at Market Street Gallery takes (ollies?) it higher than your standard
wine-and-cracker-assortment affair. An auction on May 8 offered
originally designed skateboards by more than 50 artists, with proceeds
benefiting a homeless center in the
Tenderloin. Tonight's artists' reception includes a free screening of
Patrick O'Neil's Yaa Girls and the Deadly Sparks, a documentary about
an all-female skate gang rolling around San Francisco in the early
'80s. (Free, 6p.m.)
DJ Sep's Dub Mission might just be the longest-running club night in San Francisco. It's easy to take the Sunday night party for granted, but it's done a lot to ensure that bass, reverb, and echo have a place in the city's nightlife, as well as continually featuring national and international artists of renown within the dub world.
Case in point: May 24's show with Brooklyn's Dr. Israel. Probably best known for the dubby jungle anthem "Inna City," he's also worked with Rancid, Praxis, Santogold, and Bill Laswell. Also on the bill: Patch--a founding member of Heavyweight Dub Champion;Lady K, a protégé of Dr. Israel who hails from Washington D.C.; and, of course, Dub Mission's dubmistress, DJ Sep. This show is gonna be filled with dread vibrations in various iterations, so check it.
San Francisco's favorite Kenyan Afro-groovester, Victor Sila, has just released Black President, his second album with the Afrofunk Experience. I'll admit to being a bit biased--Sila is a friend of mine, and I wrote his bio--but I really like the album. The musicianship on the Black President is quite good; the Afrofunk Experience has become a really tight ensemble, and the horns, guitar, and percussion all shine. Sila has evolved both as lead vocalist and songwriter, mixing Fela Kuti-esque social consciousness, righteous James Brownish funk, and various global influences, from Latin to soukous to reggae. My two favorite songs right now are "Shelter" (which addresses the AIDS epidemic, still a matter of grave concern in Africa) and the James Brown tribute "Chrome," but the entire album is eminently listenable and danceable from start to finish.
The Afrofunk Experience's official record release happens at Mezzanine on May 30, and they've got a bunch of dates lined up through August, including the Sierra Nevada World Music Festival, the Salem (Oregon) World Beat Festival, San Mateo's Central Park Music series, the Mt. Shasta Music festival, and the Fillmore Center Music series. Tour dates are here, and a free download of the album's title track is here.
