So, what are we doing this week?
The Bay Area calendar is in that wonderful in-between season: waterfront festivals and outdoor movies are sharing space with harvest celebrations, fall arts openings and the first hints of Halloween. We looked across the region for what deserves your time this week—and what is worth booking now for the weeks ahead. Bring a layer, leave room in your schedule and be willing to cross a bridge. Psst! ● = Black Culture BAR Pick
Turn up the volume
If music is the centerpiece, Portola Music Festival (● Sept. 26–27) brings two days of electronic and dance music to Pier 80, while Grammy-nominated R&B and soul singer Syleena Johnson (● Fri, Sept. 25) settles into Yoshi’s Oakland for a more intimate Friday night. One is built for a waterfront crowd; the other is built around a commanding voice and the kind of room where every lyric lands.
The weekend also reaches well beyond the city. Monterey Jazz Festival (● Sept. 25–27) fills the fairgrounds with major artists and multiple stages, while Oakland’s own Fantastic Negrito (● Sat, Sept. 26) joins the San Francisco Symphony at Davies Symphony Hall. That hometown artist-meets-orchestra pairing is exactly the sort of Bay Area combination that sounds intriguing before you hear a single note.
Make a day of it
If you would rather wander than sit still, the festival map is doing its job. Valley of the Moon Vintage Festival (Sept. 25–27) brings harvest traditions and a grape stomp to Sonoma Plaza; Los Gatos’ Fiesta de Artes (Sept. 26–27) mixes regional art, music, wine and food; and Pacific Coast Fog Fest (Sept. 26–27) turns Palmetto Avenue in Pacifica into a coastal street party. In San Francisco, the Robotics + Hackathon Expo (Sat, Sept. 26 ●) at the African American Art & Culture Complex adds robots, demonstrations, panels and hands-on invention to the mix.
The city has some big-personality choices, too. Dolly Day (Fri, Sept. 25) is bringing sparkle, music and unabashed sing-along energy to Union Square, while the Sunset Night Market’s Autumn Moon Festival (Fri, Sept. 25) fills Irving Street with food, lanterns and performances. Folsom Street Fair (Sun, Sept. 27) offers a very different kind of outdoor gathering on Sunday. For an indoor counterpoint, African Stew (● through Sun, Sept. 27) at Lorraine Hansberry Theatre serves up a sharp family comedy about love, class, culture and the Black Diaspora.
Art, stories and a little nighttime magic
At SFMOMA, Ear Hustle Live! (● Thu, Sept. 24) brings co-creators Nigel Poor and Earlonne Woods to the stage with stories from inside and outside prison, live music and original visuals. If you are in the mood for theater instead, African Stew (through Sun, Sept. 27) continues at the Magic Theatre through the weekend, giving audiences another way into a story where a celebratory family dinner quickly develops some heat.
There is plenty to do after dark. Sundown Cinema (Fri, Sept. 25) is screening School of Rock near the Ferry Building, Cinema on the Square (Sat, Sept. 26) is showing The Conversation in Union Square and Grace Cathedral’s Grace Window (Sep. 23–25) pairs lasers with live, ethereal music. Across the Bay, baritone Lester Lynch (● Sun, Sept. 27) and pianist Kevin Korth open the Cal Performances recital season at Hertz Hall with a program shaped around love, loss and mortality.
The Asian Art Museum adds two more reasons to make the trip: a Chuseok celebration (Sun, Sept. 27) with traditional dance, games and food, and a major retrospective devoted to pioneering Korean artist Ha Chong-Hyun (Sept. 25–Jan. 25). And just beyond the weekend, SF/Bay Area Black Art Week (● Sept. 30–Oct. 4) begins linking museums, galleries, artists and creative spaces across San Francisco and Oakland—exactly the kind of regional movement worth planning around.
Eat Your way into fall
Waterbar’s Oysterfest (Sun, Sept. 27) turns the Embarcadero into a bayside gathering with oysters, seafood bites, wine and live music, while Jordan Winery (Sun, Sept. 27) offers the more hands-on option of gathering ingredients from the garden before making pizza and settling in for lunch. Looking one weekend ahead, Taste of Africa (● Sat, Oct. 3) in Livermore brings African and African Diaspora music, dance, cuisine, storytelling and cultural exchange together at the Bankhead Theater.
What’s Ahead: If You Need Tickets, Don’t Wait Until the Last Minute
The next wave is already close. SF/Bay Area Black Art Week (● Sept 30 – Oct 4) stretches across San Francisco and Oakland, and W. Kamau Bell (● Thur, Oct. 1) brings Who’s With Me? to Stanford for a night of questions, comedy and what he promises will include a healthy amount of silliness. Hardly Strictly Bluegrass (Oct. 2–4) will soon take over Golden Gate Park, too, so now is the time to decide which days you can realistically give it.
The following weekend keeps going: the African Arts Festival (● Sat, Oct. 3) arrives at Yerba Buena Gardens, Oaktoberfest (Oct. 3–4) takes over Oakland’s Dimond District and the Castro Street Fair (Sun, Oct. 4) returns with its familiar neighborhood energy. Fleet Week (Oct. 4–12) and the deeper run of harvest and Halloween events are already waiting behind them. That is the rhythm of Bay Area fall: this weekend fills up while the next one is already tapping you on the shoulder.
That was a lot! Who says there’s nothing to do in the Bay Area? Hope to see you out and about!
