On opening day there'll be a delicious bounty of events, starting with the ribbon-cutting ceremony at 8 a.m. and followed throughout the day by "Shop With the Chef" featuring Joseph Manzare (chef/owner of Globe Restaurant), a book signing with Patricia Unterman (food critic and owner/chef of the Hayes Street Grill), and "Meet the Producer" with the owner of Mariquita Farm. Come bask in the glory of all that food. Admission is free; call 353-5650 or visit www.cuesa.org. -- Sunny Andersen
Beyond the WonderCon
FRI-SUN 4/25-27
WonderCon, the local offspring of San Diego's enormous Comic-Con, may at first glance look like a giant geekfest. Upon closer inspection, however, the critical viewer will cease to care. Dude, Elvira's going to be there! The trailer for the Incredible Hulk movie is being screened, MAD magazine alum Sergio Aragones is a regular at these things, and of course there will be a genuine Klingon. All this plus tons of comics: old, new, big, small -- you name it. Cult fave and former Bay Area resident Ariel Schrag has even been spotted at WonderCon in years past. Geek out at the Moscone Center, 747 Howard (at Third Street), S.F. Admission is $12-35; visit www.comic-con.org. -- Hiya Swanhuyser
Out With the Old
FRI-SUN 4/25-27
Some of us like living the "old way" -- you know, bottling up our emotions, repressing our inner child, and eating as much red meat as possible. For everyone else, there's the New Living Expo, where experts in everything from yoga and feng shui to tarot and aura reading will happily share their recipes for bliss through alternative living.The event features 90 authors and speakers, including John "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus" Gray, Buddhist scholar Robert A.F. Thurman (aka Uma's father), and astrologer Maria Shaw. With more than 300 exhibits of natural health products, a slew of holistic practitioners, a bodywork pavilion, and a visionary art gallery, personal growth and wellness are all within reach -- if that's your bag. Get your fill at the Concourse Exhibition Center, 635 Eighth St. (at Brannan), S.F. Admission is free-$30; call 382-8300 or visit www.newlivingexpo.com. -- Lisa Hom
Digging for Goldman
TUES 4/29
"We say that if America has entered the war to make the world safe for democracy," Emma Goldman told a jury in 1917, "she must first make democracy safe in America." Goldman, then already distinguished as the only feminist-anarchist agitator to be blamed for inciting a presidential assassin (Leon Czolgosz, who shot William McKinley in 1901), faced trial for criticizing mandatory conscription; her comments earned her a jail term and deportation.Goldman's voice still resonates. This Tuesday, editor Candace Falk discusses her copious three-volume set, Emma Goldman: A Documentary History of the American Years. The first volume, Made for America, 1890-1901, is both a portrait of the anarchist as a young woman and an advanced anatomy of American radicalism. See Falk at 7 p.m. at City Lights Bookstore, 261 Columbus (at Broadway), S.F. Call 362-8193. -- Jonathan Kiefer
Band Camp
SAT 4/26
The city's signature marching band, the San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band, turns 25 this year, and it does so with pomp and circumstance. The world's first openly gay music group celebrates a quarter-century of musicmaking with "The Beat Goes On," a concert at 7 p.m. at the Everett Middle School Auditorium, where the ensemble's first gig took place in December 1978. Highlights include Trauma Flintstone's sing-along rendition of "Hanukkah in Santa Monica," from the 1999 Dance-Along Nutcracker, and a preview of a documentary about the band. Hear it at 450 Church (near 16th Street), S.F. Tickets are $15-40; call 863-3650 or visit www.sflgfb.org. -- Lisa Hom
