Castro News Briefs

Outside Lands Music Festival Returns to Golden Gate Park August 28-30

The second annual Outside Lands music festival will run from August 28-30 in the Polo Fields in Golden Gate Park. Grunge rock veterans Pearl Jam headline on opening night after sets by Thievery Corporation, Incubus, Built to Spill and many others. The Dave Matthews Band headlines Saturday night with the Beastie Boys closing the festival on Sunday. Other artists slated to perform include the Mars Volta, Black Eyed Peas, Ween, Modest Mouse, Lucinda Williams and the Dead Weather.

Last year’s festival was highly successful, drawing over 150,000 people to the three-day event that featured Radiohead, Tom Petty, Jack Johnson, Beck and Wilco among many others.
For ticket information, and information on all the performers, visit
sfoutsidelands.com. A portion of all ticket sales will go towards benefitting Golden Gate Park.

Silent, Frozen and Jewish Film Festivals to be Held in July

The Castro and Mission neighborhoods are the perfect place for cinephiles to be this summer as the three different film festivals sweep through the neighborhood.

The 14th annual SF Silent Film Festival takes place at the Castro Theatre July 10-12 with a stellar list of silent films, all with live musical accompaniment.

The opening night film is “The Gaucho” (1928) with Douglas Fairbanks and Lupe Velez. Saturday, July 11, will feature “Underworld “(1927) directed by Josef von Sternberg and “The Wind” (1928) with Lillian Gish. Films on Sunday, July 12 include “Erotikon” (Czechoslovakia, 1929) directed by Gustav Machaty, “Fall of the House of Usher” (France, 1928) directed by Jean Epstein, and a late D. W. Griffith film “Lady of the Pavements” (1929) once again with Lupe Velez.

For more info and tickets, visit silentfilm.org.

The 29th annual SF Jewish Film Festival will be held July 23 to August 10 at the Castro Theatre, SF Jewish Community Center, and other venues. Highlights include the opening night film “Hey Hey It’s Esther Blueburger” from Australia, a new documentary “William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe,” and Aviva Kempner’s “Yoo Hoo Mrs. Goldberg,” a new documentary about TV and radio star Gertrude Berg. The festival will also show selected episodes of Berg’s classic TV series “The Goldbergs.” The closing night film will be “The Wedding Song” a film set in Tunisia and portraying a Muslim-Jewish friendship.

For more info and tickets, call (415) 256-8499 or go to sfjff.org.

The three-day Frozen Film Festival runs July 9–11 at the Roxie Theatre. Included in the festival are nights of live music concerts, short films, animation, global features, long and short documentaries, skate films, music documentaries and music videos.

One highlight of the festival will be the film “1906,” a feature length documentary about the last living survivors of the 1906 earthquake and the resulting fires that devastated the city.
For more information, visit frozenfilmfestival.com.

Cruisin’ the Castro Celebrates 20-year Anniversary

Cruisin’ the Castro, a local operator of historical walking tours of the neighborhood, is celebrating its 20-year anniversary this year by offering a new tour to commemorate the life and legacy of Harvey Milk.

The “Harvey Milk Tour,” explores Milk’s presence in the Castro community by visiting his old haunts before venturing to City Hall where he worked and was assassinated. Also included in the tour is the new Gay, Lesbian, Bi-sexual & Transgender Historical Society’s “Castro Exhibit.”

The tour is only led on Wednesdays and costs $55. For more information visit cruisinthecastro.com or call (415) 255-1821.

Copyright 2009 Castro Courier