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[London] Calling
A Patrick Radden Keefe book talk, open studios paired with a clothing swap, and a poetry reading for reset
Patrick Radden Keefe reminded me I love reading. His Empire of Pain was the first book I picked up after leaving a startup I’d poured myself into. Sitting with it, without a single Slack ping, a client call, or an urgent insert-latest-dilemma-here, reminded me what it felt like to be so engrossed in a book that time suspended. The timing couldn’t have been better: a few weeks later I attended his City Arts & Lectures talk, where his way with words proved just as sharp off the page.
Hear Keefe discuss his latest book, spend a night out at the public library, and enjoy choreography in conversation with a Grammy-winning artist.
Book Talk | London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe
Category: Literary
Date: Tuesday, April 14th @ 6:15pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: United Irish Cultural Center (SF)
Price Range: $43 (includes one signed hardcover copy)
Why I Care: Bookshop West Portal is hosting a book talk with Patrick Radden Keefe in celebration of London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family’s Search for Truth. The story follows 19-year-old Zac Brettler, whose plunge into the Thames looked like suicide until his family started digging. What they found was a secret life: Zac had been posing as the heir to a Russian oligarch’s fortune, and in the process had become entangled in London’s crime underworld. New Yorker staff writer Isaac Chotiner will moderate. Tickets include a signed hardback copy that Keefe can personalize after the talk.
Opening Reception | Convergence
Category: Art
Date: Saturday, April 11th @ 1pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: NIAD Art Center (East Bay)
Price Range: Free
Why I Care: NIAD Art Center opens Convergence, a new exhibition featuring work by over forty of its artists and staff members, spanning painting, printmaking, sculpture, fiber, performance, and sound art. One of three Bay Area organizations dedicated to supporting artists with disabilities, NIAD treats staff as creative collaborators, not just facilitators, and this show is built around that premise. The works trace how daily conversation and deep relationships shape what gets made. Arrive by 2pm for the artist walkthrough.
Studios + Style + Swap
Category: Art & Fashion
Date: Saturday, April 11th @ 4pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: Root Division (SF)
Price Range: Free
Why I Care: Root Division’s second annual Studios + Style + Swap is a free clothing swap and open studio event, rounded out by workshops, live screen-printing, and local vendors. Bring 3-5 gently worn pieces to trade for something new and wander the studios while you’re at it. Berkeley-based surrealist painter Taylor Stoneman will present a new exhibition alongside the open studios. Style points count: Root Division will post their favorite fits on Instagram.
Looking to market hop? Catch West African market and fashion show If I Grow Up later that evening.
Poetry Reading | Tyehimba Jess & Tongo Eisen-Martin
Category: Literary
Date: Wednesday, April 8th @ 6pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: Minnesota Street Project (SF)
Price Range: Free
Why I Care: Poets Tongo Eisen-Martin and Tyehimba Jess will read from their work at Minnesota Street Project, in an evening organized by SFSU's Department of Creative Writing, Small Press Traffic, and Black [Space] Residency. Eisen-Martin served as San Francisco's eighth Poet Laureate from 2021 to 2024. Jess won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Olio, which recovers the stories of undocumented Black American performers from the ragtime era through interwoven fact and invention. Come to rest, reset, and hear words meant to heal.
Night of Ideas | On Beat: Hip Hop from Paris to the Bay
Category: Music
Date: Saturday, April 11th @ 10:30pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: San Francisco Public Library (SF)
Price Range: Free
Why I Care: Night of Ideas returns to the Asian Art Museum, Fulton Plaza, and the San Francisco Public Library. The full evening of programming includes On Beat: Hip Hop from Paris to the Bay, a conversation with KQED journalist and Hip Hop historian Pendarvis Hardshaw and producer Eric Blaze. Oakland-born-and-raised, Hardshaw brings local roots, while Blaze, a Villa Albertine resident, came up in the Parisian Hip Hop scene in the 1980s. Together, they'll trace the cross-continental influences, intersections, and future of the genre.
LINES BALLET + esperanza spalding
Category: Dance
Date: Sunday, April 12th @ 5pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: Blue Shield of California Theater at YBCA (SF)
Price Range: $46+
Why I Care: Alonzo King LINES Ballet and esperanza spalding unite for a world premiere at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. A composer, bassist, and vocalist with five Grammy wins, spalding performs live at every show. Her musical spontaneity meets King's choreography in real time, the piece building through dialogue between dancer and musician before the audience's eyes. The program also includes Ode to Alice Coltrane, a 2024 work honoring the composer that returns by popular demand.
Opening Reception | Shaine Drake: Mostly Water
Category: Art
Date: Friday, April 10th @ 6pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: Park Life Gallery (SF)
Price Range: Free
Why I Care: Park Life opens Mostly Water, a new exhibition of marbled works by San Francisco-based artist Shaine Drake. Part gallery, part design store, Park Life is a natural home for Drake’s practice, which spans paper, fabric, leather, and clay. She works regularly with other artists and small businesses, marbling with partners like design-forward beachwear label Plunge and pop-up bakery Bloom’s End. See the show, then stay to browse a store built on the same ethos.
Bonus from a subscriber: Interested in supporting music mentorship in SF? Check out ArtSmart’s Anniversary Gala, happening tonight (April 6th).
Next Drop: Thursday, April 16th
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