The San Francisco Citizen

This is Wednesday, so that means they’re already preparing for another Friday Night at the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park. This week’s effort will include Rolando Morales and AudioBus. Per Rolando:

Friday nights at the De Young are a happening place: the whole museum is open to 8:45 and they feature music, film, dance, poetry, tours, etc. Tonight will feature the Rolando Morales Group with the amazing bassist for Airto, Gary Brown; from Nicaragua, the great Latin percussionist/vocalist Danilo Paíz; the wonderful keyboardist from Spearhead, Bob Crawford; from Brazil, the great drummer from Steve Winwood and Airto, Celso Alberti; and Rolando Morales leading the journey on guitar, guitar synthesizer and vocals.

And AudioBus? Well, they’ve got two “trips” scheduled for the night but they appear to be sold out now. You can always show up early and try to become a  stand-by fare. ”Human Street Textures” is the theme for this bus.

This whole Night at the Museum thing is quite lively, attracting folks who aren’t heavy museum goers. Here’s what it looked like last week:

Refreshments!

Dancing!

Chihuly! An evening docent tour, check the schedule to when they offer this.   

Kid-friendly activities:

And they had packed house to hear a lecture about Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo and a few other topics from William Maynez, mural historian at City College of San Francisco:

See you there!

Per the de Young Museum:

“The Fauna and Flora of the Pacific, one of a six-part series of fanciful, larger than life-size maps created by noted Mexican artist Miguel Covarrubias for the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay, has been restored and put on display in the Art of the Americas galleries at the de Young.”

You might like the work of Covarrubias, as seen on popular Boing Boing, like here and here. If so, be sure to mark your calendar for this lecture at the de Young on Friday August 1, 2008 at 7:00 PM: “Diego Rivera, Covarrubias, and the San Francisco Murals Tradition,” by William Maynez, a mural historian at City College of San Francisco.

12 panels make up the mural. Click to expand:

Actually, you could make an evening of it at the de Young - it’s another Friday Night at the Museum:

6:30–8:30 p.m.
John Santos Quintet. Four-time Grammy nominee John Santos and his stellar quintet perform classic Latin jazz from Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the United States. Orestes Vilató, timbales, bongos; Saul Sierra, bass; Marco Diaz, piano; John Calloway, flute, percussion; John Santos, congas, percussion. Visit www.johnsantos.com .

6:00–8:30 p.m.
Art-making for the Entire Family. Create an animal amulet necklace inspired by the Covarrubias mural in the Art of the Americas gallery.
Koret Auditorium

Friday Night Programs are free. Admission is always free to members; regular admission fees apply for non-members to visit the galleries. A $5 surcharge applies for non-members to visit the special exhibition Chihuly at the de Young.

Detail of South America: 

See you there! 

The de Young, designed by Herzog & de Meuron and located in Golden Gate Park, showcases American art from the 17th through the 21st centuries, international textile arts and costumes, and art from the Americas, the Pacific, and Africa.
Address: Golden Gate Park
50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive
San Francisco, CA 94118
Hours: Tuesday–Thursday, Saturday and Sunday: 9:30 am–5:15 pm
Friday: 9:30 am–8:45 pm
Closed on Monday
Admission: $10 adults
$7 seniors
$6 youths 13–17 and students with a college I.D.
Members and children 12 and under are free
$5 surcharge may apply to special exhibitions
The first Tuesday of every month is free