San Francisco Music Blog

Dick Jaws

The Mummies do double duty on Saturday night

​Kowloon Walled City CD Release @ Annie's (Fri.) San Francisco sludgemasters Kowloon Walled City express sonic aggression with oppressive riffage. The rhythm section alone sounds massive enough to pave city streets, steamrolling by with elephantine thrusts of distorted bass and beats that drop like anvils. This heavy load is spiked by sharp outbursts of raging vocals, frontman Scott Evans channeling a weighty Am Rep angst in his hoarse yells. Occasionally the band breaks the onslaught for a bit of doomy melody, a dark calm before the storm rages once again. Tonight the band celebrates the release of its debut full length killer, Gambling on the Richter Scale, with a show at Annie's. (9:30 p.m., $7)

Art in Storefronts @ Central Market/Tenderloin (Fri.) The San Francisco Arts Commission hosts a night of art you can see from the street, as it kicks off its inaugural Art in Storefronts project. Between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m., venues in the 900 to 1100 block of Market will host murals, installations, sculptures, videos, neon, and more. (Free)

Budget Rock Fest @ Thee Parkside & Bottom of the Hill (Fri.-Sun.) Trash- and garage rock takes over Potrero Hill this weekend, when Budget Rock returns to our side of the Bay. The name of the fest is your first clue that these gigs won't cost much, but shows for the especially thrifty-conscious include The Mummies  ($5 at Thee Parkside, 8 p.m. That same night they're also playing Bottom of the Hill -- making the mad dash down 17th St.); Box Elders play the fest for that same price and at Thee Parkside on Sunday (1 p.m.)

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ATA Film & Video Festival

"Indie film" can mean anything, from a philosophical Super-8 production shot by someone with a love of self-expression and 50 clams to a multimillion-dollar Lionsgate production. But the term "underground film" hasn't been appropriated by those wanting money yet (we hardly knew ye, "alternative"), so that's what we'll use to describe the work at the ATA Film & Video Festival. "Experimental," "art," and "no-budget" would do nicely, as well.

Today's "Specters & Machines" program is anchored by the Bay Area art-flicker icon Kerry Laitala, who screens "Spectrology," a short film concerned with history and death on 16mm, but we also like what we've seen of "Elro," a metaphysical robot MiniDV piece by local dishwasher Ariel Diaz. Friday's slate, "Stories We Tell Ourselves," sees programmers Shae Green, Isabel Fondevila, and Kelly Pendergrast roping in moving pictures from the undergrounds in Spain, Israel, the Netherlands -- even Los Angeles. (7:30 p.m., $7-$10) 

 

We recently blogged about stony punk John Dwyer getting in bed with the devil by providing the soundtrack to a Satanic b-movie. Well, that hellraising flick will have its San Francisco premiere this week.

On Thursday night, Sept. 10, Fever Night aka Band of Satanic Outsiders will be shown at ATA, where fans of gory pictures and lysergic garage rock can gather at 8 p.m. for a movie that combines their likes into a "psychedelic horror feature film about three Satanists who reap the repercussions of a ritual worshiping Lucifer." Music comes from Dwyer's myriad projects (Thee Oh Sees, The Coachwhips, OCS) as well as The Hospitals, Black Fucking Diamond, and Castrati and the Demon Seed.

Ten bucks gets you into the hellion hot seat.

He Gets Raw: Big Daddy Kane

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A little while back, Davey-D ran an article on his website reminding readers of the lyrical magnificence of Big Daddy Kane, the Brooklyn hip-hop artist who defined the term (and repped the label) Cold Chillin'. Best known for his ferocious verbal onslaughts in tracks like "Ain't No Half Steppin" and "Raw," Kane set the bar high for Golden Age MCs - a standard which, unfortunately, has been all but lost in the 50 Cent/Soulja Boy era.

On Sunday, Lyricist Lounge co-founder, Current TV producer, onetime Earhustle promoter, and independent filmmaker Ant Marshall hosts the SF premiere of his film "BDK," a documentary of "one of hip-hop's most notable legends." The event, held at Yoshis SF location, kicks off Independent Artists Week  (IAW), which continues with music, film, and art events through September 12. Peep a trailer of "BDK" here. PS: act fast, and you might just cop free tickets to the entire week's events with an RSVP here .

Dear & Yonder

​It took five. long. days. to get here, but man, it's finally the weekend. Let's celebrate. We've got a couple of ideas.

Dear & Yonder Pt. 1: Art Show‏ @ Mollusk (Friday)
We love Mollusk parties, mostly for the fact that they force us to hang out so close to the ocean. And then, of course, there's all the cool art, film, and music the surf shop supports. Tonight it has another film/visual art/band combo going on, as the kickoff event for Dear & Yonder goes down at Mollusk from 7 until 10 p.m. Dear & Yonder is a locally made documentary by Tiffany Campbell and Andria Lessler about female surfers that was more than two years in the making. The soundtrack is star-studded with S.F. favorites, including Vetiver, Ty Segall, Drift of a Curse, King City, Tussle, Thee Oh Sees and Hey Will Power. Dream-folk duo Black Bow will perform the live soundtrack tonight, as guests brown-bag it through a showcase of nearly 40 D&Y-related pieces of art, including work from Ed Templeton and the Hamburger Eyes crew. (Free. Note: This is part one of two recommended D&Y gigs this weekend. See also "Surf Movie Party" on Saturday).

The Shop: Summer Blowout @Silverman Gallery (Friday)
"Summer! Always a fabulous time to stop by one of the city's finest galleries for a pop-up shop of merchandise made by artists. While many of us have been selling our plasma to make the rent lately, that's all the more reason to seek some kind of inspiration in the art gems on display at the Silverman Gallery's The Shop: Summer Blow Out. This special moment of fabulous stuff-buying is informed in part by the spirit of the original Fluxus movement -- a network of artists, composers, and designers in the '60s who brought their creations together for humorous events, poking fun at the seriousness of modern art. With that in mind, more than 20 featured artists show work that explores art vs. commerce. Alongside pieces by portrait photographer Ari Marcopolous, zine editor and Mr. Lady Records owner Tammy Rae Carland, and Yuval Pudik, the shop has records, limited-edition publications, and other marvelous baubles brought into being by local and international talents." Evan James (Free, 7-10 p.m.)

​Bad news today: director John Hughes died today at age 59, apparently of a heart attack as he took his morning walk in Manhattan.

He may not have direct ties to San Francisco, but Hughes will be sorely missed in this city. After all, how many of us have set up picnics in parks to watch multiple screenings of his pouty adolescent classics Pretty in Pink, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Weird Science, Some Kind of Wonderful...man, so many '80s hits the list just goes on. 

On Sunday morning, film director Rob Luketic (The Ugly Truth, 21, Legally Blonde, etc) posted this tweet:

​I quickly fired back an @reply...
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Q: when is a puppet show not just a puppet show?
A: When the puppets referred to are the Puppet Folk Revival Band.

On July 31st, CellSpace hosts the West Coast concert debut of Rockin' Puppet Mayhem: the Puppet Folk Revival Band. Described in their PR as "an unholy blend of the puppetcraft of The Muppets performing a morphed version of faded and jaded rock survivors like Metallica and Spinal Tap--all sprinkled with the very blue banter of Red Orbach, an English-speaking Israeli version of South Park's Cartman."

Alrighty-then.

The spectacle of five life-sized puppets who appear to play their own instruments while performing satirical, Tom Lehrer-on-opiates originals (often ad-libbed) and pop culture covers has already been a huge hit in Israel, where PFRB originates from. But not only will PFRB's performance be something special (especially strange, at the least), it also marks the first musical concert ever presented by the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival. Watch a video of PFRB performing Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" here, Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit" here, and David Bowie's "Space Oddity" here.  For more info, click here.

Michael Jackson R.I.Parties (All Weekend)
We'll be adding parties to our list as we hear about them (be sure to post your recommendations below). For now, we suggest fueling your King of Pop nostalgia at one of these places: on Friday, Milk's "Culture Clash" DJ party with Dr. Mr. E and Dave Paul already focuses on "all the great '80s singalong classics we all love," including hip-hop, pop, new wave, and the like. Bonus: Dave Paul is one of the masterminds behind the legendary Prince vs. Michael Jackson parties ($5 before 11 p.m...$10 after. Get on the guestlist by emailing milkbarsf@gmail.com). [UPDATE**: Eric Arnold reports that Ankh Marketing is also sponsoring a Michael Jackson tribute this Saturday at 330 Ritch with DJs Mr. E, Ant One, and De. RSVP to ankhmarketingevents@gmail.com for free admittance before 10 p.m. ($5 until 11 p.m.)] And then there's always the karaoke bars (the Mint, Encore) where you can bet your karaoke jockey's tip jar that folks are gonna be hollering "Man in the Mirror" well through last call.

Treasure Island Drive-In With 'Top Gun' (Friday)
Drive-In movies are the best--especially when they screen films you actually could've seen from your car back in the day. The mobile guerrilla drive-in group Mobmov hosts Top Gun out on Treasure Island tonight at 9 p.m. Stay up on their traveling flicks through the Mobmov Twitter. (9 p.m., free)

La Haine (Friday)
Alliance Française is hosting "20 Films in Paris" over the next two months, and tonight's flick is a real treat. La Haine (Hate) is a 1995 film about life in a French ghetto, complete with a killer French hip-hop soundtrack and a young Vincent Cassel in a lead role. Get outta work early for this one: the film screens at 5 p.m. and admission is free.

Heroic Trio: Jack White, Jimmy Page, and the Edge

I had a chance to see a sneak preview of the documentary It Might Get Loud yesterday. First impressions? Best. Rock. Movie. Ever. The film, scheduled to open in Bay Area theaters August 28, takes three guitar gods from different eras--Led Zeppelin legend Jimmy Page (who receives associate producer credits), U2 sonic architect the Edge, and new-school throwback Jack White, of the White Stripes. Built around a jam session featuring all three guitarists on a Hollywood soundstage, It Might Get Loud detours into historical and cultural anecdotes, perhaps none more ironically cool than watching a white-haired Page play air guitar--you read that correctly--to Link Wray's seminal instrumental "Rumble."

What makes this film so good is that it doesn't necessarily worship at the altar of rock stardom, but instead becomes a treatise on the musicians' muses--what inspires them, including their instruments and various influences, from skiffle to punk to Son House blues. In doing so, it examines the role the electric guitar plays in pop culture in a way that's part The Song Remains the Same, part Behind the Music, and 100% awesome. For more info, click here

Evan James

Former Miss Trannyshack Raya Light picking up garbage.

33rd Frameline Film Festival: Opening Night
Thursday, June 18th, 2009
The Castro Theatre and Terra Gallery
Review and Photos by Evan James
Better than: Perishing in obscurity in the south of France.

Reeling from the shock of being asked well in advance to write about the Opening Night Gala of the 33rd San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival--alias: Frameline-- I suffered a complete collapse brought about by occupational stress, and had to spend almost an entire year soothing my nerves in the French resort town of Cap d'Antibes. I vowed never to write again, and spent my days gazing upon the placid waters of the Côte d'Azur, drooling out of the side of my mouth, weeping out of the sides of my eyes, and bartering with the local fishmongers; I even attended their fishmonger galas. While little is more pleasurable than going down to the Garoupe to see the lights of a summer evening, before long I began to pine for the galas and opening nights of America-- this great country of ours where all people are entitled to the pursuit of a room filled with strangers fighting to get to the open bar for a free plastic cup of Skyy Vodka.

Flush with party-hearty patriotism, I beat a hasty return to San Francisco on my private jet. On the way, I rang up my editor on my private telephone. "You want a gay omelette?" I said. "Well then, let's break a few gay eggs."

Evan James

Scene from the gala.

Now, I love the movies, especially the "talkies," so I was willing to suffer the slings and errors of press check-in at the Castro Theatre in order to see An Englishman in New York, the Opening Night film about gay writer, bon vivant, and general gadabout Quentin Crisp. After a routine retinal scan and some quick blood work, I was shown to my seat on the balcony. From my privileged perch in the loge I watched the preliminary parade of Frameline mandarins march upon the stage-- a Board of Directors bored of directing and hungry for applause. I lapsed into a kind of clapping frenzy, appreciating every volunteer, executive director, and handmaiden with all the strength of the two hands God gave me. Finally, I finished giving the entire administrative staff of the festival their quarterly review, and the movie began.

EKAphotography

In the Cypher: Fiyawata

Attention underground hip-hop heads and freestyle feminists: If you're in the downtown Berkeley area tomorrow evening, roll through the Berkeley City College Auditorium for the DVD release party of "Bay Area Cypher," a new documentary combining live performance and freestyle clips with interviews.

Here's a PR blurb about the film, which portrays: "the unique creativity of Hip Hop in the San Francisco Bay Area. Through the Hip Hop elements of rhyme and dance this documentary highlights the spiritual and communal aspects of Hip Hop culture, showing how improvisational freestyle is key to manifesting a higher energetic vibration." Directed by Idris Hassan, the film screening will be followed by a panel discussion, and a performance by green hip-hop duo Fiyawata. More info is here,  and you can watch a trailer here.

Thomas Blake Jr.

Point Break Live!
Cellspace
April 10, 2009
Better than: Plays that don't require protective clothing.

Inflating the sheer absurdity of the 1991 Keanu Reeves/Patrick Swayze bank - robbing - surfer - action - homoerotic - extreme - sports - thriller - American classic Point Break seems like an impossible task. You might as well try to make tomatoes taste more like tomatoes. How does one make a parody of something that is already such a perfect parody of itself? Why would you even try? Maybe it's because you knew the result would be Point Break Live!, brainchild of Jamie Keeling.

Upon entering the theater, every attendee of PBL! is supplied with a plastic baggy that contains a cheap plastic poncho and some fake dollar bills. The poncho is provided to protect audience members from what promises to be a very wet show. The rain garments all have little pointed plastic hoods, which had the strange effect of making attendees look like tiny, outdoors oriented members of the KKK. The sound of beers being cracked open and excited murmuring was accompanied by the white noise of plastic crinkling. The stage was decorated with nothing but a poorly constructed island sprouting an inflatable palm tree. More promising sets have been produced at Summer Camps. But you don't go to PBL! for the frills.

 

Gay Rock Icon: Jon Ginoli

Ever wonder what it's like to be a gay rock star? Jon Ginoli lived that life, as the lead singer and guitarist for Pansy Division, SF's pioneering queer punx, who rose to infamy after opening for Green Day on the "Dookie" tour. Now Ginoli has written a book about his experiences--the groupies! The spandex! The matching drapes on the tour bus!--entitled "Deflowered: My Life in Pansy Division."

Ginoli has launched a 60-city book tour, which coincides with the release of PD's eighth album, That's So Gay, and will include live performances and screenings of a PD documentary. Ginoli appears tonight at Books, Inc, tomorrow at Artists' Television Access, Saturday at the Book Zoo in Oakland, and Sunday at Book Passage in Corte Madera.

I'm Neil Young, biatch!

10. His middle name is Percival. (This actually explains his often anguished, tortured voice).

9. Before joining Buffalo Springfield, Young was in the Mynah Birds, a band fronted by future funkster Rick James. It's unclear whether he ever told James, "I'm Neil Young, biatch!"

8. His pre-fame pals included Joni Mitchell and Randy Bachman of BTO.

7. He has several aliases, including Bernard Shakey, director of "Journey Through the Past," "Rust Never Sleeps," and the upcoming "Linc/ Volt."

6. Young, who lives on a ranch in La Honda, California, has never renounced his Canadian citizenship.

5. After releasing two solo albums, Neil Young and Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, he joined electric-folk-pop hippies Crosby, Stills, and Nash, becoming the "Y" in CSNY.

4. Young's song "Southern Man" was dissed by Lynyrd Skynyrd on "Sweet Home Alabama."

3. Director Martin Scorsese reportedly delayed release of the 1976 concert film "the Last Waltz" in order to edit out a chunk of cocaine hanging, lugey-style, from Young's nose during his performance of "Helpless."

2. Kurt Cobain is said to have quoted Young's line "it's better to burn out than fade away" on his suicide note.

1. In addition to finishing a new album, Fork in the Road, Young has announced that he's finished his conversion of a 1959 Lincoln Continental to run on alternative energy. The car is featured prominently in Young's new video "Johnny Magic." See it here.

Boy in da Corner: Tupac

Yesterday, the Hollywood Reporter announced the latest development in the ongoing fight over the rights to a major motion picture biography of the late Tupac Shakur: Amaru Entertainment and Shakur's mom Afeni Shakur are suing Morgan Hill entertainment for what basically amounts to player hating. Details are here .

Earlier, Morgan Hill had sued Amaru, claiming breach of contract--a move industry analysts said may have been in retaliation for Amaru refusing to sign an agreement with the production company, while negotiating with other interested parties.

Speculation has centered around the falling out as coming after the less-than-robust opening weekend of the Biggie Smalls biopic "Notorious," which may have spurred Morgan Hill to downgrade their offer to Amaru for the rights to the Tupac story. Afeni Shakur's complaint, meanwhile, contends that there was no signed agreement between Amaru and Morgan Hill, and that such details as executive producer credits and a percentage of profits hadn't been fully resolved. We're wondering what 'Pac would have thought of all of this. Chances are, it can't be printed in a family newspaper, or even an alt-weekly blog.

EKAphotography

Daly City Electronica: Mochipet

Some of the most interesting music being made these days is coming out of the Asian American underground, who put a whole new spin on the phrase "Asian Fusion." Inspired by urban life in America as well as cultural influences from all over the East, today's Asian-American artists are putting their own touches on hip-hop, reggae, bhangra, broken beat, and future disco, not to mention inventing their own microgenres.

If you want to hear tomorrow's music right now, the SF International Asian American Film Festival is sponsoring a phat party at 111 Minna this Friday featuring a bento box-worth of mostly local Asian-American musicians, producers, and DJs, including hip-hop producer Trackademicks, LA electronica whiz Nosaj Thing, Surya Dub mainstay Kush Aurora, Daly City Records' honcho Mochipet, Bay Area Sistah Sound founder DJ Zita, SF disco revivalist DJ Pickpocket, nu-jazzster Tokyo Component, and downtempo rocker Citizen Ten. For more info, click here.

Alvin and the Chipmunks will return this year in a Squeakuel, unfortunately.

Not every sequel can be The Empire Strikes Back or even Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo, and there seems to be a disproportionate amount of potentially rotten ones coming out in 2009. None of these turkeys would have gotten the green light from the studios if execs didn't feel like there was some potential to make money from them, a sad commentary on the low standards of the movie-going public.

Brace yourself for 10 big-budget stinkers that are headed your way this year, whether you like it or not:

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel

Last year, Alvin, Simon and Theodore were re-imagined in CGI and made $217 million in North America. Fox can't wait to fling out this nutty sequel full of high-pitched tones meant to drive adults mad.

Fast & Furious

The first one was called The Fast and the Furious, the second one was 2 Fast 2 Furious, and now, with the fourth installment of the urban car racing series, the filmmakers have adopted the ultra lazy name Fast & Furious. We can only wonder if they've similarly skimped on the action.

Star Trek

Eleven films deep into the Star Trek franchise and, similar to The Fast and the Furious films, a return to the basic name. Sure, we know J.J. Abrams (creator of the television series Alias and Lost, among others) is directing, but we've already boldly gone where every man has gone before, and now we are bored.

SongSungBlue.com

More Surreal than Neil: Lightning & Thunder

The 11th Annual San Francisco Independent Film Festival kicks off this week with an opening night party tonight at Cellspace featuring the Extra Action Marching Band, Live Evil, and our favorite Croatian wino, DJ Toph One! Admission is $7 (free with ticket stub). Other Sf Indie music-related events include Roller Disco night Feb. 13 and a "Rydell High Sock Hop" (for all you beauty school drop outs and T-Birds) Feb. 20.

We're fairly excited about the music-themed flicks screening this year: This Friday, the fest features "Ex-Drummer," a Belgian film about a celebrity author who joins a "quasi-disabled punk band"; On Saturday, Neil Diamond fans won't want to miss "Song Sung Blue," a true story about Lightning & Thunder, a husband-and-wife Diamond tribute band; Next Friday (the 13th), you can catch "Let Them Know," a USA-made doc about the LA punk scene in the early '80s. Venues include the Victoria Theatre, the Roxie, and Shattuck Cinema; ticket info is here

Eddie Muller is in way too good a mood for a man who's known as the Czar of Noir. At every onstage introduction this year, he's been chortling with joy. But he's not alone: the Castro Theatre has been packed out at both of its evening performances of its opening weekend of Muller's Deadline: Noir City, the Seventh Annual San Francisco Film Noir Festival. The capacity crowd, 1400 strong, loudly approved Friday, January 23rd's double bill of Deadline-U.S.A. (1952), starring Humphrey Bogart as an uncompromising editor of a high-class daily that's about to be bought and shut down by a competitor, and Scandal Sheet (1952), based on Samuel Fuller's novel The Dark Page, wherein a different kind of editor, Broderick Crawford, hoped to escape detection as a murderer while his crack investigative reporter, John Derek, was hot on his trail. Our favorite overheard comment: "Was Bo Derek his daughter?" Uh, no, she was his fourth wife, in a long line of ever-younger lookalike blondes, including Ursula Andress and Linda Evans, in fact.

Skate films can be the equivalent of fine art these days. Spike Jonze, anyone? It's nice to see some skate labels other than Jonze's beloved Girl Skateboards up the production level on their skate films with great music, directing, video editing, and overall skateboarding. Such is the case with Alien Workshop's latest skate film, Mind Field, premiering Feb. 1 at the Victoria Theatre. Mind Field is sure to come packed with video footage of Rob Dyrdek from MTV's Rob and Big, and the rest of their all-star skate team that features Jason Dill, Steve Berra, Josh Kalis, and Anthony Van Engelen. Best of all, it's going to be free. Check out the trailer above, then click here for more info.

Orson Welles completists should drop all other plans and attend the two programs titled The Unknown Orson Welles scheduled this weekend at the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley. Archivist Stefan Drossler, director of the Munich Filmmuseum, will introduce both matinees. On Saturday, January 17, at 5 p.m., My Name Is Orson Welles will include excerpts from his television appearances, including rare Shakespeare footage and Welles' travel documentaries.. On Sunday, January 18, at 2 p.m., Unfinished Works by Welles features fragments from The Dreamers, Don Quixote, and The Deep (based on the same novel, Dead Calm, by Charles Williams that was made into a movie 20 years later starring Nicole Kidman, Sam Neill, and Billy Zane. Welles' version starred Laurence Harvey, Jeanne Moreau, Welles' companion, Oja Kodar, and Welles himself.).

Pictured: The Dreamers

Labyrinth
December 5-6, 2008
The Clay Theater
Review by Melissa Baron

Better than: David Bowie on the big screen is only trumped by one thing -- David Bowie live on stage.

David Bowie and Jim Henson (not to mention Frank Oz) fanatics gathered at midnight Friday for the spectacular display of the epic 1986 film Labyrinth. The film chronicles a young but still hot and fantasy-obsessed Sarah (Jennifer Connelly) through her poor and hasty judgment as a result of teenage angst. Sarah immerses herself in the seemingly pretend world of fantasy until a frustrating night of babysitting causes those worlds to collide. Sarah's step mother (who really doesn't seem very wicked) and father request that she babysit her baby brother during the weekends because unlike her parents, Sarah has no social life. Once her parents leave the baby begins to sob and Sarah goes to make him shut up. She recalls the story of the Labyrinth (a story she acts out in the park with her dog...lame teenager, much?) and accidentally asks the Goblin King to take the baby away.

(James Franco as Harvey Milk's partner, Scott Smith, in Milk)

Man, Terry Gross really kisses ass when she interviews celebrities sometimes. Between the Fresh Air interview with Stephen Colbert last week and James Franco last night, my ears are getting cavities from all the sugary gushing she did with these dudes. Worst of all, do we really need 15 minutes of hard hitting questions about Franco kissing Sean Penn in Milk? (We get it. Two straight actors kissed. For a full minute. Stop the presses.)

But, now that I've gotten that complaint off my chest, I'll add that something valuable did come from last night's Franco chat: an introduction to the hilarious comedy videos he makes with his brother,  a series called "Acting with James Franco."

By John Geluardi

Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to see a special screening of Stephen Soderbergh’s epic movie, Che. Usually my stunted attention span makes it tough to sit through Pee Wee Herman clips on YouTube, but this film was so engaging I was riveted to the screen for the entire four hours.

The movie, which is in Spanish, is a sprawling epic that follows Argentine Marxist, Ernesto “Che” Guevara, played by Benicio del Toro, through the rugged mountains of Cuba and Bolivia during two revolutionary war campaigns.

To make a four-hour film in the era of gnat-like attention spans, Soderbergh is clearly as bold - and perhaps crazy - as Guevara and Cuban exile Fidel Castro were in 1956 when they boarded a leaky boat in Mexico with 81 men, a few weapons and an ambitious plan to overthrow the military dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. But Soderbergh succeeded in making a film that will be fascinating for the legions of Guevara admirers, social reformers, military historians and people who like to hike - the vast majority of scenes are of guerilla fighters making their way on foot through rugged mountain terrain, lush valleys and dense cloud forests.

Che opens in theaters in January as two movies, part one: The Argentine and part two: Guerilla. Each movie will require separate admissions. The movies have been making the rounds of film festivals and del Toro has already won the actor prize at the Cannes Film Festival for his depiction of Guevara.

The 3rd Annual Good Vibrations Amateur Erotic Film Festival
Thursday, October 30, 2008
The Castro Theatre
By Melissa Baron

Better than: Watching porn alone and on the small screen.

Trannies, vibrators and erotica - oh my! The sex positive masterminds at Good Vibrations have truly outdone themselves. In the 3rd year of their Amateur Erotic Film Festival they pulled out all the stops, bringing in some of the most bizarre films around. At 8 p.m. guests took their seats and awaited the introduction of the hosts/judges. First up was Dr. Carol Queen. Queen works as staff sexologist at Good Vibrations, is director/co-founder of the Center for Sex & Culture and a seasoned writer of all things sex (including erotica). Then of course, there were the trannies. Peaches Christ took the stage with a hip-hop performance called "I'm Gangsta." She introduced her fellow trannies: Lady Bear, Hugz Bunny and Renttecca. Then all five queens (Carol and her trannies) sat on stage and let the films begin.

Words and Photos by Meredith Brody

Patti Smith greeted several hundred of the faithful before and after an afternoon screening last Sunday of the new documentary Dream of Life at the Lumiere, where the movie is continuing its run. The movie is an intimate collage film, recorded over about a dozen years by director/cinematographer Steven Sebring, who shot the singer-songwriter in New York, Detroit, Paris, London, Jerusalem, and other far-flung locations, during concerts, at her homes, with her children and parents, and making pilgrimages to the grave sites of people she knew and/or admired, interspersed with many many limo rides.

The film, narrated by Smith, begins with a brisk potted rundown of her life (“an adventure of our own design”) – birth, New Jersey, factory, New York, Robert Mapplethorpe, Chelsea Hotel, first record, marriage to Fred Sonic Smith, two kids, Mapplethorpe dies, husband dies, brother Todd dies, back on the road – which is when Sebring started filming.

(Sid Haig)

Horror nerds rejoice, for the Shock it To Me! Classic Horror Film Festival is upon us. Word from the Squid List says that there are some diabolically awesome guests to present this year's films. Sid Haig, otherwise known as the creepy clown-faced Captain Spaulding in Rob Zombie films, makes an appearance to present one of his older flicks, Spider Baby, and original cast members from the classic Dark Shadows are scheduled to discuss the series as well as the upcoming Tim Burton remake. The fest runs Oct. 17 and 18 at the Castro Theatre. Visit the Shock it To Me! site for full info. --Oscar Pascual

What would an election year be without a new Michael Moore film? His latest doc, Slacker Uprising, takes a look at his college tour encouraging young adults to vote during the last presidential election. Gotta vote, young people. If you need a good reason to cast your ballot this year, put in your RSVP for the free screening at the Independent tonight, Oct. 13. And if it's enough to get your lazy ass to vote this year instead of playing Xbox all day, remember that the CA registration deadline is next Monday, Oct. 20. --Oscar Pascual

Two Lives Plus One

By Meredith Brody

How to choose among a French movie mash-up currently appearing at local film theaters? Tonight alone Francophiles are forced to choose among three stellar opportunities.

You can catch the last day of the San Francisco Film Society’s presentation of festival favorite Two Lives Plus One, a brisk yet touching comic drama set in a contemporary French Jewish family living in Paris, starring the expressive Emmanuelle Devos, at the Sundance Kabuki’s dedicated Festival screen.

Your second choice: the enticing double bill at the Clay, France’s highest-grossing film ever, Welcome to the Sticks and the tour-de-force Cannes prizewinner Actresses, written and directed by, and starring, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi (sister to the new wife of French president Nicolas Sarkozy, Carla Bruni), part of the San Francisco Film Society’s densely-programmed five-day French Cinema Now, which began on October 8th and runs through October 12th.