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Arts/Culture/Weekend: Noise Pop, silent film and sea chanteys

I used to think festival season was all about summertime magic, bare feet, desert sands and palm trees. But one of the wonders of living in a seasonal twilight-zone like San Francisco is a festival can strike at any time, like...now! Noise Pop is here, a springtime selection of independent music, art and film. There are events going all week so check out the schedule and take your pick. Here are mine, for this week's Arts/Culture/Weekend:

WEDNESDAY

The Fresh & Onlys, R. Stevie Moore, Plateaus, Burnt Ones // If you could only go to one live show during Noise Pop and you had to spin a wheel to choose, if the arrow landed here you’d probably high five that wheel and take it as your +1. The Fresh & Onlys play surfed out garage-rock that every band in San Francisco seems to want to emulate, with bouncy melodies and a whole lot of reverb. R. Stevie Moore has been DIY since before Sweden had IKEA, releasing over 400 cassettes and CDR’s through his home label: the R.Stevie Moore Cassette Club. And Plateaus bring an interest in geology and a San Diegan brand of grime described as “snotty." Unmissable. // DETAILS: 7:00PM-1:00AM, Bottom of the Hill, Cost: $14, All ages

Turning: A Music Documentary + Q&A with director Charles Atlas // Charles Atlas was stage managing off-Broadway theater works and dreaming of Hollywood when he met legendary choreographer Merce Cunningham in 1970. They started producing films together, and Atlas’ unique form of dance/media was born. Atlas has since joined forces with artists like Leigh Bowery, The Fall, and Marina Abramovic to create performances for camera that straddle the boundaries of film, music, and live art. His latest work captures Antony and the Johnsons’ extraordinary concert, Turning. As Anthony performs, thirteen women join him on the stage, one by one, and together they challenge and redefine traditional perceptions of human identity and femininity, and all in under 80 minutes! // DETAILS: 7:00PM, The Roxie Theater, Cost: $10

Manzanita Sound Soul Party SXSW Send-Off // If you’re in the East Bay and want to get funky on a Wednesday (why not?), shake your bombi, and your handkerchief, at this monthly night of rare musical jams brought to you by Oakland’s finest - your last chance before they pack up to go on vinyl safari in the Wild South West. // DETAILS: 10PM - Close, Bar 335, 19th & Webster, Oakland, Cost: No cover

THURSDAY

Crazy Love // Shinjuku, Tokyo in the late 60s and 70s was a hedonistic riot of emerging counterculture, where hippies, avant-garde performers, and drag artists ruled the streets. At its epicenter was the Art Theater Guild’s mothership cinema, where MichioOkabe’sCrazy Love (Kurejii Rabu) screened for the first time. Set in Shinjuku province, Okabe’s film is a love-montage to pop culture and Tokyo’s fledgling underground. With a frenetic and irresistible soundtrack of French chansons, group sounds, and western soul, and visual quotations from the wider late industrial world, Okabe takes us on a tour of his ephemeral and somehow global Shinjuku landscape. Catch it as part of YBCA and SF Cinemateque’sFragments of Japanese Underground Cinema 1960-1974 // DETAILS: 7:30PM, YBCA Screening Room, Cost: $10 regular, $8 for YBCA members

SATURDAY

54th Annual White Elephant Sale // Northern California’s biggest rummage sale hits Oakland this weekend. Yes, that’s right, 96,0000 square feet of pure gold-mine, arranged into 17 orderly sections of vintage clothes, books, furniture and art.  If the thought alone isn’t enabling enough, it’s free and there’s a shuttle that will pick you up and ferry you there from Fruitvale Bart. Happy shopping! // DETAILS: 10AM-4PM, 333 Lancaster Street, Oakland CA, Cost: By donation, proceeds benefit The Oakland Museum

KALW’s Chew On This // This is the last in an amazing first run of live, interactive radio shows about the practical problems and solutions of city living. This episode sees a panel of experts answer questions about how to help kids and teens get the most out of surfing the web safely, without cramping their style. Chew On This also happens to be hosted at the SoMaStrEAt Food Park, the tastiest and sunniest spot to get lunch on any day of the week, you might even convince the miniatures in your life to join you. // DETAILS: 1PM-2:30PM, SoMaStrEAt Food Park, 11th and Division, Cost: FREE

Sea Chantey Sing-a-Long // During the “golden age” of chanteying, working sailors used song to communicate more pleasantly and efficiently onboard, kind of like Glee but with less shiny hair. Skip a shampoo and join the tradition with a sea-chantey sing-a-long aboard a historical San Francisco ship. Wrap up warm and bring-your-own-mug for hot cider. // DETAILS: 8PM-Midnight, San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, Hyde Street Pier, First Saturday of every month, Cost: Freem but reservations required (415-561-7171)

SUNDAY

Underground Silent Film: Fritz Lang’s Spies (1928) + Musical Accompaniment // Don’t you get tired watching new movies? All that color, all the constant movement. You know what would be great, if they switched off the sound and replaced it with music, and just summarized the action in a few short words that could play at appropriate interstitials on black screens to give our eyeballs a break. That's in store for audiences at The Tannery's screening this Sunday, hosted by the Berkeley Underground Film Festival. // DETAILS: 7PM-10PM, The Tannery, 708 Gilman St. Berkeley, CA, Cost: FREE

Arts/Culture/Weekend is a roundup of our favorite events coming up around the Bay Area. Please do let us know if you have an event coming up in your neighborhood, and we'll try to include it.

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