Weekend Planner: April 1
Every Friday we put together a list of the weekend events we think look most interesting and provide them here. Keep in mind there is always a lot more going on, and all it takes is a little digging to find something that will be the perfect activity for you.
Click on any of the event titles for a link to the event.
Friday, April 1
Fort Mason, San Francisco
All Weekend, All Ages
Free
Hundreds of thousands of book & media for only $3 or less! Proceeds support the San Francisco Public Library
Friends of the San Francisco Public Library is filling a warehouse full of books & media in over 75 categories and pricing everything to sell for $3 or under! That’s right: spring has sprung and that means the 6th Annual Spring Big Book Sale is coming up. This is the sale that has it all: hundreds of thousands of cookbooks, classics, bestsellers, vinyl, art books, children’s books, textbooks; you name it. Mark your calendar for March 30 – April 3 and come on down to Fort Mason’s Festival Pavilion for the book-selling event of the season. Proceeds support the San Francisco Public Library.
VOLUNTEER INFORMATION: Want free books? Volunteer! It takes a village to put on a Big Book Sale. Volunteers are needed March 28th – April 4th. Each volunteer receives a complimentary ticket to the Member Preview Sale & Reception, first look at the books as they come in, and a $5 coupon for every shift. Please get in touch with Kristina Kearns for more information: kristina.kearns@friendssfpl.org or (415) 477-5223.
MEMBER PREVIEW SALE & RECEPTION:
Wine & snacks are served while you shop! Become a member of Friends and attend the Member Preview Sale & Reception on Tuesday, March 29th from 4 – 8 PM. Members are given 1st access to the sale the eve before it goes public. Join online (www.friendssfpl.org) or in the Readers Bookstore Fort Mason & Readers Bookstore at the Main Library.
SUNDAY: SALE GOES ON SALE Psst… on Sunday, April 3rd (the last day of the sale) all items are only $1!
DAILY CLUES
The 6th Annual Spring Big Book Sale has partnered with dozens of the best San Francisco restaurants, stores & entertainment venues to bring you prizes found between the pages. Check out Friends of the San Francisco Public Library’s Facebook and Twitter sites daily during the sale to read the clues that will lead you to the loot! Find & follow along: @FriendsSFPL.
Presidio Sessions: Jeffrey LaDeur
Presidio Trust, San Francisco
6 PM, All Ages
Free
PRESIDIO SESSIONS – Friday Evenings at 6 pm In the intimate atmosphere of a house concert, experience jazz, contemporary, and classical music, and enjoy opportunities to converse with performers and each other.Offered in partnership with the San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music.
Jeffrey LaDeur’s playing strikes a rare balance between intellect and emotion that is guaranteed to move even the most discriminating listener. He enjoys a busy career as soloist, chamber musician, and educator. Praised for his “articulate, expressive work at the keyboard” (SFCV) and “…dazzling pianism…” (Sarasota Herald Tribune) Jeffrey has concertized around the world including performances at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Eastman Theater, Hochschule für Musik in Frankfurt, and Banff Centre for the Arts. At the invitation of the Naumburg Foundation, Jeffrey made his Carnegie debut in Weill Recital Hall in March 2015. LaDeur is also a founding member of the acclaimed Delphi Trio and a faculty member of the Crowden Music Center.
Photo Credit: Jiyang Chen
This event is free but due to space constraints registration is required. Please complete the registration process below. Please note that registering does not guarantee admission. Registered guests will be offered priority admission that will be honored until 15 minutes before the start of the event.
Saturday, April 2
Peralta Hacienda Historical Park, San Francisco
1o AM, All Ages
Donation
Benefiting Breast Cancer Emergency Fund (bcef.org)
Cambodian New Year will be celebrated at Peralta Hacienda Historical Park in Oakland’s Fruitvale. The festival is multicultural with Cambodian dance groups from all over Northern California performing dances from palace and court and from village in dazzlingly costumes, as well as Burmese, Thai and Nepali dancers. Restaurants including the legendary Battambang will sell delicious Cambodian food throughout the event.
For the past three years, members of the Cambodian community have partnered with Peralta Hacienda to bring music and dance, food and festivities, celebration and fun to the local community and the wider Bay Area public. The Cambodian community wants the public to appreciate their rich arts and culture, as well as to acknowledge the war and genocide that all but destroyed Cambodia in the 1970s.
We cordially invite all music and food lovers to celebrate the resilience and beauty of Cambodian arts.
Check out 2015 Cambodian New Year!
Background
On April 17th, 1975, the Khmer Rouge Regime rose to power in Cambodia in the aftermath of years of U.S. carpet bombing. By the end of their rule four years later the Khmer Rouge (Red Cambodians) were responsible for the deaths of over 2 million Cambodian people. In 2012, the Khmer Rouge’s top officials are finally on trial for war crimes. An estimated 95% of Cambodia’s artists, dancers, and musicians were executed by the Khmer Rouge, which targeted all culture and learning as part of the old order. The dancers and musicians featured at this year’s Cambodian New Year in Oakland command a special respect, both from Cambodians and lovers of world music and culture as they are preserving a rare art form.
Festival-goers can also tour the exhibit Rhythm of the Refugee between performances. It tells stories both harrowing and heartening, and displays photographs, stories, and cultural objects from the Cambodian community. In the words of Sambo Ly, “The painful experiences that I endured as a teen during the war are inexpressible. Every day I am thankful for the second chance at life.”
For many Cambodians in diaspora, the trials mean facing a history almost too painful to recall. In interviews featured in Rhythm of the Refugees, Phannara Khun recalled atrocities committed against her family:
“In 1977, they killed my dad by cutting open his stomach …Two weeks later they beat my brother to death with a wooden club…In 1978, my sister and her husband were tortured until they died. Then they threw my one-year-old nephew into the air and shot him. … I cried and cried and passed out. Because my mother cried, they executed her too. People in the village hid me and I survived…”
The exhibit however, is a chance not only to remember the Cambodian tragedies, but also celebrate Cambodian resilience.
Todos Santos Plaza, Concord
12 PM, Ages: 21+
$40
The Brewing Network’s Winter Brews Festival returns to Todos Santos Plaza in Concord to celebrate its seventh year as one of the best craft beer festivals in the Bay Area. And while we are a little late this year due to schedule conflicts and the threat of inclement weather, we’re bringing the same great lineup of amazing beer and another awesome day for beer lovers in Concord!
Tickets are now on sale and are $40 pre-sale or $50 at the gate and include unlimited pours and a commemorative glass. Designated Drivers are just $5, however this is a 21 and over only event so all attendees must be of legal drinking age.
The event is conveniently located just two blocks away from the Concord BART station so mark your calendars for a craft beer infused day for a wonderful cause.
We are very proud that this year’s event is a benefit for the TSBA Arts Foundation, which helps fund the summer music program in Todos Santos Park, as well as youth music programs around Concord.
Unlimited Tasting From Over 50 Craft Breweries
Live Music From Purple Haze Jimi Hendrix Tribute Band
The brewery list is still being built so stay tuned, but below is a look at who will be there as of now to give you a good idea of how many wonderful breweries attend:
21st Amendment Brewery – San Leandro Drake’s Brewing Co. White Labs Ale Industries Almanac Beer Co Altamont Beer Works Anderson Valley Brewing Company Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits Beechwood Bbq & Brewing Bear Republic Brewing Co. Berryessa Brewing co Black Diamond Brewery Cali Craft Brewing Co. Cider Brothers Cleophus Quealy Beer Company Coronado Brewing Company Deschutes Brewery & Public House Dust Bowl Brewing Company Eagle Rock Brewery Eight Bridges Brewing E.J. Phair Brewing Company Epidemic Ales Faction Brewing Fieldwork Brewing Company Firestone Walker Brewing Co. Flat Tail Brewing Gillman Brewing Company Gordon Biersch Brewing Company Half Moon Bay Brewing Company Heretic Brewing Company Hermitage Brewing Company Highwater Brewing Company Iron Springs Pub & Brewery Kinetic Brewing Company Lagunitas Brewing Co Libertine Brewing Company Linden Street Brewery Lost Coast Brewery Magnolia Gastropub & Brewery Marin Brewing Company Moonlight Brewing Company Moylan’s Brewing Company Mraz Brewing Company Nectar Creek New Belgium Brewing North Coast Brewing Company Pizza Port Brewing Co. The Rare Barrel Russian River Brewing Company Sierra Nevada Societe Brewing Company Sonoma Springs Brewing Company Speakeasy Ales & Lagers Sudwerk Brewing Co. Three Weavers Brewing Company Triple Rock Brewery and Alehouse Working Man Brewing Company
For more information on the event please visit: BNbrewfest.com.
Rain or shine, we’ve got you covered. And with the Concord BART station just two blocks away, this afternoon event will be sure to satisfy locals wanting to enjoy some beers for a great cause. SORRY, NO DOGS OR CHLDREN WITHIN FESTIVAL GATES. NO SMOKING IN TODOS SANTOS PARK OR DOWNTOWN CONCORD (INCLUDING E-CIGARETTES).
Jane Warner Memorial Plaza, San Francisco
1 PM, All Ages
Free
What do you love about the Castro? How is it changing and what do you miss about how it used to be? Neighbors, friends, and anyone who has known the Castro over the years are invited to join artist Laurie Wigham in sketching, talking, and writing about the changes in the neighborhood and the wider city.
After heading out in the streets to sketch, you’ll meet at Spark Arts to spread out the sketches and discuss over refreshments. All participants are invited to add their sketches to the exhibit of “Changing City” sketches and watercolors by Laurie, and paintings of the Castro in the 1970s and 80s by the late Ramon Pablo Vidali.
The sketching event starts at 1 pm at Jane Warner Plaza, with the meetup at the gallery at 3 pm. Everyone is welcome—no previous art experience required.
Spark will host an artist reception for all featured sketchers on April 7th from 6-8:30pm. Live in the Castro is a series put on by the Castro Community Benefit District.
Sunday, April 3
Acrobatic Conundrum Presents: Love & Gravity
Great Star Theater, San Francisco
3 PM, All Ages
$30
In this new, thrillingly beautiful work, Acrobatic Conundrum transports audiences to a captivating world seemingly free of the bounds of physics, but not free of the capricious struggle for human connection.
Fluent in the language of acrobatics, this cast risks all on a quest to tell honest accounts from an uncharted territory. Real life romances are portrayed through mesmerizing juggling acts, breathtaking aerial and partner acrobatics — all while balancing on a bar 20 feet in the air! This show will upend everything you thought you knew about these two laws of attraction: Love & Gravity.
Features: Carey Cramer, Terry Crane, Scotty Dont, Erica Rubinstein, Xochitl Sosa, Ty Vennewitz, and Local Special Guests. Love & Gravity was originally developed as part of the SANCA Artists-In-Residence program and with the support of the Circus Project and Open Space for Arts and Community.
Doors open 30 minutes prior to showtime. The show runs 90 minutes, one intermission, and is appropriate for all ages.
JOIN THE DISCUSSION on SOCIAL MEDIA: Facebook: Acrobatic Conundrum Twitter: @Acronundrum Instagram: @acrobaticconundrum Hashtags: #loveandgravity #acrobaticconundrum
The Presidio, San Francisco
11 AM, All Ages
Free
Off the Grid hosts a full season of Picnic at the Presidio from 11 am to 4 pm every Sunday through the fall at the Main Parade Ground Lawn.
Get ready for yummy offerings available for purchase from San Francisco’s favorite eateries and food trucks, a lively atmosphere and picnics on the lawn with a view of the bay and the Golden Gate Bridge.
Though we don’t know the details for 2016 yet; in past years, they’ve offered Mimosa and Bloody Mary drink kits, an onsite DJ, classic picnic amenities like bocce ball, as well as game rentals and activities from Sports Basement. Blankets and Adirondack chairs are available to rent for a complete picnic experience.
2016 Featured Vendors Lineups may change from week to week. Check Facebook for updates.
They have 29 food vendors and 3 retail vendors including Yerena Farms, Happy Moose Juice and Nosh This, along with:
Bacon Bacon
Del Popolo
Dum – an Indian Soul Foodtruck in San Francisco
Beach Brew
Sugarfoot
Grilled Cheese Guy
Little Green Cyclo
NopalitoSF
Ceviche & Co.
El Porteño Empanadas
Slightly Skewed
Fat Face
Wing Wings
Verde Vivo Tea
Cholita Linda
Luciano’s Scoop
Stateside Bakery
Girl Friday Zeppole
Sajj Street Eats
Sam’s ChowderMobile
Ruru
Powder
the creme brulee cart
Fine and Rare
La Marcha Tapas Bar
Réveille Coffee Co.
Shorty Goldstein’s
The Whole Beast
Want more options? Eventbrite is a great place to start. Know about
a great event we missed? Leave it in the comments.#SanFrancisco #Books #Learning #weekend #Reading #Dance #music #Cambodia #CulturalExchange #CambodianNewYear #LiveMusic #culture #Library #Art #foodtrucks #Beer #Education #events #Festival #Fun