the selector Wednesday 12/11 Jagwar Ma
Bar, the oft-mentioned, house-dominated portion of ultra-hip Berghain. It’s a nice hat-tip to Jagwar Ma’s influences, which have inspired clear-voiced pop and soul vocals that follow a swirl of programmed beats and sequenced arpeggios, with enough looseness in the groove to engender no shortage of Happy Mondays references. This sound — part Madchester acid trip and part Balearic episode — has fittingly led to remixes by Andrew Weatherall, Matthew Dear, and Pachanga Boys. (Ryan Prendiville) 8pm, $15 Independent 628 Divisadero, SF www.theindependentsf.com
“Holiday Bazaar NightLife”
asomnia see friday/13
There is a science to holiday gift shopping. Like most experiments, it begins with an unsettling question: What should I get for Ma? And Pa? Olivia? Your hypothesis states that some friends will like their gifts, and some will fake it. But when more than 40 local merchants gather for NightLife at the Academy and set up stalls full of treasures curated by Bazaar Bizarre (think handmade ceramics, silkscreened T-shirts, letterpress stationery, and superhero bowties), the chances of expected yield matching actual yield of purchases are high. Add principal elements to the equation, such as bass music collective Slayers Club, DJ Mark Farina, and spiked snow cones (NightLife is a 21-and-over event), and the chemical reaction creates an explosion greater than the Earthquake planetarium show. (Kaylen Baker)
Starts today, 9am; ends Sun/15, 9pm, $10-$30 (weekend pass, $40) CIIS’s Area 5 1453 Mission, SF www.mugwumpin.org
6pm, $12
El Ten Eleven
California Academy of Sciences
Silver Lake’s El Ten Eleven defies the odds. Its music is instrumental, but starkly unpretentious. Its musician-
55 Music Concourse, Golden Gate Park, SF www.calacademy.org
“Drag Queens On Ice: An Eleganza Extravaganza!” Figure skaters and drag queens have a lot in common: a flair for performing, an affection for sequins, a deep love of cheesy music. Now in its fourth year, “Drag Queens on Ice” makes the most of these shared affections by bringing hostess Donna Sachet and a bevy of costumed, skate-wearing divas to Union Square’s Holiday Ice Rink. Spreading even
more cheer, event presenter Visit Mendocino County partners with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence this year to benefit the Sisters’ partner charities, matching donations made by skate fans who get their picture taken with the Order’s own Sister Roma. (Cheryl Eddy) 8-9:30pm, $7-$11 (skate rentals, $5; rink hours, 10am-11:30pm daily) Holiday Ice Rink Union Square, SF www.unionsquareicerink. com
Friday 12/13 X and The Blasters The members of legendary Los Angeles punk rockers X have always distin-
x see friday/13 opinion
news
promises, beginning 9am Friday and running (or wobbling) nonstop until 9pm Sunday. The 10-year-old company, needless to say, refuses to slow down, and looks to be keeping pace with the times, as it embarks on the three-day marathon as research into its yearlong exploration of exhaustion (to culminate in a final performance in 2014). The performers will make themselves available along the way to guest choreographers Laura Arrington (Sun, 2pm) and Erika Chong Shuch (Sat, 2pm). Crazy? Probably, yeah. But having consulted with at least one herbalist (Sheila Devitt, who offers a primer on herbal adaptogens as part of the proceedings), the members of the intrepid theater company are going into this, anyway, with their eyes open. (Robert Avila)
Thursday 12/12
Discussing the lead track off Howlin’, Jagwar Ma’s Jono Ma has described time spent in two Berlin clubs: Club Bassy, which “only played vinyl from the ’40s, ’50s, ’60s,” and Panorama
With Fascinator
Make the yuletide gay!
food + Drink
the selector
music
arts + culture
9pm, $35
ship and songwriting is mind-bogglingly complex, but extremely listenable. It consists of only two people, but creates a full band’s worth of sound, with the insanely gifted Kristian Dunn often playing the guitar and bass lines on his double-necked instrument simultaneously. The music the band creates is not just technically impressive, it’s also graceful, intensely melodic, and deeply emotional. El Ten Eleven’s talent and intricate songwriting translate beautifully to its live presence, where the duo will loop, vamp, shred, and cymbal-crash its way right into your heart. (Haley Zaremba)
Fillmore
With Slow Magic
1805 Geary, SF
9pm, $16
www.thefillmore.com
Slim’s
guished themselves from other bands of their time and genre, with the rock-solid drumming of DJ Bonebrake, the guitar virtuosity of Billy Zoom, and the poetic lyrics and intimate vocal interplay of John Doe and Exene Cervenka. The iconic group, whose early catalog was recently released in deluxe digital sets via Rhino Records, is hitting the West Coast this month for a special “X-mas 2013” tour with friends the Blasters. Fans of both outstanding acts won’t want to miss this rare chance to see the two groups together at one sensational show. (Sean McCourt)
333 11th St, SF
Asomnia
Sixty hours, no winks, of continual performance are what Mugwumpin film
classifieds
www.slimspresents.com
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