeunerweisen," with violinist Young Sun (Angel) Kim-winner of OYO's 2012-2013 Concerto Competition; Britten's "Suite on English Folk Tunes: A Time There Was..."; and Copland's Four Dance Episodes from "Rodeo."

Presented by Oakland Youth Orchestra

Noe Valley Chamber Music announces its 20th Anniversary Gala

"A Musical Feast" FREDERICA VON STADE, mezzo-soprano LISA DELAN, soprano; WILLIAM BURDEN, tenor CHRISTIAAN SMITH-KOTLAREK, baritone JAKE HEGGIE, composer/piano; DAWN HARMS, violin; EMIL MILAND, cello

WORLD PREMIERE of Heggie's From the Book of Nightmares plus music by Arlen, Bernstein, Rorem, Sondheim and more!

Frederica von Stade, one of the world's most beloved opera stars, is the featured guest artist for Noe Valley Chamber Music's 20th Anniversary Gala on May 19 at St. Mark's Lutheran Church. Hailed by The New York Times as "one of America's finest artists and singers," von Stade will be joined by soprano Lisa Delan, tenor William Burden, and baritone Christiaan Smith-Kotlarek for a dazzling program of music by Arlen, Bernstein, Rorem, Sondheim, Offenbach and San Francisco's own Jake Heggie, who will be the pianist for the program. Violinist Dawn Harms and cellist Emil Miland will also join. The evening will be highlighted by the World Premiere of Heggie's song cycle From the Book of Nightmares (poetry by Galway Kinnell). Also featured are selections from beloved musicals and operas such as Show Boat, West Side Story, La Belle Helene, and A Little Night Music.

"A Musical Feast" will begin at 4pm with a silent auction. Attendees will have the opportunity to bid on an array of wines, vacations, restaurants, spa treatments and more. There will be a raffle for an instant wine cellar. The concert begins at 5pm and will be followed by a reception featuring food, wine and champagne, and an opportunity to meet the artists.

NVCM has been presenting superb chamber music in San Francisco since 1992. NVCM audiences hear and meet the Bay Area's finest musicians, ensembles, and vocalists in the authentic yet informal chamber music tradition. A new CD, "Celebration! A Musical Feast," featuring NVCM performers, is now available.

Presented by Noe Valley Chamber Music

An evening of irreverent antics

with Kevin Evans, Carrie Galbraith, John Law and friends

celebrating the release of

Tales of the San Francisco Cacophony Society Edited by Kevin Evans, Carrie Galbraith and John Law

published by Last Gasp Books

Come one, come all.....at your own risk.

A template for pranksters, artists, adventurers and anyone interested in rampant creativity, Tales of the San Francisco Cacophony Society is the history of the most influential underground cabal you've never heard of.Rising from the ashes of the mysterious and legendary Suicide Club, the Cacophony Society, at its zenith, hosted chapters in over a dozen major cities, and influenced much of what was once called the underground.The Cacophony Society's epic exploits radically changed the way people live and play in the world. The group inspired Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club and Burning Man and helped start pop culture trends including flash mobs, urban exploration, and culture jamming.

What has been said about Tales of the San Francisco Cacophony Society:

"From Fight Club to Burning Man, Flash Mobs to Santarchy cacophony influenced everything subversive, playful and anti-authoritarian in popular culture over the last 20 years �" this is the great, untold story of the 1980s and ’90s.Before the Internet vomited headlines by the millisecond and turned the minutia of a million boring Facebook lives into news, we were left the privilege of mystery.This was something The San Francisco Cacophony Society gave me in spades. Over the years, I would catch glimpses, collect pieces of a puzzle I was slowly assembling�"a car crushed flat by an earthquake miraculously tooling down Golden Gate, toasters glued to buildings, news-clips of mock protests and costumed impostors, flyers for strange art spectacles. Now the puzzle is assembled in this gorgeous graphic collection, a book every lover of eccentricity and enemy of the status quo should enjoy." �"Margaret Cho

The Oshman Family JCC (OFJCC) will host Tony Award-winning playwright, performer and activist Eve Ensler, who is best known for her play, The Vagina Monologues, who will talk about her new memoir, In the Body of the World, on Sunday, May 19 at 8:00 PM.

Eve Ensler has devoted her life to thinking about the female body-how to talk about it, how to protect it and how to value it. Yet, as she recounts in this inspiring and lyrical memoir, she spent much of her life disassociated from her own body-a disconnection first brought on by her father's battering and sexual abuse, her mother's remoteness and by her later exploits with drugs, alcohol and promiscuous sex. Her body was a machine to be mastered; she lived in her head, estranged from her physical self and from nature.

But Ensler is eventually shocked out of her distance. On a trip to the Congo, she is shattered to encounter the horrific rape and violence inflicted on the native women. Soon after, she is diagnosed with uterine cancer, and through months of harrowing treatment, she is forced to become first and foremost a body-pricked, punctured, cut and scanned. It is then that all distance is erased. As she connects her own illness to the devastation of the earth, her life force to the resilience of humanity, she is finally, fully-and gratefully-joined to the body of the world. Unflinching, at once intensely physical and profoundly spiritual, Ensler's transformative work calls on us all at last to embody our elemental connection to and responsibility for the world. Presented by The Oshman Family JCC

KPFA Radio + Pegasus Books presents EVE ENSLER IN THE BODY OF THE WORLD A Memoir Hosted by Erica Bridgeman Monday, May 20, 7:30 pm First Congregational Church 2501 Harrison <at> 27th Street, Oakland tickets: $35 advance (Includes signed book), $38 door: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/364746 :: 800-838-3006 or Pegasus Books (3 locations: 1855 Solano/Berkeley, 2349 Shattuck/ Berkeley, 5560 College Ave/Oakland), or other independent bookstores Info:www.kpfa.org/events KPFA benefit Co-sponsored by: CodePink

Even though Eve Ensler has devoted her life to the female body, how to talk about it, how to protect and value it, she has spent much of her life disassociated from her own body. This disconnection was brought on by her father's sexual abuse and her mother's remoteness. Because I did not, could not inhabit my body or the Earth, she writes, I could not feel or know their pain.

But Eve is shocked out of her distance. While working in the Congo, she is shattered by her encounter with the horrific rape and violence inflicted on the women there. Soon after, she is diagnosed with uterine cancer, and through months of harrowing treatment she is forced to become first and foremost a body pricked, punctured, cut, scanned. It is then that all the distance is erased. As she connects her own illness to the devastation of the Earth, her life force to the resilience of humanity, she is finally, fully, and gratefully, joined to the body of the world.

Unflinching, generous, sometimes humorous, always inspiring, IN THE BODY OF THE WORLD is a transformative work that calls on us all to embody our connection to and responsibility for the world.

Internationally renowned playwright, activist and author (The Vagina Monologues and I Am an Emotional Creature, among other works), Ensler is the founder of V-Day, the global movement to end violence against women and girls, which has raised over $90 million for local groups and activists.

Presented by KPFA Radio 94.1 FM

Chris Cosentino, Executive Chef and Partner, Incanto; Winner, "Top Chef Masters"; 2013 James Beard Award Nominee

Ryan Farr, Co-owner, Chef and Butcher, 4505 Meats Tia Harrison, Co-founder, The Butcher’s Guild; Co-owner, Avedano’s Meats; Executive Chef, Sociale

Beef tongue, calves brains, pig trotters. In the past, squeamish attitudes about edible anatomy may have meant these meats got left on the cutting room floor. But lately we’ve seen a shift in thinking as chefs grow more creative and consumers more adventurous. Increasingly, foodies are committing to making culinary use of the entire animal and embracing nose-to-tail eating, as evidenced by carnivorous festivals like Meatopia, butchering workshops galore and offal on many menus. But has the interest in experimenting with unusual cuts become more gluttonous than virtuous? When Anthony Bourdain earns kudos for eating a bloody seal eyeball or Andrew Zimmern scores a high five for tasting cow placenta, are they capitalizing on shock and awe, or promoting tradition and respect for the source? Come hear three of San Francisco's meat masters expand on the whole-animal movement's impact on our culture and community.

After the panel, premium ticket purchasers can join us at an exclusive butchering demo and tasting party with our all-star panel. Watch and learn as they show you how to break down a beast like a pro, and find out what nose to tail really tastes like.

Litquake is thrilled to introduce Zimbabwean debut novelist NoViolet Bulawayo at May's Epicenter. Bulawayo's novel, "We Need New Names" is one of the most highly anticipated launches of the year. She'll be in conversation with Sarah Ladipo Manyika, who is the author of "In Dependence" and teaches literature at San Francisco State University.

"We Need New Names" focuses on Darling, only ten years old but navigating a fragile and violent world. In Zimbabwe, Darling and her friends steal guavas, try to get the baby out of young Chipo's belly, and grasp at memories of Before. Before their homes were destroyed by soldiers, before the fathers left for dangerous jobs abroad.

But Darling has a chance to escape: she has an aunt in America. She travels to this new land in search of America's famous abundance only to find that her options as an immigrant are perilously few. NoViolet Bulawayo's debut calls to mind the great storytellers of displacement and arrival who have come before her-from Junot Diaz to Zadie Smith to J.M. Coetzee-while she tells a vivid, raw story all her own. Bulawayo is the winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing, is a current Stegner Fellow at Stanford, and is working on her next novel. Parts of "We Need New Names" were excerpted in the March 2013 issue of "Granta."

Presented by Litquake Literary Festival

Hosted by Miguel Guerrero

$15 advance tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/371186 :: 800-838-3006 or independent bookstores ($18 door) Information: www.kpfa.org/events Benefits KPFA wheelchair access Co-Sponsored by: Global Exchange, KPOO - Pajaro Latinoamericano, La Pena Cultural Center, Mission Cultural Center, Radio Biling?e

Eduardo Galeano is the world-renowned Uruguayan author of the Memory of Fire Trilogy, The Book of Embraces, and many other masterworks. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez gave his Open Veins of Latin America to President Obama when they first met, sending the book overnight to #2 on Amazon's bestseller list.

One of Latin America's most distinguished writers, journalists and historians, Eduardo Galeano is the author of the Memory of Fire Trilogy, Open Veins of Latin America, Days and Nights of Love and War, Walking Words, Soccer in Sun and Shadow, The Book of Embraces, Mirrors, and many other works. Born in Montevideo in 1940, Galeano lived in exile in Argentina and Spain for many years before returning to Uruguay. His work has inspired popular and classical music composers from all over the world. He was the recipient of the first Lannan Prize for Cultural Freedom, the Casa de las Americas Prize, and the First Distinguished Citizen of the region by the countries of Mercosur. His admirers include Isabel Allende, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Subcomandante Marcos, Howard Zinn, Naomi Klein, and of course Hugo Chavez. Eduardo is a man of truly progressive principles and pure literary duende.

Galeano's new work unfurls like a medieval book of days. Each page has an illuminating story that takes inspiration from that day of the calendar year. Each entry resurrects the heroes and heroines who have fallen off the historical map. Beautifully translated by Galeano's longtime collaborator, Mark Fried, Children of the Days is a great humanist treasure that shows us how to live and how to remember.

Presented by KPFA Radio 94.1 FM

Death is still forever, but extinction may not be---at least for creatures that humans drove extinct in the last 10,000 years. Woolly mammoths might once again nurture their young in northern snows. Passenger pigeon flocks could return to America’s eastern forest. The great auk may resume fishing the coasts of the northern Atlantic.

New genomic technology can reassemble the genomes of extinct species whose DNA is still recoverable from museum specimens and some fossils (no dinosaurs), and then, it is hoped, the genes unique to the extinct animal can be brought back to life in the framework of the genome of the closest living relative of the extinct species. For woolly mammoths, it’s the Asian elephant; for passenger pigeons, the band-tailed pigeon; for great auks, the razorbill. Other plausible candidates are the ivory-billed woodpecker, Carolina parakeet, Eskimo curlew, thylacine (Tasmanian tiger), dodo, Xerces blue butterfly, saber-toothed cat, Steller’s sea cow, cave bear, giant ground sloth, etc.

The Long Now Foundation has taken “de-extinction” on as a project called “Revive + Restore,” led by Ryan Phelan and Stewart Brand. They organized a series of conferences of the relevant molecular biologists and conservation biologists culminating in TEDxDeExtinction, held at National Geographic in March. They hired a young scientist, Ben Novak, to work full time on reviving the passenger pigeon. He is now at UC Santa Cruz working in the lab of ancient-DNA expert Beth Shapiro.

This talk summarizes the progress of current de-extinction projects (Europe’s aurochs, Spain’s bucardo, Australia’s gastric brooding frog, America’s passenger pigeon) and some “ancient ecosystem revival” projects---Pleistocene Park in Siberia, the Oostvaardersplassen in the Netherlands, and Makauwahi Cave in Kaua’i. De-extinction has been described as a “game changer” for conservation. How might that play out for the best, and how might it go astray?

In an era of “anthropocene ecology,” is it now possible to repair some of the deepest damage we have caused in the past?

Tuesday May 21, 02013 Doors open 7:00pm, talk at 7:30pm lasting ~1.5 hours

Advance Tickets Recommended - Tickets are $15 http://longnow.org/seminars/02013/may/21/reviving-extinct-species/

Long Now Members get complimentary tickets https://longnow.org/membership/

Revive + Restore website http://longnow.org/revive/

We're throwing ourselves a party to celebrate the first two books from Two Lines Press, San Francisco's newest (only?) translation-only literary press.

Hosted by premiere performance space Intersection for the Arts, the party includes good food and wine, plus staged performances from All My Friends by Marie NDiaye (translated by Jordan Stump) and Hi, This Is Conchita by Santiago Roncagliolo (translated by Edith Grossman).

NDiaye, the youngest person ever to be shortlisted for the International Booker Prize, was recently raved by Publishers Weekly as possibly France's "most startling new literary voice." Her fierce, unflinching stories, written in intricate and beautiful sentences, ask us how well we can possibly know each other, or even ourselves.

Roncagliolo, named by Granta one of the 22 "Best Young Spanish-Language Novelists," gives us a raucous novella that follows a series of phone conversations ranging from phone sex to hitmen to Meg Ryan riffs. Daniel Alarcón raved, "Santiago Roncagliolo is one of the writers of my generation I most admire. He is rigorous, fearless, and funny, with a keen eye for absurdity embedded within the everyday."

May 22 Doors 7:00pm, event: 7:30pm Intersection for the Arts 925 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94103 Admission: $10; $15 = admission + one of the new Two Lines Press titles; $20 = admission + both books

Discover how the Bay Area innovates and responds to global competition. Attend this exciting 1-day conference in the heart of Silicon Valley.

Topics: *Reshoring/onshoring reality *3D printer and robot demonstrations *Advanced manufacturing technologies *Product development and global supply chain dynamics *Workforce development to meet today's job requirements

Learn from 20+ speakers and panelists including serial entrepreneurs, company founders, R&D leaders, small-to-large scale manufacturers, design firms, and colleges. Attendees will learn about a variety of success stories such as why Intuitive Surgical's robotic medical devices are produced in the Bay Area. Keynote speaker, serial entrepreneur and founder of Nanosolar - Brian Sager - will address the lessons learned when ramping up cross-disciplinary technologies.

Tour the adjoining Design-2-Part trade show and make connections to meet local and regional suppliers for materials, processes, prototyping, and manufacturing. This trade show is the largest event in the region to focus exclusively on contract manufacturing services. With nearly 200 American contract manufacturing companies, covering more than 300 product categories, attendees can explore the metals, plastics, rubber and electronics industries. To register for the trade show at no cost, visit www.D2P.com.

This 8th Annual SME Technical conference is presented by the SME Silicon Valley Chapter, ASME-SCVS, SJSU BMES, ASQ Biomedical Chapter, SWE-SVC, and IEEE-CPMT.

No charge for parking. Drawings at the conference.

Who should attend? *Product development, "makers", design, quality, supply chain, purchasing, manufacturing engineers, managers, and manufacturing professionals. *Students and professionals interested in advancing their knowledge of Bay Area prototyping, making, 3D printing, manufacturing, and networking.

Presented by Silicon Valley Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME)

Opening reception May 17th, 7 - 9 pm; Show runs May 17-July 13

Fouladi Projects is pleased to present a body of new work by three Los Angeles based painters, Johnpaul Altamirano, Sean Cheetham and Jeff Nentrup. The work created for this show is inspired by an enduring history of close friendship and the many years spent collaborating as musicians in their bluesy rock band, "Del Toro". For this exhibition, the three artists explore their own western heritage and the primal motifs that manifest when they are let loose to bond in the wilderness: Guns, campfires and whiskey.... sombreros, serapes and guitars. All three are accomplished portrait painters in their own right and we are thrilled to see them join forces in a personal celebration of the fundamental pastimes enjoyed when being one with nature.

Please join us on Friday, May 17th 7 to 9pm for the artist reception and a special live musical performance by the artists' band, "Del Toro".

Show runs through July 13th, 2013

For images or more information please contact holly <at> fouladiprojects.com

Presented by Fouladi Projects

Reception May 17, 7-10pm, Exhibition May 8-25, 2013

Arc Gallery announces QUEERESTROOM, an exhibition that features the modified bathroom signs of Lauren Quock. What began as a reaction to years of strangers antagonizing her while waiting in line for the restroom has turned into a series of works that explore gender beyond the constructed binary and subvert an overlooked public space that reinforces it.

http://laurenquock.com/section/270348_Modified_Bathroom_Signs.html

Presented by Kearny Street Workshop, the nation's oldest Asian Pacific American multidisciplinary arts organizations, and co-curated by Melanie Elvena and Joyce Juan-Manalo.

Exhibition: May 8-25, 2013

Arc Studios + Gallery features a 1,000 sq. ft. art gallery, two smaller galleries, an art education center, and ten newly renovated artist studios, along with the Kearny Street Workshop office, the San Francisco Artist Network office, VEGA Blue Bottle Coffee kiosk, and Creme Brulee shop. Arc is located at 1246 Folsom Street, between 8th + 9th streets in San Francisco's SOMA neighborhood. (3 blocks from the Civic Center BART station on Market Street)

Presented by Arc Studios + Gallery

Filmmaker in person.

Watch the trailer:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkOevXUvL3s

Movie site http://www.verticalpoolcom/invisibleforest.html

SYNOPSIS Alex, an experimental theatre director (Antero Alli), brings his troupe out to a forest to perform his vision of French Surrealist Antonin Artaud's magic theatre of ghosts, gods, and demons. During their paratheatrical experiment, Alex is haunted by a reoccuring nightmare where Artaud appears and mocks his ambitions. With his sanity pushed to its outer limits, Alex visits a psychotherapist who suggests hypnotic regression to remedy his problem. What follows is a surrealistic trip through the internal landscape of his subconscious to a place beyond belief, beyond words, beyond the mind itself to... The Invisible Forest. Written and directed by Antero Alli with text also by William Shakespeare and Antonin Artaud.

"The Invisible Forest” is full of treasures. It is able to depict those elusive mental states which prove so hard to remember or describe when we awaken from dreams. This film incites and dares the viewer to let go of concepts and accept the risky adventure of following the free, unimpeded energies of the body and mind."  - 4 stars.  David Finkelstein, read the entire review at: http://www.filmthreat.com/reviews/23033/

Oddball Films Presents Czech Please! an evening of mind-blowing animation from the former Czechoslovakia. From cut-outs to puppets to stop-motion; from the adorable to the dark and thought-provoking, this evening will open your eyes to the brilliance, vision and creativity of some of the great Czech animators. Films include Jiri Trnka's exquisite parable of totalitarianism, The Hand (1965). The two-cutest bird friends you may ever see dance to the radio, take pictures of themselves and fight off a hungry cat in the insanely adorable Queer Birds (1967). Recurring cartoon hero The Mole paints his friends in psychedelic colors in The Mole as Painter (1972). Zip off into the future in space in the trippy, zippy Kosmodrome 1999 (1969). Clever cutout animation The Sword (1967) gives a unique take on mortality. The rare and delightful Ferda the Ant(1941), a puppet-animation sporting the first wire-framed creatures on film. A young girl's ears grow and she flies away to start a band with jungle animals in Cecily (1970's). A jungle breaks out in the classroom when two kids steal a magician's top hat in Nature in a Top Hat (1960s). A clown gets upstaged by a fish in The Clowns (1968). Bulbous-nosed inventor Mr. Koumal (1968) deals with a series of amusing calamities following inventing fire, robots and wings. Plus more for the early birds!

Date: Thursday, May 9th, 2013 at 8:00PM. Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street, San Francisco
 Admission: $10.00 RSVP Only to: 415-558-8117 or programming <at> oddballfilm.com

Featuring: The Hand (Color, 1965) This is Jiri Trnka’s last, and many say his best work. “The Hand” is an allegorical take on the Stalinist Czech dictatorial regime. Trnka directed some of the most acclaimed animated films ever made. In 1966, four years before his death, Newsday lauded him as "second to Chaplin as a film artist because his work inaugurated a new stage in a medium long dominated by Disney." Trnka, was a 1936 graduate of Prague's School of Arts and Crafts. In 1945 he set up an animation unit with several collaborators at the Prague film studio; they called the unit "Trick Brothers." Trnka specialized in puppet animation, a traditional Czech art form, of which he became the undisputed master. He also created animated cartoons, but it was his puppet animation that made him an internationally recognized artist and the winner of film festival awards at Venice and elsewhere. His films are brilliant, bizarre and meticulously rendered.

Kosmodrome 1999 (Color, 1969, by Frantisek Vystreil) The year is 1999. Interstellar travel is so commonplace; hordes of commuters shuttle about on rockets as casually as they commute from SF to LA today. Our hero misses his flight, however and his zany adventures with the Rube Goldberg-like rocket he tries to enlist results in bizarre and weirdly animated adventures. Brilliant animation and zany, electronic sounds! Produced by the famed Kratky Film Company in Prague.

The Mole As Painter (Color, 1972) Famous Czech animator Zdeněk Miler made a series of cartoons with a mole as main character. Here the mole is accidentally dropped into a bucket of paint, then proceeds to paint his woodland friends in crazy, psychedelic colors to scare off a marauding fox.

Mr. Koumal (1968) Part of a series of Czech animations featuring the bulbous-nosed Mr. Koumal. Three separate short cartoons illustrating a variety of human accomplishments in parable form.

1) Mr Koumal Carries the Torch: First, Mr Koumal invents fire (”carries the torch”). He tries to protect his torch from a variety of natural and human hazards. Comedy ensues. Mr. Koumal valiantly attempts to carry the torch to the finish line against many obstacles. The torch is snatched from his grasp at the last minute and another man claims the victory.

2) Mr Koumal Invents a Robot. Mr Koumal has a hard time polishing his shoes, so invents a machine to do it, then a robot that will do it instead. He ends up polishing the robot’s shoes instead.

3) Mr Koumal Flies Like a Bird. While climbing a mountain, Mr Koumal sees an eagle flying even higher and tries to fly off the mountain. He steals the eagle’s feathers as well as feathers from a thousand chickens, but he still can’t fly. He ends up selling the feathers as indian headdresses.

The Sword (Color, 1967) This clever cutout animation is short and er… to the point, The Sword is allegory on the ignorance of people who enjoy their life to those who are suffering or dying at the very same instant.

Ferda The Ant (B+W, 1941) Based on the popular children's book, this darling stop-motion short features the titular protagonist facing off against a vicious arachnid while attempting to finish a hard day of work. When Ferda and his friend are caught in the spider's web, they must free themselves or be lunch. Made by one of the founding mothers of Czech animation, Hermína Týrlová, this innovative and beautiful film features the first use of wire-frame puppets in stop-motion animation.

Queer Birds (B+W, 1967) From KRÁTKÝ FILM PRAHA a.s., the Czech company that produced animated, cartoon and puppet films from directors like Jiří Trnka, Jan Švankmajer, Karel Zeman comes Queer Birds, a bizarre cold war tale of a black cat and two terrorized birds. The film features a brilliant and innovative pre electronic music score. One of the top animated films in the Oddball archives!

Cecily (Color, 1970’s) In this surprising Czech animation, the eponymous Cecily is a little girl with big dreams of becoming a singer. Her grumpy grandmother, however, is less than encouraging, tugging on Cecily’s ears whenever displeased with her behavior. Such incessant ear-pulling eventually stretches the little girl’s ears to the size of sails, and little Cecily takes to the sky, Dumbo-like, to realize her dreams elsewhere. She lands in the jungle, adopted by an assortment of animals, and starts a band.

The Clowns (1968)

A clown using a fish as a comedy prop gets the joke played on him as the fish becomes the star attraction in this charming 60's cartoon.

Nature in a Top Hat (Color, 1960s) This adorable Czech animation features a show and tell gone awry when two youngsters steal a magician's top hat and produce from it not just a bunny, but an entire jungle. Story by Milos Macourek, music by Jiri Bazans and Jiri Malasek, art by Jan Brychsa, written and directed by Boxena Moxisova

Oddball Films and curator Kat Shuchter present Learn Your Lesson...on Drugs - Shockucational Shorts for the D.A.R.E. Generation, the third in a series of programs highlighting the most ridiculous, insane and camptastic shockucational films and TV specials of the collection. This time, we're taking drugs; that is taking on drugs and the filmic pharmacy is officially open! Melanie and Kathleen are desperate to experiment with drugs in excerpts from Degrassi Jr. High - The Experiment (1987). Creepy double-headed puppets designed by Julie Taymor teach us about intergalactic teens and peer pressure in Deciso 3003 (1982). Benny's the little man on campus and while steroids might make him bigger, they might cost him everything important in Di$ney's Benny and the 'Roids (1988). It might be in Spanish but you won't miss the meaning behind the hilarious cartoon Sex, Booze, Blues and those Pills You Use (1982). McGruff the Crime Dog is back (as a man in a clumsy dog suit and trademark trenchcoat) and he's got a lesson for the kiddies on how to narc on your druggy friends in McGruff's Drug Alert (1987). Sonny Bono gets high (pre-taping) and dons a gold lamé pajama set to tell you all about Marijuana (1968). And because it never gets old, the Oddball favorite The Cat Who Drank... And Used Too Much (1987) will be stopping by. Plus! a multi-projector Celebrity Drug PSA Mash-up featuring Beau Bridges, Paul Newman on PCP, Phil Donahue on crack and Richard Dreyfuss on cocaine! Early birds shall enjoy Narcotics Pit of Despair (1967).

Date: Friday, May 10th, 2013 at 8:00pm Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street San Francisco Admission: $10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to programming <at> oddballfilm.com or (415) 558-8117

Featuring:

Degrassi Jr. High - The Experiment (Color, 1987) The Degrassi empire began in 1983 and continues to this day (with a few breaks and reimaginations along the way). With age-appropriate casting and a bent towards taboo subject matter (abortion, AIDS, vibrators, penis pumps, incontinence on top of a cheerleading pyramid) Degrassi has been pushing the envelope for 30 years. In this episode from the first season of Degrassi Jr. High, Melanie and Kathleen are so anxious to try drugs, they buy aspirin off of Joey and have the trip of a lifetime!

Deciso 3003 (Color, 1982) Peter Wallach, Eli Wallach’s brother directed this bizarre anti-drug PSA, in the height of the “Just Say No” ‘80s. Two couples of double-headed alien teens set out on what they think is just going to be any other intergalactic trip to the Drive-In (to see Vincent Price in The Fly) but when one of them thinks it’ll be cool to take some meteor pills and get handsy with his date, we all learn that being a teenager isn’t easy for anyone in the galaxy. The puppets were made by Julie Taymor, director of Across the Universe and Titus, and Eli Wallach narrates, though neither is credited on the internet movie database. Perhaps, like the teen alien flying home alone, they too feel the shame.

Benny and the ‘Roids (Color, 1988) Benny has got it all; a great looking girlfriend, a best bud and the High School cred. of being on the football team. But his teammates pick on his puniness and even as he self-indulgently videotapes himself working out, the progress just isn’t fast enough. The next logical step, ask the beefiest, sketchiest looking guy at the gym where to score some steroids. How long can Benny keep his perfect life with his dirty little secret, and will it end up being worth it? As it is a Disney production, I’m sure you can guess it won’t be, but you’ll still enjoy your front row ticket to the RAGE!

Sex, Booze, and Blues, and Those Pills You Use (Color, 1982) Sex tutorials in fine animated fair come to life in this warning against abuse of alcohol and drugs, and how they can lead to sexual dysfunction.

The Cat Who Drank and Used Too Much (Color, 1987) Wacky anti-drug film about alcohol and drug using Pat the Cat. He hits the skids before finally reaching out for help - an all-time Oddball Films audience favorite! Narrated by Julie Harris and winner of 24 major awards!

McGruff's Drug Alert (Color, 1987) Everybody's favorite dog detective, McGruff the Crime Dog teaches children that pills and medicines can be poisonous if they are taken by the wrong people or in the wrong amounts. He teaches also about “illegal” drugs and how to narc on your friends! Marijuana (Color, 1968) Sonny Bono graces the silver screen in gold lamé to set the facts straight about grass; that he appears utterly stoned himself should not denigrate his message one bit. He systematically counters all the usual arguments in favor of the evil weed (hilariously rattled off one by one by a group of teenagers being arrested).

Words of wisdom in stoner monotone: “Unlike alcohol, when you take too much at one time, you don’t pass out. You more than likely run the risk of an unpredictable �" and unpleasant �" bummer”. Plus! A Celebrity Drug PSA Mash-up featuring excerpts of:

The Perfect Drug Film (Color, 1971) Hosted by obvious stoner Beau Bridges

Angel Death (Color, 1985) Hosted by Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward about the dangers of PCP use.

Phil Donahue's Crack Show (1986)

Cocaine Abuse: End of the Line (Color, 1984) Hosted by Richard Dreyfuss

And For the Early Birds:

Narcotics: Pit of Despair (Color, 1967) The all-time classic of the genre, a real howler! Super-square kid is lured into the world of illicit drugs and other pleasures by the scheming drug dealer and his wanton woman. Sample voiceover: “Take a trip from Squaresville, get with the countdown, shake this square world and blast off to Kicksville!” Sounds good to me!!

Cult-film scholar Christian Divine trucks in with his CAR-KINO CULT presentation, a cavalcade of skull-pulverizing clips on the uniquely American phenomenon of the Drive-In Movie. The final frontier of guerrilla showmanship, drive-ins exploited a lurid repertoire of Hollywood actioners and independent grindhouse fare. The activity was ritualized around the automobile, and the romance of expansive viewing under the stars was counter-pointed by violence and copious sex on the super-wide screen (and in the back seats).

Representative titles like Billy Jack, Smokey and the Bandit, Wild Angels, Blood Feast, Night Call Nurses, and Destroy All Monsters are organized into a prototypical Saturday-night al fresco experience, compressing years of film- and car-culture into Christian’s wildly entertaining�"and obsessively researched�"lecture-demo.

Free popcorn, cheap beer, and lots more!!

Concert to support ITW as it fights off eviction by the destructive forces of gentrification in la Misión.

ITW, or In The Works, is a Mission-based anti-authoritarian arts collective that is resisting the eviction of its favorite space at 17th and Mission. ITW has hosted many events in the Mission including Monday Food not Bombs at 16th and Mission since November 2011 and hopes to continue to stand against oppression creatively.

The attempt at eviction is part of a move to turn another block of the Mission into condos and upscale offices for Yuppies while the working class, families, and poor are pushed into the streets or out of the neighborhood entirely. Along with gentrification comes more cops, the homogenization of culture, and an increasing divide between the rich and the poor. ITW and its allies stand against this displacement and its unhappy results.

Join us for a hot night of performances by:

Reporte Ilegal (Oakland/DF) Turbo Sonidero Futuristico (Puebla/San Jose) TurboMex feat. MC Mex Tape. (Oakland/Puebla/East Side San Jose)

and from Them Hellas: Queensdelight (SF) Duckworth (SF)

We are asking for a base donation of $10 at the door to the legal defense fund. You can also support the local establishment that is hosting us by buying drinks at the bar.

For more info on how to get involved or to sign up for the ITW Newsletter, send an email to jaguarpress <at> riseup.net

ArtPadSF at the iconic Phoenix Hotel is a provocative 21st century boutique art fair that focuses on emerging and contemporary art from the Bay Area and beyond. In its third year and partnered with San Francisco’s world-renowned arts institutions, galleries, and artists, ArtPadSF is a crossroads for the creative and an unparalleled marketplace for art. Arts patrons and enthusiasts are invited to take in some of the most exciting contemporary art the market has to offer as the Phoenix Hotel transforms itself into a visual arts destination with over 40 hotel rooms being taken over by galleries and curatorial projects. Join us May 16th through 19th 2013 for screenings, panels, performances, and more.

OPENING NIGHT TICKETS http://artpadsfopeningnight.eventbrite.com/

Currency is a showcase of provocative new work from the San Francisco Art Institute’s 2013 Master of Fine Arts graduates. This year’s exhibition location, The Old Mint, offers a unique opportunity for SFAI’s emerging artists to juxtapose contemporary expression with a stunning National Historic Landmark. Featuring work from nearly 100 artists working in painting, photography, printmaking, film, sculpture, site-specific installation, digital media, performance, and across media, Currency invites you to discover the next generation of pioneering contemporary artists from this celebrated institution.

Exhibition: May 16 -19 Exhibition hours: 11 am�"6 pm

Burqavaganza - a love story in the time of jihad - is a sassy, provocative Bollywood extravaganza, written by Pakistan's most prolific and progressive playwright, Shahid Nadeem, co-founder of Ajoka Theatre in Lahore, Pakistan. Burqavaganza uses the burqa as a metaphor for a society that thrives on double standards and covering up the truth. The entire cast, male and female, wears a burqa. Burqavaganza goes toe to toe with the long standing obsession with the burqa, face-veil, niqab, hijab, parda - and offers a side-splitting critique on rising fundamentalism, political corruption, and the War on Terror. Banned in Pakistan by the National Arts Council in 2010, Burqavaganza is a ground breaking political satire that provokes the audience to rethink and lift the veil of prejudice, outdated values, and hypocrisy within all societies.

May 16, 2013 �" June 2, 2013, Thurs, Fri, Sat at 8 PM, Sun 2 PM* *except Sunday May 26 7 PM show

May 16th-Sept, 8pm, Thurs-Sat.

It's interactive Theatre, about San Francisco, in the Heart of San Francisco! A theatrical journey visiting San Francisco's eclectic neighborhoods, heroes, eccentrics, and rich history. A beguiling blend of solo-performance and enchantment.

The San Francisco Magic Parlor theatre has become a staple of Union Square, offering a diverse blend of entertainment combining emotional intensity with clever wit -it's not a mundane "magic show." Over three-hundred audience reviews have declared the show "Astonishment!" a success.

In the seventh month of an open-ended run the Parlor presents imaginative, inventive performances "spinning tales and weaving enchantment." Nestled in a cozy La Belle E'poque Parlor within the 100 year old Chancellor Hotel, the play has garnered 5-Star ratings on Yelp and TripAdvisor.

Raconteur, actor, and conjurer Walt Anthony whisks audiences back through time journeying from San Francisco's magical past to its present. "Astonishment!" is intimate and personal entertainment created for natives and visitors alike.

Embark on an adventure where fascinating tales of Wonder and Shadow unfold. You'll be introduced to San Francisco's most revered and feared eccentrics, hearing captivating San Francisco tales and seeing astonishing conjuring. The evening's vignettes are highlighted with magical moments employing unusual curios and rare artifacts.

Time stands still in the intimate Parlor Theatre situated within the historic Chancellor Hotel Union Square. You may enjoy pre-show dinners and drinks from 5 pm to 7 pm in the lobby lounge before the 8:00 pm curtain time. Guests Agree!

"A real San Francisco treat, better than Rice-a-Roni!" "A must do for any native San Francisco." Presented by San Francisco Magic Parlor

Opens Friday, May 17

Directed by Deepa Mehta and adapted by Salman Rushdie from his acclaimed novel, this epic saga spans the histories of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, from the British Empire in 1917 to the late 1970s. At the stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947, as India declares independence from Great Britain, two babies are switched at birth by a nurse in a Bombay hospital. And so it is that Saleem Sinai, the bastard child of a beggar woman, and Shiva, the only son of a wealthy couple, are fated to live the destinies meant for each other. Their lives become mysteriously intertwined and inextricably linked to India’s whirlwind journey of triumphs and disasters. Sweeping in scope and intimate in tone, it is a tale full of heartbreak, hope, comedy, tragedy and a considerable amount of magic. With Satya Bhabha, Shahana Goswami, Seema Biswas, Shriya Saran, Siddharth, Charles Dance. Writer/Narrator: Salman Rushdie. Director: Deepa Mehta. (Canada 2012) 140 min.

Grappling with issues of perception and meaning, transition and liminality, and the nature of art-making in the globalized 21st century, each artist probes the question of what it means to be an artist in the world-tacitly and provocatively expanding our understanding of the significance of the creative impulse today. Please join us as we introduce a new generation of moving image artists to the Bay Area through this inaugural screening at the Contemporary Jewish Museum.

Featured Artists:

Zach R. Alspaugh Pabi Chulo Amber Crabbe U. V. Dogan Heejin Jang Cheng Jiang Li Le Xing Liu (King) Qi Luo Tony Maridakis Andréanne Michon Ouater Sand Javid Soriano Jill Taffet Miao Tian Lindsay Tully

Friday, May 17, 5-9pm
 Saturday, May 18, 1-3pm 
 Tuesday, May 21, 5-7pm

This exhibition will be the culmination of four months of work by artists who have scavenged materials from the dump to make art and promote recycling and reuse.

Benjamin Cowden, “Lunar Cassowaries.”

 Mechanical sculptures that explore flight and wind propulsion through the combination of unusual materials.

Ian Treasure "Road to Nowhere." Kinetic sculptures that present opportunities to reflect on the complexities and absurdities of life.

Hannah Quinn, "Beyond the Bower." Functional works that reference the traditions of craftspeople and home hobbyists, while also exploring the utilitarian forms for stools, benches and ladders.

Join us as we honor the incredible dedication and service of Kathleen and Anne Ryan to the children of San Francisco at City Youth Now's Spring Gala, May 17th at the Bently Reserve in San Francisco. There will be a silent auction, a cocktail and oyster bar reception, followed by a lovely dinner and live auction of several unique and exciting items. There will also be a live band - "Pure Ecstasy" - so bring your dancing shoes! San Francisco local radio DJ, Paul Tonelli, will be the Master of Ceremonies for this event dedicated to raising funds for the personal development and health of San Francisco's neediest children. This event will attract judges, attorneys, prominent politicians and community leaders. City Youth Now will present academic scholarships to foster and probation youth who have shown extraordinary effort and dedication and are continuing on to college.

We invite you to experience an intimate acosutic concert in San Francisco Botanical Garden's century-old Redwood Grove with Santa Cruz based beach-folk musicians, The Shapes. Breathe in the earthy fragrance as you enjoy two complimentary beers or glasses of wine as the band's bluesy tunes and laid-back vocals echo throughout the forest.

Make an evening of the event by purchasing snacks from the local food truck on site, and sit amongst the sword ferns, huckleberries, and wild ginger.

Join Associate Curator David Cruse-Pickler on a informative tour of the history, cultural importance, and botany of the largest redwood grove in San Francisco. Please join us for this unique fusion of music and nature in our cherished Redwood Grove. This is a rare chance to enjoy music after-hours in the Garden. Event is limited to 40 people, so sign up now.

6:00-7:00 Food Truck Picnic with Naked Chorizo (Menu: http://www.nakedchorizo.com/)

6:30-7:30 Learn about the Redwoods with Associate Curator David Kruse Pickler

7:30-8:30 Acoustic performance by The Shapes

For more information on The Shape: http://theshapesmusic.com/

Currency is a showcase of provocative new work from the San Francisco Art Institute’s 2013 Master of Fine Arts graduates. This year’s exhibition location, The Old Mint, offers a unique opportunity for SFAI’s emerging artists to juxtapose contemporary expression with a stunning National Historic Landmark. Featuring work from nearly 100 artists working in painting, photography, printmaking, film, sculpture, site-specific installation, digital media, performance, and across media, Currency invites you to discover the next generation of pioneering contemporary artists from this celebrated institution.

May 16�"19, 2013. Exhibition hours: 11 am�"6 pm daily. Opening reception: Friday, May 17, 7�"9 pm.

A guru and an ex-hippie businessman come to The Commonwealth Club for an unconventional discussion around new paradigms in business. Their innovative and transformative concepts offer pathways to discover what business with a higher purpose could look like. Come with an open mind �" you’ll laugh, you’ll be surprised, and you’ll leave empowered and inspired.

Washington doesn't like to talk about its use of military drones very much. No wonder: they just might be illegal under U.S. and international law...to say nothing of the Administration's so-called "targeted killing" program and its insistence that even U.S. citizens are legitimate targets of warfare from afar.

So-called experts who have examined drone technology tend to have a common thought about it: Drones, whether military or just for surveillance, are here to stay and we should get used to the idea of having them. From both a military/security and civil liberties standpoint, some folks will beg to differ.

To address the matter of drone warfare, on Monday May 13 Paul George, Director of the Peninsula Peace and Justice Center, will be the guest of Peace Action of San Mateo County with a talk entitled "Joystick Warfare - On the Legality and Morality of Combat Drones."

We are honored to have Paul reprise the presentation he gave in Cupertino April 16. In this forum, we will take a look at the U.S. drone program: Where and how often are drones being used to launch missiles? Who are the targets? And who is actually being killed by the drones? Most importantly, he'll raise the question: Should our country be using combat drones in its citizens' names?

Paul George has been an activist and grassroots organizer for peace and human rights for over 45 years, and has also been PPJC's director since the mid-1990's. He is a highly regarded and frequent public speaker (including at various PASMC events over the years) on a range of topics. In the course of his career, Paul has traveled to war zones to witness firsthand the profound effects of U.S. foreign policy on ordinary people. On May 13 we will be honored to have his expertise and his commitment to peace. The UUSM is wheelchair accessible.

Presented by Peace Action of San Mateo County

The SHOUT is a live storytelling event featuring people from all walks of life telling amazing but true 10-minute stories from their lives. Interspersed with the featured raconteurs, audience members have the opportunity to put their name in the hat in hopes of being picked for one of our 6-minute wild-card slots. Past stories at The Shout have featured a bipolar father building a skiff in a living room in the projects, a substitute teacher in Juvenile Hall, a young man discovering that he had been in witness protection as a child, and an actor deciding to do better art after starring in a soft-core porn version of Don Quixote, to name a few. The SHOUT - Life is Entertaining

Tuesday, May 14th Playland After Dark �" Grown-up Game Night (Adult Admission Only $10) Join us for a date night like no other�"Playland After Dark's Grown-up Game Night featuring board games galore (or you can bring your favorite!) and all the unique exhibits, classic carnival games and free-play pinball always available at Playland-Not-at-the-Beach, without the kids.

Playland-Not-at-the-Beach is a nonprofit Museum of Fun. Designed and built entirely by volunteers, the 20+ interactive exhibits celebrate the magic and history of America's bygone amusements -- circuses, carnivals, magic, side shows, penny arcades, amusement devices, pinball arcades, haunted houses, and beautiful art everywhere. Our goal is to educate newer generations about the bygone days and allow those who remember Whitney's Playland and the Sutro Baths the opportunity to recapture the glorious sights and sounds of that marvelous era.

Join the SF Obscura Society for an evening of stories of the incredible - and sometimes distressing - things that can happen to a body long after it's buried

Sometimes, a body just won't stay put. Whether it's for science or sorcery, or simply a moving of property, there are a lot of reasons why the dead sometimes travel epic distances and have great adventures.

Local chanteuse Jill Tracy and author Bess Lovejoy will be joining us to set the stage and spin tales of the ambulatory dead.

Bess Lovejoy, author of the new book Rest in Pieces: The Curious Fates of Famous Corpses has dedicated her morbid curiosity to investigating the details of these bizarre and fascinating stories of the ambulatory dead.

On May 14th, she will share the threats famous bodies have faced through the ages, from furta sacra ("holy theft" of saintly relics) to phrenologist skull stealers, from "Resurrection Men" digging up cadavers for medical schools to modern organ harvesters.

Hailed by LA Weekly as the "cult darling of the Underworld," local chanteuse and storyteller Jill Tracy will lure us six feet under with a dark and deadly musical introduction.

Cocktail of the night: Corpse Reviver!

Bess Lovejoy is a writer, researcher, and editor based in Seattle. She writes about dead people, forgotten history, and sometimes art, literature, and science. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Believer, The Boston Globe, The Stranger, and other publications. Visit her at BessLovejoy.com or follow her on twitter at <at> besslovejoy.

Jill Tracy is a San Francisco-based singer/pianist/storyteller and “musical evocateur” who has garnered multiple awards and a passionate following for her eerie and beautiful cinematic music, sophisticated lyrics, old-world glamour, and curious passion for strange tales. Tracy is the first musician to receive a grant from the renowned Mütter Museum of medical oddities in Philadelphiaand is dedicating the year to completing a musical work based on the Mütter collection. Visit her at JILLTRACY.com or follow her on twitter at <at> jilltracymusic

A Fate Worse Than Death is part of our new evening Atlas Obscura salon series at DNA Lounge, highlighting strange stories, odd places, and unusual histories near and far.

ADVANCE TICKETS: http://www.atlasobscura.com/events/obscura-society-sf-a-fate-worse-than-death-bess-lovejoy

Lanier’s expertise in computer science, music, and digital media helped him develop a profound understanding of technology and its impact on society.

But with advancements come hardships and according to Lanier, we are facing greater challenges than ever before. The rise of digital networks has not only forced our economy into recession but also put strains on the middle class. Technology has also flattened industries like manufacturing and media. So what needs to change? Lanier who is credited for coining and popularizing virtual reality research provides his visionary insight to what the new information economy will look like.

The scientific understanding of our origins began in earnest with Copernicus, Galileo, Darwin, and others, and has since evolved into a rich, detailed, and well-tested model.

Direct observations of the infant universe now show that it was remarkably smooth compared to what we see around us today, with only tiny differences in its properties from one part to another.

By contrast, in the present universe there are enormous differences in the properties of matter from one part to another: some regions host planets, stars, and galaxies (and even humans!) while others do not. Far from exhibiting its early smoothness, the modern universe is extraordinarily chunky.

In this visually rich presentation, outstanding researcher/teacher Dr. Eliot Quataert (UC Berkeley) will describe how the universe evolved from its smooth beginnings to its current chunky state. He will emphasizing how gravity reigns supreme and builds up the planets, stars, and galaxies required for biological evolution to proceed.

Before the 7:00 PM start time, build a tasty meal from the many food trucks at StrEat Food Park. Then consume your discoveries with science-minded friends in the warmth of a huge central dining space. Professor Quataert and the food trucks will conspire to make a most enlightening dining experience.

Presented by Wonderfest + Ask a Scientist

For one night only, sample a cross-section of the cultural and culinary delights that only the Mission District can offer. Enjoy performance ephemera by ODC Theater Artists in Residence. Taste specialty sweets and savories by beloved Bay Area shops. Sip coffee, wine or specialty cocktails, all while bidding on alluring art and foodie auction items.

Start the night at a community dinner at 6pm hosted by our favorite Mission restaurants. $125 includes dinner, drinks and entry to Indulge! Reserve today: 415-863-6606, x114

Indulge proceeds benefit ODC Theater programming.

PERFORMERS LEVYdance Amara Tabor-Smith Amy Seiwert's Imagery

PURVEYORS AQ Commonwealth Delfina Foreign Cinema Hayes Street Grill Lolinda Slow Club Universal Cafe Mission Minis Schulzie's Bread Pudding Three Babes Bakeshop Dandelion Chocolates Dianda's Bluxome St. Cellars SQ1 Vodka Presented by ODC Theater

This May, when gridlocked Congress decides to take up posturing rather than taking action on immigration reform, San Francisco Bay Area-based comedians and comedy producers, Dhaya Lakshminarayanan and Samson Koletkar, make audiences laugh about the immigrant experience and the hilarity of the current immigration debate in America, taking on a topic that even Congress doesn’t know how to touch.

“ImmigraNation” is a show about immigration and America. Samson and Dhaya have Congress to thank for supplying so much comedic material on the immigration debate. Samson is a first generation Indian immigrant, and Dhaya is the daughter of Indian immigrants. The show also features fellow comedians, Karinda Dobbins (African American comic; Nickelodeon’s “NickMom Night Out”), James Fluty (Latino comic; Current TV), and Steve Lee (Asian disabled comic; blends his Chinese roots with his love for all things American; TakeOut Comedy Club Hong Kong).

In conjunction with the exhibition Words and Places: Etel Adnan, the Wattis Institute, and the graduating class of the Graduate Program in Curatorial Studies at the California College of the Arts present a series of talks and film screenings that examine issues called up by Adnan’s practice, and expand its frame of reference.

Wednesday, May 15 A public screening of filmmaker Chris Marker's pivotal “essay film” Sans Soleil (1983, 103 mins), a complex meditation on individual and collective human memory, refracted through scenes filmed in Iceland, Japan, Paris, San Francisco and Guinea-Bissau, and a political and poetic approach that is Marker’s alone.

Words and Places: Etel Adnan is the first large-scale institutional exhibition of work by the Lebanese writer, poet, and painter Etel Adnan, spanning six decades of her artistic practice. Born in Beirut in 1925 to a Christian Greek mother and a Muslim Syrian father, Adnan has spent her life between places�"Beirut, Paris, and the Bay Area�"negotiating their different cultures and languages, as well as her distinctive position among them. This experience of displacement deeply informs her work, which similarly ranges between mediums and formats. Her work has recently been included in dOCUMENTA (13) (Kassel, Germany, 2012) and the Serpentine Gallery Map Marathon (London, 2010).

For more information on this event, the exhibition, and a complete calendar of public programs, please visit the Wattis website at [www.wattis.org].

Often found hip-deep in Madagascar mud, Dr. Brian Fisher is a modern day explorer who has devoted his life to the study and conservation of ants and biodiversity around the world. His research sends him through the last remote rainforests and deserts of Madagascar and Africa in search of ants. Although his subjects may be small in stature, they make a huge impact on their ecosystems. And what they lack in size, they more than make up for in numbers.

By documenting the species diversity and distribution of this “invisible majority,” Dr. Fisher is helping to establish conservation priorities for Madagascar, identifying areas that should be set aside to protect the highest number of species. Along the way, he has discovered 100’s of new species of ants. He created the annual Ant Course in 2001, AntWeb in 2002, and the Madagascar Biodiversity Center in 2004. He has published over 90 peer reviewed articles including the “Ants of North America” with Stefan Cover. Every year, Dr. Fisher trains dozens of international graduate students in the taxonomy and natural history of ants, providing them with skills to use ants as an important indicator of biodiversity across the globe. He is currently Associate Curator of Entomology at the California Academy of Sciences and adjunct professor of biology at both the University of California at Berkeley and at San Francisco State University. He has appeared in a number of BBC, Discovery Channel, and National Geographic films and has been profiled in Newsweek and Discover magazine.

This talk is held in conjunction with Ants in the City goo.gl/tuopX April 10 �" May 25, 2013

Intersection for the Arts presents Ants in the City, a solo exhibition project by San Francisco-based artist Su-Chen Hung. 18th Century British poet William Blake wrote, “To see a world from a grain of sand,” and so Hung examines our world from the perspective of ants through three related video works and installations: Ants in the City; Kiss you, Honey; and Red Corner. Working with light, space, sound, movement, and stillness, Hung’s work is simple and elegant, accessible and contemplative. She has utilized a variety of media in both installation and performance contexts to investigate a diversity of social, cultural, and environmental concerns, and viewers often become performers in her work, intentionally or otherwise.

In the immersive video installation Ants in the City, Hung used a macro lens over a 38-hour span to document an ant colony as they slowly devoured red stained sugar and relayed it back to their home. Scurrying about and emitting specific phermones and antennae signals to communicate with one another, we might observe the ants displaying frustration, anger, and even gluttony �" acts compatible with our own behavior. There are more than 10,000 known ant species around the world, and over 100 species native to the Bay Area. Some early myrmecologists �" scientists who study ants �" considered ant society as an ideal social system, and sought to find solutions to human problems by studying them. There is a hierarchy within the ant world: a queen, male ants (which are only around for reproduction), soldiers, and workers. Whether protecting the nest, foraging for food, or procreating, each ant serves a particular function within the colony. Reflecting on our own human existence, Hung questions the relationships formed between humans within our larger urban environment. Do we function as part of a larger, structured system like an ant colony, or are we individuals working together for a cause? As ants divide into castes of labor and occupy one role their whole life, are our social positions stratified this way as well?

This exhibition is supported in part by the San Francisco Arts Commission Cultural Equity Grants program. Visual technology for the project provided by Optoma Technology, Inc., with generous support provided by Wade Chang, Mills Chen, Jon Grodem, Vincent Huang, Joshi Hsieh, Teddy Jung, Arun Kanuga, Nick Liang, TI Lin, Felix Pimentel, Andy Wang, Hans Wang, and Shen Wang. Additional thanks for assistance on this project to Bamboo Curtain Studio, Coretronic Culture and Arts Foundation, Yung-Ta Chang, Wei Ching, Terence Lee, Christian Rice, and Perngjuh Shyong.

While “green building” has typically applied to new construction, the Presidio is demonstrating that historic rehabilitation and green building practices are natural partners. Join the Presidio Trust’s Chandler McCoy and Jeanne Miernyk to learn about recent park projects that celebrate both history and the environment, including efforts that have received Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. RSVP requested to rsvp <at> presidiotrust.gov.

This program is part of Welcome to the Presidio: Presidio Milestones + the Next Chapter, a new exhibit on the Main Post. The exhibit shows visitors a glimpse of the Presidio's past, present, and future.

If the Walls Could Speak: Mysteries of the Mint Tuesday, May 15 - 7:30pm Old Mint 5th + Mission (parking available at Fifth + Mission Garage) Through photos/illustrations, authors/Mint historians Nancy Oliver + Richard Kelly will reveal recently discovered secrets and details about the Mint under siege during the 1906 earthquake and fire. Signed copies of their books, including The Men Who Managed the Mint, The Mint’s Integrity, The Mint Under Siege and A Mighty Fortress, The Stories Behind the Second United States Mint will be available for purchase.

Bring your friends and neighbors and introduce them to SFMHS and all we have to offer them! Reservations not required. For more information, visit the website: www.sfhistory.org, or call (415) 537-1105. Programs will be preceded by a 7pm reception. SFMHS programs are free for members; $10 non-members. Programs are held at the Old Mint at 5th and Mission streets (unless otherwise stated) Parking available at the Fifth + Mission Street Garage

Word Performances is a series of poetry, fiction, comedy, memoir, and jazz.

We have special array of talent with comedians Karinda Dobbins and Zahra Noorbakhsh, and writers Lorna Dee Cervantes, Doug Cordell, Matthew James DeCoster, Zarina Zabrisky, Andrew Dugas, Cybele Zufolo Siegel and Todd Siegel.

Special cabaret jazz performance by Nikola Printz

Celebrate Shavuot, the Festival of Weeks, Kehinde Wiley-style in this latest edition of the Museum’s after hours Ritlab, short for Ritual Laboratory. Catch a screening of Wild Style - the 1983 hip-hop classic. Ask questions at Reboot’s “Ask a Rabbi” booth with support by the Koret Foundation. Create with Justin Kerr’s Black Sheep Postal Service. Nosh on blintzes made by Wise Sons Delicatessen. Sip cocktails by Distillery 209. And explore the galleries with games and an Art Flash Gallery Chat. 21 and over only.

Presented in conjunction with Kehinde Wiley | The World Stage: Israel.

From May 16 to 19, 2013 the third annual ArtPadSF will transform the Phoenix Hotel into a visual arts destination, with over 40 hotel rooms being taken over by galleries and curatorial projects. This year the boutique art fair, focused on emerging and contemporary art from the Bay Area and beyond, launches with an exclusive preview show benefiting the upcoming SECA Art Award exhibition. The evening will include food and drink specials from Chambers Restaurant and exciting poolside performances. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to support SECA and explore ArtPadSF!

Since 1967, SFMOMA and its art interest group Society for the Encouragement of Contemporary Art (SECA) has honored more than 70 Bay Area artists with this biennial award. ArtPadSF has partnered with SECA to support this important award program. This September the exhibition will feature off-site commissions by awardees Zarouhie Abdalian, Josh Faught, Jonn Herschend, and David Wilson.

From May 16 to 19, 2013 the third annual ArtPadSF will transform the Phoenix Hotel into a visual arts destination, with over 40 hotel rooms being taken over by galleries and curatorial projects. This year the boutique art fair, focused on emerging and contemporary art from the Bay Area and beyond, launches with an exclusive preview show benefiting the upcoming SECA Art Award exhibition. The evening will include food and drink specials from Chambers Restaurant and exciting poolside performances. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to support SECA and explore ArtPadSF! Since 1967, SFMOMA and its art interest group Society for the Encouragement of Contemporary Art (SECA) has honored more than 70 Bay Area artists with this biennial award. ArtPadSF has partnered with SECA to support this important award program. This September the exhibition will feature off-site commissions by awardees Zarouhie Abdalian, Josh Faught, Jonn Herschend, and David Wilson.

Restoration Premiere!

Thursday, May 16, 7:00 Saturday, May 18, 1:00 $15 (CFI members + children $12)

Starring Paul McCartney and Wings and filmed during their 1976 North American tour, this legendary concert film was originally released in 1980 but has been out of circulation for decades. This digitally restored and remastered version features 30 songs from four concerts of the tour: New York, Seattle, and two Los Angeles concerts. This was part of the Wings Over the World tour that also spawned the triple live album Wings Over America. McCartney remained reluctant to make the entire film available…until now. The restored film includes a new interview with Paul McCartney exclusive to this theatrical presentation. With Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney, Denny Laine, Jimmy McCulloch, Joe English. Presentation 141 min.

An evening of irreverent antics

with Kevin Evans, Carrie Galbraith, John Law and friends

celebrating the release of

Tales of the San Francisco Cacophony Society Edited by Kevin Evans, Carrie Galbraith and John Law

published by Last Gasp Books

Come one, come all.....at your own risk.

A template for pranksters, artists, adventurers and anyone interested in rampant creativity, Tales of the San Francisco Cacophony Society is the history of the most influential underground cabal you've never heard of.Rising from the ashes of the mysterious and legendary Suicide Club, the Cacophony Society, at its zenith, hosted chapters in over a dozen major cities, and influenced much of what was once called the underground.The Cacophony Society's epic exploits radically changed the way people live and play in the world. The group inspired Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club and Burning Man and helped start pop culture trends including flash mobs, urban exploration, and culture jamming.



What has been said about Tales of the San Francisco Cacophony Society:

"From Fight Club to Burning Man, Flash Mobs to Santarchy cacophony influenced everything subversive, playful and anti-authoritarian in popular culture over the last 20 years �" this is the great, untold story of the 1980s and ’90s.Before the Internet vomited headlines by the millisecond and turned the minutia of a million boring Facebook lives into news, we were left the privilege of mystery.This was something The San Francisco Cacophony Society gave me in spades. Over the years, I would catch glimpses, collect pieces of a puzzle I was slowly assembling�"a car crushed flat by an earthquake miraculously tooling down Golden Gate, toasters glued to buildings, news-clips of mock protests and costumed impostors, flyers for strange art spectacles. Now the puzzle is assembled in this gorgeous graphic collection, a book every lover of eccentricity and enemy of the status quo should enjoy." �"Margaret Cho

Join Rose Aguilar, the host of KALW's "Your Call," for a special on-stage discussion with noted author Dave Zirin, live at the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts (MCCLA). Dave Zirin's commentaries challenge readers to critically examine the intersections of sports and politics.

This is Dave's only San Francisco appearance on this tour, and it's organized by the Center for Political Education (CPE) and Solespace. Purchase tickets at: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/376555.

Information and tickets for Dave's May 17 Oakland event at Solespace can be found here: May 17 Event: http://www.facebook.com/events/241296449344138/ May 17 tickets: http://zirinoakland.bpt.me/

From the NHL's recent efforts to reach out to gay hockey players to baseball's recent commemoration of Jackie Robinson, to the Boston Marathon bombing, Zirin helps us decode the political messages and messaging embedded in sports. He will discuss his most recent book, "Game Over: How Politics Has Turned the Sports World Upside Down" (The New Press), which USA Today's Christine Brennan called "the perfect book for our time in sports."

Zirin is co-author of the NAACP Image Award-nominated "The John Carlos Story" (Haymarket Books, September 2011.) In 2010, Zirin published "Bad Sports: How Owners are Ruining the Games We Love" (Scribner). Zirin writes regularly for The Nation, where he is sports editor, and his writing has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Sports Illustrated.com and The Progressive. ---

Since 2006, Rose Aguilar has hosted Your Call, a daily public affairs radio show on San Francisco NPR-affiliate KALW 91.7. She is the author of Red Highways: A Liberal's Journey into the Heartland, which documented a six-month road trip she took to interview people about issues and voting tendencies in the so-called "red states".

In addition, Aguilar has written for AlterNet and Truthout, and offers political analysis for the BBC.

Presented by Center for Political Education

Celebrate spring with The Bold Italic over an evening of tequila and tacos. We are teaming up with our friends at Casa Herradura and Tacolicious to bring you libations, snacks and some education. The evening will include:

-A cocktail reception featuring drinks crafted by Tacolicious and Herradura

-Light fare provided by Tacolicious

-Flight of three Herradura expressions with Casa Herradura Global Ambassador Ruben, in from Mexico for two nights only!

-Build your own margarita station

-Custom made tequila cupcakes from SIFT Cupcakes

*portion of proceeds to benefit CUESA

Thursday May 2, 2013 Choose 5pm seating, 7pm seating or 9pm seating

This is a 21+event. ID's will be checked at the door. Please enjoy responsibly.

Oddball Films and guest curator Landon Bates bring you Solo Cinema, a program of loners, drifters and on-screen dreamers with cast comprised of a band of outsiders. This collection of films celebrates the solitary, and salutes the secluded. The cinema, after all, is our sanctuary: the abode of the awkward, shelter for the shy. And, who better to state this theme than that perpetual wanderer, that lone wolf, the Tramp? In The Tramp (1915), Chaplin’s iconic hobo-hero saves a farm girl from a group of thieves, and, welcomed into her father’s house as a gesture of his gratitude, Charlie finds the prospect of a new home glittering (mirage-like?) on the horizon. The Tramp will be succeeded by two other weary travelers, likewise looking for a place to settle down: that eponymous duo of Roman Polanski’s brilliant early short, Two Men and a Wardrobe (1958); undoubtedly influenced by Chaplin’s slapstick antics. In this melancholic comedy, our pair of pariah’s, always lugging a beloved wardrobe, just can’t seem to find their niche in the modern city. The Balloonatic (1923) is classic Buster Keaton. With gags galore, this film finds Buster bumbling through each frame, finally whisked away by a rogue hot air balloon and dropped into the woods to fend for himself. And, finally, Buster’s balloon gives way to another: The Red Balloon (1956), wherein a young Parisian boy’s best friend is his big red balloon. Theirs is a tender friendship only a special sort of child could have, and one that ends up drawing the hostile attention of humorless adults and envious peers. Before the actual screening begins, we’ll be running Shy Guy (1947), an educational film starring Dick York (of TV’s “Bewitched”), designed to bring the antisocial adolescent out of his basement. We similarly encourage you to emerge from yours, and enjoy�"with us, together--this evening of longing and laughter, melancholy and mirth.

Date: Friday, May 3rd, 2013 at 8:00pm Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street San Francisco Admission: $10.00 Limited Seating RSVP to programming <at> oddballfilm.com or (415) 558-8117

Featuring:

Chaplin + Keaton The films of Charles Chaplin and Buster Keaton are black and white, and yet are remarkable for their many figurative colors. The very phrase “black and white” (as in “the issue is not so black in white”) is a perfect emblem for the films of Chaplin and Keaton, as they are beguiling in their seeming simplicity. Scenes that foreground exaggerated physical comedy (i.e. “slapstick”) manage to resonate with thematic meaning (whether political, social, or philosophical). Pictures whose dominant tones are joyful and light are underscored with longing and melancholy, somehow all the more aching for their subtlety. Chaplin and Keaton are the cinema’s original on-screen loners�"their films are both for and about the isolated and alienated.

The Tramp (B+W, 1915) The most celebrated of the Essanay Comedies, The Tramp is regarded as the first classic Chaplin film. In his sixth film for Essanay in 1915, Charlie saves a farmer’s daughter (Edna Purviance) and falls in love with her, but upon the eventual appearance of her fiance, The Tramp takes off for the open road, leaving only a note behind. The film’s sad ending was new to comedy and incorporated Chaplin’s first use of the classic fade-out, in which the Tramp shuffles away alone into the distance, with his back to the camera.

Two Men and a Wardrobe (B+W, 1958) Roman Polanski’s darkly comic early film has many of the director’s thematic preoccupations already present: alienation, crisis of identity, and a bizarre view of humanity that sees us as some very strange animals. In this quasi-surrealistic jaunt, two otherwise normal looking men emerge from the sea carrying an enormous wardrobe, which they proceed to carry around a nearby town. Seeking the right place to settle and plant their furniture piece, all the two find is rejection at every turn. Though they are two, they comprise a sort of loner unit, shunned by everyone they encounter. Watch Polanski in a bit part he later reprises in Chinatown). Two Men and a Wardrobe initiated Polanski’s collaboration with Krzysztof Komeda (who would go on to score such Polanski films as Cul de Sac and Rosemary’s Baby), Poland’s great jazz composer.

The Balloonatic (B+W, 1923) In The Balloonatic, Keaton tests out hot air balloons and wilderness survival. Keaton is accidentally whisked away on a hot air balloon and stranded in the untamed wild, rife with bears and white water rapids. Fortunately he encounters a woman (Phyllis Haver) who is more adept in the outdoors than he. The Balloonatic was one of the last short films Keaton made before moving on to features. Despite its happy ending, a low-level sadness pervades this comedy, likely due to Keaton’s eyes.

The Red Balloon (Color, 1956) The fairytale-esque story of an imaginative Parisian boy who develops a magical friendship with a bright red balloon (the magical element is suggested by music reminiscent of the score of The Red Shoes; the color of the balloon likewise suggests this reference). He totes the balloon around the city, and when in restrictive places (like his Dickensian school) where balloons aren’t allowed, the balloon loyally follows the boy. As the protagonists in Two Men and a Wardrobe are met by ignorant onlookers with blind hostility, so too, the boy and his balloon are targeted by mean spirited peers. This film won the Golden Palm at Cannes in 1956, and features breathtaking photography of Paris.

For the Early Birds:

Shy Guy (B+W, 1948) Poor Phil (Dick York of “Bewitched”) can’t seem to fit in at school. So he haunts his basement tinkering with electronics like some ancestor of Crispin Glover. His overdressed dad comes to his rescue and Dick learns a valuable lesson in social conformity.

Curator’s Biography: Landon Bates is a UC Berkeley graduate of English literature and is the drummer for the two-piece band Disappearing People.

Come help AIDS Lifecycle participant Valerie Lemke raise money to end AIDS. Watch the Giants/Dodgers game, win some great raffle prizes and help a good cause! All the proceeds from the beer and raffle sales will go directly to supporting the SF AIDS Foundation.

Judith Williams art exhibit Seeing is Projecting May 4 - 26, 2013

Artist Reception, Saturday, May 4, 2013 2-5PM show runs May 4-26, 2013

Gallery Hours: Saturdays + Sundays Noon to 5 PM

Free parking

Opening party Saturday May 4th 6 - 9pm Sculpture by James Mullen With live music by Laura Inserra Show runs April 29th through June 15th, 2013

A solo show by James Mullen showcasing his 8x8 abstract assemblage art and interactive sculpture, an artist never sleeps.

Artist Statement: "I've fully embraced the art of assemblage, where form is suggested, directed, even dictated, by the objects at hand. My palette is the boxes and shelves of metal and wood cast-offs that I've collected over the years. Like most artists, I'm seeking pleasing proportion and line and form, through the judicious placement of the elements of each work."

More about Mullen's work: http://www.jamesmullenartist.info http://www.submergemag.com/featured/james-mulle

Opening night music: Laura Inserra is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, teacher, and artistic director. She is a classically trained musician with a strong improvisational background. She plays contemporary and world music in different projects as a percussionist, multi-instrumentalist and composer. She authors and performs music for theater, dance performances, exhibitions as well as soundtracks for movies with internationally acclaimed musicians. More about Laura Inserra: http://www.LauraInserra.com

On Saturday May 4, archivist, author, and Prelinger Library principal Megan Prelinger graces Other Cinema/ATA Gallery again with Inside the Machine, her hour-long slideshow on the visualization of 20th Century electronic technology. Anticipating her forthcoming book, Megan has unearthed modernist artists who ushered in the Electronic Age with their visionary graphics, demonstrating that design and technology were mutual contextualizers in the mid-century modern era.

After her interactive show-and-tell, these mid-century 16mm films also bear on tonight’s theme: IBM’s 1953 Piercing the Unknown, the supremely campy 1945 Principles of Electricity, Philco’s 1967 Year 1999, an anomalous industrial from Underwriter Labs, and even a outrageous clip of Orson Welles in the seminal Future Shock. And, as always, free VHS, vinyl, and bike helmets.

What matters more: our human communities or the natural world? This question, or a variant of it, drives environmental debates, and also drives a wedge between progressive movements. Brent Plater, founder and director of the Wild Equity Institute, will describe what his organization is doing to get past this dilemma and build a healthy and sustainable community for people, plants, and animals. You will learn about the numerous endangered species found in the Bay Area and find out how you can help them recover. You will also learn how you can help build a stronger environmental and social justice movement.

RSVP requested at http://wildequity.org/events/3405

or http://www.meetup.com/San-Francisco-Wildlife-Enthusiasts/events/107800432/

Bay Area Cine Salon EXPERIMENTAL FILMS. OLD and NEW. HISTORIC and AHISTORIC.

The Bay Area Cine Salon will present contemporary works by local film-makers working with analogue film along side a selection of shorts celebrating Mayday and social justice. Come see works by Bruce Baillie, Robert Nelson, Charles Chadwick, Zach Van Joo, Zach Iannazzi, Nawneet Ranjan and Eric Stewart.

The Oshman Family JCC (OFJCC) will host Nathan Englander who will discuss his newest collection of short stories, What We Talk about When We Talk about Anne Frank on Monday, May 6 at 7:00 PM. For the past six months, One Bay One Book has been hosting discussions with Bay Area readers about these thought-provoking tales and the issues they raise - questions of memory and obsession, of choices and consequences and of love and betrayal. Englander will address these themes and more, revealing the thought process behind his rich and edgy stories. He will conclude with a question and answer session and will be available for book signing after his talk.

Englander's short fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and numerous anthologies including The Best American Short Stories and The PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories. He is also the author of the novel The Ministry of Special Cases and the story collection For the Relief of Unbearable Urges, which earned him a PEN/Malamud Award and the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Englander will be joined by Sue Fishkoff, the editor of j., the Jewish news weekly of Northern California, and author of Kosher Nation: Why More and More of America's Food Answers to a Higher Authority and The Rebbe's Army: Inside the World of Chabad-Lubavitch. She is a former national correspondent for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) and The Jerusalem Post, and currently lives in Oakland, CA. Presented by The Oshman Family JCC

Where is design happening at Berkeley? UC Berkeley students from all over campus have been engaging in design to solve a diversity of real-world problems. On May 8th, the broader community is invited to see what Berkeley's student architects, engineers, scientists, planners, biologists, MBA's, artists and all forms of designers have been working on at the second Berkeley Design Fest. The Design Fest is an open house event where students will share their design projects. This open house event will give visitors a sense of the diversity and magnitude of the design activity occurring in departments throughout Berkeley. The first phase of Design Fest will take place at the College of Environmental Design from 10am-noon. The north campus phase of the Design Fest will take place from 1-5pm in the CITRIS Atrium, CITRIS Auditorium and the Blum Center.

On display will be hundreds of newly-created products designed to improve the lives of people from all walks of life. Student teams have been invited from an array of classes and student clubs, including: Human-Computer Interaction, New Product Development, Sustainable Product and Community Design, Design & Activism, Designing Innovative Public Health Solutions, Design For America, Berkeley Innovation, Mechanical Design and Prototyping, and Capstone Industry Projects.

"Design Fest" is emerging as a UC Berkeley campus tradition. This year's Design Fest features participants from new departments and student clubs which will help to highlight the breadth of Berkeley's design offerings. "What we are seeing is that design is not the provenance of one particular department or group, but rather the practice of active engagement by creative individuals everywhere," says Alice Agogino of Berkeley's Mechanical Engineering Department.

For more information contact: Alice Agogino or Wendy Ju designfest <at> lists.berkeley.edu 510-239-5670 Presented by Cal Design Lab at UC Berkeley

Get your Art thing Happening on May 9th at several locations downtown - we're expanding the event hours and creating a schedule to allow you to attend more of the events in a single evening, and adding a spoken word event at Peet's Coffee & Tea:

Downtown Studios: A Transformative Mask Making Journey with Carol Faber-Peake, 6-7pm ABC Music Store: Flamenco Guitar Performance with Stan Houston, 7:30-8:30pm Panama Red Coffee House: Art by Julie Wright; Open Mic 7:30pm Figurehead Art Gallery: Angela Johal's Presentation on The Body Speaks, 7:30-8:30pm Winemaker's Pour House: Brush Strokes and Wine Notes; Open Mic Poetry with Poet Laureate Cher Wollard, theme "Bloom", 6-8:30pm

Artistic Edge at Blacksmith Square: Sports Art, 6-9pm Bankhead Theater: Artist Reception & Exhibition by Alamo Danville Artists' Society Rotating Gallery and a Solo Exhibition on Impressionism in the Founder's Room by David Dunlap, 6-8:00pm Sanctuary Ultra Lounge: Comedy & Karaoke; Art by Trish Fenton, 8pm-Close; Peet's Coffee & Tea: Storied Nights, Hosting the Spoken Word with Writers and Storytellers, 7:30-9:00

Art Happens on the 2nd Thursday evening of each month. Free and open to the public. You can download a map brochure at http://mylvpac.com/index.php/bac/art-happens.html or pick one up at any of the above locations, and like Bothwell Arts Center on Facebook to keep informed. Art Happens is coordinated by the Bothwell Arts Center with help from the Bankhead Theater/Livermore Performing Arts Center. Many spaces offer live entertainment.

Presented by Bothwell Arts Center

Hospice By The Bay is hosting a free seminar, “My Life, My Choices: Planning for Future Health Care Decisions.” Ensure your health care wishes will be carried out, even if you can’t advocate for yourself. Learn how to document your choices, choose the right person to make decisions for you, and communicate your values and goals about medical treatment choices. All attendees receive an advance care planning packet. Reservations are required.

1AM is pleased to announce that 1AM Mobile is now available on the App Store, a free photography app thats puts the entire street art world at your fingertips. Ever wondered what to do with your dope street art photos? We have the answer for you. The app allows you to capture and share images and locations of your street art discoveries and follow other members and their findings worldwide. Members can be a part of as well as view this groundbreaking archive of street art history as all photographs are mapped, dated, and credited. In addition to providing the latest, most liked, and nearest street art, this app also provides accurate directions to experience the real deal. Wherever you travel, 1AM Mobile will tell you what’s up in the streets and let you take part in documenting street art history.

Join us on Thursday May 9th from 6 �" 9pm to celebrate the launch of 1AM Mobile.

- Free mural tours by 1AM’s Art of Graffiti teacher, Nate1, given every half hour starting at 6pm until dark.

- Free stickers and t-shirts for new signups and early attendees

- Free 1AM iPhone cases for the most active users to date.

- DJ Mr Murdock and DJ Don Kainoa will be on the wheels of steel

- 1AM bartenders will be serving up beer and wine (while supplies last).

**The launch party is 21+.

DOWNLOAD THE 1AM MOBILE APP TODAY!

Join us for the opening of "TOUGH LOVE" on Friday, May 10, 7pm-late. The Double Punch gallery will be packed with paintings, drawings and prints by a slew of local and international artists.

Alabaster Bunnie Reiss Chelsea Brown Hannah K Lee Heather Benjamin JooHee Yoon Katie Patch Leah Wishnia Lisa Hanawalt Morgan Blair Rachel Kantor Sam Ballardini Shannon May Sophia Foster-Dimino Wesley Allsbrook Zejian Shen

Follow us on tumblr for updates on upcoming shows <at> http://doublepunch.tumblr.com/

May 10, 11, 17, 18 7:30pm; May 11, 12, 18, 19 2:00pm

Based on the centuries-old Sanskrit legend of Prince Rama, this production of the Ramayana is an adaptation by Berkeley playwright Anthony Clarvoe. "With the large ensemble cast and epic scope, it is one of the Civic Arts Stage Company's most exciting and challenging productions to date," according to Artistic Director Rebecca J. Ennals of the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival who produce the company's programs in conjunction with the City of Pleasanton.

Rama, the wise and worthy hero prince, is portrayed by guest artist Salim Razawi, who is familiar to Las Positas Community College insiders as a national theater and debate competition award winner. His arch-nemesis, Ravana, King of the Demons, is played in alternate casts by local actor Jeff Zolfarelli and Oakland-based guest artist Leighland Hooks. The role of lovely Princess Sita is shared by Avery Clinton (who recently played Annika in Pippi Longstocking) and Madhumitha Krishnan, who is performing her first role with Civic Arts Stage Company.

'Partner acrobatics' is a challenging and exciting new element being incorporated into this production. Also referred to as 'AcroYoga,' it involves simple lifts and sharing weight using acrobatic positions and movement. Choreographer and movement director Amelia Adams taught cast members from age 7 to senior citizen how to perform moves that represent "everything from soaring vultures to terrifying demons to Hanuman, the flying monkey god."

The company enlisted the help of local Indian theater expert Maanasa Venkatasubbaiah as cultural advisor and dramaturge for this project, helping the cast to not only learn pronunciations of Sanskrit names and places, but also advising directors on appropriate behavior for the ancient characters. "We hope that this play will be delightful and familiar to families of South Asian heritage," says Ennals, "but also intriguing and fun for other families who probably won't know the story."

Presented by City of Pleasanton Firehouse Arts Center

May 11 - 12 Mother’s Day Weekend The box of candy will be gone and the flowers will be wilted, but Mom will still remember the day of fun and magic you shared with her at Playland-Not-at-the-Beach! $2 off general admission for all mothers on this special weekend.

The special events of Mother’s Day Weekend are in addition to all of Playland's regular attractions. Guests pay one low price to enter and can play all day: $10 for children and seniors, and $15 for general admission. Playland-Not-at-the-Beach is a nonprofit Museum of Fun. Designed and built entirely by volunteers, the 20+ interactive exhibits celebrate the magic and history of America's bygone amusements -- circuses, carnivals, magic, side shows, penny arcades, amusement devices, pinball arcades, haunted houses, and beautiful art everywhere. Our goal is to educate newer generations about the bygone days and allow those who remember Whitney's Playland and the Sutro Baths the opportunity to recapture the glorious sights and sounds of that marvelous era.

The Book of Now: Poetry for the Rising Tide Anthology Reading & Book Signing Saturday, May 11, 2013 2:00 PM

readers: Leah Shelleda (editor) and Jane Downs

light refreshments served free parking

White Walls Project Space is pleased to present Before the Sun Dies, Part II “Kingdom of Night” by San Francisco-based artist C3. The opening reception will be held Saturday, May 11, 2013 from 7-11pm with the exhibit free and open to the public through June 01, 2013.

“Kingdom of Night” is the second exhibit in a narrative trilogy following 2011’s Before the Sun Dies, Part I “Tempest Horizon,” which introduced aristocratic cult leaders and anti-heroes through finely drawn graphite portraits. Whereas “Tempest Horizon” was about the dawning realization of living within a darkly complicated world torn by opposing forces, “Kingdom of Night” illustrates an uprising of sorts, with a Christ-like character and an oracle at its center.

C3 describes the five pieces titled “Kingdom of Light” as a reference to the savior’s perception upon awakening, “[He] has been asleep for a generation and when he awakens the sun blinds him for a time. He begins to receive and perceive his world in flashes of light and symbols. He then begins to realize what he must do and what the two beings that have awakened him want from him. This in turn will lead into the third and final chapter in the trilogy.” Many of the works for the show fade into drawn line, hinting at the process involved in works which otherwise could appear to be photographs preserved from an earlier era. The aesthetic of faded Victorian snapshots and old Westerns is transformed into something entirely new in the hands of C3, whose uniquely compelling vision continues to unfold through beautifully detailed drawings.

Tulsa, Oklahoma native Christoper C. Curtis currently lives and works in San Francisco. Known for his photorealistic renderings, C3 creates striking works woven together through an overarching narrative that explores a land filled with uncertainty and danger. The most immediate aspect of the artist’s work is its direct and unabashed confrontation of the grotesque. His tightly rendered graphite drawings display a haunting, vintage quality of antique portraits. As a graduate from the Academy of Art, C3 has exhibited throughout the Bay Area including solo shows at Shooting Gallery, Gallery Three, and Babylon Falling.

White Walls is pleased to present Control, a solo show by Nick Flatt. The opening reception will be held Saturday, May 11, 2013 from 7-11pm with the exhibit free and open to the public through June 01, 2013.

At its core, Nick Flatt’s Control is a response to Guy Debord’s book Society of the Spectacle, where Debord expounds that authentic experience has been subverted by the mere representation of it, outlining the spectacle as a system feed by the mass media’s control of images and the social relationship people have with these images.

Flatt opens a dialogue on the pseudo needs and boundless pursuit of gratification this type of system has supported with a series of 5ft x 7ft oil paintings which depict models sporting necklaces that read “MORE” resting on their chests. Three different 10 layered stencils displayed in duplicate form seem to comment on the production and commodification of desire, the fact that, in Debord’s words “In a consumer society, social life is not about living, but about having […]”

By placing the stereotypical ideals of beauty used in advertisements, and showing specifically, without illusion, what is being sold, Flatt attempts to draw attention to how art, sex, and even rebellion are reduced to commodities. A grandiose installation featuring a crushed car built by Flatt himself instills the show with an air of threat, but whether the threat is in denying the spectacle or feeding into it is left unclear.

From the Artist: The person to the left of you has more than you do. The guy to the right’s girlfriend has bigger tits than yours. The averages seemed to have been raised, and you’re left wanting more. The bombardment of advertisements is a constant source of corporate bullying. People that are prettier and happier than you telling you to buy stuff that will make you pretty and happy. So go whiten your teeth, get a job producing more shit, strive to drive a luxury car, and maybe, just maybe the next time you’re in public your girlfriend will have the biggest boobs in the room. Control.

Texas-born Nick Flatt, is known for his large scale photorealistic black and white portraits, often with provocative themes gleaned from titles like Blow Me, Pussy Fingers, and Nip Slip. By using models who physically resemble the prototype of those commonly used in mainstream advertising, Flatt whets the viewer’s unconscious appetite for consumption. However, their extreme, lascivious gestures distort our desire to the point of discomfort. By exposing the cheap triggers employed by these glossy glamazons, Flatt invites us to be repulsed by their honest unmasking.

Non Stop Bhangra Welcomes Back Basement Bhangra

Non Stop Bhangra is excited to to bring back the one and only DJ Rekha of Basement Bhangra, the longest running world renowned Bhangra part in New York. To add to the energy, Malinder Tooray from Los Angeles's Dhol Nation will be joining DJ Rekha on live dhol.

As always, the night will begin with the ritual Bhangra dance lesson followed by beautiful dance performances with Dholrhythms Dance Company. To round out the mix, DJ Rekha will be joined on the decks Non Stop Bhangra's own DJ Jimmy Love and NSB friend and guest DJ Wicked NSB dholi's Pavit and Mehul rocking the drum beats. Beyond dance, Non Stop Bhangra caters to sight and sound with visuals all night by DJ Amar while NSB photographer Odell Hussey captures the experience. So come join the crew for another colorful and vibrant night with great music, friends, gratitude, happy vibes, and non stop dancing.

New York + Los Angeles + San Francisco vibes---a night not to be missed!

Whether you are exploring a new culture for the first time or addicted to the music and its essence, this will be one night where you can get away from it all and dance the night away. So much more than just a club night, Non Stop Bhangra has truly turned into one of a kind cultural experience only found in the Bay Area.

NON STOP BHANGRA #92 Non Stop Bhangra(SF) Meets Basement Bhangra (NY) East Coast + West Coast Vibes

Saturday, May 11th

Cover: $10 pre-sale/$15 door ***cash only bar Purchase Tickets: http://nsb92.eventbrite.com/#

Time: 9:00pm-3:00am Doors: 9:00pm Bhangra Lesson: 9:30pm Dholrhythms Dance Company: 10:00pm Music: 10:30pm-close

Non Stop Bhangra Crew: Dholrhythms Dance Co. DJ Jimmy Love DJ Wicked Pavit Deol (Dhol) Mehul Mistry (Dhol) Amar (Visuals) Odell Hussey (Photos)

Special Guest DJ's DJ Rekha (Basement Bhangra) --------------------------

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For those that still don't know what NSB is: Imagine a scene from a Bollywood movie smack in the middle of a thumping nightclub---swirling colors, the rhythm of pounding feet, and the relentless energy of brilliant beats-that’s Non Stop Bhangra.

You are invited to join Brent Plater of the Wild Equity Institute on a 5-mile hike along the edge of the North American continent. We will explore San Francisco’s beautiful habitats and learn about the endangered species that call the area home. During the hike, we will search for Marbled Murrelet, Western Snowy Plover, San Francisco Lessingia, Humpback Whale, and Southern Sea Otter.

Meet at the Baker Beach North Parking Lot. The 29 Muni stops within a short walking distance of the Baker Beach North Parking Lot. Check 511.org for details. Bring snacks and water.

RSVP requested at http://wildequity.org/events/340 or

http://www.meetup.com/San-Francisco-Wildlife-Enthusiasts/events/109369212/

This Mother's Day, the Oshman Family JCC (OFJCC) is producing an original musical fable adapted from Hans Christian Anderson's classic children's story The Ugly Duckling. This narrated story for young children focuses on the beauty of being different; delivering a gentle anti-bullying message that celebrates differences. The OFJCC will offer four performances each in a different language, Mandarin, Russian, English and Hebrew on Sunday, May 12 providing a perfect Mother's Day activity for young families and grandparents.

Kids ages 2-8 will love this original retelling which combines classical music excerpts performed by Ensemble Salon Classique, an adult narrator, a child actor, multimedia and audience participation. At different points during the show, children will be prompted to respond to the action onstage, helping them to empathize with how it feels to be treated badly by others.

For attendees, the performance won't be the only highlight of the day. Pre- and post-show activities include outdoor water play, art projects and special Mother's Day treats for all the moms! Experience the joys of music, cultural arts and community with the entire family on May 12.

Presented by The Oshman Family JCC

Mothers Day Fashion Show and Shopping Event! 2nd Sunday May 12th, 2014

MUST RSVP- LIMITED SPACE www.mommyfashionsf.eventbrite.com FREE ONLINE RSVP/ $20 <at> DOOR

HOSTED BY: "Mr.USA" Model/ Actor: Chavis Aaron

Time to treat your mom like the queen she is! This is a special invite for you and your mother. We invite you to enjoy an amazing fashion event.Join us as we transform local moms time to prove that moms have what it takes to walk the runway! Even shop local vendors for that perfect mothers day gift!

FREE WINE for VIP 7-8pm

7-9pm Shop local Vendors and find that perfect gift! CHECK IN: in, Grab a name badge (if you like). Meet and Great with local Startups, Entrepreneurs, Fashion Industry, Models, Creatives, Artists, Photographers.

-RULE: NO ONE CAN STAND ALONE- if you see some one say something, why not?

-LIKE/TAG ON FB AFTER YOU MAKE YOUR FIRST BUSINESS CONNECT!

9pm - Seating for show Enjoy a Runway show featuring 4 local designers, local models, and creatives!

We will be presenting a show that will feature mom's and influential women to storm our runway! Think your mom deserves a shot to strut her stuff? Email info <at> icuthenetwork.com

PROVING There is Style and Fashion in the BAY! Our LAST SHOW: http://youtu.be/vUJf26KmV-Q

Vendor/ VIP BOOTHS and SEATS ARE AVAILABLE !!

21+ <at> Temple 540 Howard

Washington doesn't like to talk about its use of military drones very much. No wonder: they just might be illegal under U.S. and international law...to say nothing of the Administration's so-called "targeted killing" program and its insistence that even U.S. citizens are legitimate targets of warfare from afar.

So-called experts who have examined drone technology tend to have a common thought about it: Drones, whether military or just for surveillance, are here to stay and we should get used to the idea of having them. From both a military/security and civil liberties standpoint, some folks will beg to differ.

To address the matter of drone warfare, on Monday May 13 Paul George, Director of the Peninsula Peace and Justice Center, will be the guest of Peace Action of San Mateo County with a talk entitled "Joystick Warfare - On the Legality and Morality of Combat Drones."

We are honored to have Paul reprise the presentation he gave in Cupertino April 16. In this forum, we will take a look at the U.S. drone program: Where and how often are drones being used to launch missiles? Who are the targets? And who is actually being killed by the drones? Most importantly, he'll raise the question: Should our country be using combat drones in its citizens' names?

Paul George has been an activist and grassroots organizer for peace and human rights for over 45 years, and has also been PPJC's director since the mid-1990's. He is a highly regarded and frequent public speaker (including at various PASMC events over the years) on a range of topics. In the course of his career, Paul has traveled to war zones to witness firsthand the profound effects of U.S. foreign policy on ordinary people. On May 13 we will be honored to have his expertise and his commitment to peace. The UUSM is wheelchair accessible.

Presented by Peace Action of San Mateo County

The SHOUT is a live storytelling event featuring people from all walks of life telling amazing but true 10-minute stories from their lives. Interspersed with the featured raconteurs, audience members have the opportunity to put their name in the hat in hopes of being picked for one of our 6-minute wild-card slots. Past stories at The Shout have featured a bipolar father building a skiff in a living room in the projects, a substitute teacher in Juvenile Hall, a young man discovering that he had been in witness protection as a child, and an actor deciding to do better art after starring in a soft-core porn version of Don Quixote, to name a few. The SHOUT - Life is Entertaining

Tuesday, May 14th Playland After Dark �" Grown-up Game Night (Adult Admission Only $10) Join us for a date night like no other�"Playland After Dark's Grown-up Game Night featuring board games galore (or you can bring your favorite!) and all the unique exhibits, classic carnival games and free-play pinball always available at Playland-Not-at-the-Beach, without the kids.

Playland-Not-at-the-Beach is a nonprofit Museum of Fun. Designed and built entirely by volunteers, the 20+ interactive exhibits celebrate the magic and history of America's bygone amusements -- circuses, carnivals, magic, side shows, penny arcades, amusement devices, pinball arcades, haunted houses, and beautiful art everywhere. Our goal is to educate newer generations about the bygone days and allow those who remember Whitney's Playland and the Sutro Baths the opportunity to recapture the glorious sights and sounds of that marvelous era.

Chris Cosentino, Executive Chef and Partner, Incanto; Winner, "Top Chef Masters"; 2013 James Beard Award Nominee

Ryan Farr, Co-owner, Chef and Butcher, 4505 Meats Tia Harrison, Co-founder, The Butcher’s Guild; Co-owner, Avedano’s Meats; Executive Chef, Sociale

Beef tongue, calves brains, pig trotters. In the past, squeamish attitudes about edible anatomy may have meant these meats got left on the cutting room floor. But lately we’ve seen a shift in thinking as chefs grow more creative and consumers more adventurous. Increasingly, foodies are committing to making culinary use of the entire animal and embracing nose-to-tail eating, as evidenced by carnivorous festivals like Meatopia, butchering workshops galore and offal on many menus. But has the interest in experimenting with unusual cuts become more gluttonous than virtuous? When Anthony Bourdain earns kudos for eating a bloody seal eyeball or Andrew Zimmern scores a high five for tasting cow placenta, are they capitalizing on shock and awe, or promoting tradition and respect for the source? Come hear three of San Francisco's meat masters expand on the whole-animal movement's impact on our culture and community.

After the panel, premium ticket purchasers can join us at an exclusive butchering demo and tasting party with our all-star panel. Watch and learn as they show you how to break down a beast like a pro, and find out what nose to tail really tastes like.

Litquake is thrilled to introduce Zimbabwean debut novelist NoViolet Bulawayo at May's Epicenter. Bulawayo's novel, "We Need New Names" is one of the most highly anticipated launches of the year. She'll be in conversation with Sarah Ladipo Manyika, who is the author of "In Dependence" and teaches literature at San Francisco State University.

"We Need New Names" focuses on Darling, only ten years old but navigating a fragile and violent world. In Zimbabwe, Darling and her friends steal guavas, try to get the baby out of young Chipo's belly, and grasp at memories of Before. Before their homes were destroyed by soldiers, before the fathers left for dangerous jobs abroad.

But Darling has a chance to escape: she has an aunt in America. She travels to this new land in search of America's famous abundance only to find that her options as an immigrant are perilously few. NoViolet Bulawayo's debut calls to mind the great storytellers of displacement and arrival who have come before her-from Junot Diaz to Zadie Smith to J.M. Coetzee-while she tells a vivid, raw story all her own. Bulawayo is the winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing, is a current Stegner Fellow at Stanford, and is working on her next novel. Parts of "We Need New Names" were excerpted in the March 2013 issue of "Granta."

Presented by Litquake Literary Festival

In this highly anticipated opening salvo of the exhibition Beat Memories: The Photographs of Allen Ginsberg, join the National Gallery of Art’s Curator of Photography, Sarah Greenough, in a talk about Ginsberg, his life, and the making of this exhibition. Following the talk will be an original musical arrangement of Ginsberg’s 1956 poem “America” by Conspiracy of Beards’ musical director Daryl Henline. The evening will also include a pop-up poetry salon, drop-in zine making with Rad Dad creators, a typewriter petting zoo, and a cash bar.

Jack London Square will showcase more than 60 vintage vehicles from the 1920s to 1960s at the Rod + Custom Car Show over Memorial Day Weekend. From car buffs to casual enthusiasts, the waterfront will transform into an auto mecca showcasing rare Model As, Roadsters, Thunderbirds and more, for all to enjoy. The Pavilion Stage will also host live music throughout the event and attendees are encouraged to dine at one of Jack London Square’s tasty waterfront restaurants. Visitors can bike, ferry or drive to Jack London Square.

Saturday, May 25: 7:00 p.m. + Sunday, May 26: 2:00 p.m.

Dancers will perform beloved masterworks such as Balanchine's Chaconne and Katchurian's Masquerade as well as vibrant new pieces by American composer Leroy Anderson and Pineapple Poll by Arthur Sullivan.

Presented by Valley Dance Theatre

An Evening with PAULA POUNDSTONE Presented by the Kanbar Center for the Performing Arts at the Osher Marin JCC + The Other Café Comedy Showcase Saturday, May 25, 2013 <at> 8:30 At Angelico Hall at Dominican University of Ca.

An evening of unsurpassable laughter with the star of NPR’s “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me”, HBO Comedy Specials and one of the funniest stand-up comics working today. She draws her material from her own complex life with 3 kids, 2 dogs and 13 cats, motherhood, a demanding job, crazy travel schedule, aging frustrations and a bag of neuroses including her famous inability to ever shut up.

Attending a Paula Poundstone performance will leave you marveling at her ability to interact spontaneously with audience members in conversations bound to garner riotous laughter. Armed with nothing but a stool, a microphone and a can of Diet Pepsi, Paula’s ability to create humor on the spot has become the stuff of legend. Little wonder people leave Paula’s shows complaining that their cheeks hurt from laughter, and debating whether the random people she talked to are “plants” �" which, of course they never are.

PARKING: Parking is in the Grand Avenue Lot located next to the Conlan Recreation Center on the west side of Grand Avenue. Parking attendants will be available on site for directional needs.

More on Paula Poundstone Her spontaneity and intelligent humor has made her the perfect panelist for NPR’s Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me, where she matches wits with some of our nation’s leading pundits. Paula was the first woman to win an ACE award for Best Standup Comedy performance and the first woman to be invited to perform at the distinguished White House Correspondents dinner. She has starred in solo specials on HBO and BRAVO, has made frequent TV appearances on all the major talk shows and Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion. She is also an author, lecturer and her editorial pieces can be heard on NPR’s Morning Edition. Seeing Paula Poundstone is believing she’s the funniest standup comic working today!

The Kanbar Center for the Performing Arts is the Performing Arts Department within the Osher Marin Jewish Community Center in San Rafael, California. For over 20 years we have spread the power of music, voice, humor, taste, culture, movement and words throughout the community by presenting classical music, club style dancing events, comedy, musical concerts, theater and performance in the grand Hoytt Theater, lectures. chats and demonstrations in the Kurland lounge and great world music + dancing for all ages outdoors under summer skies on Swig Field. All are welcome, no membership is required to attend. The Center is centrally located in Marin County and just 1/4 mile east off Hwy 101 About the Other Café

The Other Café, the legendary Haight-Ashbury comedy club, is a San Francisco establishment. Founded in 1977, The Other Café -- along with the Punchline, Cobb's and the Holy City Zoo -- was one of four full-time comedy clubs operating in San Francisco alone with comics such as Dana Carvey, Bob Sarlatte, Bobby Slayton, Michael Pritchard, Jane Dornacker, Whoopi Goldberg, Jay Leno, Henny Youngman, Howie Mandel, Gallagher, Brit Jasper Carrott, and pioneer lesbian comic Robin Tyler. Upcoming Events 2013 Summer Nights Outdoor Music Festival 7/13 �" Hot Buttered Rum 7/20 �" Rupa and the April Fishes 7/27 �" Hapa 8/3 �" LoCura/ Los Pinguos 8/10 �" Andrea Thierry + Zydeco Magic

The Ecology Center Farmers’ Markets’ 9th annual Family Fun Festival “A whole day of free fun for the whole family” co-sponsored by the Downtown Berkeley YMCA; the City of Berkeley, Parks, Recreation + Waterfront Dept.; BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit); and Parents’ Press. Featuring hands-on activities, games, contests, performances, and informational booths.

Cost: Free

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: Ongoing: 10am-3pm Bouncy House (YMCA) Build Giant Castles from Boxes and Egg Cartons, make Straw Rockets, + more with Sticky Art Lab. "Create-With-Nature Zone” with environmental artist Zach Pine�"a collaborative artistic expression with stones, branches, shells, pinecones, flowers, and other wonders of nature. DOOF (FOOD spelled backwards), the food show that makes healthy food fun for kids . Face Painting (YMCA) Farm Animal Encounter Area (baby goats, chickens, pigs, etc.) Farm Fresh Choice, the Ecology Center’s food justice program Green Branch "reading room"�"local justice and environmentally themed library. Hands-On Craft Booth (East Bay Depot for Creative ReUse) Painting with Glob (of Berkeley’s) fruit + veggie based paints. Soccer for children + parents (YMCA) Zine Making Station for kids + adults with Rad Daddies and Mamas. Typewriters, scissors, crayons, and other materials to create your own little zine and share your story! (Rad Dad won SF Bay Guardian's Best Local Zine for 2011 and Utne Magazine's Independent Media Award for Best Zine of 2009. “Our goal is to create community and share our stories.”)

Time specific: 11am-2pm - Hula Hoop Contests (who can keep it going longest) (City of Berkeley, Parks, Recreation + Waterfront Dept.; YMCA)

12:00 noon �" Asheba performing Caribbean music for children His 2009 CD, In the Kid Zone, was on the Grammy Award nominations ballot for “Best Musical Album for Children.” He’s headlined two Putumayo Kids’ Records national tours and been featured on three of their compilation CDs. His award winning recordings have been featured on in-flight kids’ programming on both United and Continental Airlines.

"Asheba is THE perfect kids artist. An authentic world music entertainer with a ravenous kids following in the Bay Area. A great personality, excellent musicianship and songwriting skills."�"Paul Curatolo, Earwitness Music 1pm - Family Dance (everyone invited) (YMCA)

11am-3pm - Skateboard Contest (City of Berkeley, Parks, Recreation + Waterfront Dept.)

10:30am-11:30am, 2pm-3pm �" “Strawberry Walks” (like a cake walk only you win strawberries)

Accessibility: Convenient public transportation (1 block from downtown Berkeley BART), nearby lot + street parking, wheelchair access.

For More Information: (510) 548-3333; www.EcologyCenter.org

This event is partially funded by the City of Berkeley Civic Arts Program.

The sidewalks the target of artists young and old, professional and greenhorn during the 17th annual CHOCOLATE + CHALK ART FESTIVAL.

A CHALK ART CONTEST for the best drawing will be judged after 4 p.m. First prize is $250 cash. Runners-up get gift certificates from local merchants. Same-day art registration 10-5PM at 1495 + 1673 Shattuck Ave. See last year's winners at www.chocolateandchalkart.com.

To EAT CHOCOLATE, purchase a packet of tickets (20 for $20) online or at 1400, 1495 and 1673 Shattuck. The to-go menu features picante habanero chocolate chunks gelato, Nutella crepes, adult brownies, or savory items like chocolate ricotta pizza, Caribbean chocolate soup, chicken mole and lots more. Spend your tickets on these delights available in the local businesses then savor your chocolate as you stroll along the sidewalks, viewing the artwork. Or enter your tickets in a raffle for specialty chocolate items.

Arts and crafts booths between Rose and Vine Streets. Even a car to draw on with chalk! Children's area at 1673 Shattuck has pony rides, bounce houses, jugglers, face painters and more. Great musical entertainment throughout the district.

This is a family-friendly, free event sponsored by the North Shattuck Association (www.northshattuck.org), City of Berkeley, Art Kapour Realty, East Bay Express, and East Bay Loop. For a good time take BART to downtown Berkeley and stroll north six blocks.

Presented by North Shattuck Association

Green Kids Now, Inc., is honored to bring you,

Third Annual, Green Kids Conference!

A conference dedicated for children ages 3 to 18 years!

Our goal is to educate kids and their families on environmental issues, make them aware of available resources and opportunities, and also to promote, encourage, and reward new innovative ideas.

Come and explore the latest developments and opportunities in the following areas: 1. Education and Research 2. Clean Technology and Alternative Resources 3. Climate Science 4. Waste Management 5. Air Quality 6. Land / Nature Preservation 7. Energy / Water Conservation 8. Biomimicry

Check out our Jr. Scientists and Innovators Section!

"Environmental etiquette is the new norm for innovation"

Purpose of Jr. Scientists and Innovators section: To encourage kids to focus on science and innovation, and emphasize that environmental sustainability must be in the heart of everything we do.

Check out our Arts Section!

More than 100 kids would be expressing their environmental message through arts using various form factors.

"A picture is worth thousand words"

Don't miss the sculpture created by the students of Prashanti Arts Studio, Fremont, CA made from plastic bottle caps and lids, An effort to raise awareness on the environmental issues caused by the plastic bottle caps and lids!

Brazilian Egyptian Bellydance Superstar, Soraya Zayed, performs in one show only during her very first visit to the Western USA! Experience one of the most popular and highly rated Egyptian dance shows without having to fly thousands of miles. Prepare to be enchanted and amazed. Delicious Mediterranean dinner, open buffet style served 7-9pm. DJ spinning irresistible dance beats. Full bar service. In addition to the fabulous dance show featuring top dancers and crowned by Soraya Zayed's highly acclaimed performances.

Event is wheelchair accessible. Tickets available at http://sorayashow.bpt.me/

Soraya is internationally acclaimed as one of the top Egyptian Bellydance super stars with followers all over the world. She mixes in her fiery Brazilian training with her passionate deeply moving Egyptian expressions forming a very unique style that touches the hearts and souls of her audience. She performs at top 5-stars Cairo hotels multiple shows per night, every day of the week. Her Cairo shows feature 15+ musicians and she is said to dance with her emotions on her sleeve. Soraya is world famous for her amazing shimmies and fabulous drum solos. She is always innovating and creating signature performances that capture the hearts and minds of everyone who watches her dance.
A delicious healthy Mediterranean buffet features several options guaranteed to satisfy and delight all tastes and dietary preferences.

DJ music will accompany your dinner as well as give you the opportunity to show off your dance moves and indulge in the festivities of the evening.

Join us for an unforgettable evening of dance fun. This is guaranteed to be a once in a lifetime experience!

Soraya will teach on Sat and Sun. If interested in taking her workshops, please visit http://www.HalaDance.com

Fight Club, Burning Man, flash mobs, urban exploration, and culture jamming are among the surprising and impressive range of subversive trends in pop culture inspired by the radical exploits of the Cacophony Society. At its zenith, the shadowy group hosted chapters in over a dozen major cities, influencing much of the 1980s and ‘90s underground.

More than a simple history of a revolutionary subculture, Tales of the San Francisco Cacophony Society serves as a “How-To” manual for pranksters, artists, adventurers, and anyone interested in rampant creativity.

Come hear co-authors John Law and Carrie Galbraith weave spellbinding tales of creativity run amok and sign copies of the hardbound, full-color, tome which includes a Foreword by author Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club, Choke) and an Afterword by Charlie Todd (founder of Improv Everywhere).

You may already be a member!