Why I love this city

There are just a million things to do this coming weekend.

Friday, April 8: Pamela Z and others make electronic-assisted music at The LAB, including:

Pamela Z joins with artists from STEIM/Amsterdam. Pamela will perform work in which she uses Max MSP and Jitter to control video with her voice and process her voice in real time.

Michel Waisvisz and Robert van Heumen of STEIM will offer a free demonstration of LiSa X, STEIM's software that enables users to extensively control live-sampled and pre-recorded sounds, and junXion, which maps Human Interface Devices such as joysticks to midi. Both software packages are used by musicians, choreographers, performers, installation artists and composers. There will be a Q&A following the demo for those with specific inquiries.

Many local performance artists, comedians, and artists will appear on Saturday at an art opening/rock show fundraiser for Pet Noir, a comix anthology:

Join us for an evening of animal themed art and music to benefit Pet Noir: A Comic Book Anthology of Strange but True Pet Crimes and In Defense of Animals (IDA).

When: Saturday, April 9, 2005
Art Reception : 7 PM - 8 PM, *FREE admission*
Rock Show: 8 PM - 12 midnight, $2 to $10 sliding scale
Where: Balazo Gallery, 2811 Mission St. @ 24th Street

We put the "Cat" in Catastrophe.

The theme for the art exhibit is twisted pet art and will feature many talented Bay Area artists, both established and emerging, including Attaboy, Bill Dunlap, Bitter Pie, Bradley Fulton, Chris Fabbri, danyol, Dee Dee Russell, James Lovekin, Jen Feinberg, Joe Spear, Marin Thurber, MariNaomi, Martha Sue Harris, Mary Younkin, N8 Van Dyke, Nicola Ginzler, Peter Conrad, Randy Antin, Ric Carrasquillo, Rik Livingston, Sabrina Schaal, Scott Werner, Shay Nowick, Taiko Fujimura and more! If you're in the market for some awesome, affordable art, please remember that we will be taking cash or checks only (for appointments, please call 415-225-4896).

And finally, the monthly Writers with Drinks reading series also happens on Saturday:

Charlie Anders, Andrew Sean Greer, Tennessee Jones, Betsy Salkind, Carolyn Connelly and Leticia Hernandez-Linares. Where: The Make Out Room, 3225 22nd St. btw. Mission and Valencia in San Francisco, CA. When: Saturday, April 9, 2005 from 7:30 SHARP to 9:30 SHARP, doors open at 7:00. How much: $3 to $5 sliding scale, all proceeds benefit other magazine .