Night + Day: Calendar Picks for 6/12

Marriage and the City, 7pm
Booksmith - 1644 Haight

Andrew Sean Greer’s slim, delicate new novel, The Story of a Marriage, has a few head-slapping revelations that’ll make you rethink everything you’ve read. We’re not going to disclose them – the New York Times already did that. But careful readers, which we are not, should pay heed to the opening line: "We think we know the ones we love." The revelations aren’t on the level of Fight Club, to be sure, but we like feeling even a little dumbstruck.

Like The Confessions of Max Tivoli, Marriage takes a big bite out of history, from WWII to the present, with most of the action taking place in mid-century San Francisco, way out in the Sunset District. It is indeed the story of a ‘50s marriage, full of sacrifices and silences and slow-burning passion, but it’s just as much about the era, when social, racial, and political issues were roiling beneath the calm surface, preparing to erupt. We love the way Greer writes about the city. In Marriage he’s very restrained, revealing just enough to make you pine for how much has been lost, but the amusement park at Ocean Beach and Marin’s “Rose Bowl” dance venue, where redwoods poked through the floor, get fawned over. --Michael Leaverton

"Slow-Gin" w/ King Kooba & the Trout, jazzy downtempo, 9pm
John Colins - 90 Natoma

Sloe gin is a liqueur made from gin, sloe berries, sugar, almond extract, and cloves. Slow-Gin, on the other hand, is one of San Francisco’s most chill DJ nights. Like its namesake, the event has a complex and subtle flavor; it’s composed of extracts from Blue Note classics, ’70s super soul, the Golden Age of hip-hop, and contemporary downtempo electronica. The night has been fermenting for several years, having gone through an earlier incarnation at Kingman’s Lucky Lounge in Oakland before landing at John Colins’ Lounge every second Thursday. What sets Slow Gin apart from any other DJ party is the utter unpretentiousness of its hosts, The Trout and King Kooba. This ain’t where you go to hear the latest radio hit or that new house anthem; it’s where you end up when you’re over all that. Drink in the Slow Gin on Thursday, June 12, at John Colins Lounge starting at 10 p.m. Admission is free; call 543-2277 or visit www.johncolins.com. — Eric K. Arnold

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