Welcome! We’re launching this new column as a forum to cover and celebrate the boundless creativity that manifests in the Mission every week. Dance, music, visual arts, film — no neighborhood in San Francisco boasts more cultural offerings any given week. I’ll be reporting on gigs, talking to performers, and sharing impressions, looking to shine a light on the artists who work and live here.
A Cultural Mission isn’t intended to provide a comprehensive list of events. Rather, it’s a tentative game plan, a series of suggestions for Mission denizens and people who love exploring the district. If you run a venue, gallery or studio, if you’re an artist, musician, choreographer or sculptor and you’ve got a tip about an upcoming event, we want to hear from you! Please drop the knowledge at andrew@missionlocal.com. Here are some events we recommend checking out.
Saturday: ’32 Sounds’ at the Roxie
Oscar-nominated filmmaker Sam Green, a longtime Mission resident before he moved to Brooklyn in 2006, presents his new film, “32 Sounds,” Saturday at the Roxie (and Sunday at Berkeley’s Elmwood Theater). Green has been steadily expanding the possibilities of documentary filmmaking; the live documentary he created in collaboration with Kronos Quartet, “A Thousand Thoughts,” and his new work explores the visceral power of sound. Designed as an immersive experience, the Roxie screening features individual headphones for each audience member.
Nominated for a best feature documentary Academy Award for his 2002 film, “The Weather Underground,” Green has long been obsessed with the way a recorded sound can evoke an entire sensory experience. Working with composer and musician JD Samson, he crafted a wide-ranging meditation on 32 specific sounds, focusing on the way vibrations can collapse time and space. Green will be at the Roxie, in conversation with filmmaker Bonni Cohen.
Friday: Saxophonist David Boyce at Medicine for Nightmares
Tenor saxophonist David Boyce has been a force on the Bay Area music scene since the early 1990s when he helped found the Broun Fellinis, one of the acid jazz era’s signature combos. For the past few years he’s been holding down a semi-regular Friday residency at Medicine For Nightmares, turning the bookstore into a liminal realm welcoming spirits and ancestors. He’s usually joined by a special guest or two, and this week’s encounter features the Matis Arizmendi Duo.
Thursday: Blues-tinged songs at the Rite Spot
Meredith Edgar and Danny Allen, blues-tinged singer/songwriters and guitarists, team up at the Rite Spot Thursday, July 27, in anticipation of Edgar’s new single, “Washed Up,” which is slated for release the following day.
Saturday: Paseo Artístico celebrates 50 years of hip-hop
The golden anniversary of hip-hop has not gone unnoticed. KQED Arts is in the midst of an ongoing series exploring the musical movement’s history and influence on the Bay Area. And, as part of that project, Paseo Artístico highlights hip-hop’s half-century milestone (1973-2023) by celebrating the homegrown pioneer DJ Quest, who was born in El Salvador and settled in the Mission in the early 1980s. Renowned for introducing what he dubbed the “hamster style” of cutting and scratching, he opened up new possibilities for DJs around the world. The free all-day event runs Saturday, noon to 7 p.m., at various venues on 24th Street/Calle 24 and at KQED Commons. Co-produced by Chris Cuadrado, Acción Latina and several other organizations, the community art walk includes hip-hop dance, graffiti, producers’ showcase, vinyl market, DJs, emcees and more.
Thanks – this is a much needed addition to Mission Local. Ever since the Bay Guardian and SF Weekly shut down, we are in dire need of a listing of all of the live music events in the Mission. Seeing that need, a year ago I created a facebook page called “The Mission Muse” which I publish every Tuesday – it lists the live music going on at Radio Habana, Blondies, Arcana, Amados, the Rite Spot, Bissap Baobab, Ivory and Vine, Curio Bar as well as street fairs/festivals. Check it out. I compile the info from the various websites of the venues.
Please check out music, poetry, visual art at Medicine for Nightmares. Let me know if you need an introduction
https://medicinefornightmares.com
3036 24th Street
This is a great idea! Look forward to future installments.