San Francisco Bay Guardian

The Gary Bartz Project Feat. Bilal and Aloe Blacc - Both Bilal and Aloe Blacc have proven their versatility as singers, crossing between hip-hop and R&B -- that should help them match this veteran saxophonist-clarinetist's range. Bartz has played in ensembles with Miles Davis, Donald Byrd, Cecil Taylor, not to mention with his own genre-bending NTU Troop and in releases including the Mizell Brothers-produced classic soul jazz record, Music Is My Sanctuary.
8pm, $30. Yoshi's Jazz Club, 1330 Fillmore, SF. (415) 655-5600, www.yoshis.com

Blueprints of the Afterlife reading - The apocalypse is undeniably white-like-fire hot these days, what with it being about to happen in 11 months and all. Author Ryan Boudinot is happy to get your cognitive juices flowing on the matter -- his new book Blueprints of the Afterlife takes place during the days when glaciers are ravaging the United States' landscape and human beings' nervous systems can be hacked.
7:30pm, free. Booksmith, 1644 Haight, SF. (415) 863-8688, www.booksmith.com

Lily Renée, Escape Artist: From Holocaust Survivor to Comic Book Pioneer author presentation Trina Robbins wrote (and drew) the book on Renée, a 14-year-old Austrian Jewish girl who fled the Nazis, to become a dynamic member of the 1960s underground comic scene. 7-9pm, free. Cartoon Art Museum, 655 Mission, SF. (415) CAR-TOON, www.cartoonart.org

Push the Feeling - There's a new monthly party in Lower Haight especially for those of us who frequent dive bars more often than large-scale clubs. First up in this series, there will be DJ sets by YR SKULL -- who also happens to be one half of Silver Hands -- and epicsauce DJs, along with a performance by Magic Touch (a.k.a. Damon Palemro of Mi Ami). Did we mention the whole shebang is totally free with RSVP? Let's hope this feeling lasts forever.
9pm, free. Underground SF, 424 Haight, SF. www.epicsauce.com/pushthefeeling

So I Married Abraham Lincoln… - Just ahead of what would've been Abe's 203rd birthday, local choreographer Randee Paufve debuts So I Married Abraham Lincoln…, which focuses on the life of troubled First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln. Paufve Dance's seven performers bring history to (surreal) life, with ghostly characters including the stovepipe hat-wearing prez himself. Mrs. Lincoln, famously fascinated with spiritualism, would've approved.
Through Sat/28, 7pm, $15-$18. Dance Mission Theater, 3316 24th St., SF. (800) 838-3006, brownpapertickets.com

"Ghostly Meets Spectral" - The As You Like It crew is presenting this party as a showcase for sister labels Ghostly International and Spectral Sound, and while exciting on its own, that's not the whole picture. The headlining electronic avant-pop and dance labels will certainly be represented -- by Ryan Crosson (half of Bird & Souls or a quarter of Visionquest, depending on your measure), Osbourne, and a live set by the lightly industrial Solvent -- but there will also be a stellar deep house and disco lineup in the Oddjob room upstairs.
9pm, $10-$15 Presale. Public Works, 161 Erie, SF. (415) 932-0955, publicsf.com

Pop My Culture - A live version of the podcast that found its way to the top of the "best of" lists this year kind of embodies what can be so simple and charmingly effective about the form. Hosted by SF Sketchfest co-founcer Cole Stratton and comedian Vanessa Ragland, the Los Angeles-based show succeeds in large part because of the duo's upbeat and engagingly dorky senses of humor, in addition to some inspired guest choices (Dave Coulier! Rider Strong!).
1pm, $20. Eureka Theater, 215 Jackson, SF. (415) 788-7469, theeurekatheater.com

Carlton Melton - The band Carlton Melton records all its stripped down, lo-fi material in a geodesic dome house located a few hours north of here and is named after a cool guy that drummer-guitarist Duvall knew from junior high in Delaware a real bad-ass, whose aura "really fits the band." In the few years since the vocal-free act formed in 2008, it's released a cluster of DIY material on indie labels and its own, Mid-To-Late Records. Come hear this quirky band live, with Feral Ohms and Glitter Wizard.
9pm, $8. El Rio, 3158 Mission, SF. (415) 282-3325, elriosf.com

C.L.A.W.S. - Reverend Bertie Pearson, the cool cleric who brought us the absolutely epic Episcodisco parties at Grace Cathedral, is now at the Episcopal Church of St. John the Evangelist -- and there's no way that church won't see some nightlife blowouts as well. Case in point; this all-ages blast featuring longtime local experimental tech cat C.L.A.W.S., with cute "proto-synthpop without raping it" band Shakes Gown and Earth Jerks.
6pm, $5-$10, sliding scale, no one turned away. Church of St. John the Evangelist, 1661 15th St., SF. (415) 861-1436, www.stjohnsf.com

Oakland Museum of California's Lunar New Year Celebration - Learn to pound mochi, take in Korean drumming and storytelling performances, and get educated on the meaning of Fred Korematsu Day through a presentation by the daughter of the civil rights activist who fled when the US government ordered all Japanese-Americans placed in internment camps during WWII. It's all here at this event to celebrate entering the Year of the Dragon.
Noon-4:30pm, free with $12 museum admission. Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak, Oakl. (510) 238-2200, www.museumca.org

Graveyard - The top comment on the YouTube page for the lo-fi, black, and white video for Graveyard's "Hsiningen Blues" sums it up pretty well: "How is this not from the '70s?" Confusion, feigned or actual, can be easily understood once the song begins, and mustachioed long-hairs commence with the sweet, soulful, psyched-out metal. You'd be forgiven for assuming these dudes arrived via time machine from Flower Power-era Frisco, but nay. These lads hail from Gotehenberg, Sweden, a place known more for melodic death metal than stony throwback jams.
8pm, $12. Cafe Du Nord, 2170 Market, SF. (415) 861-5016 cafedunord.com/events

[SSEX BBOX] premiere - Witness the culmination of this international film project's world travels, during which its team talked about living and loving outside the box with sex educators, writers, and just plain old hotties. You'll have the opportunity to meet the director and crew after the film's screening.
7:30-10pm, free. Center for Sex and Culture, 1349 Mission, SF. (415) 902-2071, sexandculture.org

"Reggie Watts: Just the Music" - Reggie Watts has been hailed as both "Black Galifinakis" and a "a human dandelion." The former singer of Seattle's Maktub, Watts emerged as a solo comic and artist in recent years, with appearances on Conan and at LCD Soundsystem's final show. Blending beat-boxing, an array of vocal styles, and looping pedals, Watts is building a reputation for being able to do anything. Tonight is the first of SF Sketchfest's four-part "Reggidency."
8pm, $25. Yoshi's Jazz Club, 1330 Fillmore, SF. (415) 655-5600, yoshis.com

Locals Day at Aquarium of the Bay - Every Tuesday for the next two months, the Aquarium of the Bay invites all Bay Area residents to half-off museum admission. The aquarium, dedicated to inspiring conservation of the bay's aquatic life, features enormous tunnels of sharks, sting rays, and re-created coral reefs. Learn what's going on underneath the water that surrounds us.
10am-6pm, $5-$8.45. Aquarium of the Bay, Embarcadero and Beach, SF. (415) 623-5333, aquariumofthebay.org