Black Flag back in NorCal

The Black Flag lineup has changed quite a bit over the decades.

Most notably, it no longer includes one of the most iconic singers in punk rock history — the mighty Henry Rollins, who many readers best know these days for his film and television work as well as for his spoken-word performances.

The band also no longer includes Keith Morris, another incredibly iconic punk vocalist. Yet, the heart and soul of this Hermosa Beach hardcore outfit has always been guitarist-songwriter-founder Greg Ginn. And as long as he’s still in the band then Black Flag will most certainly be worth seeing in concert.

Ginn and company underscored that point during the terrific Black Flag performance at the Punk in the Park festival in Daly City last May. The whole quartet — including vocalist Mike Vallely — sounded terrific as it ran through such cool cuts as “Can’t Decide,” “Rise Above” and a cover of “Louie Louie.” But it was the chance to witness Ginn do his incredible thing on guitar that truly made the Black Flag set so special.

Fans will have the chance to witness plenty of Ginn greatness when Black Flag performs several NorCal shows in January.

Details: 7 p.m. Saturday at the Santa Cruz County Veterans Memorial Building, Santa Cruz; 6:30 p.m. Sunday at Brentwood Emporium; 8 p.m. and Wednesday at Mystic Theatre, Petaluma; tickets start at $28.53; blackflagband.com

— Jim Harrington, Staff

Trash becomes art in exhibit

Some people, notably tech CEOs and out-of-state politicians, like to complain about how dirty San Francisco is. Others embrace the trashiness — literally, in the case of a gritty new exhibit at the city’s MAG Galleries.

“Art and Fashion in the Garbage Age” assembles recent work from the Piles Collective, a group of artists who repurpose garbage and up-cycled materials sourced right here from local streets and trash piles. “We live in an age when garbage threatens our way of life,” they declare. “Countering the problems that generate the garbage is a momentous task, but also significant is the creative desire to find the detritus as a source of artistic possibilities.”

The multimedia extravaganza presents photography and sculptures of urban debris, as well as furniture design, jewelry, and elegant garments made from discarded (and hopefully washed) textiles and even a bunch of trashy zines. Show up on Jan. 25 and you’re in for a treat — a runway show at the gallery featuring models in rubbish-based clothing.

Details: Show runs through Feb. 2; MAG Galleries, 3931 18th St., San Francisco; hours are noon-7 p.m. Thursday-Friday and noon-5 p.m. Saturday-Sunday; mag-galleries.com.

— John Metcalfe, Staff

Anderson delivers in ‘Showgirl’

In “The Last Showgirl,” Pamela Anderson’s insightful but unflashy performance as Shelly, a veteran Las Vegas performer in the twilight of her career, never hits one phony note. The old-school Razzle Dazzle Show, to which Shelly has devoted herself for 30 years, to is slated to close and her future in the biz looks doubtful due to her age. Director Gia Coppola’s film, based on a sturdy screenplay from Kate Gersten, is a somber, character-driven drama that offers Anderson a meaty role that she savors and masters in every scene — her performance is most certainly worth awards notice.

Shelly has seen it all and sacrificed a lot; but she’s also done things her own way, leading to criticism from those around her, including a college-age daughter Hannah (Billie Lourd) who comes home for awkward visits, and stage manager Eddie (Dave Bautista, proving again he has dramatic range) who has a past with Shelly. The best scenes focus on the close-knit band of female performers who form a family of their own since, often, their “blood” families don’t want anything to do with them. Shelly’s become the adopted den mother for all, even her overly bronzed cocktail waitress bestie Annette (Jaime Lee Curtis, in another unforgettable performance) who’s always struggling with finances. “The Last Showgirl” pulls back the curtain on the sexism and ageism that these women encounter but also shows on the resiliency and fighting spirit that helps them stay true to who they are.

Details: Rated R (for nudity and language); 1 hour, 25 minutes; opens Friday in theaters.

— Randy Myers, Correspondent

Noah Wyle returns to the screen in a familiar setting

Noah Wyle as an ER doc again? Say no more.

Fifteen years after the end of “ER,” NBC’s long-running medical drama in which Wyle starred as Dr. John Carter, the actor is scrubbing back in for “The Pitt.” Each installment of the 15-episode drama will explore an hour in the 15-hour shift of Dr. Robby (Wyle), a chief attendant in the emergency room at Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Hospital, as it attempts to show the challenges healthcare workers face today. In addition to starring, Wyle serves as an executive producer on “The Pitt” — and it reunites him with “ER” producers John Wells and R. Scott Gemmill, its showrunner.

The series made headlines in 2024 when the estate of Michael Crichton, creator of “ER,” sued Warner Bros., producer of “The Pitt,” saying it is a rebranded version of an unauthorized reboot of the medical drama. In response, Warner Bros. said, “The Pitt” is not a “derivative work” of “ER.”

We’ll just have to judge for ourselves.

Details: Two episodes released today, with a additional episode released each Thursday through April; Max.

— Yvonne Villarreal, Los Angeles Times

Sherald’s timeless works at SFMOMA

Nearly 50 paintings by Amy Sherald, well known for her realist portraits of Black subjects, are on view at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in the artist’s first mid-career survey. “Amy Sherald: American Sublime” features paintings made from 2007 to 2024, including iconic portraits of Michelle Obama and Breonna Taylor, rarely seen pieces and new works created for the exhibition.

Sherald, a Georgia native living in New Jersey, has a style following in the tradition of Andrew Wyeth and Edward Hopper. Her portraits are grounded by 19th-century studio photography, reflecting the era’s formal, frontal presentation of figures, single-source lighting and flat backgrounds that leave few indications of time, location or context. Still, Sherald’s paintings are contemporary and prescient.

An exhibition highlight is 2022’s “For Love, and for Country,” which was inspired by the famous 1945 photograph depicting a sailor kissing a woman suspended in a back-bending posture. Sherald’s reimagined portrayal of Alfred Eisenstaedt’s “V-J-Day in Times Square” is a 10-foot-tall painting with two Black men engaged in an embrace.

Details: Through March 9; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco; $23-$30; sfmoma.org.

— Lou Fancher, Bay City News Foundation