Along with temperate weather, a surf-friendly beach, and nearby state parks for days, San Francisco is also home to a breathtaking diversity of cultural events. Between our fair city’s world-class museums, restaurants, bars, art galleries, music scene, festivals, and clubs, between all that is weird and quirky and purely San Franciscan, there’s something going down, somewhere, every single day of the year. What’s an engaged culture hound to do? First step: Check out our newly launched Flavorpill social discovery engine, where you can create and share events with friends, follow our carefully curated editors’ picks, and connect with other people who have similar interests as you. Below, you’ll find Flavorpill’s top picks for this week. Just a little bit of help as you set out into this beautiful wide world of SF’s happenings.
Monday, April 29
BOOKS: Eliot Spitzer: Money, Politics & Democracy
Tuesday, April 30
PERFORMING ARTS: The Last Foxtrot feat. Garrison Keillor and Calvin Trillin Everyone loves a good story, and Garrison Keillor is a master storyteller. Aside from over 35 years upholding the beloved radio show A Prairie Home Companion (a tremendous feat in a world of 3D everything), Keillor is also a longtime advocate for poetry and a prolific poet himself. Tonight, in conversation with humorist Calvin Trillin and with musical accompaniment by pianist Peter Duchin, you can be sure to get a dose of spoken word wrapped in a heartfelt package. — Joshua Wyatt
Wednesday, May 1
MUSIC: Sleepy Sun with Feral Ohms and Meg Baird Since coalescing as Sleepy Sun in Santa Cruz some five years ago, the five-piece now residing in San Francisco has turned a small-town band of friends into an internationally acclaimed psychedelic rock phenomenon. Booming at times, soulful and gentle at others, the spectrum of Sleepy Sun’s sound is wide enough to snare the die-hard fans of the genre as easily as the casual listener. Their third full-length, 2012’s Spine Hits, is their first without vocalist Rachel Fannan, but doesn’t disappoint as they relentlessly continue to tour their renowned live show. You can catch them live at The Chapel tonight. — Cooper Berkmoyer
Thursday, May 2
FILM: Jay and Silent Bob’s Super Groovy Cartoon Movie Since we first met them as they bummed around a Quick Stop in Kevin Smith’s debut indie classic Clerks (1994), a cult following has sprung up around Jay and Silent Bob, the two improbably loveable stoners who have come to inhabit much of the Smith universe. From their own spin-off full-length films to talking action figures, New Jersey’s most adored scumbags have struck a chord that continues to resonate to this day. Enter Jay and Silent Bob’s Super Groovy Cartoon Movie, the latest installment of their escapades, playing for one night only at the Warfield, and featuring a Q&A after the film with the men behind the magic, Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes. — Cooper Berkmoyer
Friday, May 3
ART: Oakland Art Murmur / First Fridays The combined forces of the Oakland Art Murmur, an initiative to garner attention for the Northgate and Temescal districts’ art scene, and the Oakland First Friday street festival, have created the most spectacular and bombastic art walk in all the Bay Area. Oakland Art Murmur is a splendorous admixture of art that’s both close to the street and socially highbrow. With 20,000 attendees every month, you will bump into, discover, and inevitably find the good time you’re hunting for. — Joshua Wyatt
Saturday, May 4
CITY GEM: San Francisco Botanical Garden’s Spring Plant Sale Just a week after Arbor Day, the San Francisco Botanical Garden hosts its 46th Annual Spring Plant Sale to keep alive the spirit of showing the earth some love. Boasting more than 2,500 different kinds of plants for sale, the Spring Plant Sale has it all — succulents, ferns, orchids, natives, alpines, rhododendrons, perennials, house plants, shrubs, and trees, many of which you’ll not find elsewhere. To up the ante, there’s also a silent auction for rare and exotic species. Get those green thumbs ready. — Bonnie Chan
FESTIVAL: San Francisco Cinco de Mayo Festival
Sunday, May 5
FESTIVAL/SHOPPING: Urban Air Market Nine years running and now the nation’s largest outdoor independent design show, with over 130 designers and artists, Urban Air Market (formerly the Capsule Design Festival) is the cure for Wal-Mart. There’s women’s apparel by Amour Vert, Dreamboat Dresses, Invisible Hero; jewelry and accessories by Heroine Chic, M. Brulee, Blissful Co.; shoes for the men by Beneduci, for the women by D.A.O. and Into the Wild; all the latest screenprints and belts and earrings and corsets, outside and local and beautiful and sustainable and green. This festival is a must for any fashionable metropolitan. — Joshua Wyatt
CITY GEM: Alameda Point Antiques Faire
Ongoing
DANCE: Paul Taylor Dance Company: Gossamer Gallants Get ready for the West Coast debut of four fresh new works from the Paul Taylor Dance Company at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. A student of Cunningham, Graham, and Balanchine, Paul Taylor is synonymous with contemporary dance, and the New York-based company’s striking, playful aesthetic makes San Francisco a perfect home away from home. This latest roundup of choreography twinkle-toes the line between romp and ritual, and is sure to delight modern dance devotees and ingenues alike. — Meg Hurtado