Upcoming Events

Octomutt
Sunday, October 12 - 3:00PM

Ted Savarese on guitar and Ashley Adams on upright bass make for esoteric lullabies, David Lynch does showtunes and seriously whimsical beauty.

"There's a definite down home, earthy feel to Octomutt's music -- seeming very casual and off the cuff -- however an occasional detour into more trippy, eccentric territory is certainly not out of the question. "
-Aquarius Records
Each project is treated in a unique way and utilizes other instrumentalists accordingly for color and texture. As friend and fellow musician Amy Molinelli says, Octomutt “sounds like San Francisco—like its skyline, like its angles, like its hills.”

octomutt.com


Heller Highwater
Sunday, October 19 - 3:00PM

Heller Highwater have become Red Hill Sunday favorites. They are: John Heller on guitar and vocals, Mike Mechanic on guitar and vocals, Andrew Waegel on banjo, dobro and vocals and Chris Xiques on bass and vocals. Four part harmonies from four fabulous musicians... for a bunch o' Berkeley hillbillies.


The Knuckle Knockers
Sunday, October 26 - 3:00PM

Homey hayseeds hailing from the Heights of Bernal, the Knuckle Knockers stoke the raging fires of the vintage American music tradition. Blazing fiddles, mandolin, guitar, and 5 string banjo set the bookstore in front porch toe tappin mode. The Knuckle Knockers pipe in on all the favorite themes that fill any narrative need: love & death, fire & brimstone.

The Knuckle Knockers are: Karen Celia Heil, of the Creole Belles (look for them at this year's Fiesta on the Hill) on fiddle, guitar, banjo, and vocals. Martha Hawthorne of the Stairwell Sisters (who have just released a new hot-selling album) on guitar, banjo, vocals. And Bill Foss a beloved Bay Area Old Timer who performs in everybody's band (the Crooked Jades and the Earl Brothers, et al.) because he's so dang good, on mandolin, fiddle, banjo, vocals.


Check out their site!


Ona Russell signs her second Sarah Kaufman mystery, The Natural Selection
Thursday, October 30 - 6:30PM

Fans of historical mysteries take note: Ona Russell, who was nominated for the Pen/Faulkner award for her first Sarah Kaufman mystery, O'Brien's Desk, reads from and signs the second Sarah Kaufman installment, The Natural Selection.
Russell holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in literature and English respectively, and her mysteries reflect her abiding interest in the intersection of language, history, sociology and politics.
The Natural Selection, which takes place against the backdrop of the Scopes "Monkey" Trial, bumps Sarah Kaufman up against such legendary historical figures as Clarence Darrow and H.L. Mencken, and finds her entangled in an investigation that involves issues of racism, Southern pride, plagiarism and the debate over creationism versus evolution.
Like the first Sarah Kaufman novel, The Natural Selection was extensively researched, and is replete with historical detail and well-developed characterization. However, its social scope is particularly faithful to Russell's larger concerns. She notes, “Although my first novel was inspired by a family member, my second has been much more a project of my own passions and sensibility. I’ve always been fascinated with the 1920s, and historical mystery is a perfect genre to represent the political and social complexity of that period."
Join us on Halloween Eve for a tale of mystery, murder, and intriguing political history!


Happy Halloween from Red Hill BOO...ks!
Friday, October 31 - 5:30PM

This Halloween, Red Hill will closing early (around dusk- you can never be too careful with so many ghouls on the loose), but will be handing out treats from our front steps. We hope to see you there!
And for the littlest spookies, Patrick's reading hour on Wednesday the 29th, at 10 am, will be Halloween-themed, with extra treats and creepy (but not too creepy, naturally) stories.


Robert Tindall discusses The Jaguar That Roams the Mind
Friday, November 7 - 7:00PM

Bay Area writer Robert Tindall is the kind of person you want to end up next to at a party where you don't know anyone: he plays classical guitar, he's lived in England, Peru, Argentina and Mexico, and with his wife Susana, he leads groups into the Amazonian rain forest to encounter indigenous healing traditions. In other words, he collects interesting stories like most of us collect loose change and unmatched socks.
The Jaguar That Roams the Mind is not only just such an interesting story, but also a fascinating, nuanced exploration of the unique intersection of spirituality, plants, people and place that is the vanishing world of Amazonian shamanism. Tindall shares his travels in the inner and outer landscape of the churches of ayahuasca and with the Kaxinawa Indians in Brazil; his experiences at the pioneering center for the treatment of addiction, Takiwasi, in Peru; and his studies with an Ashaninca master shaman deep in the rainforest jungle.
Moving beyond the scientific approach to medicinal plants, which seeks to reduce them to their chemical constituents, Tindall illustrates the shamans’ intimate relationships with plant spirits. He explores the three pillars of Amazonian shamanism: purging (drawing disease out of the body), psychoactive plants (including the ritual use of ayahuasca), and diet (communing with the innate intelligence of teacher plants). Through trials and revelations, the subtle inner logic of indigenous healing unfolds for him. Culminating in a ceremony fraught with terror yet ultimately enlightening, Tindall’s journey reveals the crucial component missing from the metaphysics of the West: the understanding and appreciation of the sentience of nature itself.
Please join us on the 7th for an enlightening conversation with Robert Tindall, and an introduction to an amazing work of spirituality and ethnobotany. For more information about Robert and Susana, please visit their blog.


Linda Robertson Reads & Performs Songs from What Rhymes with Bastard?
Friday, November 14 - 7:00PM

Please note: this event has been rescheduled from October 14th to November 14th. Thanks!
Here are three very cool things about Linda Robertson: 1.She is also known as Miss Accordion San Francisco 2004. 2.She leads a fabulous accordion-driven cabaret act called Cotton Candy. 3.She's recently had published a devastatingly witty memoir about love, art, and emotional chicanery called What Rhymes with Bastard?.
Excited yet? Robertson will be both reading and performing songs from Bastard, which means that you can get your literary fix while simultaneously being musically entertained by Miss Accordion San Francisco and her illustrious upright bassist Tom Edler.
Robertson's memoir has garnered praise across the UK and the US, but it is, in many ways, an essentially San Francisco tale. Chronicling her move from Scotland to SF in the company of what she calls "the worst boyfriend ever," Bastard is equal parts squirm-inducing, hilarious self-revelation and meditation on the redemptive value of making art. A Hawaiian reviewer notes, "Far from standard chick-lit, this book is brave, unvarnished, sometimes repulsive and an often moving tale of how her own voice and independence (along with winning accordion playing) sprung from the humor and sadness of a decaying relationship. It’ll make you wish your breakups were that inspiring, and then thankful they weren’t. Besides, her songs are much better than ours could ever be." And the SF Weekly says Bastard is "simply a very good read — genuine, wickedly funny, and highly alert."
What's not to like? This reading has everything: heartbreak, humor, and a smashing soundtrack. Please join us on the 14th to see for yourselves!


Past Events

Gaucho
Sunday, October 5 - 3:00PM

Gaucho began as a Gypsy Jazz trio in 2002 but has now grown to the size of a sextet and has brought the styles of Klezmer, Brazilian Choros, Swing, New Orleans and Roots styles as well as modern day melodies of relevance and the occasional irreverence. Gaucho is guitar virtuosos Dave Ricketts and Michael Groh, a standup guy and bass player Ari Munkres, the righteous Rob Reich on accordion, and the well-read reed man Ralph Carney on horns. Wander no further than Red Hill on Sunday.
gauchojazz.com


Red Hill Books and One City One Book
Wednesday, September 24 - 7:00PM

Red Hill Books is partnering with the San Francisco Public Library to provide books for acclaimed author Tamim Ansary's One City One Book appearance at the Excelsior Branch Arts & Culture Salon. The Excelsior Branch is located at 4400 Mission Street, and can be reached at 415-355-2868.

San Francisco Public Library is pleased to announce that West of Kabul, East of New York: An Afghan American Story by San Francisco writer Tamim Ansary is the 2008 One City One Book: San Francisco Reads selection.
Mayor Gavin Newsom says, “With West of Kabul, East of New York: An Afghan American Story, we all have a chance to learn more about a country that we hear about in the news all the time, but may not yet have a personal connection to. Tamim Ansary gives us that chance, to learn about the history and culture of Afghanistan, to consider the connections between San Francisco and the Middle East and to learn one man’s story of defining a life where his Afghan and American identities meet.”
San Francisco Public Library and One City One Book partners will explore and celebrate San Francisco author Tamim Ansary’s memoir with book discussions, author events, a film series, a Litquake event, a knitting program and more. Program guides and other materials will be available at libraries, bookstores, and other venues throughout San Francisco.
Sponsors for One City One Book 2008 include the San Francisco Public Library, Friends of the San Francisco Public Library, the Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation and the San Francisco Foundation. The program is also supported by bookstore partners including Books Inc., Green Apple Books, Book Passage, Booksmith, Cover to Cover,
Stacey’s, City Lights, Borders, B&N, SFSU Bookstore, Red Hill Books, Modern Times, Get Lost Books, Christopher’s Books, Bibliohead, Asian Art Museum Bookstore; program partners including Litquake, Northern California Independent Booksellers Association, Book Group Expo, LitMinds, Mechanics’ Institute; and media sponsors including KPIX/CBS5.

About One City One Book:
San Francisco Reads is an annual citywide literary event that encourages members of the San Francisco community to read the same book at the same time and then discuss it in book groups and at events throughout the City. By building bridges between communities and generations through the reading—and most importantly the discussion of— one book, we hope to help make reading a lifelong pursuit and to build a more literate society. Previous selections include Cane River and The Hummingbird’s Daughter.
In West of Kabul, East of New York: An Afghan American Story, we travel at Ansary’s side, and he gives us rare access to Afghan culture—from the time of “old Afghanistan,” through Soviet rule, and later the Taliban. After 9/11, Afghanistan once again found itself upon the world’s stage and in direct conflict with the United States—and yet, the country was as obscure to the West as ever. Tamim Ansary, who has lived embedded in both American and Afghan society, is uniquely capable of reaching across both cultures, and through his experiences he begins to inspire the empathy necessary to transcend differences. His stirring memoir offers much to discuss.
After 9/11, Afghanistan once again found itself upon the world’s stage and in direct conflict with the United States – and yet, the country was as obscure to the West as ever. Tamim Ansary, who has lived embedded in both American and Afghan society, is uniquely capable of reaching across both cultures, and through his experiences he begins to inspire the empathy necessary to transcend differences. His stirring memoir offers much to discuss.
West of Kabul, East of New York is available at the Library in paperback and audio format.

About the Author:
Tamim Ansary writes and lectures about Afghanistan, Islamic history, democracy, schooling and learning, fiction and the writing process, and other issues as they grab his imagination. He also directs the San Francisco Writers Workshop, the oldest continuous free writers’ workshop in America and the hub of a growing community of Bay Area writers. He lives in San Francisco and is currently at work on his next book. Visit his website for more information.


Bill Santiago reads from his new book Pardon My Spanglish!
Friday, September 19 - 7:00PM

Como se dice funny? Nuyorican comedian Bill Santiago, who has appeared on Comedy Central, opened for Margaret Cho, and shared stages with Culture Clash and Marga Gomez, will read from his hilarious new exploration of Spanglish as the root of unique identities and experiences. Santiago developed his love affair with language as a journalist for Puerto Rico's San Juan Star, the Miami Herald, and the Washington Post. After winning an award for his feature writing, which demonstrated a tendency toward laugh-out-loud one-liners, Santiago turned to comedy writing and began working on stand-up routines. He began developing Spanglish-related material when he noticed his audiences' diverse reactions to the language he used in his routines. As he told the East Bay Express, "[E]verybody wanted to come up to me and share their Spanglish experiences, their favorite words, how it's part of their life with their parents, grandparents, or friends." Come join us to laugh, share Spanglish stories, and talk about what it really means when we say "bilingual" and "Latino/a." To get acquainted, visit his website, as well as his MySpace page.



 

Check out our RSS feed for events at all three stores!

Home  |  News  |  Staff Picks  |  Events  |  Special Orders  |  FAQ  |  About Us  |  Contact  |   RSS
© 2006, Dog Eared Books
Home