Wednesday 5/20: Reports of the cultural death of San Francisco have been greatly exaggerated. We may be down, but we are definitely not out. (In a manner of speaking.) Need proof? Tonight you can encounter a rare appearance by transgressive musical icon Peaches, in conversation with Annie Sprinkle and Beth Stevens. Boom! They will be celebrating the release of Peaches’s new book, What Else Is In The Teaches of Peaches. Free, 7 p.m, City Lights.
Lyrics & Dirges features Lourdes Figueroa, Wilfred Galila, Tantra Bensko, Tamila Walker, and Jeff Von Ward. Free, 7:30 p.m., Pegasus Books Downtown Berkeley.
Thursday 5/21: David Meltzer celebrates the East Bay launch of the expanded and updated edition of his 1977 book Two Way Mirror: A Poetry Notebook, published by City Lights. Free, 7 p.m., La Commune Cafe and Bookstore.
Tonight is your last chance to attend Under The Influence at The Emerald Tablet. The series will continue, but The Emerald Tablet, alas, is among the fallen art venues in San Francisco’s war of the rising rents. Featured performers are M.C. K~Swift, Brigid M. Hughes, Joshua Braff, and Jack & Adele Foley. $5-$10 suggested donation, 7:30 p.m., The Emerald Tablet.
Sunday 5/24: Poetry Flash presents River Styx editor, poet Richard Newmark (All the Wasted Beauty of the World) and Lee Rossi (Wheelchair Samarai). Free, 3 p.m., Diesel, A Bookstore.
Tuesday 5/26: Litquake’s Epicenter returns to Viracocha to present the San Francisco launch of Peter Coyote‘s spiritual autobiography, The Rainman’s Third Cure: An Irregular Education. Coyote will be in conversation with journalist Phil Bronstein, executive chair of the board for the Center for Investigative Reporting. $15-$25 suggested donation, 7 p.m., Viracocha.
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This week’s theatre recommendation is Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper, adapted for the stage by Gary Graves for Berkeley’s Central Works.
Gilman’s celebrated short story, published in 1892, is recognized as both a masterpiece of horror genre and an important work of feminist literature. It is particularly resonant performed in a parlor within the gothic environment of The Berkeley City Club, which was designed by pioneering woman architect, Julia Morgan. Central Works is a highly unusual theatre company in that they produce new work exclusively, often developing the work through a collaborative process. The current production is their forty-seventh world premiere. For further information, click here. For a review, click here.
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This week’s local author video is from the Litseen archives of February, 2013 and features Joshua Mohr, whose fifth book, All This Life: A Novel, is upcoming in July. Read an interview here.
