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In this week\u2019s Fogcutter column, SFGATE reporters visit the opera, head to Hardly Strictly Bluegrass and see a legendary DJ.<\/p>\n
Tayfun Coskun\/Anadolu via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Another San Francisco summer is over. The stormclouds have yet to roll in, but the omens are everywhere. China Beach<\/a>, arguably the city\u2019s most picturesque, is temporarily closed<\/a> during the government shutdown. Meteorologists say La Ni\u00f1a<\/a> is on its way. And Hardly Strictly Bluegrass<\/a>, the year\u2019s last hacky sack-friendly gathering, has concluded.<\/p>\n Although the phrase \u201cseasonal affective disorder\u201d is about to return to San Franciscans\u2019 vocabularies, the city is still lively as ever. To prove as much, we started Fogcutter, SFGATE\u2019s weekly event column. Every Sunday, we report on San Francisco\u2019s nightclubs, film screenings and food festivals. Our hope is to bottle up the city\u2019s magic, one dispatch at a time.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n In this edition, we make a case for going to the opera, catch a Bay Area singer at Hardly Strictly and listen to the best DJ alive. Read on for more highlights.<\/p>\n The best DJ alive comes to San Francisco<\/p>\n Superlatives are a slippery slope, especially when it comes to highly subjective artforms like DJing. But then Theo Parrish comes along and puts every DJ you\u2019ve ever seen to shame.<\/p>\n The 53-year-old Detroiter performed an open-to-close set in San Francisco at the Foundry, helming the decks solo for nearly 6 hours. The last time I saw him, at a shady Williamsburg warehouse circa 2014, he played from midnight to 8 a.m. These marathon sets aren\u2019t unusual for him \u2014 he\u2019s a singular musical powerhouse, containing dance music multitudes underneath a signature bucket hat.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Parrish\u2019s power lies in his ability to bend genres to his will, making rapid shifts between techno disco edits in ways you\u2019d never expect would work. Part of the magic comes from his treatment of the DJ mixer as an actual instrument, wielding the EQs with such personality and verve that it\u2019s as if Theo himself becomes a part of the music. The style is even more cohesive given that he\u2019s playing so many of his own remixes, including a hypnotic 10-minute version of Made in U.S.A.\u2019s \u201cNever Gonna Let You Go\u201d<\/a>. Rumor has it he\u2019ll be returning in the spring; don\u2019t miss this master if you get the chance. \u2014 SFGATE senior culture editor Dan Gentile<\/p>\n A millennial\u2019s praise for SF Opera<\/p>\n As a millennial, I\u2019ve never considered going to the opera. Yet last week, I found myself smushed into the historical seats of the War Memorial Opera House, sipping a cocktail and watching the final performance of SF Opera\u2019s \u201cRigoletto.\u201d<\/p>\n Written in 1851, \u201cRigoletto\u201d includes an ultimate operatic earworm, but also kidnapping, mistaken identities, magical curses, illicit love affairs and murder plots \u2014 all before intermission.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Act II scene from Verdi’s “Rigoletto.”<\/p>\n Cory Weaver\/San Francisco Opera<\/p>\n By its nature, opera is unashamedly analog \u2014 SF Opera uses no amplification, either for its performers or the more than 50 musicians in its\u00a0orchestra. The stars of \u201cRigoletto\u201d fill the opera house\u2019s gilded space using only the power of the human voice.<\/p>\n Despite the ubiquity of digital tech, millennials and Gen Z have a thing for analog. We brought back the vinyl record and the film camera. Last week, I bought a cassette tape. Why shouldn\u2019t we embrace analog performances, too?<\/p>\n I wondered why more young people don\u2019t go to the opera, so I asked Reddit.<\/a> Over 70 people responded. The most common reason was a belief that the opera must be wildly expensive. It\u2019s not. SF Opera sells many seats for $29, and Bay Area residents can purchase one ticket per season for just $10<\/a>. That\u2019s less than a matcha latte in parts of SF.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cRigoletto\u201d is done, but \u201cParsifal\u201d and \u201cThe Monkey King\u201d are coming up. Fellow young people: If you haven\u2019t considered the opera before, perhaps now\u2019s the time.\u00a0\u2014 SFGATE freelance contributor Thomas Smith<\/p>\n The hometown headliner at Hardly Strictly<\/p>\n Every year, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass<\/a> brings acts from near and far to Golden Gate Park. For Catskills-based musician Hannah Cohen, who grew up in the Bay Area before her modeling career<\/a> took off, Friday night was more like a homecoming.<\/p>\n Hannah Cohen performs on the Arrow Stage at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco on Oct. 3, 2025.<\/p>\n Douglas Zimmerman\/SFGATE<\/p>\n Cohen concluded over two months of touring<\/a> Friday (at least for now \u2014 she\u2019s back on the road in November), and closed out Night 1 of Hardly Strictly at the festival\u2019s Arrow Stage. Her 2019 album was a cult favorite among those in the know<\/a>, and her March 2025 release featuring Clairo and Sufjan Stevens brought her a taste of mainstream success.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cThis is so cool,\u201d Cohen said between songs. \u201cBeing a Bay Area girl, this is like a dream come true.\u201d<\/p>\n Cohen was joined onstage by a five-piece backing band, including her partner Sam Evian<\/a> (\u201cmy love, my boo, my producer,\u201d she called him). Those of us in the audience swayed, danced and sang along to Cohen\u2019s dream-pop stylings, which blend her ethereal vocals with ever-funky basslines and swinging drums.\u00a0<\/p>\n Among those in the audience was Cohen\u2019s father, San Francisco jazz drummer Myron Cohen. \u201cI just want to give my papa a shout-out. He\u2019s still giggin\u2019 at 81 years old in November,\u201d she said with a laugh and an apology for revealing his age. Cohen closed with her song \u201cDraggin\u2019,\u201d which she said was \u201cinspired by the great Bay Area legend Sly<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n Overall, she delivered a commanding performance, but there were moments of slight technical difficulty. As she battled through feedback in the monitors, I thought about lines from her song \u201cDog Years\u201d: \u201cWhen was the last time you really let yourself go? When it\u2019s too good, feels like a simulation, you know? The rug could get pulled out, the heartbreak could get loud, better to measure it in dog years.\u201d \u2014 SFGATE freelance contributor Nicholas David<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cTron: Ares\u201d is the third film in the \u201cTron\u201d trilogy.<\/p>\n \u00a9Disney<\/p>\n Unfortunately, \u2018Tron: Ares\u2019 sucks<\/p>\n I regret to report that despite the year\u2019s most banging soundtrack and flashiest special effects, \u201cTron: Ares\u201d is not a good movie.\u00a0<\/p>\n The third film in the \u201cTron\u201d trilogy plays off of two well-worn 2025 tropes: a maniacal CEO<\/a> and sentient AI<\/a>. Like the previous films, the plot revolves around \u201cthe grid,\u201d with software programs Ares and Athena represented by human forms (Jared Leto and Jodie Turner-Smith). They do the bidding of tech executive Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters), who aims to score a big military contract for 3D printed tanks and soldiers (embodied by off-grid versions of Ares and Athena). The catch is that after 29 minutes, the creations crumble to dust, at least until Dillinger can crack the \u201cpermanence code.\u201d Meanwhile, video game company CEO Eve Kim (Greta Lee) is searching for the code herself. When she finds it,\u00a0Dillinger sends Ares and Athena on their light cycles to use a big laser to send Eve to the grid where they can pull the code out of her brain.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n If that\u2019s all a little confusing, well, it is \u2014 \u201cTron: Ares\u201d director Joachim Ronning (\u201cPirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales\u201d) would rather you not worry about things like plot and character development, and just enjoy the light cycle chases and Nine Inch Nails score. If you do see it, watch it on the biggest and best sounding screen you can find (which is to say, at Metreon). But if you\u2019re looking to turn off your brain for two hours, you\u2019d be better off streaming \u201cThe Naked Gun.\u201d<\/a> \u2014 SFGATE senior culture editor Dan Gentile<\/p>\n Meeting the pumpkin hordes at a historic mansion<\/p>\n Since its construction in 1917, Filoli estate in Woodside has dipped into the spotlight here and there with starring roles on TV shows (\u201cDynasty,\u201d \u201cAntiques Roadshow\u201d) and a smaller part in the Biden presidency<\/a>, when it hosted a historic 2023 meeting between him and Xi Jinping of China. This fall, it\u2019s playing host again, but this time to hordes of pumpkins, accompanied by colored lights and spooky music.\u00a0<\/p>\n Scenes from Filoli Nightfall.<\/p>\n Kendra Smith\/SFGATE<\/p>\n I went to check out the house and its neighboring field and redwood forest, where the Halloween haunt is taking place.\u00a0The vibe is trippily sweet, with small children in costume tumbling everywhere and lit up arches bulging with (foam) pumpkins. We especially enjoyed the pumpkin-headed zombies posed in the high grass, dressed out in thrift store finery \u2014 T-shirts with silly slogans and distressed flannels.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n There\u2019s a whole display of neon, black-lit mushrooms that spin. Most of all, we loved the yards of lit jack-o\u2019-lanterns (again, made of foam). There are bars at both ends of the haunted trail, where you can get a signature spiced sangria or spiked cider to sip on, and the kids can enjoy Guittard<\/a> hot chocolate.\u00a0<\/p>\n The house was last, and the spookiest best \u2014 next time I would hit it up first. The designers swapped out the mansion\u2019s usual accessories for small details that made me shiver: ghoulish statues, a jar of glass eyeballs, a giant ouija board (to cover the man cave\u2019s usual pool table). Don\u2019t miss the creepy doll room. \u2014 Kendra Smith, SFGATE deputy managing editor<\/p>\n Filoli Nightfall runs through Nov. 10.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n On our radar:<\/p>\n Lorde is playing at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley next Sunday.<\/p>\n
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\nThere will be a\u00a0free night market at Fort Mason<\/a> on Friday.
\nJenny\u00a0Odell, author of \u201cHow to Do Nothing,\u201d and Cory Doctorow, who coined the term \u201cens\u2014ttification,\u201d will host a talk<\/a> at Public Works next Monday, Oct. 20.
\nThe Balboa Theatre is screening John Carpenter’s Bay Area-filmed cult classic “Village of the Damned”<\/a> on Friday, hosted by SFGATE’s\u00a0assistant local editor Amanda Bartlett.
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