Wednesday, gas, or grass: no one rides for free. Tonight: we told you, we're going to be at the Bitch Magazine 10th Anniversary Birthday Bash at the Rickshaw Stop! So we can't go to the SoMa Leadership Council party, where SoMa residents can meet every single person running for the District 6 seat on the Board of Supes over a potluck dinner. Check here for food assignments. 6-9 p.m., at the Arc (1500 Howard, x 11th). There will also be door prizes. (A door! What we've always wanted.)

Thursday: The Asian Art Museum presents its Thursday night Asian music performance, with the North Indian guitar work of Yakshi, and Lisa Sangita Moskow on the electric sarod (Indian lute). 7-8:30 in Samsung Hall, free with museum admission.

and Friday: You're coming to the SFist party at Varnish (77 Natoma x 2nd), right? Right? Drink specials, Gothamist publisher Jake, and SFist Bingo -- you can't go wrong!

One Wednesday you're in, and the next you're .... out. Tonight: Independent bookstores all over town are closing left and right. Help the one on the left stay open at a benefit for Modern Times tonight. Local musicians, artists, and performers like Solidad diCosta, Ghost Family, Bahiyyih Maroon, Seeley Quest, Grant Donnelly and Joolie Geldner are donating their time and talent. Plus -- food and drink! Valencia x 20th, 7-9 p.m.

Thursday: As part of the Yerba Buena Garden Festival, the Jon Jang Seven jazz/world music combo is playing a free lunchtime concert on the esplanade between the Yerba Buena Center and the Metreon. Pick up a Beard Papa cream puff and chill out on the grass from 12:30-1:30 p.m.

and Friday: The Makeout Room is hosting the monthly Nato Green's Iron Comic showdown: 5 comics write 10 routines based on suggestions from the audience; the winner's crowned the Iron Comic of the month! As the iron comics slave away, former Iron Comic Gretchen Rootes and Will Durst (Willie Brown's radio partner) will yuk-yuk away your cares. $8, doors at 7, show at 7:30.

Wednesday is sick and tired of these motherf****n' snakes on this motherf****n' plane! Tonight: Learn a little something about the "ecological disaster" of the stagnant Salton Sea in southern California and the strange characters it attracts in a Plagues and Pleasures of the Salton Sea, a Slamdance documentary narrated by the inimitable John Waters. The movie's screening at the Red Vic at 2, 7:15, and 9:15, $7.

Thursday: You Wear It Well is a festival featuring short international films and videos about fashion, style, and design. Like Project Runway? 8 p.m. at the Supperclub, 657 Harrison Street (near Hawthorne, between 2nd and 3rd).

and Friday: And at the Intersection for the Arts, they're presenting ESP:Orbit, a dance/theater project about the possibility of extraterrestrial life, featuring dancer Erica Shuch. $9-20 sliding scale, 8 p.m., 446 Valencia (x 15th).