Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
These aren't appearances by F-listers eager to promote their latest tiny titles; in a
several-month period in 2008, guests included Barbara Walters, Stephen
Sondheim, Steve Martin, Salman Rushdie, Amy Sedaris, Roz Chast, Meredith
Monk, and Ani DiFranco. These appearances often resurface later, in edited form,
on the radio, but frustratingly, you can't hear them unless you're in the right mar-
ket and podcasts aren't produced, so catching them here, at the Civic Center's
Herbst Theatre, will likely be your one chance.
Attracting some 10,000 people and 350 authors over the course of its bimonthly
season,
Litquake
(
%
415/750-1497; www.litquake.org)
is one of the city's most
popular regular readings series. Writers are from every background imaginable—
kids' books, fiction, nonfiction, and so on—and events range from readings of the
writers' own work to hands-on workshops. In mid-October, Litquake goes crazy
with its annual festival, and it schedules several events a day over a week.
This is a literate city, and unlike many others, it runs its
Main Library
(100
Larkin St., at Grove; www.sfpl.org; Mon 10am-6pm, Tues-Thurs 9am-8pm, Fri
noon-6pm, Sat 10am-6pm, Sun noon-5pm)
the way powerhouse museums are
normally run. There's always something worth your time going on. On the events
board in the lobby, you'll find a long list of free exhibitions and talks—and not
silly things run by dilettantes, either: One recent exhibition concerned how
Picasso painted
Guernica,
including some of his studies; another was a talk about
the Black Panther Party, the radical group with roots in '60s Oakland, by several
original members, now elderly. There are often as many as 10 events planned a
day, particularly on weekends. You can get an advance list by clicking “Events”
and “Main Library” on its website. On the Market Street side of the building,
check out the glass cases full of little items that were discovered in the brick foun-
dations of the old city hall, which stood on this site; they include pottery shards,
a creepy doll's head, and a walrus tusk that a sailor no doubt brought back from
some 19th-century sea voyage.
A PowerPoint “Slam”
Think of it as show and tell for grown-ups:
PechaKucha Night
(www.
pechakucha-sf.com).
Once a month, usually midweek, a group of volunteers
bearing PowerPoint presentations come together to share anything they like.
From architecture to design to dog spirituality, topics are wide, but partici-
pants are restricted to only 20 slides that may be displayed for 20 seconds
each. Get in, get out, make it snappy. It sounds like a pretentious idea, and
maybe it is, but in truth the concept weeds out all the long-winded self-
indulgences that often derail seminars. The effect, which rarely bores, is
much less poetry slam than it is a set of mini-documentaries you might hear
on National Public Radio or see on the CBS
Sunday Morning
show. There are
usually around a dozen presentations. The concept is an export from Tokyo,
where the name (pronounced Peh-
chach
-ka) means “chatter.” Presenter slots
fill up quickly, but anyone can come and soak up the range of presentations.
The venue changes often, so go to its website for the latest plans.
