It's more than just Heart and Soul: the Berkeley Arts Festival presents an evening of four-hand piano pieces, composed by beloved local minimalist Terry Riley, and performed by Joseph Kubera and Berkeley radio host/pianist Sarah Cahill. 8 p.m., $10-20 sliding scale, at the temporary Berkeley Arts Festival location, which is the Fidelity Bank Building at 2323 Shattuck (x Bancroft). more ›

You know it's hard out here for a Wednesday..... Tonight: Jump out your own window for this one -- the new Defenestration Journal is throwing itself a launch party with the debut of its first issue. Defenestration Journal features art, fiction, and poetry from SF women, and the launch party will feature readings, drink specials, and a performance by burlesque cheerleader troupe the Cock-Ts. It's free at the Rickshaw Stop, 155 Fell (x Van Ness), 6-8:30 p.m. Thursday: The Alliance Francaise (sorry, SFist Ced, we don't know how to code a cedilla in HTML) is screening selections from the 7-hour silent film Les Vampires, with live musical accompaniment. You know, the silent movie with the famous Irma Vep! $7 Alliance members, $10 for everyone else. Movie starts at 7 p.m, at the Alliance (1345 Bush St, between Polk and Larkin). and Friday: Stop by the California College of the Arts for tonight's Small Press Traffic poetry reading: Poets Kazim Ali and Mark Wallace will read their new works. Ali is described as uniting "Near Eastern traditions" with "painterly minimalism" in his work, and Wallace is described as "John Hawkes dreaming of Paul Bowles having a gothic nightmare." Free to CCA students, $5-10 sliding scale, 7:30 p.m. at CCA, 1111 Eighth Street (between 16th and Wisconsin). Picture of what we think is issue 1 of the Defenestration Journal more ›