-- Unsilent Night: New York-based composer Phil Kline’s holiday concert creates "an outdoor ambient music piece for an infinite number of boomboxes. It’s like a Christmas caroling party except that [you] don’t sing, but rather carry the music, each [member] playing a separate track that is a "voice" in the piece. In effect, we become a city-block-long sound system" So ... there you have it. Tapes and CDs will be handed out to participants. Merry holidays, yo. more ›

Deck the halls with boughs of Wednesday -- fa la la la la, la la la la! Tonight: Come out for this year's annual Unsilent Night music performance! Composer Phil Kline leads people on a 30-minute walk around the Mission as they carry boomboxes playing his piece, and listen as the sound shimmers around the block. 6:45 at Dolores Park -- bring either a boombox or an mp3 player (unclear if you need to bring speakers for the mp3 player too). Thursday: Whoa, trippy anime Hansel and Gretel! The classic play involving the consumption of greedy children by a spinster is presented in puppet form at SF Public Library's Merced branch (at 19th and Winston, across from the Stonestown Galleria). The puppets'll go from 1:30-2; call 415-355-2825 in advance to reserve a seat. and Friday: What's comedy like without the mandatory two-drink minimum? Well, you'll find out at the SF Comedy College's Arsenal troupe's free performance at the Comedy College Clubhouse. 8 p.m. at 414 Mason #705. Maybe you'll just be choosing to drink. more ›

Well, SantaCon has come and gone, but you still have that urge to make with the merry this holiday season, preferably through participatory art? Well, you're in luck -- San Francisco is hosting its annual performance of Phil Kline's Unsilent Night tonight. Unsilent Night is music intended to be played on boomboxes on a stroll through the city, so participants become in essence a big stereo system, playing Christmas carols (yeah, sort of like KOIT, if they played the Kronos Quartet). The original Unsilent Night was performed in 1992 on a walk through a block in the East Village, and now the piece is performed every year in New York, San Diego, Vancouver, and Cleveland, along with SF. If you're interested in participating, bring a boombox with a cassette player and fresh batteries and meet up at Dolores Park before 7 p.m. (RSVP so they'll know how many tapes to bring; if you don't have a boombox, you can borrow one). The group will be walking around the Mission too for about 45 minutes so bundle up. more ›