San Francisco is home to a breathtaking diversity of cultural events. Between our fair city’s world-class museums, restaurants, bars, art galleries, music scene, festivals, and clubs, between all that is weird and quirky and purely San Franciscan, there’s something going down, somewhere, every single day of the year. Check out our Flavorpill social discovery engine, where you can create and share events with friends, and follow our carefully curated editors’ picks. Below, you’ll find Flavorpill’s top picks for this week — just a little bit of help as you set out into this beautiful wide world of SF’s happenings.
Monday, June 3
PERFORMING ARTS: City Arts & Lectures presents Gloria Steinem and Letty Cottin Pogrebin
Tuesday, June 4
THEATRE: Some Broadway musicals inspire a little toe-tapping, but a show like Fela! demands you get up out of your seat, swing your hips, and shout at the actors. Enjoying a limited run this week at the Paramount in Oakland, the production is a window into the world of activist and Afrobeat creator Fela Kuti. A blend of music, dance, and theatrics, Fela! racked up Tonys for choreography, costumes, and sound design when it first appeared on Broadway in 2009/2010. Now running like a well-oiled machine after stops in Europe, Nigeria, and several cities in the US, the exhilarating show — whose current cast includes Destiny’s Child’s Michelle Williams — raises the bar for musicals everywhere. — Mindy Bond
Wednesday, June 5
MUSIC: Crystal Fighters w/ Alpine British/Spanish act Crystal Fighters mix acoustic and traditional Basque instruments (such as the xylophone-esque txalaparta) with euphoric electro pop, and their live shows sometimes border on performance art. — Ewa Josefsson
MUSIC: Hopie w/ Rey Resurreccion, Nate the Great, Duckwrth, DJ Custo, and DJ Ry Toast
Thursday, June 6
COMEDY: Competitive Erotic Fan Fiction Nato Green has been described by Daniel Handler (a.k.a. Lemony Snicket) as having an effect similar to “finding a shot of bourbon at your co-worker’s stupid vegan potluck.” Along with his funny friends W. Kamau Bell and Janine Brito, Green was on tour for much of the last couple of years as part of the comedy team Laughter Against the Machine, a politically charged powerhouse of laughs. Tonight, you have the chance to catch Green and nine other funny people as they perform Competitive Erotic Fan Fiction pieces onstage, based upon either their own perverse minds or those of their audience. The series, which originally started in Seattle and will soon become a podcast, is an acclaimed monthly event in Los Angeles and sold out at SF’s Punchline earlier this year. — Bonnie Chan
PERFORMING ARTS: Quiet Lightning: Neighborhood Heroes
Friday, June 7
MUSIC: Scott Weiland and the Wildabouts So let’s talk about that thing that happened last month, wherein Stone Temple Pilots unceremoniously kicked out frontman Scott Weiland… and replaced him with Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington… apparently due to Weiland’s solo hijacking of a Core 20th anniversary show that was meant to be an STP tour. Is STP still STP without Scott Weiland? Are both parties doomed? And, really — Chester Bennington? Regardless of what may or may not have transpired with the notoriously troubled singer, Weiland appears to be embarking on a solo tour as planned, with promises of performing songs from landmark STP albums Core (1992) and Purple (1994). Here’s to Weiland, roamin’ roamin’ on. — Bonnie Chan
BOOKS: Instant City presents Issue #8: Cowboys, Mutant Cowboys, Earthquakes, and Some Noir
Saturday, June 8
FOOD/WINE: The San Francisco Burger Brawl There is perhaps no more hotly contested subject among San Francisco foodies than which establishment makes the best burger in town. Today, the question may be partially settled by this inaugural Burger Brawl sponsored by Amstel Light and Eye Heart SF. Some — not ALL, mind you — of the city’s contenders for Burger Champion duke it out in a meaty, musically accompanied brawl to victory (as determined by a panel of judges). As a participant, you pay for either a lunch (12 pm) or dinner (4:30 pm) session and… well, eat. Good luck. — Bonnie Chan
FOOD/WINE: Chipotle Cultivate Festival
Sunday, June 9
FESTIVAL: The 36th Annual Haight-Ashbury Street Fair These days, the corner of Haight and Ashbury Streets is dominated by commercial storefronts, but still the intersection will always be known as the epicenter of the counterculture. The first Haight-Ashbury Street Fair happened in 1978 when the neighborhood, with the support of Supervisor Harvey Milk, organized a community celebration in honor of that cultural legacy. In the way of many successful street celebrations, it now boasts multiple sound stages (past performers have included Jefferson Airplane and Metallica) and legions of street vendors selling enough tie-dye to clothe a Grateful Dead concert. — Bonnie Chan
Ongoing
FILM: SF DocFest Sate your Bay Arean bottomless hunger for whimsy, insight, and righteous indignation with the 12th annual SF DocFest: two weeks of feature-length documentaries from around the world and more than a few from our own backyard. Fans of porn actresses Lorelei Lee, Princess Donna, and/or Isis Love will be pleased to hear that local director Simone Jude has made Public Sex, Private Lives, an intimate look into the women’s lives as lovers, daughters, and mothers — and that doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of the 60-plus films that will be screening at the fest. Also not to miss is closing night film Terms and Conditions May Apply, which calls to mind uncomfortable recollections of South Park‘s Human iCentipad; and the opening night screening of Spark: A Burning Man Story, followed by SF DocFest’s opening night party at SOMA StrEAT Food Park. — Cooper Berkmoyer