fear the beard

game on! here's to the new season.

comedy of errors at bam

must hilarity: the comedy of errors at bam. caught the final performance of the propeller group's production of the shakespearean comedy. i'd never seen the all male acting troupe and boy was i in for a treat. rachel scored cushion seats. something i highly recommend. my second time with this advantage. first time was with great cate.

i hadn't ever read the comedy or seen it live. it has the same duplicity action as twelfth night and as you like it. it kicks it up a notch with not one but two pairs of twins. it's a fun play on gender with an all male troupe, very a la shakespearean days. propeller envelops the audience and seating up close and personal has it's advantages. sweets before the show and flying debris. this troupe is hard working - singing 4 part harmonies during the intermission to raise funds for save the children. bravo propeller! BRAVO!

support bay area goodness

must kickstarter support: boxcar theater's little shop of horrors and "have food will travel".

boxcar is my pal peter's theatre company and i had the pleasure to finally see him action earlier this year in clue. i had heard about this little shop of horrors production staged on skid row and was sad i would have to miss it. so i would hate for the fine folks of sf and beyond to miss the opportunity as well. so if you can and like live theatre, please go support boxcar whether through kickstarter or attending a show. there's an anonymous donor that will match the goal amount.

second up is my friend leonard's film "have food will travel". do you like food? do you like to travel? do you like both sandwiched into foodie wunderlust action? this is a film for you. it holds a special place in my heart because it starts where i grew up in sf's chinatown and traverses to my parent's the villages in guangzhou.

fltgc: christina ray and team gallery

must return to old favs: christina ray and team gallery.i haven't caught up with the lovely christina since i returned from london, so i was thrilled to finally ran into her. she was graciously as ever telling me the background of brian leo's the post ironic.

upon first glance, you are immediately struck by the colorful and playful images. look deeper and you will see the social commentaries in each piece. subtle and darkly funny. apparently, tom colicchio of top chef famed purchased several of leo's paintings to decorate his restaurant. cloned dolly anyone?


to pair the gallery crawl off, it was off to see live snakes at team gallery for massimo grimaldi's highlights. a nice pairing as massimo tackles social responsibility themes in his works, playing with installation and mediums.

morning benders: japan echo ep

this ep was put together to support japan in light of the horrific disaster that has taken place there. please give what you can, and know that 100% of these proceeds will be given to the japan society's earthquake relief fund.

we love you japan.

-the morning benders

the morning benders were scheduled to play last week for the first time in japan. it was especially rough on chris as he was born there and it would have been a homecoming of sorts. donate if you can.

little dragon feat. ps 22 - "twice"

magical goodness with q&a and hugs. shar would like to be hug #8 for erik.

fltgc: drawing center and artists space

summer like fltgc: artist space and drawing center. it was unseasonably sunny and warm. hard to pop indoors for art, but i did. soakwd up as many rays as i could get walking a mere 10 blocks.

artist space for mark morrisroe: from this moment. this retrospective is a collection of his intimate polaroids, photograms and collages of layer prints. some of the most poignant shots were of morrisroe's last stages of his battle with hiv.

to pair off fltgc, i hit up the drawing center for drawn from photography. the photorealistic pieces and visually playful drawings were front and center. fun to see a familiar artist, mary temple, i was introduced to at volta.

this one's for you andy.

andrea bowers

dr. lakra, recommended by bill

anything goes

must break from madness stress: anything goes. it was a rough afternoon with three losses that were by 1 or 2 points. tourney is turning out some nail biters of games. shar turned some good ol' classic musical action in anything goes starring tony winner sutton foster, joel grey (jennifer's dad) and jesssica walter (aka lucille bluth). i've always admired the pipes on ms. foster since hearing her in thoroughly modern millie. she did not disappoint live. in fact, i admire her more because she truly is a triple threat - dancing, singing and acting. the tap sequence in the anything goes number is true old school hollywood goodness. go see it! runs until july 31st at the stephen sondheim theatre.

let the madness begin

every year my coworker rashard and i play our march madness "it's all about pride" challenge. no money is exchanged, just bragging rights and a handshake at the end of the tourney. this year we have robin and gustavo joining which should make things interesting. robin recently fell in love with the madness and well gustavo is from brazil, so it's all new to him. prediction: g takes it with beginner's luck. tomorrow, noon est. hoops and tears! let the drama unfold.

nybg: the orchid show on broadway

best much belated visit: new york botanical gardens. holy cannoli, shar's been meaning to visit the botanical gardens since she moved to ny. it's been on my to ny do list for years and i finally got my arse up to the bronx to view the latest "the orchid show on broadway". i really wish my mom was closer since she's the one who got me into the extraordinary flower. i didn't even come close to denting the grounds, as i only hit the conservatory and the mertz library. i'll be back. oh yes, i'll be back.

the orchids were amazing and the exhibits that were designed by broadway's finest were show stopping. reminds me a little of macy's flower shows growing up. so many orchids, i might have been a little overloaded by the end of it. from there i hit the mertz library for the hirschfeld's broadway scrapbook. i had a drawing of his up on my bulletin board growing up of audrey in her role as holly golightly, so i was excited more of al's stuff and it was a hoot from his illustrations of my fair lady to hairspray.

fltgc: anna betbeze and rirkrit tiravanija

best funny artist names fltgc: anna betbeze at kate werble and rirkrit tivanija at gbe. upon seeing betbeze's mossy flokati rugs, you are like what the?!?!?!? looks like an old ikea rug out of a dumpster, but there's more than meets the eye. betbeze has worked the rugs in some cases so much that she's created holes in her "canvas".

this reminds me of sully in monster's inc

i was really wowed by rirkrit tiravanija's fear eats the soul. i wasn't familiar with him and a little embarrassed that i hadn't heard about him until now. he'd worked with andy warhol and has been a pioneer of challenging art as space, amongst status and form. go see this! it's on til april 16.

tshirt shop open th-sat 10a-6p

mynabirds at mercury lounge

must country motown goodness: mynabirds at mercury lounge. shar discovered ms. laura burhenn and gang on a tiny desk concert on npr. there's also a good daytrotter sesh too.

the mynabirds rollicked in with "what we gained in the fire" followed by " wash it out". laura joked and said she'd be interested in selling the latter to tide. on "give it time" laura's tone on the opening is reminiscent of fiona apple and on "right place" i could hear a little bit of rachael yamagata. i was dancing come "numbers don't lie", my favorite track of their lp. purchased that puppy post concert. laura dedicated "good heart" to the crowd, saying she thought 96% of the peeps were good folks. she's an optimist. they finished with an encore that included "lemon tree" and "let the record go". good times were had!

armory 2011 and volta

okay every year the armory show is an art marathon. get in early and within 2 hours you want to escape. this year was no different. i have to say i left not as jazzed as last year. more established artist and less new discoveries for me. don't get me wrong, i love me my oldies but goodies.

susan hiller

chris johanson

peter liversidge - "i propose that any visitor to the armory show who stands in front of, and reads this proposal should approach a member of ingleby gallery staff with a single dollar bill.

the dollar bill will be taken from them and embossed with a text piece."

edward del rosario

glad to see one of my london galleries - seventeen at armory with abigail reynolds

erwin wurm

jacob hashimoto

kehinde wiley

hirst incognito?

volta , on the other hand, was all new to me and after the crazy crowds at armory i was ready for respite.

mini portraits by oana farcas

laurina paperina

christina benz

jim houser

dzama redux

must rinse and repeat: marcel dzama signing at david zwirner. i first discover dzama at zwirner three years ago. it's fitting i return to the same gallery for my second signing with marcel. first one was here. shar loves him. can you tell?

he was great as always and drew illustrations in each of your desired books. i heard the gallerist or agent tell him to sign his name only when the line was growing. marcel kept drawing. that's my man. heart heart HEART!

another bat for my collection

loved marcel's red argyle socks and chucks

possible holloween costume

my shot from dzama's latest film "a game of chess"