LOCAL LIVE FAVORITES!
We need YOUR help for our upcoming special issue SCENE!
Click here to take our survey...

YOU'LL be entered to win a gift certificate courtesy of Amoeba Music plus tickets to an upcoming Bay Area live show, and your Bay Area favorites will be announced in the Guardian's next SCENE: The Guardian Guide to Bay Area Nightlife and Glamour, hitting the Bay Area streets on September 17th!

Deadline for entry is September 11, 2008.
Photos courtesy of Tiger Lily

YBCA AND HOUSE OF CAMPARI PRESENT
SUSTAINABLE SYSTEMS: 3 LOCAL SOLUTIONS
Urban populations will grow faster in the coming years than ever before. The Bay Area has been at the forefront of urban sustainability, and continues to spawn many environmentally minded initiatives that hold the promise of affecting urban design and policy in other cities around the globe. Join YBCA, Campari and Slow Food Nation for a fascinating panel discussion about initiatives for sustainable urban living. Participants include John Bela of the artist collective Rebar and designer of the City Hall Victory Gardens; Shruti Narayan, project manager on the sustainable design strategies for the new California Academy of Sciences; Jerome Waag, performance artist and chef at Chez Panisse; and Berin Golonu, YBCA's Associate Visual Arts Curator and co-curator of YBCA's upcoming exhibition The Gatherers: Greening our Urban Spheres. 6pm-8:30pm (conversation: 7pm-8pm) with complimentary Campari cocktails! Limited seating. Please RSVP to 415.373.0185. RSVP by invitation only and required. You must be over the age of 21 to attend.
August 27 @ Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Forum, 701 Mission

GREAT AMERICAN MUSIC HALL: SHEARWATER
Hailed as "almost impossibly majestic and beautiful" (NPR), Shearwater's Palo Santo (2007, Matador), a suite of ethereal but oddly disquieting art-rock songs loosely centered around the life and death of singer Christa Paffgen (aka Nico), marked the Texan quartet's debut on the national stage. The New York Times named the album one of the year's very best, and the band's singular combination of sonic abandon and restraint, spun around the soaring, otherworldly voice of part-time ornithologist Jonathan Meiburg - drew comparisons to late-period Talk Talk and both the lovely and anxious moments of Eno's early solo work. With Wye Oak, and Neal Morgan. $13 advance, $15 door. Doors 7:30pm, show at 8pm.
August 28 @ Great American Music Hall, 859 O'Farrell at Polk

BERKELEY REPERTORY THEATRE INVITES GUARDIAN READERS TO SAVE 20%
Berkeley Repertory Theatre presents the world premiere of an incisive new play--set in Berkeley, and written by Berkeley native Itamar Moses. Chicago Sun-Times calls Moses' writing, "brashly sophisticated, cuttingly comic," and "altogether virtuosic." When the Berkeley High School student newspaper publishes a divisive op-ed, long smoldering social tensions ignite and erupt in violence. Staged by Berkeley Rep Artistic Director Tony Taccone, Yellowjackets is a fiery collision of race and class that compels us to examine familiar surroundings with fresh eyes.
August 29 - October 12 @ Berkeley Rep, 2025 Addison St, Berkeley

Click here to save 20% off full price tickets to selected performances of Yellowjackets!

30-BELOW
Under 30? Save more...and party more! If you're less than 30 years old, enjoy half-price tickets to most shows at Berkeley Rep. See Yellowjackets Friday August 29th and join the Guardian Hellraisers for 30-Below, the coolest theatre after-party in town for the 20-something crowd. Tickets to the show are priced $13.50 - $19.50 and come with free beer from Firestone Brewery, free wine from Raymond Vineyards, live set by DJ Alabaster, and more.

Click here to save 50% off full price tickets to selected performances of Yellowjackets!

SAN FRANCISCO FILM SOCIETY: DAYS AND CLOUDS
In the current era of looming economic catastrophes, this story of a stable middle-aged couple facing a sudden financial crisis is especially pertinent and moving. Soldini, noted director of The Acrobats (SFIFF, 1998) and Pane e Tulipani (Bread and Tulips, SFIFF, 2001), here offers a dignified, resonant and beautifully performed portrait of the afflictions of life in middle age.
Elsa (Margherita Buy) and Michele (Antonio Albanese) have reached a place of financial security. Their 20-year-old daughter no longer lives at home, allowing Elsa to leave her job and pursue her dream of studying art history. As she completes her studies, working on a challenging restoration project, her husband reveals that he has been fired from the company he helped found. Their reactions to this crisis-Elsa rolls up her sleeves and reenters the work force while Michele sinks into depression-and how it impacts their long and loving relationship with each other and their daughter make up the powerful emotional impact of the film. Nominated for 15 David di Donatello Awards (Italy's Oscars), Days and Clouds took home two including a Best Actress prize.
August 29 – September 4 @ Sundance Kabuki Cinemas, Post & Fillmore

YEAR OF THE FISH
Cinderella in a Chinatown massage parlour! An animated independent feature film written and directed by David Kaplan, shot entirely on location in New York City’s Chinatown, Year of the Fish is a modern-day adaptation of Cinderella based on an old Chinese version of the story, and was shot on inexpensive live-action video that was used as a guide for digital painting in post-production. The story is a mix of fantasy, romance, and suspense!
Opens August 29 @ Sundance Kabuki Cinemas, Post & Fillmore; and Landmark Theatres' Shattuck, Berkeley

TOO $HORT AT FAT CITY
August 29, 314 11th St at Folsom
San Francisco
Tickets available at door
9pm show

SLOW FOOD ROCKS!
A two-day music celebration taking place at the spectacular Great Meadow at Fort Mason, with the back drop of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Featuring an eclectic line-up of artists, the two-day festival is part of the Slow Food Nation ‘08 inaugural festival. The first day finds Gnarls Barkley, Ozomatli, The New Pornographers, Medeski Martin and Wood , and Lebo (featuring Dan Lebowitz of ALO). Sunday showcases Phil Lesh & Friends, G Love & Special Sauce, John Butler Trio, and London Street.
August 30-31 @ Great Meadow at Fort Mason, San Francisco

EL RIO'S 6th ANNUAL COWGIRLPALOOZA!
BIG Labor Day show featuring the finest in female-fronted country. Oh yea, Oh yea! Featuring the ever feline-floral Kitty Rose playing solo; Starlene, featuring 3/4 of the old Calamity & Main (The New Misisipi Mike Wolf, Maurice Tani, Christopher Fisher) line-up backing a wonderful country singer, Catherine Foreman; BootCuts; Mighty Slim Pickens; and 4 Year Bender (actually not female-fronted but singer-songgrinder Ryan Smith certainly has the finest female rhythm section in the area –solid!). Finally, 77 El Deora headlining this year. That means a big, rockin' set! On the patio, 3-9pm $10bigbadbucks—plus free Lousiana gumbo by The Kitchen Witch!
September 1 @ El Rio, 3158 Mission btw Cesar Chavez & Valencia

SAN FRANCISCO VIDEO FEST 2008: CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
Now in its fifth year, the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts' Video Fest will be focused on people's existence and their surroundings, the relationships that develop between the human being and nature, community, family and their social surroundings. "Existence-Co-Existence" will emphasize strongly on videos with themes related to ecology, sustainability, community development and social and/or family stories. Submissions will be juried by Peter Bratt, writer, director and producer of the critically acclaimed independent film "Follow Me Home."

Prizes:
1st prize: $1,000
2nd prize: $500
3rd prize: $300 for Youth Video

Video Fest 2008 Categories:
Documentary (no longer than 60 minutes)
Short Fiction (no longer than 20 minutes)
Youth Video (must be 18 years old or younger /
no longer than 10 minutes)
Video del Barrio / Neighborhood Video / From or about a Neighborhood (no longer than 20 minutes)
Experimental (no longer than 20 minutes)

CONSERVATORY OF FLOWERS:
THE BUTTERFLY ZONE: PLANTS AND POLLINATORS
Fly on over to the Conservatory of Flowers this spring because the butterflies are back, and there are more than ever. The popular exhibit “The Butterfly Zone: Plants and Pollinators” returns to San Francisco’s beloved greenhouse with double the number of butterflies and special new Night Safaris, that let you search with flashlights for nocturnal moths. When you visit during the day, you’ll walk amongst a wide variety of brightly colored blossoms, watching (and sometimes ducking!) as butterflies fly from flower to flower drinking nectar and getting covered in pollen. The Butterfly Bungalow in the middle of the gallery also allows you to observe the pupae in their chrysalis stage. You never know, you may be lucky enough to catch the moment when one of these transformed, winged beauties emerges. Then come for a special Night Safari every first and third Thursday at 8:30 p.m., a rare opportunity to visit the Conservatory after dark to look for the mysterious, green Luna moth and other nocturnal critters!
Now thru November 2 @ Conservatory of Flowers,
Golden Gate Park, San Francisco

YBCA PRESENTS BAY AREA NOW 5
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts' fifth triennial exhibition of Bay Area art, asks some fundamental questions: What, in this age of globalization, virtual everything, and a population that is both wired and mobile, defines a Bay Area artist? Is simple geographic residency enough? Are we aesthetically bound by our ZIP codes? More importantly, what issues and ideas dominate the thinking of Bay Area artists, and how do they matter to us? In the process, we discover insights and understandings that may challenge your view of what it means to be a part of life in the Bay Area. This year’s exhibition will feature a signature group survey of 22 Bay Area artists organized by YBCA curators Kate Eilertsen and Berin Golonu. Don’t miss out!
Now thru November 16 @ Yerba Buena Center for the Arts,
701 Mission Street