Tonight, Moscow's Liquid Theatre make their West Coast debut, Yoshi's SF plays host to a 1920s inspired evening of art and music to benefit orphans in Peru, and South Korean master filmmaker Hong Sang-soo returns with his trademark twice-told tale of a drunken filmmaker chasing an old flame. more ›

Tonight, Frank Langella stars as an aging cat burglar, musicians Jennifer Muhawi and Douglas McKeehan perform classic French songs, and Marsh artists-in-residence, Charlie Varon and David Ford, "skewer the brave new world of internet exhibitionism." more ›

Tonight, spin the wheel at Elvis Costello & The Imposters, hear the best comedic storytellers take part in Previously Secret Information, or attend 'Love/Hate', a "dark-hued comedic rhapsody" featuring San Francisco Opera Center’s prestigious 2012 Adler Fellows. more ›

Tonight, watch a few "growing up too fast" films that are set in Japan, "be a slave for fashion" at the de Young, or attend a couple of short plays that complement and contrast each other. more ›

Tonight, musicians, artists, and comics raise funds for Adobe Books, Piano Fight takes on a full-length play, and Other Cinema explores the work of John Cage and Harry Partch. more ›

Tonight, The Polyphonic Spree fill the Great American with psychedelic choral wonderment, Iraqi filmmaker Oday Rasheed will be in person at the screening of his film, Qarantina, and A.C.T. staff discuss Maple and Vine before the performance. more ›

Tonight, members of the Society for Photographic Education focus on the boundary between public and private domain, Big Daddy Dean plays a free jazz show, and solo performer Tina D'Elia puts on a one-woman show. more ›

A perfect play should provoke, inspire, educate, entertain, and delight its audience, and Red is certainly a near-perfect play. Berkeley Rep's latest import from Broadway won the Tony Award for Best Play in 2010, as well as the Drama Desk Award, and we can see why — it's a tightly written two-person drama centering an American artist about whom no major movies have yet been made: Mark Rothko. And it achieves all the above goals as any good play should — though it might be a little short on the delight factor. Given that it's about Rothko, though, we'd probably be asking too much for it to be delightful. more ›

Tonight, get a piece of Brad at Books, Inc, in the Castro, experience a "jazz-riddled absurdist farce" at Boxcar Studios, or learn all about S.F.'s love affair with baseball at the Jewish Community Center. more ›

Oakland's Oceanography headlines tonight at the Elbo Room, also featuring Kirsten Opstad of Massachusetts and SF's Liz O, along with poetry by Diana Salier. Also tonight... more ›

Tonight, experience present-day Hunter's Point on the big screen, donate funds to the Japanese theater community while enjoying a line-up of 10-minute plays and songs, or attend a live late-evening talk show. more ›

There's a brightness to Nellie McKay that's hard to describe if you haven't seen her live. Having long been fans of her music — a blend of quirky, articulate lyrics with an amalgam of cabaret and pop-song sounds both old and new — we thought we'd check out her two-night engagement at the Rrazz Room this week, which was the first she'd ever done at the venue. The show is called "I Want to Live!" and it's framed around the life, arrest, trial, and execution of Barbara Graham, the third woman ever to be executed at San Quentin in 1955. more ›

MUSIC: San Francisco folk/pop gem, Hélène Renaut, who one critic described as, "[i]magine Syd Barret having a musical baby with Francoise Hardy," will take the stage at the intimate Hemlock Tavern tonight, along with guests Karina Denike and Carletta Sue Kay. (6 p.m., Hemlock Tavern, 1131 Polk Street) more ›

Sometimes watching a play about torture in a war-torn country can be torturous in and of itself. And while we would not say that about A.C.T.'s latest offering, Scorched, we will say that parts of it — especially the first act — feel, at worst, like school, and at best, like the genre of movies that Syriana and Waltz With Bashir belong to, and which have education about war time as one of their primary objectives. more ›

Noise Pop presents DC/JV: Photography by Peter Ellenby, featuring fifteen years' worth of portraits of Death Cab for Cutie and John Vanderslice, which document the musicians' storied careers and "serve as beautiful reminders of the shared parts of both Vanderslice and DCFC's journeys," all through the eyes of a photographer who's been there since the beginning... more ›

SFist's own Andrew Dalton will be part of the line-up at tonight's Litquake Valentine event, Love Hurts, in which participants will tackle their favorite "overwrought passages," including picks from Harold Robbins, The Story of O, The World of Suzie Wong, and other delights. more ›

Chinese New Year Parade and Festival: Festival-goers might actually enjoy a dry Chinese New Year extravaganza this year. Leave those umbrellas and ponchos as home! more ›

A wayward teenaged Jesus heads East, lovelorn bike enthusiasts pair up, and an award-winning quarterly magazine showcases the best work by world-renowned photojournalists. more ›

Super Bowl, Schmuper Bowl, here's some other stuff that's going on — 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' at the Castro, experimental surf/garage rock at the Hemlock, and a solo theater performance at Stage Werx. more ›

Adam Savage, Whil Wheaton, and Paul and Storm honor geek culture, the stage adaptation of Cory Doctorow's 'Little Brother' predicts the near future, and record swap at the Knockout. more ›

COMEDY: SF Sketchfest presents a rare Stella reunion, in which the crew pays homage to their early "Nightclub" days, when they hosted a weekly showcase for alternative and mainstream comedy. The event features special surprise guest comedians and live music by Release the Sunbird featuring Zach Rogue. (Get there early to score some door tickets.) (7 p.m., Mezzanine, 444 Jessie Street) more ›

We like Jonathan Moscone, and have admired his directing talents often at CalShakes and A.C.T., and this week a play that is very close to his heart and life premiered at Berkeley Rep. Ghost Light, which was written by longtime Berkeley Rep artistic director Tony Taccone and co-conceived by Moscone, who serves both as director and as the central character — Taccone insists this is a "character" based on Jonathan who happens to be named Jonathan, but you get the point — is a play about a son struggling with the death of his famous father many years after that father was assassinated and made national headlines. And that father was slain San Francisco mayor George Moscone. more ›

MUSIC: Alcoholocaust presents a stellar night of veteran Bay Area Alternative Tentacles bands, including Victims Family, Fleshies, and Pins Of Light. (9 p.m., Elbo Room, 947 Valencia Street) more ›

THEATER: You still have a couple of weeks to catch Britain's Kneehigh Theater Group's The Wild Bride at Berkeley Rep, which was extended through the 22nd. SFist Jay enjoyed the production, which he says takes "a particularly dark (and arguably feminist) fairy tale from the Brothers Grimm called 'The Girl Without Hands,' and views it through a Southern Gothic lens, complete with banjo-and-bass bluegrass songs, and a lot of dancing." (8 p.m., Berkeley Repertory Theatre, 2025 Addison Street) more ›

It's an old-timey theme here at SFist Tonight. See a Buster Keaton classic in Berkeley, hear some gritty blues at Cafe Du Nord, or experience spellbinding theater at the Old Mint. more ›

Tomorrow marks the first preview of Ghost Light, a new play co-conceived and directed by Jonathan Moscone about the life and death of his father, slain San Francisco mayor George Moscone. Moscone is a regular on the theater scene in the Bay Area, serving currently as artistic director of the California Shakespeare Theater and occasional director at both A.C.T. and Berkeley rep, and he says he was inspired to create this piece after watching the film Milk, and realizing his father's role as a gay rights advocate has been overshadowed by Harvey Milk, alongside whom he was killed, and thus has not made it into the history books. more ›

FILM: The Castro presents a screening of Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child, which is centered around a rare interview that director and friend Tamra Davis shot with Basquiat over twenty years ago, chronicling the meteoric rise and fall of the artist, as part of a double-feature screening with Bill Cunningham, New York. (5 and 8:05 p.m., Castro Theatre, 429 Castro Street) more ›

MUSIC: Spend your New Year's shaking that a$$ to witty, high-energy hip hop by Kreayshawn (who now lives in Los Angeles), and smart/quirky electronic indie by Wallpaper, along with Roach Gigz, Starting Six, DJ Amen, and DJ Fatboy. (8 p.m., The Regency Ballroom, 1290 Sutter Street) more ›

COMEDY: You have a few days left to catch the tenth-year run of the acclaimed Santaland Diaries, Joe Mantello's stage adaptation of David Sedaris' instant Christmas classic told through the eyes of a Macy's elf who "confronts the screaming children, bossy parents, flaky elves, and apathetic Santas with hilarious results." (8 p.m., Eureka Theater, 215 Jackson Street) more ›