Night + Day: Calendar Picks for 5/6

Quarter Century
Creativity Explored - 3245 16th St. at Dolores

Something in us rebels; we love to see mistreated people get up and tell power where to shove it. This is why we like to see Johnny Cash angry, this is the cause of our undying admiration for the Black Panthers, and this is the reason it felt so joyous to learn about an exhibit of art made by adults with developmental disabilities titled "Don't Call Me Retard." It was a production of San Francisco's famous Creativity Explored, which does nothing but teach art to people often overlooked and called names. At "Quarter Century," the gallery and studio celebrates its vast successes by pulling together work from its own amazing permanent collection, including pieces by artists who have since become superstars of the art world, including our own fave, Fears of Your Life author and text-based art guru, Michael Bernard Loggins. Other widely collected artists appearing here include John Patrick McKenzie, Douglas Sheran, and Vincent Jackson. But mostly, the art center and its artists are about courage, and being fabulous, and self-expression, not about money or fame. A gala event on May 15 at Foreign Cinema features clips from Ben Wu's Academy Award-winning film about the place, Cross Your Eyes, Keep Them Wide, in addition to a silent auction, live music, and treats. --Hiya Swanhuyser

Still Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha Hot: Ashford & Simpson, 8pm, $45-$55
The Rrazz Room - Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason

As American songwriting teams go, Ashford & Simpson are classics, giants, heroes. Whether or not you can name the myriad hits produced, recorded, and written by this husband-and-wife pair, their silky voices undoubtedly live in your head — and you have danced to them, no matter who you are. "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," "I'm Every Woman," "Solid," and "You're All I Need to Get By" are only some of the songs Ashford & Simpson have put out. Though they've been relatively quiet for some years now, a string of shows in New York City last year got great reviews, including one from The New York Times' Stephen Holden, who characterized audiences as "singles, doubles, gays, straights, blacks, whites, all mixed together and singing along." That could be you, having a romantic, upbeat, slightly nostalgic R&B evening. --Hiya Swanhuyser

Calling All Gold-Plated Bitches: San Francisco Decorator Showcase, $25-$30
2820 Scott at Green

We have been to Her Royal Majesty Marie, Queen of Romania's house. Have you? What's that? You don't know who HRM Marie, Queen of Romania is? She was only the Paris Hilton of the nineteen-teens, that's all. Dorothy Parker, who was the Cintra Wilson of that same time, wrote, "Oh, life is a glorious cycle of song,/A medley of extemporanea,/And love is a thing that can never go wrong,/And I am Marie of Romania." You too can go to Marie of Romania's house, or, OK, the one she stayed in when she visited San Francisco for the 1915 International Exposition. It doesn’t look the way it did when it was Marie's crib, though: At the San Francisco Decorator Showcase, each of the Pacfic Heights mansion's rooms have been redecorated by a prominent professional. Grand staircases! Kitchens, plural, that put restaurants to shame! The Guest Suite! Why are they letting the public anywhere near this? --Hiya Swanhuyser