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Sausage [Fest]
A free Mission District music festival, live painting in Marin, a celebration of Filipino folkloric dance, and the art of waacking
Mosh pits and sk8r bois; punk signs and leather wrist bands; teen spirit and its accompanying b.o. The Van’s Warped Tour was my first music festival back in junior high and featured all the hottest names in angsty yelling. My friends and I wandered from stage to stage wondering what that unknown smelly smoke was and raged against the machinations of adulthood. My only questionable souvenir: bringing home used Converses I found in a mosh pit that should’ve never made it outside of the venue gates.
Bring your own shoes to a free Mission District music festival, watch a waacking dance legend perform, and learn how AI can preserve, not destroy, culture.
SF Porchfest 2025
Category: Music
Date: Saturday, June 7th @ 12pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: Mission District (SF)
Price Range: Free
Why I Care: Outside Lands was officially the most expensive music festival in the US last year, making the free SF Porchfest a perfect palate cleanser. SF Porchfest was founded a decade ago to facilitate local musicians performing for their communities out in the literal open. The event includes 13 locations across Mission District with performances through to the early evening. Organizers are throwing a kickoff party on Friday at Arcana for a taste of live music and libations before the big Saturday event. Need another incentive? Consider this the rare music festival where you can access a burrito for under $25.
Publication Celebration | The Back Room Party
Category: Literary
Date: Monday June 9th @ 6pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: Cushion Works (SF)
Price Range: Free
Why I Care: Claudia La Rocoo started The Back Room (TBR) as a publication for writers and artists to be fairly compensated for their work. There's also slightly too much going on in the second sentence. The name honors the humble origins of the non-profit that supported La Rocoo's idea in the backroom of a Castro bookstore. The event will celebrate the end of TBR’s three year program and will be co-hosted by San Francisco Review of Whatever, whose launch event previously featured in SFH[N]C. Come to celebrate with a drink, a reading, and a an opportunity to learn about how future programs will support artists.
Live Painting Session | Artist Jean Pettigrew Whelan
Category: Art
Date: Sunday, June 8th @ 12pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: Sarah Shepard Gallery (North Bay)
Price Range: Free
Why I Care: Go make Bob Ross proud. Sarah Shepard Gallery is hosting artist Jean Pettigrew Whelan for live painting sessions and an opening reception of her work. Whelan, a Bay Area Native, is known for her calming and familiar book stack still lifes, featuring works from Toni Morrison to Tartine. After first being accepted to the 2020 de Young Open, Whelan has since gained momentum with being exhibited across the Bay. This pop-up open studio will involve Whelan painting her next still life, so see how many books you can find in the stack from your own collection that need a bit more TLC.
LOVE UNLIMITED: A Night of PRIDE, Movement, and Dance Legacy
Category: Dance
Date: Thursday, June 12th @ 6pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: Shack15 (SF)
Price Range: $55
Why I Care: The International Museum of Dance (IMOD) has an ambitious mission: to become the global center for archiving and experiencing dance across time and genre. Conceptualized in 2016, IMOD has since built partnerships, engaged communities across the US, and organized events such as the upcoming Love Unlimited fundraiser. The event will feature waacking legend Princess Lockeroo, who has been featured in publications like the New York Times for the virality she’s brought to the dance form that originated in 1970s queer club culture. Your ticket will include drinks, dancing, and a fabulous view of the Bay from the stunning Shack15.
AI Decodes Ancient History: The Herculaneum Scrolls
Category: Art
Date: Tuesday, June 10th @ 7pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: Computer History Museum (South Bay)
Price Range: Free
Why I Care: A.I. has finally come for SF Has [No] Culture. But I promise it’s not here to destroy arts or culture (or hopefully humanity?). The Computer History Museum is using AI to decipher ancient Greek scrolls too delicate and charred by Pompeii’s volcanic eruption to be handled by human researchers. The event will discuss how machine learning is being used to unlock entire worlds of knowledge considered lost for nearly two millennia. Now that’s how I like my AI.
Concert | Kid Francescoli
Category: Music
Date: Sunday, June 15th @ 8pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: The Independent (SF)
Price Range: $37
Why I Care: Kid Francescoli is a French band that wants to make you dance. Musician Mathieu Hocine started the group twenty-five years ago and draws inspiration from artists like the French electronic duo Air. Kid Francescoli’s “Blow Up” is a regular feature on my Spotify playlists, and I almost featured their last tour in an April 2024 edition of SF Has [No] Culture before they got edged out by San Francisco Ballet’s Frida Kahlo Ballet, so I’m grateful for this second chance to write about the band.
Agos Harvest: Spring 2025 Youth Recital
Category: Dance
Date: Sunday, June 15th @ 1pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: Oakland Asian Cultural Center (East Bay)
Price Range: $20 ($15 for Youth)
Why I Care: How lovely to support not only the arts but also youth education through the dance. KULARTS’ Agos Youth Program participants are taking the stage to showcase Philippine folkloric dances alongside the musical tradition of Rondalla. KULARTS was founded forty years ago as a community center for contemporary and historical Filipino arts. The Youth Program is more than a series of dance classes; it’s leveraging movement to educate about the political and cultural history of the Filipino community in the Bay Area and beyond. The performance will also include local Filipino vendors and art activities for attendees. Do it for the kids.
Next Drop: Monday, June 16th
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