The Arty Party Continues: SFMOMA Hosts Musical Happy Hours

San Francisco museums have learned over the years that what really gets the kids into the cultural institutions--more than, you know, art and pretty fishes and stuff--is booze. And live (or DJ'd) music. So following in the footsteps of Cal Academy and the de Young, SFMOMA is announcing Thursday night happy hours themed to mix adult beverages with casual strolls through the institution's 75th-anniversary collection.

The 3rd St. happy hour kicks off on Thursday, March 18, from 6:45-9 p.m., with a little rock opera (aka the poor man's/punk man's musical theater) from My Barbarian. The LA collective of three works in video installations and performance art (see the clip above), but they have a pop bent tucked between the modern dance moves and stage-ready costumes. The group will give a lecture at the San Francisco Art Institute on Monday, March 22, but if you want to see them in action before you hear them explain what it's all about, hit SFMOMA that Thursday before. The museum night kicks off with a selection of clips from their collection of material by experimental filmmaker Bruce Conner.

Further down the line, I'm pretty excited about Chris Johanson's happy hour performance. The Mission School mainstay will be here for the launch of his new THE THING Quarterly, a "periodical in the form of an object" on June 17. The party will include a show by his punk band 17th & Capps (with Johanson, Joe Goldring, Lara Allen, Wendy Farina, and Alex Oropeza) and a rooftop garden party.

The whole Thursday series is called Now Playing, and it costs the  price of admission to the museum.