-- Scott McCloud: Experimental and wildly popular comic artist and novelist (Making Comics) speaks tonight at "Evolution of the American Comic Book". Rory Root (owner, Comic Relief) and Andrew Farago (curator, Cartoon Art Museum) also speak. Starts at 6:30 p.m. at the Commonwealth Club, 595 Market; $7-$20. -- End of Summer Slam Jam for Teens: Are there words prettier than "back to school"? Maybe. But when we start seeing back-to-school commercials and such, we......

The Bay Area Hip-Hop Theater Festival kicks off its two-week run of politically-inspired and racially-conscious dramatic and spoken word arts at Berkeley's La Pena Cultural Center at an event featuring the teen poets of Youth Speaks and their Brave New Voices College Tour. $10, 8 p.m., 3105 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley (between Ashby and Alcatraz Aves.) Other events: --A documentary about Patrice Lumumba, an anti-colonialist who became the first prime minister of the Democratic Republic of......

Tonight, our friends at Hyphen Magazine are having a party at 111 Minna (111 Minna at 2nd), celebrating their newest issue (#10--The Music Issue) with some of their favorite local Asian American musicians: native guns, marque, mud and lovelikefire, and DJs, kero one, politik and modest mark. (9p - 2a) Saturday, it's that time again - time for Miss Trannyshack Pageant 2006 at the Regency Center (1300 Van Ness at Sutter) with performances by......

Don't hate Wednesday because she's beautiful. Tonight: The Theatre of Yugen presents an evening of geckos and moonlight by Czech-Japanese Butoh dancer Ryuzo Fukuhara. Butoh is a type of modern dance that originated in post-WWII Japan, and "it is a departure from expression bounding towards transformation. Butoh is a state of being present, hanging between light and darkness; it is dance that thrives on change." We're not entirely sure what that means, but it sounds cool. $15, 8 p.m., at NOHspace, at 2840 Mariposa between Florida and Alabama. Thursday: We really need to work ourselves up into a true SFist Rants frenzy about Chronicle columnist Jane Ganahl, who's just not one bit unhappy about being middle-aged and single, oh no oh no! Ganahl another other contributors will be reading from the new book she edited, called "Single Women of a Certain Age," about -- you guessed it -- being middle-aged and single. We hope there's no self-loathing involved. $7, 6 p.m., at the Mechanics' Institute Library (57 Post Street, near Market). and Friday: The jug of water, the microphone, the three-legged stool ...who doesn't love a poetry slam? Youth Speaks kicks off the San Francisco preliminary rounds of the 10th Annual Youth Poetry Slam tonight at Galeria de la Raza. 7 p.m., 2857 24th Street (between Mission and Valencia), $6. Picture of Ryuzo Fukuhara by Dana Jesswein ...