Week of February 27
Dozens of art shows, Jenny the Donkey, and other happenings this week
This week, we are spoiled with riches. Every kind of art has a show opening somewhere cool (see below). The Public Library is serving up an intellectual rave with the Night of Ideas. The Cut Outdoor Cinema is screening Oscar darling The Banshees of Inisherin, featuring our favorite leading lady, Jenny the Donkey. How did we get so lucky? Here’s your report on this week’s fun du jour.
Don’t forget: the Days & Nights BIG LIST is now live for our extra beloved paying subscribers! 😎
Paying subscribers can visit the list to see far into the future and plan fun accordingly. We update the list multiple times per week as new events are announced and intel is uncovered so you’re always a few steps ahead.
🆓 = costs $0, 🎨 = art, 🎼 = music, 🎬 = film, 📚= books, 🍸 = drinks available, 🦩 = party vibe, 🌳 = nature, 🎭 = stage
Tuesday, Feb 28
Oscar nominated documentary shorts screening at the Roxie
Catch all 5 Oscar-nominated short documentaries tonight—total runtime is 177 minutes, plus 12 minute intermission so you can stretch your legs and get more popcorn.
The Roxie, Mission
6:45p 🎬🍸
The Enhancers book launch
Anna K. Yoder’s The Enhancers is a “polyvocal novel that follows three teenage friends coming of age in a techno-pharmaceutical society. Hannah is born and raised in a town whose industry revolves around Lumena Corp., maker of the supplement Valedictorian.” We’re already dying to talk about this book with someone, so please hit us up for an impromptu book club. Or, just hear the author in conversation with the wonderfully named novelist, Rita Bullwinkel, at Green Apple tonight.
Green Apple Books on the Park, Inner Sunset
7p 🆓 📚
City Arts & Lectures presents Tsitsi Dangarembga and Angela Davis
Angela Davis needs no introduction. Neither does Tsitsi Dangarembga, although we do want to call out that her book, Nervous Conditions, is one of the best. These two extraordinary humans will be in conversation on stage, presented by City Arts & Lectures and the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD).
Sydney Goldstein Theater, Hayes Valley
7:30p 🎭 📚
Wednesday, Mar 1
Lecture on Persian Carpets presented by the Legion of Honor
Who doesn’t love a good chat on textiles? The Legion of Honor presents Persian Carpets and Women’s Creative Work, which you can livestream for free.
Legion of Honor but watch online
5pm 🆓 🎨
Thursday, Mar 2
Nan Goldin show opens at Fraenkel Gallery
Nan Goldin is having a big moment. Her activism against the Sackler family is the subject of the Oscar-nominated documentary, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed. And her new show of photographs is opening at Fraenkel Gallery this week. From the gallery: “Memory Lost, the exhibition’s centerpiece, is a slideshow in which Goldin explores the darkness of drug addiction through images and recordings from her extensive archive…Projected in a darkened room, Memory Lost presents a haunting and emotional narrative comprised of outtakes drawn from Goldin’s archive of thousands of slides. Depicting scenes from her life and circle of friends, the 24-minute piece recounts the pain and fleeting moments of beauty in life lived through the lens of addiction.”
Fraenkel Gallery, Union Square
10:30a-5:30p, show runs til April 29 🆓 🎨
Turn Me Into Gold: A Storytelling Party at Saint Joseph’s
We love Saint Joseph’s. We love writers. Tonight, get ‘em both at this party of “live journalism and storytelling by New York Times and GQ journalists, writers, a comedian + live music.”
Saint Joseph’s Arts Society, SOMA
7-10p 🎭 🎼 🍸 🦩
Friday, Mar 3
Michael Garlington opening reception at Di Rosa Art Museum
If you want to skip work and get out of the city, check out the Di Rosa Art Museum in Napa, where you can see photographer and sculptor Michael Garlington’s latest piece, Totem Di Rosa. This museum is the Storm King of the west coast; it’s situated on many gorgeous acres with lots of outdoor sculpture. Plus, there are peacocks on the grounds.
Di Rosa Art Museum, Napa
3-5p 🆓 ($0 for members; $10 for all others) 🎨🌳
James Sterling Pitt & JB Blunk closing party
If you want to get out of town but aren’t down for Napa, try the more ~*chill*~ Blunk Space at Point Reyes. Tonight is the closing reception for James Sterling Pitt and the late JB Blunk’s show. We are truly in love with Pitt’s little sculptures and can’t recommend this show highly enough.
Blunk Space, Point Reyes
5-7p 🆓 🎨 🌳
Opening reception for Sheena Rose’s Earth Black Lipstick
We saw this paintings in person last weekend and there’s a lot to love (especially the bold colors with no hint of brushstrokes on the canvases). Btw, Johansson Projects is one of our favorite gallery spaces—those arch doorways and cool windows make us want to live here.
Johansson Projects, Downtown Oakland
5-8p 🆓 🎨🦩
Gearbox Gallery pop-up at Forma
Artist-run Gearbox Gallery is taking over a penthouse on the top floor of the Forma Residences to show off some great art (including that of new Friend of the List Jamie Treacy). Enjoy snacks, cocktails, views, and art—the event is free, but RSVP here.
Forma Residences, Downtown Oakland
6-7:30p free but RSVP 🆓 🎨 🦩🍸
Saturday, Mar 4
Paradiso Reading Series
This afternoon poetry series returns to Berkeley, featuring readings from poets Saretta Morgan, Anne Walsh, and Stephanie Young.
Finnish Hall Auditorium, Berkeley
Doors 1:30p, show 2p 🆓📚
Urban Arterial artists talk with Jules Campbell and Julie V. Garner
We saw this show last weekend, and wowwww it is dope. Catch the artists talk about their work at this beautiful artist-run space (and catch Chris Miles’ show, Anything Can Happen, at Transmission Gallery on the 2nd floor while you’re here).
Gearbox Gallery, Downtown Oakland
2p 🆓 🎨
Minnesota Street Project openings at Themes & Projects, Nancy Toomey Fine Art, Eleanor Harwood Gallery, Anglim Trimble, Municipal Bonds, and others
It’s a big day for openings at the Minnesota Street Projects. You know what to do: put on an unstoppable outfit and check those galleries for new art. Catch Maia Flore’s Scenes from the Sun at Themes & Projects, Hunter Saxony III’s You Have My Heart…It’s OK To Rest Here at Eleanor Harwood Gallery, Jud Bergeron’s Subspace Biographies opening at Nancy Toomey Fine Arts, FEBRUARY THIRTY FIRST with THE ANGOLA-3 at Anglim Trimble, Fritz Horstman's Folded Light at Municipal Bonds.
Minnesota Street Projects, Dogpatch
4ish-7ish 🆓 🎨🦩
San Francisco Philharmonic presents On the Rachs
We love when classical musicians make jokes. The “On the Rachs” performance includes Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 18 and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 in E Minor Op. 64. Earlybird tickets are just $20.
Herbst Theater, Civic Center
4-7:30p 🎼
The 2023 Night of Ideas
This is a truly legendary event—each year, thinkers, artists, dancers, poets, drag queens, and performers of all sorts take over all seven floors of the SF Public Library Main Branch for a marathon of talks, performances, and art. This year’s full lineup is here.
SF Library Main Branch, Civic Center
7p 🆓 🎨🦩 🎼🎭
Two shows opening at Jessica Silverman
Sam Falls’ solo show and Davina Semo’s Treasury open tonight at the always very good Jessica Silverman gallery. We love this location in Chinatown—you can make an afternoon and evening of the trip by also catching the latest at Et Al and Micki Meng galleries, grabbing a drink at Moongate Lounge or Tosca (our #1 restaurant), then stocking up on books at the extremely perfect landmark, City Lights Books.
Jessica Silverman, Chinatown
5-7p 🆓 🎨
Final performance and closing reception at PALLAS
Artists in Residence Kelley O’Leary, Santino Gonzales & Brian Bartz present their final live, multi-media performance to close out the run. We haven’t seen it yet, but it sounds cool—read about it here. We’ve loved Kelley O’Leary’s work since we first saw her at Flowers, a beautiful gallery space, now in heaven, from Friend of the List and brilliant painter Elwyn Palmerton.
PALLAS, Cathedral Hill
6-9p 🆓 🎨
The Coming of Spring Group Show at Crisis Club Gallery
Get more bang for your buck, even though the show is free. Tonight, see art from a dozen artists all in one place.
Crisis Club Gallery, Paradise Park, Oakland
6-9p 🆓 🎨🦩
Quit Your Day Job (new!) presents a Disco and Gallery Opening
Quit your day job sf is a new group that curates pop-up events highlighting local and part-time artists and DJs. Tonight, they’ll do their thing by bringing together an art show, DJ sets, and ceramic mug workshop (cute!) to 710 Collective.
710 Collective, Haight Ashbury
7-10p, naturally 🆓 🎨🦩🍸 🎼
The Banshees of Inisherin at the Cut Outdoor Cinema
Best actress Oscar really could go to Jenny the Donkey, the best character in this great movie. If you want to watch it outside in a group, you can do so tonight at the Cut Outdoor Cinema. If the weather is trash, stream it.
Cut Outdoor Cinema, SOMA
8:30p 🎬
Sunday, Mar 5
Labyrinth screening
As kiddos, this movie was our first introduction to David Bowie and let’s just say it stuck with us.
Balboa Theater, Outer Richmond
11am, 4p 🎬
Take an art class at Root Division IRL or online.
We love March Madness—the reading series. See the lineup here.
Catch the Memory and Aging series from the SF Public Library and UCSF here.
THAT’S ALL, FOLKS
Have tips? Feedback? Requests? Want to say hi? Just reply to this email or drop us a line at daysnightslist@gmail.com. Catch you next week!